Gettin' old

Getting old bites the big one. Working this weekend (actual manual labor) was not tough -- it's not particularly challenging to use a power washer for pete's sake -- but two full days of it kicked my butt. Big time.

Standing there spraying, moving the nozzel back and forth, over and over and over. Hauling the hoze a few feet at a time. Not too challenging, right? My body would disagree. On Saturday night I began to stiffen up. I was asleep by 9 p.m., exhausted. When I got up during the night I could barely get out of bed, let alone walk to the facilities -- oh the pain (even my fingers were killing me). Getting up Sunday morning was even more challenging. Thank goodness Rico was offering french toast for breakfast, or I might not have gotten out of bed.

A few ibuprofen and we were back at it Sunday morning. Rico manned the power equipment for the first couple of hours, and Nate and I trimmed plants, scrubbed furniture, and lounged on the deck chairs in the sun (just for a few minutes, really). When the guys left for baseball practice it was my turn again. Power up!

Rico filled up the gas tank in the power washer before he left for practice, and my brother filled it up again when he stopped over a bit later, and I was hard at it for just over an hour and half. Thank goodness the gas finally ran out! Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not incapable of filling the gas tank by myself, but I really hate the stink of gas, and let's face it, it was a good excuse to call it quits for the day.

The good news? I slept like a baby again on Sunday. Better news? The pool patio is looking great and will be open for the season soon. Ahhhhh. Summer. I can't wait.

The irony here? It's not even my pool deck, patio, plants, or furniture. Ha Ha! (Thank goodness for siblings who share their pool -- I'm a happy volunteer when we get to enjoy the pool all summer long.)

Crazier than a loon

Crazier than a loon, and I'm not talking about myself. Some days I could be. Easily. (And not just when PMS is a factor.) But yesterday it was Rico that was off-his-rocker crazy. In his defense his did have a migrane, and was medicated for that. But his normal migrane-med-induced loopyness was compounded by the fact that he'd taken a sleeping pill (or two).

OMGoodness was he freaky. And guess what? He has absolutely NO RECOLLECTION of what a freak-show last night was as a result. It's cracking me up. And he doesn't believe me.

Trust me, hon. I'm telling it true. You we're nuttier than a fruitcake. And girlier than I ever could be (can you tell which one of us is the romantic one in this relationship? Here's a clue: not me). Needy. Whiney. Clingy. Nearly in tears at one point.

AND HE DOESN'T REMEMBER IT. Too funny.

Some night I'm going to have to tape it when he's taken his migrane meds. While last night was a prime example of the nuttiness, other nights are just as much fun. It might be enlightening for him.

But for today we're repeating ALL of last nights' discussions, because he doesn't remember any of it. We watched the Masters -- and I know that Fred Couples was 6 under par at the end of yesterdays' play, a point Rico just clarified for me as we are watching Tom Watson chipping out of the bunker right now, and I'm like, DUH, I know that, we watched the end of it and the interview that followed yesterday (and I don't even like golf -- and I'm so tired of hearing about Tiger that I could spit nails). We had a long talk about our potential vacation to Mission Point Resort (no recollection). We talked about job stuff (still nothing). We talked about what show we were going to tape and which show we were going to watch (Mentalist v. Marriage Ref), and tonight he asks which one I want to watch first.

Seriously? He really doesn't remember that we watched all of Marriage Ref already? Nope. Nada. Well, I for one am not watching it again. It just wasn't that good. Sorry Rico, you're on your own with that one.

Happy weekend to all!

Barking dogs and taxes

This week I've heard my share of barking dogs (and a hissing cat) and have thought many times about our taxes. Doodle is staying with us this week while her family is in the panhandle enjoying the beach. She's got such a great personality, is super cute, and is peppy and bouncy (even when she had to wear "The Cone" to keep her from messin' with the dog bite she got last week). Love her tons, but boy this girls likes to use her voice. That's not something Killer does, so it's quite a shock to the system.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when she barks at something in the middle of the night and both dogs go racing across the room to look out the window. Then they race across the room to the other window. Then back again. All the while Rico is yelling "Dogs, no barking! No barking!" (Which, by the way, is really, really effective. Not!).

The fun really gets going when my cat comes into the bedroom and hisses as she walks by --this gets Doodle all worked up and she starts chasing her. Then Killer starts chasing them both. Fun, fun, fun. Hissing and barking, running, hissing, barking. Rico yelling.

Tonight I think I'll take something to help me sleep. :) And maybe I should take something to help me stop thinking about the fact that our taxes aren't done yet.

This may not seems like a big deal to most people, but I'm pretty anal about getting stuff done on time. And we're talking about taxes from 2008. Yup, that's right, 2008. They're still not done, and I can't freakin' believe it. All I can say is that we had better not get a bill from the tax accountant for this cluster or I might lose it. We still don't have an idea if we're getting something back, or if we'll be paying. Considering Rico is not working right now, I'm really hoping it's the former. (please, please, please, please)

Then we can go back to doing the E-Z form for 2009 taxes -- because we won't have any business stuff to deal with anymore. Woo-hoo!

I call a do-over

I've got a friend who is remodeling her bathroom, and I've got bathroom envy. Or is it re-do envy? I want to redo my bathroom too. All of it -- from floor to ceiling. I figure it's been 13+ years, so it's time. Don't you think?

It would be great to do an addition -- and expand the whole thing. But that's not very realistic at this point, especially since we don't have any money set aside for that kind of thing. Maybe dreaming smaller is the key here. Baby steps.

So if I were thinking of just doing bite-size changes I can see stuff more along these lines:

New flooring like this maybe?

Lilac Kashmir Mini Pattern Slate

I love the pattern. And the colors, oh my goodness the colors. Love them! And they'd show way less pet hair than the white tile we currently have -- that's definitely a bonus. I know I wouldn't tire of this because we have an Indian slate back splash in the kitchen, which is similar in color. And, of course, if we're adding new tile then we'd have to put in radiant floor heating before installing the new tile. What a lovely thing that would be on cold winter mornings.

A new vanity like this?

Metro 24" Vanity

I love the style, and I love that it would make the bathroom seem roomier because it's open instead of enclosed. But I worry about having enough storage for stuff you don't necessarily want people to see if they happen to use that bathroom. And, you know, a certain amount of "stuff" is essential in a bathroom. Would I find it irritating to have that stuff in a cute box on the shelf? Hmmm. I don't know, but I think I might. I wonder if I could have Rico build a cabinet that matches the vanity and I could hide stuff in that. Sounds like a workable plan.

A new mirror?

The Afina Medicine Cabinet

This would be nice -- a mirror and storage all in one (that way Rico doesn't have to build anything). I like that it's recessed into the wall, because that helps make the space seem larger too. Do you get the impression that our master bath is small? It is. Tiny. Tiny. Tiny. We were on a serious budget when we built, so there was no spa-tub or spaciousness involved in the master bath. So, yeah, I like this mirror, but holy moly I think I'd have a heart attack if I spent $1000 on a medicine cabinet. Maybe I can take an adult ed metal-crafting class somewhere and make it myself. That'll be easy, right?

A new color palette?

Maybe a purple-ish warm gray? Or a tan? Or a green?

Insightful Rose , OR

Nomadic Desert OR

Sequin

Ah, a girl can dream.

It's really a shame that I don't have a spare $3,000 sitting around, because if I did I'd hop right on this bathroom redo plan!

Missing the larger issue.

Empowerment? Seriously?

I was greeted at this morning by an email-missive to help our department by taking yet another survey -- because the company-wide employee opinion survey didn't point out explicitly enough that we feel totally let down (Hello? Big kahunas? Are you listening?). I mean really, how many people have to express the same opinion before someone sits up and takes notice?

Oh, well let's not forget, changes have taken place since that survey was done, and it's a brand new world at work since then. Oh. I must have missed that part. You know, the brand-new-world part. Because, new management or not, where I am is just as miserable as is has been for the last several years, and I'm not the only one feeling that way.

But hey, at least they asked us for areas of improvement, right? Sure. And, just so we're clear, I'm saying that totally sarcastically, and drawing it out so that "sure" is more than just one syllable. They asked. We answered. And then they choose to "focus" on areas that weren't the pain points that we said needed to be addressed. That's an EXCELLENT plan. That'll help tons! Way to go!

(Just so you know, I'm hearing a voice in my head say these comments -- a specific voice, in a specific delivery -- and I can't for the life of me figure out whose voice it is. Talk about irritating. Rest assured it's not a "voice" that I'm hearing for real -- I know it's not real, silly. But as I read this back to myself my commentary is being narrated by a specific TV talent. Arghhhhh! Who is it?)

So "empowerment" is the focus of choice. And -- poor me -- I'm at a loss as to how to respond to this survey. How can I articulate the many things that are wrong? The way we feel so demoralized day in and day out? 
 
demoralize
/dɪˈmɔrəˌlaɪz, -ˈmɒr-/ [dih-mawr-uh-lahyz, -mor-]
–verb (used with object),-ized, -iz·ing.

1. to deprive (a person or persons) of spirit, courage, discipline, etc.; destroy the morale of: The continuous barrage demoralized the infantry.

2. to throw (a person) into disorder or confusion; bewilder: We were so demoralized by that one wrong turn that we were lost for hours.


Ohhhhhhhh. I got it! Go listen to the Hoops and YoYo "Sarcastic Wednesday" clip. That's who it is that I'm hearing deliver this narrative -- sorry, it wasn't TV at all, but a video clip that really resonates with me. This says it all.

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/article%7C10001%7C10051%7C/HallmarkSite/hoops_yoyohome/Animations/Funimations/HYY_FUNIMATIONS?mn=wednesday

The tone. The sarcasm. The pizza "reward" for working late. That's it exactly.

I'm going back to "the land of fairies and elves" now. I'll be working on composing my survey answers in a way that might be seen as empowering. Sleep is highly overrated.

Patience

fineartamerica.com

Patience is a virtue, right? I've had lots and lots of it in the past (the last 3 years I've had tons and tons in some aspects of my life), but lately patience is in short supply.

Short, short supply.

This makes me wonder how I can build that reservoir back up? Or worse yet, can I? Or is my patience depleted until some of the issues I've lost patience with have been resolved? Ohhhhhhhh, that would be bad, because I don't see any of them getting resolved any time soon. Oy.

I'm dreaming about Isabella (can anyone say unresolved issues?)
Work continues to be a daily struggle.
He's unemployed and is considering going back to school (and how do we pay for that?).
The economy is so tough that jobs are tough, tough, tough to come by.

And to top it all off I'm just so flipping tired of it all. Can someone else be the grownup for a while? I need a break.

I did some grocery shopping (gasp!)

Normally we go to the grocery mega-store, known in these parts as Meijer, and I putz around looking at everything but the grocery section (yes, I even travel through hardware and automotive for fun) -- and Jason does the grocery section all by his lonesome (yeah for Jason).

But not this week! No-ooooooooo. I braved the store all by myself, and I done good.

I filled the whole cart at Meijer all by myself...

with this:

(which is ever, ever, so good! Hot and spicy, just like the box says.)

and this:

(I gotta have it)

and this:

All images from meijer.com

Do I ROCK, or what? We are living high on the hog, baby!

P.S. We won't mention the chocolate Meijer poptarts or the two chocolate donuts from the bakery case, ok? Shhhhh.