You'll Be a Song I'll Sing

In case you didn't guess, I'm back to the ordinary.

Sweeps officially begins tomorrow so the day job will be very busy!

While on vacation I finished a book that I'd been reading for a review.  Monday at home was so relaxing I began writing the review right away instead of putting it off for the book to digest.

There's nothing like the Pope following you around town to bring down a person's vacation.  :)

Got into New York yesterday afternoon.  Had a skinny hotdog for lunch at one of the plazas downtown.  Went to some museums/art galleries.  I think I'd like to live in portions of the Frick house.  Was transported to Vienna for dinner then got to see a comic in a Chicago jazz club that looked a lot like a young Warren Beatty. 

Happy Easter! We celebrated the holiday the way we celebrate most holidays - by not celebrating. Sammy let us sleep in late (after 10am). After breakfast we saw Vantage Point then traveled to two Skylines hoping they'd be open for lunch. Wendy's was so they got our business. A nap was also on the agenda and I spent about an hour working on writing stuff (typing up or editing things I'd written the last two weeks). Then the Easter Miracle happened and fluffy flakes began falling from the sky.

Yesterday we had friends over for dinner. The company was good and the dinner was yummy. We had beef brisket from Weiland's. I had considered making a lamb shoulder roast but could not find one at any market that morning. For dessert I tried to make a terrine but it wasn't as great as it could have been. I bought three kinds of ice cream from Jeni's and the bread pan only fit two pints of ice cream. Honey Vanilla Bean, ground cream sandwich cookies, Salty Carmel and more ground cream sandwich cookies. When it came time to cut it, I think I'd taken it out too early (some of the ice cream was melty soft) or it hadn't been frozen long enough to get solid. It was still tasty. Our friends threatened to sneak Sammy home under their coats. It was the first time I thought, "I think I like having him around." It must be the morning cuddle sessions. One time when we were talking in the living room he plopped down with one leg on the fireplace just like an Olan Mills pose. From the other angle it looked like he'd laid down to chat with our corgi figure.

My husband said his turning point was probably last weekend. I'd attempted to make sugar free jello squares but my recipe was completely off and it was much more like sugar free jello slivers. Hubby let Sammy eat some from his finger. Sammy seemed to like it so hubby set a bigger piece on the kitchen floor. Sammy licked at it and tried to eat it. Then he dive bombed and tried to roll in it. He missed. Sammy did the dive bomb move again and finally got some in his fur. It was one of those funny moments when you have no idea why it is happening and can only stand by and let it play out.

I think dinner is more beef brisket tonight unless hubby wants me to make Skyline. I know he prefers it the way the restaurant makes it to how I make it.

On Thursday my mother's surgery went well. She'd had the same thing done in December but the doctor seemed to make a mess of things. The biopsy so far shows no cancer. Hubby took Friday and tomorrow off work. We're talking about a vacation in April.

This weekend I bought new tennis shoes which feel so comfy. I know my in-laws have booked a vacation beach home for October. The bathing suit hunt began this weekend. (I haven't owned one that fit since college.)

Got back from vacation to find my rejection letter arrived on Saturday.  The reason was succint "It didn't do anything for me" which was a lot better than the expected "This is crap and we don't accept horror!"

Gonna take me a while to get caught up on emails.  I have half of Friday off too for a wedding.

Saw the tummy doctor yesterday. Before he came in I got to overhear a conversation with one of the nurses regarding patients who called in about their medications. It was really quite funny. I know he would react the same way if I had asked these questions.

No new tests to take this year. I may not need another colonoscopy or the other tests for about 8 more years unless I get worse. My medicine is the same. His office took some blood to check my CBCs and liver enzymes. I lost 4 pounds since last year. My ob/gyn and he are friends so we were laughing about what my ob/gyn said about him.

I've booked my flight for my October vacation. There is no turning back now! Well, there could be but it's not likely. :) Now I must figure out what my Halloween costume will be this year. The Magic 8 Ball was a big hit last year because it was an interactive costume.

Acceptance arrived in about two weeks as promised. My drabble, "Bunny" will appear in the March issue of Shine.

While waiting for the plane to Las Vegas I started a short story involving Trolls and pirates. *laughs*

Question for anyone: when you read a brief bio about an author what kinds of things do you like to know about them?

During my trip I started Northern Lights by Philip Pullman which was released in the US as The Golden Compass. The next book in the trilogy is The Subtle Knife which I began last night. These seem geared towards adolescent readers but I'm enjoying them.

Been home for just over an hour. It was about 70 degrees when I left Las Vegas. It's 10 degrees here. Kinda feeling sleepy so I think I'll take a nap.

I'm procrastinating from packing. I have no idea what I'm doing while I'm there (other than a wedding and a reception). Even though my husband and dog are just a few feet below me in the living room I'm suddenly missing them and feeling homesick. Usually I don't feel this way until after I get to the airport. :)

Yeah, I know, it's been February for almost a week now. I still can't get used to it.

I visited with Zilla on my lunch hour Friday and he really wanted nothing to do with me. He had his belly shaved and an ultrasound done. He has a thickened stomach wall but nothing really explains the vomiting. At least he's been drinking water. Friday night my husband visited with him. Saturday morning we went together. He perked up when we took him for a walk. I could get him to lick a hot dog but that was it. After talking with the vet we decided to take him home. He showed interest in our food. We bought him a Jr. Hamburger from Wendy's and he ate a quarter of the meat. Since then he's not been interested in anything. Tonight I put beef gravy on my fingers and he licked it off but it came back up in ten minutes. Last night while we were sleeping he was all over the floor and the bed. At one point he knocked me off my pillow and took it. I didn't mind at all. The apartment has been so lonely without him.

Saturday afternoon I got my hair cut. Then I went to Avenue to look for something to wear to the wedding. I found a nearly exact copy of a skirt I already have but in a heavier weight. The 18 was too big and the 14 was too small. I tried a wrap-around shirt which was cute. But when I shrugged my shoulders it rode up and completely showed my chest. I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything unless I fell in love with it so I left without anything. The huge vet bill I paid earlier certainly helped me keep my resolve. :)

I spent a lot of time napping today but I did get a few hundred words down on a non-fiction piece.

An email came that said my EverQuest account was reactivated for 30 days. It was tempting. So very tempting. But I pointed out to the hubby that he can burn all those DVDs for his friends because I uninstalled most of the game. I still have some screenshots but I kept the music and the voice sound files.

Tonight the quest for the PS3 60Gig ended. It's installed on the tv downstairs. Now I'm supposed to install a wireless network so it can get updates (and it would be convenient for the laptop). It's one of those weekend projects I'm not sure I want to mess with just before leaving for vacation. Cause you know it will take a few days to figure out what router to get, will it work with our cable modem or should I just call our ISP and ask for a wireless cable modem on top of putting it through the paces to make sure it all works okay. Plus I want to see how much is left in the bank account after the holiday.

We still have to buy our plane tickets for the wedding trip in February.

Several hours this evening was spent playing Resistance: Fall of Man in a cooperative game which was fun. We played the deathmatch version but I've never really gone in for those so I didn't find it as enjoyable. I was worried I'd have a difficult time with the controllers for the PS3 but so far I've done okay. Only once or twice I've spun myself in circles looking at the sky or the ground.

Skipped yoga last night because I thought we were almost done with work but it kept dragging out and dragging out. (I did a little at home on Saturday night.) Boss is trying to get us out of the office by noon on Friday. Either we're kicking butt at the moment or an avalanche is going to hit us on Thursday afternoon. I hope it's the former because after Friday I don't go back to work until 1/2/07!

I knew yesterday afternoon at work was so slow that something had to be wrong. It was and I walked into a lot of work this morning. I was upset and trying to hurry to get things done and our new person didn't understand the severity of it until someone pointed out that for every commercial that doesn't air we don't get money. Our director bought everyone lunch today (what... 60 - 70 people?). Someone asking me how I was doing and truly caring about the answer combined with a co-worker telling me the pizza was here and I should go get some got me crying. After cleaning up in the restroom I headed into the room with the food and one of the guys was giving me hand signals on where to find it. And later when I was getting something to drink someone else asked me if I got any food. Then a manager came by to see if I had gotten some. It took so much willpower not to cry.

Sure, I stayed until 10:30pm on Halloween and had to cancel my evening plans. Sure, I stay late a lot of nights. But I am still so thankful to work with the people I do. I didn't dress up on Tuesday because I had asked a few people if the company did anything for the holiday and I was told no. So imagine my surprise when the building landlord had a cookout for everyone with costumes encouraged! I made it downstairs about 30 minutes after it started. It was raining so the food was inside on tables for us while one gentleman was grilling outside. I thought I was lucky to have gotten the last hamburger - the rest were cheeseburgers - but I was in for a surprise. When I took a bite of my hot dog I realized it was no hot dog. It was a Bahama Mama! If I'd known I would've had two of those. What was truly surprising is that they brought coolers of drinks... and they were cold even though there was no ice in the coolers. Where were the coolers stored?

My inner editor did leave me alone most of the night. My total word count is 897. It's not much but I'm happy with it. Not only is it more than I wrote last night, it's also words I wrote after 10pm. I usually can't get more than 50 words out after 10pm.

A few months ago my best friend announced she is getting married. We received our invitation and the wedding will be in Las Vegas just before Valentine's Day. She called me from Germany on Sunday and we spoke for about an hour. We don't get to talk as often as we'd like, but it's nice to know the bond is still strong. I told my husband I would plan this trip for us, so I am checking out poker tournaments and have reserved some books from the library.

The last time I was in Las Vegas was between my 21st birthday and the month I began dating my husband. I try to live my life without regrets but I do regret not going to my grandmother's funeral. I should have said to heck with work and my customers. My grandmother was too ill to travel by the time I was married but she would have liked my husband. Part of me wants to show my husband the house my grandfather built and where my father grew up. And wants him to meet my aunt and uncle. Another part thinks it would be an intrusion.

Yesterday evening I saw the headline about Prince in Las Vegas and I laughed. I am certain it would be quite a show but I've already seen him once in concert. I don't think I need to pay $125 a person to see him again.

I've returned from my weekend vacation close to civilization yet in the middle of nowhere at the same time. It was lovely. Details to follow soon.

Still behind on my f-list. Sorry!!

Hubby had his sonic wave treatment yesterday. I took off work part of the day and was gone longer than I intended. Hubby is even more cuddly when on pain medicine. The doctor said he did great and hopes the pieces of stone will pass during the next three weeks before the follow-up appointment. More x-rays will show how he did.

I should have taken the entire day off. He was in and out of sleep after coming home, but at one point he ran into the Ikea CD holder I had (purchased and put together while he was away) given him for his birthday. The back fell off and all of the CDs came tumbling out. He's not supposed to lift anything heavy for a few days - the bending over and up and down motion while on the Percocet kinda made him feel a little woozy. If I had been home I would have taken care of it so he could rest.

I realized yesterday that while I find my husband a funny man, when he's in pain he's really "on" trying to entertain me as a way of thanking me for taking care of him. That's another reason to take the day off if this happens again - I know when he's not sleeping, I'll be thoroughly entertained.

Due to all of the waiting around, I finished the book I've been reading - more on that later.

I've started cleaning again which feels good.

Last night I don't know how I did it, but I sat through nearly all of Dirty Love. I just couldn't watch the last 30 minutes. The best part of the movie was Kathy Griffin as the fortune teller. And she was seen in the first 10 minutes? Today we saw Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. Some of the performances were very good and so were the stories with Leonard Cohen. After the second or third song I drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the movie.

This afternoon we went clothes shopping at Nordstrom's. For the first 15 - 20 minutes I had an inner monologue regarding the prices and what my husband could possibly be thinking. He pointed out later he gave me warning; he'd mentioned he wanted to go shopping at Nordstrom's or Brooks Brothers for clothes for his trip. I had focused on the Brooks Brothers part. :) We left with one shirt. I was rooting for a suede washable jacket but when he tried it on there wasn't the same "oomph" factor that it had on the hanger. The sleeves were a little long and something just wasn't right about it. Maybe when he comes back from Toronto he'll go back for the pants he wanted. He was afraid they wouldn't have time to hem them before he left and he didn't really want to make another trip out to Easton Mall. I nearly fainted when I bought my new purse a few months back and it was $110 or $125. He talked me into it and I'm glad he did. I love my purse and use it just about everyday. Tomorrow we'll probably go shopping for more clothes for him.

When he and I went to Toronto together we'd go shopping before we went. Now it's just him who gets the goodies. I get a few things before my Maryland trip each year. Last year I got to miss out on that shopping trip since I didn't go out of town.

Today is one of those days where I just feel happy and blessed. Sure, there are things that could improve in my life but they will happen when it's right. Leaving my old job was just the beginning.

I was told I set a record for barium drinking. Two cups in five minutes. It was a little bit sweeter and a lot less chalky and chunky than last time. As always, everyone at the health center was nice. The woman who escorted me back remembered my husband from last night. My time with the barium started at 8:22am and I left the hospital grounds at 10:30am after visiting with my mother-in-law. So this visit was a lot less time than the last. I walked a little bit to get the barium moving. Laying on the right side and thinking of yummy, delicious food are two tricks that work also. I know my gastro will want to do another colonoscopy. The radiologist doctor saw the old x-rays and was concerned at first since she knew what the stricture looked like last time. And when the barium got all over my insides everyone had a surprise. My stricture is gone. That's right... the stricture the width of a #2 pencil is gone. Gone! I still have a small area near the end of the large intestine that seems to have some scarring. Months of steriods, the right diet and the right medication does a body good, I guess. Now when my mom tries to tell me I should take probiatics I can just give her the finger instead of being polite, non-committal and nonconfrontational. I can just say, "I've done everything my gastro asked me to and I'm doing great. I don't need to monkey with it, thank you."

Hubby found out he does indeed have a kidney stone - in his kidney! It will get the sonic wave treatment and then we'll see what happens after that. The doctor thinks the recent pain was from passing another kidney stone.

Since I was home he came home for lunch. We napped most of the time he was here.

I watched Something New this afternoon. It had potential but the end just kind of wrapped itself up a bit too neatly and quickly for my tastes.

I'm on the fence about my Maryland trip now. With so much medical stuff for us both and my husband's Toronto trip I would probably feel better financially staying at home.

The last day was about as unsentimental as I thought it would be. One person brought in bagels and cream cheese. I brought in a dozen cookies from The French Loaf. I went to the dry cleaners in the morning but was told my clothes wouldn't be ready until 4pm. The hangers with the items was there but no clothes! Mostly I worked on customer reports and answering questions. I took a quick 30-minute lunch and stayed until 7:00pm.

The mini-manager wrote me a nice email. Except for one person who left early I was able to say goodbye to all of my employees. The department got me a card and a lot of people signed it. Not long before I left I found folders (important folders!) deleted from the network for my customers. I freaked out slightly, especially since at one point our IS department wasn't doing backups! When I spoke to my boss this afternoon though, he said they were restored by the IS department. Whew!

I have a 401K account number setup with my financial guy for when I can roll over the 401K from work. I drove back to work today to pickup my clothes from the dry cleaners. I've called my gastro back about rescheduling my August appointment. Zilla has his annual checkup scheduled for July 1st with the doctor he loves.

I was driving by Filene's Basement so I thought I'd pop in and buy a new pair of pants for tomorrow. They didn't have anything I liked. But I did get a $54 skirt for $6. And I found what could be my next pair of black flats. I just didn't want to spend $50 so I will wait until I get paid at the end of the month. I looked for a pair of shoes for my husband but DSW didn't have a good pair in the brand he likes. I'd been nervous about calling my family doctor for a prescription refill of my allergy medicine because I thought I'd get hasseled for it. They said I could pick it up tomorrow. Now I wish I'd called last week! :)

Today is my husband's birthday and we're going to the movies at his work tonight. This weekend is a Bollywood movie about a superhero which is a big to-do. There really aren't superheros in their movies.

My husband is dangerous with that camera. He told me yesterday how he was busted for taking pictures in a federal building. Oops! He was doing an outdoor sculpture tour. The guard made him view all of the pictures. I am not sure if he had to delete the ones from the federal building or not.

I finished the short story I plan on submitting on July 1st. I gave it to my local writing group and German friend to critique. That was about 1000 words written. Then I worked on an essay which I'm halfway done with. I have 600 words on that but I know I'll have to cut a lot out. It's taking me a long time to backup the point of the essay. :)

My mother-in-law invited me out to lunch at Red Lobster today. It will be nice to see everyone, but the free lunch is certainly an incentive. Afterwards we're going to see her father who has been ill.

Last night was another fairly good night for sleeping until 2:30am. Piper next door was barking up a storm which set Zilla off. I think it started with a dog in someone's backyard. I had the funny idea of making a poem based on Piper's name. It gets yelled so often it's a joke. I can only imagine what he's done to get yelled at so much. I mean, it happens even when he's not barking. So last night I considered going out on the front porch to pinpoint where the barking was coming from and then I decided I didn't want to end up like Ron Goldman if something really bad was happening. By myself I wouldn't stand a chance. After 10 minutes the barking was done and Zilla decided sleeping on the floor would be more fun.

This weekend I took a poll on a trailer for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and a poll regarding Treasure Hunters. I've been a member of ePoll since 2002 and I can't believe they are giving up to 3000 points for watching this show. I wonder if this how the executives want to build ratings. Nine episodes are scheduled between tonight and August 7th or 14th. You get surveys after each episode to see if you watched it and a final one at the end to see what was thought of the season.

You know... I think I could probably handle it if I never had to go back to work.

Last weekend we saw A Prairie Home Companion. Going into it, I wasn't sure what to make of it. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

All I Wanna Do had some faces I recognized that I wasn't expecting to see (like Connor from Angel) and even a few people that I recognized by name (like Hayden Christensen) who I didn't recognize in the movie. It was a good piece of fluff movie. Basic Instinct was full of airbrushed 80s women. I was somewhat surprised it came out in 1992. I won't spoil it for anyone, but the ending for Gus made me think of I Know What You Did Last Summer which I should probably rewatch sometime.

The first night alone with Zilla he did surprisingly well. He didn't get barky until we went to bed at 1am. That was somewhat annoying but I fell asleep within a half hour. Last night he was good but let out a few barks once in a while. He tried to herd me into the bedroom starting at midnight using whines and Corgi Mind Power but it didn't work. I woke up several times during the night to find a dreaming, twitchy Zilla at my side.

My dental visit was one of the most painful ones ever. The dentist mapped my gumline which meant pushing up and down them at to get the numbers. The numbers were 1 - 5 and anything from 3 - 5 was good. I had a handful of 2s and a single 1. No cavities, etc. but she told me I should kick up the flossing to daily. Most of my tartar was just under the gumline. I came home with an access flosser which should be easier to use than the Y tool I was given last time. The Y tool looks like a sling shot. It's big and the floss doesn't like to stay on it.

I spoke to my mother last night. She made up excuses not to go to the graduation party. I decided not to go.

I've finished reading all of my writing-related emails. I am going to do some dishes and then get started on my writing for the day.

You may have noticed my LJ entries decrease to nothing or increase when I'm on vacation.  Can you guess what's going to happen over the next few days?  :)

The nap was good but Zilla didn't want to snuggle and stayed on the floor.  I had the fan on which was lovely.  (My husband can't sleep with it on.)

I did one customer report and decided to do the three others on Monday.  One customer hasn't had a report for the last three months and hasn't noticed.  It's hard to get motivated to do them when the customer has said they don't read them.

I took my pre-employment drug test today.  The office was a little creepy.  The light to the restroom went on when I stepped inside and all of the light switches in the restroom and the adjoining room were taped into the up position.  A sign at the front desk stated, "Please sign in.  You may not see us, but we know you're here."

When I woke up from my nap I called my husband to make sure he was okay.  He was near Gary, Indiana and had been to a museum where he was busted by one of the guards.  There weren't signs about not taking pictures of the permanent collection and guess what he was caught doing?  

Last night he told me I couldn't go crazy and eat all the crap food I wanted.  It hadn't even occurred to me but after being given that advice, I had the desire to order ribs while he's gone.  I bought a tuna steak and a sirloin steak to make while he's away.  He'll be back on Monday.  DVDs I have to watch include Basic Instinct and All I Wanna Do.  He left me my laptop so I'll be able to get out of the apartment to do some writing.  When he asked about taking it I told him it would be okay but I guess he decided against it.  

I do have a critque due to a friend tomorrow.

The other day I was doing tech support over the phone for one of my husband's cousins.  The PC had been fixed recently, crashed while his cousin was working on a paper, and then wouldn't boot up.  I was pretty sure the hard drive died.  We couldn't get it to boot up and I never heard anything else.  So I called and they had someone from the Geek Squad (or someplace like it) take a look and he decided it was dead.  I mentioned a flash or thumb drive to his cousin... he has one, he just forgets to use it.  *facepalm*  

I'm happy I decided to get more userpics for LJ; I like my LJ being more colorful!

My husband is leaving me for a weekend this month. He'll be in Chicago for The 18th Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival. He's staying with a friend and his work is considering it a business trip. It's no wonder he has a boat load of vacation time left at work. I've asked for the time off to hang with Z-man and vegetate.

I still need to post about the vacation we took last summer in Chicago. It's been sitting in my Drafts folder gathering dust.

We took Zilla for a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. Yesterday my husband pointed out a Craig Carlisle big head on a house the next street over. I don't know how long it's been there but I'd never noticed it until he showed it to me.

Today has been one of those days where I feel like I have no talent. I looked at my writing goal for the year and I've made a lot of headway. But I'm not satisfied yet which is a good thing. It means I'm just going to strive to get better. I was invited into a private online writing group last month which I accepted but since I have no confidence today I wonder if I was invited due to my writing talent or because I do well at critques.