Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Two girls in a cafe, and then they were four

These two cute young things have been sitting a few booths away. One is hovered over a notebook while the other is clicking away on her laptop.

They have been sitting there working diligently as another couple seated themselves at the table between us. They were barely seated when one of the girls stepped over to them and interrupted their kiss.

"Excuse me, but I have to tell you how beautiful you are."

It's true, the girl of the new couple(I say girl because the four of them are all barely in their twenties)is indeed attractive, but the two girls sitting together are both equally so.

Girl number one went on, "Nothing would please me more than if you would agree to model for me." She then produced her digital camera and reviewed through her pics. "Here, this is one of my roommate," indicating the girl across from her, "which I just finished this morning."

Prospective model girl was duly impressed and sat down close to girl number one while girl number two slid over to make room for the boyfriend. They just sat there while girl number one and model girl got all animated in their conversation and viewing of other work of girl number one's.

About 5 minutes of discussion in all and everyone had exchanged contact info, with a photo of model girl being snapped for preliminary work to begin on Friday.

Then girl number two spoke up saying, "Be sure to bring a few changes of clothes as she will want to work continuously all weekend. There will be plenty of wine on hand to facilitate the process and we have a hot tub on the deck to enjoy on breaks, plenty of privacy, swimsuit optional."

Maybe I should offer catering services.

Yoga hiatus interrupted

Did I forget to mention feeling the burn in my thigh muscles from yesterday's return to yoga after a month off?

Biscuits and tea

Yummolina.

I wish they always had strawberry jelly available as the biscuits are way better with it than without. Jelly or not, however, the biscuits at Cafe Artiste are indeed the best I have found in town.

I was sitting here wondering what it was that I was forgetting on today's agenda and luckily, it dawned on me that I have to cut some hair tonight at 6.

I was -.2 this morning at WW and thankfully, due to the deal I made with my self, not required to stay for the meeting. The time I go on Wednesday morning is heavily populated by blue haired old ladies, many of whom I can just tell cheat themselves by conveniently 'forgetting' or overlooking points they are consuming, much as my mother would. Why anyone would pay to be there and then cheat is beyond me, but it is indicative of my mother's personal brand of logic.

I am in week six and total loss is 4.4...I'll take it.


The cafe is calling

Time to shower and get my ass to weight watchers, but after that, Cafe Artiste (with free wireless access, of course) is calling my name.

I think after a good biscuit or tow and some tea, I will come on home for an afternoon of altar cleaning and laundry. Can life get much better?

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Budgeting sucks!

The mindless collection of supplementary unemployment has come to an end. This means my income is basically half what it was a week ago. Sucky. Plain old sucky.

I knew the day would come, of course, but it still sucks. School is looking better and better.

I took the first step and asked for a quote from insure me dot com. If I can find outside insurance comparable to what I get at work, I can then work less hours which will raise my commissions and productivity and actually set off the 10 hours less I would be working.

I think once I find the outside insurance I will feel better about it all.

Oh great insurance goddess, shine on me today.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

And the wife's playing Castlevania

I just cooked up a slamming good breakfast of home fried red potatoes with red onion and leftover chicken breast all hashed together topped by queso quesadilla cheese and over easy fried eggs. Tres yum.

We went to the Galleria yesterday and there is a new store there called Teavana. While there, we purchased 4 of there many varieties; Thai blend, black currant, almond and rooibos peach. We are currently enamored with the Thai blend. It is simply divine. We also purchased a clay pot in the shape of the Buddha. It is porous and eventually you can make tea without adding tea leaves so it is suggested you only brew one variety in it. Budda gets Thai blend. There are of course, many more tea pots which will be added to our little collection.

After Teavanna we stopped into Fossil so I could drool over the watch I want, and then into The Body Shop where we got a nice modern stainless steel infuser and some room oil to infuse in it. I went in looking for a lip crayon I got from them years ago, but no luck on that one.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Mothers and babies

This morning, I was lying in bed listening to this distinct new bird out either in my yard or in the immediate vicinity. I figured it was just passing through as its call was something totally foreign, having never been heard in the two years I have lived here.

After about 40 minutes of her most annoying bird song, I got up and went to see if she was visibly in the yard. I was planning to let the dogs out to shoo her away, though oddly enough, they were seemingly oblivious to her presence. I went to the patio door and what did I see but a duck being trailed by about ten babies. I called Elizabeth at work to ask her if she had seen it earlier this morning and she said no, but added that Sawyer had indeed been out in the yard and made no commotion. I told her I would take the dogs for a walk, then see if they were still in the yard and try to get a picture. I wanted her to know so she did not routinely let the dogs out if she arrived home before me.

After returning from the stroll with the dogs, I slipped out back with the camera. The ducks were around the side of the house hiding behind the air conditioner unit, likely having heard the dogs barking as we returned from the walk. As I got nearer with the camera, I saw there were two adult ducks and one of them flew toward me and to the top rail of the fence.

Fairly warned, I backed away and left them to their secure space. Now that I was considering the situation, I realized that Nola has been hanging out over on that side of the house for a week or so whenever she is outside. When the dogs go out, Sawyer has been scratching to come in, and in each instance, I have had to aggressively call Nola or let her stay out longer.I think she has been making friends with Mama duck.

While discussing this with Elizabeth, I reasoned that the ducks were flying and chose our yard to nest and lay eggs. The chicks are little fur balls and there is no way they flew into the yard with Mama. When we get home this afternoon, I will go out and see if they are still there and if there is any semblance of a nest, unless I am again shooed away.

When we returned home, the ducks were gone.









woohoo

sitting at Panera Bread with my wireless access equiped laptop...yee-haw!!

Technology advances

Thanks to my friend Beth, and some $$ donated to Best Buy, I am now wireless on my laptop. The excitement follows as I hope to carry my laptop off to a few local cafes more often that offer free wireless access and get into the groove of writing more again.

In addition to the router and wireless card, I also discovered a little wireless gadget which plugs into the USB port and requires no router to be wireless, which if I am following, means I could be wireless anywhere, like maybe the beach in Galveston!! woohoo...

While out yesterday I was writing down the accounts of my morning which included a visit by a mama duck and her babies. E is going to try to enhance the video I took in the digital camera or capture part of it as a pic to post here. If I can figure that out, I will post more about them later. They were just so cute, even if they did cause me to scrape the hell out of my heel. Maybe I should post that pic, too. I think not.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Time elastic

Time seems to have taken on some foreign concept lately. Not that it is foreign and I cannot comprehend, just that it seems so elastic.

On Friday morning last, we woke up late and I distinctly told E it was ok (for me) as it was Thursday. "No," she said calmly while the heat of her body still warmed my side, "it's definitely Friday." Shit.

Now here it is Tuesday and I feel as if it is some other day entirely. Part of the disconnect is due to yoga being on a month long summer break. I will be glad when class resumes next Tuesday morning and only hope to be present. It currently depends somewhat on buying airline tickets for my son's visit here later next month.

Tomorrow can't get here soon enough. I am hoping against hope that I see even a small loss at WW so I can scoot along right away to get my nails done and then to get with my laptop to the cafe. I negotiated with myself, and if there is a gain, I endure the WW meeting as punishment. If I am even or have a loss, I can weigh in only and get the fuck out of there before the drivel begins. It really is dreary once you have heard it so many times regardless how perky the leader is. Suitable punishment for not taking the knowledge to heart.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Do I care?

The blinds just fell that are in the bathroom window which faces the neighbors. Am I going to fix them before I take my shower?

Ummm...I think not.

What does concern me, however, is the rash that is covering my entire back. I had E put some lotion on me yesterday because my back has been feeling a little tight/dry skin/itchy and she used Lubriderm, which I have been using with no adverse affects for some time now.

The itchy really amped up through the evening, and this morning my back is looking all rashy and is as red as a sunburn. Did I mention it is itchy???

I have had similar rash in the past when I have switched laundry detergent. Tide, Surf, Gain, Cheer, just about anything other than Arm and Hammer sends me into rash anywhere clothing somes in contact with skin. Surprisingly, I can use the Costco brand detergent with no upset.Wooooweeee.

I need to wear a soft dress to work today to avoid further irritation, I think.

There will also be a lot of time out for short meditative breathing periods as it helps drive the itch out, at least for a short time.

Come rake your nails over my back, will ya?

Monday, June 14, 2004

Omigod, E bought me a book!!

I have gotten more new books lately than these, but these are the ones I will integrate into the e-library this evening.

Haslund, Ebba...Nothing Happened
Brown, Rita Mae...Plain Brown Rapper
Morrell, Mary...Final Rest
Hodgman, Helen...Waiting For Matindi
Hopkins, Jeffrey...Cultivating Compassion
Mah, Adeline Yen...Watching The Tree
Goldberg, Natalie...Thunder and Lightning
Pepin, Jacques...The Apprentice
McNab, Claire...Blood Link (15)
McNab, Claire...Death By Death
Stinson, Susan...Fat Girl Dances With Rock
Stinson, Susan...Martha Moody
Miller, Carlene...Death Off Stage

Woohoo...time to get reading!!

I think I had something more to say when I began this post, but zippo...it's gone.

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Slacker

I have been such a blog slacker. Really, there is little new to report. Same old, same old...life is good.

I began a memoir writing class at BNU so that has me a little distracted regarding updating here, but as I said, life, is good...so there is little in the way of vennting necessary at the moment.

Of course the asshole housesitters next door were at it again last night, but i was pretty tired when I finally went to bed, and that combined with a Norah Jones cd and E's soft and constant stroking of my tired flesh, I nodded off rather directly.

Lazy weekend, I'm yours.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Another sleep hangover

I am up this morning having slept well, but for too many hours. I feel like crap, as if I really tied one on last night. Funny though, even when I drink in mega excess, I am never hungover from alcohol, just from too much sleep.

There seems to be some sort of blah hanging in the air lately. I have a general life is good vibe going on, but yesterday I was just bored out of my mind at work. I am not sure how that indicates for the future, but it is wearing on my patience and such. Hopefully Sharon will know something definite in the next few days regarding transferring across town. A new locale will go a long way towards extending my patience even if it likely is just the same crap with new faces. But the new faces will at least be a diversion to my senses.

If there is no transfer, I am not sure how much longer I will stay with JCP. I might reconsider trying to get on with B and N where 20 hours is all that is required for insurance.

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Belated happy birthday to Mickey!!

E's sister had her baby yesterday and we had the task of caring for her three year old overnight. We did our best to corrupt him by watching Thomas the train followed by Wild Thornberry's and then Jimmy Neutron. And then, of course, repeatedly watching all three movies as much as possible during the past 24 hours. Thomas the train won at about 6 viewings.

While watching movies last night, I made him some mac and cheese and let him eat in front of the tv, and then of course we just slugged around today eating nothing but graham crackers.

Baby Mickey made his appearance last night at 11:30, weighing in at 8lbs 12 ozs and he is, of course, just darling.

On a sour note, the asshole neighbors have some asshole house sitters who at 1:30 am after E went over to ask them to quiet down, called her a shrew and after she left were mocking her and her request and suggesting we just stay over here and lick twat.

I am really struggling with how to keep an equanimous mind and deal with cultivating compassion toward those fuckers.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Promiscuous With Negroes

I am really seriously letting that be the title of my memoirs when I finally get it together. I am thinking good old Papu might have inspired a catchy hook of a title with that one. If he is still living when it is published, I will have to be sure he gets an author's signed copy. I imagine the cover art will be that of his daughter, the one not a woman and not gay and not vociferous in her opinions.

Hah!

Had a nice day off yesterday. I went to WW and was plus .6, but it is my period, and after weighing in I discovered my keys and my cell phone in my pocket. Duh!

After that I went to see Traci to get my nails done. I think she is worried I will go ack to Vicki who has returned from maternity leave. I might see her again, but really either of them do a good job, and since Vicki has never done my pedicure, I would still see Traci for that.

After the mani, I came home to meet brother-in-law Joe for a haircut. He has not seen me for nearly two months, so it was time. We chitchatted about things and then he warily brought up the recent controversy with Paou. We had a good laugh about it and he was surprised that I was not furious and hurt by it all. I tried to explain all the reasons I am not and he told me he really admired how I can let stuff go like that. Buddhism, I replied.

My books arrived for the next class I am taking at b and n uni dot com. It is a memoir writing class through them from Gotham Writers' Workshop and is offered FREE. I am interested in doing other GWW classes online which are more intense and, umm, not FREE, so I thought it might be a nice intro to their method and seeing if it fits before I drop a few hundred clams.

E got home just as Joe was leaving and we talked a little further about Papu and about Joe's son Bobby who is three and behaving terribly. Melodramatic, that one is. Kathy, Joe's wife is about to pop out little Mickey any day now and will be induced on Tuesday if she does not pop over the weekend. Bobby knows something is up. It occurs to me he might have little use for his new brother. "Send him back!" is what I hear coming from his mouth.

We had to take E's son Thomas to driving school and then while he was there we went and had enchiladas for lunch. After we ate we went by the candle shop we like and picked up a few more Circle E candles. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

We dropped T off at his dad's and then came home for a while. At around 7 we went by the hospital to visit Paul who had a heart attack Saturday and, well, frankly is not doing well at all. It was sad.

From there we went to Meteor for Ladies happy hour and saw Beth, Irina, and Mimi, always fun.

We went to MoMong for mango spring rolls and also had crab claws and fried rice, and finally we went in search of the Industry Cafe to see Grupo Fantasma. Muy excellente!

Home around 1230 last night and here i was awake this morning at 7.

Time for some yoga and then off to work.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Is he for real??? (Yes, he is...)

I have been considering planting a new bed in the back yard. Currently I have just two small Bouganvilla (I know that is not spelled right, but spellcheck offers no alternative) and no other ideas for what to put in it. Do I dig out the entire bed I will want there eventually? Do I dig out just enough space for the two pots? Tomorrow morning I will know. I will wake up knowing and just do it.

Tomorrow I also have the privilege of dealing with a family haircut. In comparison to the final drama with Papu, I now welcome the brother-in-law with no reservation.

Yesterday, an email from Papu informed E that he is just too uncomfortable around me to deal with it. He loves her blahx3, but he just can no longer tolerate me because, oh, let's see. (Fair warning, Papu is a bitter, bigoted, racist, homophobe of an old man.)

I am a W O M A M. Which he says in a derogatory way because I have disagreeable feminist leanings. (Yes, his daughter is one, too.)

I am gay. Does he think his daughter is not? Yes, I think he actually does.

I am a Jew. He thinks there is a small group of Jews controlling the world and his conspiracy theory is something that really distresses him. He often says things disparaging, and it is always his daughter who alerts him and contradicts him, yet I *am* the Jew.

I have two black sons and have been "promiscuous with Negroes". First of all, when it is not about him, he does not pay attention. While I do have two sons, just one of them is black. Secondly, I was married to his father for 10 years which does not by any stretch of the imagination make me "promiscuous with Negroes".

Lastly, He said that I was too vociferous in all these faults/opinions and he just can't deal with it any longer. If I am to be included when he is invited somewhere, he will pass. Boofricketyhoo.

E was concerned that I would be upset about this email, but really, I find it somewhat amusing and I have a reaction more of pity for how pathetic Papu is. Her reaction is to be through with him and she replied just that to her siblings, all of them had been cc-ed on Papu's original email.

He lost the one person who tolerated him best.

There is to be a family gathering July 4 at her sister's house which E says we will not be going to. I reminded her that I am usually the one who cooks at these events. Hah! He lost the cook then, too!