Some Jumbly Thoughts

So, when I leaped from the bed this morning (after the fourth snooze), I deemed my back healed enough to attempt a workout today - timely, since I can literally feel my ass spreading. I'll be getting to that in about an hour, once O's gone down for a nap.

The Boston Magazine's "Back to School" issue came out recently, and I was checking out their rankings of area private schools, as I am a product of one, and know many alums of similar schools. Turns out they rated my alma mater as the best school for mathletes. Y'all, I was on the math team for a few semesters.... and anyone who knows me understands that this is foolishness. Apparently their standards are higher than they were fifteen years ago. (Incidentally, so is the tuition...)

I may have neglected to mention my recent foray into beauty school as salon... Being sans petty cash these days, I decided to try out the local beauty school for my much needed haircut. Well, Blaine, thank you! I have almost seven inches less hair, cute layers, and just a little bit of easy style again. It's no trip to see Anthony at Runway, but it's pretty great for where I am now.

Two days ago I recieved email from Paypal indicating that my jerkface of a seller had initiated a refund. I can see it, pending there in my account, but so far, no complete transaction yet. It's killing me. I miss my computer to the point of pain. I've priced out another external drive, but I'm forcing myself to wait for the money to be safely back in my bank account before I spend it again. Damn my principles.

It's been cold in Boston lately, and clammy to day, insult to injury. It's making me think about taking up my knitting needles again. I haven't finished the pair of mittens I started in March, I wonder if there's still hope?

OK, must strap on my resistance bands and see how my back is really feeling...

I Heart Someday

My husband begins the long and arduous process of remodeling the rest of the downstairs tomorrow. Step one: Major demolition.

I will take the Megasaurus birthday cake I spent the day making, and haul it and myself off to Portland.

Someday, our stuff will decompress and no longer be smashed into two rooms upstairs. Someday, we will have a sparkly new bathroom/laundry room, and a home office, and a front parlor. Until then, I type in a room with the desk, the office supplies, a bed, bookshelf, CD rack, piano, and cat box in it. And those are just the items you can see to identify.

I heart Someday.

Les Vacances & A Bucket O' Problems

I haven't been working this week, which translates to "I've been working around the house this week." The kids are away with their parents, so there's nobody there for me to nanny. My favorite kind of week.

We're starting the next phase of the demolition on Saturday, which should be fun, since I'll be far far away in Maine with my godson for his birthday. In preparation for that, though, I have to get the house clean, and all laundry done, since we'll be unhooking the laundry machines for at least a week (maybe two!).

After being ill all of the week before last, missing two days of work, and visiting my Dr. twice before getting a proper diagnosis, last Wednesday I stepped off my front porch and threw out my lower back.

Don't ask. I soldiered through work all week, and managed a slow dance at Alta's wedding, and now, finally, it's down to a small twinge on the lower left side. Suck.

And now for The iBook Update, with your host, The Ebay Fraud Victim! Yep, I got hosed for $72 by a guy named Michael Ptacek, of somewhere in NY. He took a whole lot of people's money apparently, and bailed, since he's now racking up Paypal and Ebay disputes and claims and negative feedback. So, I have to hope that Paypal find the claim in my favor, and I get my $$ back. In the meantime, I now have &-72.00 and no external drive. Off to shop for another one... Hoo-fuckin'-ray!

Time for breakfast. I should maybe never blog before AM calories...

Stocking up....

I think there must be a taste of fall in the air, because I have wanted to cook, and bake, a freeze things - storing up for winter.

Since getting up this morning, I've made 4 quarts of chicken stock, a quart and a half of cabernet/meat "marinara", two whole wheat, onion/oregano baguettes, a sage and cornmeal tart shell for a tomato tart, and enough basil pesto for 4 pots of pasta.

Now, in the interest of doing something else with my time, it's laundry day!

oh, and Happy Birthday, Mr. Goatlick!

Keepin' His Banana Hand Strong!

This morning, O&I headed to the supermarket after dropping the big kids off at Day Camp. We did our shopping, and lined up at the register. O
s a social guy, and he always chats it up with the cashiers and baggers, and today was different. He was babbling away with the bagger, as the cashier rang up our bananas. I snagged one off the belt after they'd rung through, and peeled it for O, who had been whinging about them earlier. He starts munching on his banana, chubby little toddler fist wrapped tight around it, and the bagger, a middle aged black man, says, "That a good banana, brother?"

O smiles a banana-filled smile and says, "Mmm hmm!"

I pay for the groceries, and we collect our things. As we pull away from the bagging area, the bagger says, "Bye bye, now. You keep that banana hand strong, brother!"

I nearly choked trying not to laugh out loud.

Lord, I love urban grocery shopping with kids. That just doesn't happen at my suburban Stop&Shop.

Much less sweltering.

In the spirit of getting my little self even more organized, after yesterday's backupfest2006, I decided to make our 3rd bedroom/home office into something resembling a room more closely than a storage closet. I have succeeded, and the room is now much less sweltering (if this were PeeWee's Playhouse all the furniture would start jumping a cheering, "Word of the Day" or some crap like that), and much prettier.

::sigh::

Of to go wish a happy birthday to wee Corinne, who is 1.

Backing My Sh*t Up

(Title edited for the faint hearted.)

Oh, Sweet Blog of Mine!

I've been staring at everyone else's blogs for more than a week now, and I haven't the foggiest idea what to write about. It's like the well has dried up. Has the well dried up?

No!

I'm just hot, and tired, and cranky, and I. Miss. My. iBook.

I seriously can't get into the swing of thinking on a keyboard when it's in our sweltering home office, or on the laptop at work (incidentally, both are PC's: hiss!). But here I am, sweltering in the sweltering home office, because my beloved bought a fancy new printer/fax/copier/scanner and doesn't have room on his hard drive to install the software.

This = Eviction of the Cam

Not my actual person, mind you. Just my dusty files, sitting on his drive. I've got about 6GB of music in an iTunes account - and it's all been duplicated on my iBook, and some photography from the wedding... Plus odd resumes and conversations and stuff... But he says it all has to go.

So. I'm backing my shit up. A boring process in a sweltering room. Sweltering. Pretty soon I'm going to start repeating that word until it sounds wrong. I love that.

Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
Sweltering.
All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.

Just kidding. I don't want to scare away my tiny readership with fear of twins, rivers of blood, and/or "correcting" willful children and spouses with an axe.

My heavens, when will this backing up be done? You're all thinking, "Sheesh. I liked her better when she was mute with sadness over her iBook."

Yeah, well, I'll get back on the hoss. I will. Just after I finish backing my shit up.