it's the little things...

I've finally gotten caught up with all my favorite blogs. It seems that I'm not the only one who had mixed feelings about Christmas this year. And I'm not the only one who is glad it is over. I'm not sure how it happened (what with society forcing the holidays on us since mid-November) but Christmas snuck up on me. I had a feeling it might so I tried to get all my shopping done before the move. Yeah, as always there were those last minute gifts to buy. I think I finished shopping with 3 days to spare. Christmas eve is reserved for my Hungarian family. (Yeah, I know, I'm not really Hungarian. Can you be an honorary nationality?) It's fun to see how traditions evolve. Who would have thought that I would spend the night before Christmas eating stuffed cabbage and other traditional Hungarian food? Crazy stuff. My brother and I exchanged presents on Christmas morning. We got some pretty nifty gifts but the funniest thing is that we both bought each other

There's been so much change lately that I'm refusing to switch to the new version of blogging. I may be the last one to do it... Other than that, I've been busy with Christmas and moving (still). I think I'm now about 95% moved in. Tonight is my first night to sleep here. Wish me luck. I'll write more soon about the goings on and my reactions to it all. For now, though, I feel the call of the unpacked boxes. Hope y'all had a great holiday!

So what's more fun than moving around Christmastime? Getting sick while all that's happening. I got whatever virus is going around. I blame traveling. I think I'm feeling better today but am drowsy from medication. Just one more quick 2-day trip to the Big D before I get a 2-week travel break. And I'm posting from home. Yea for internet access! I'm about 75% moved in (meaning boxes everywhere--props to the friends and fam who helped). I have all the necessary utilities except phone. Please, God, let them come soon. I'm trapped here with only cookies and Cheez-Its to sustain me until AT&T comes. Am I the only one not finished with Christmas shopping?

it's what bwings us togetha today... (Love that Princess Bride .) I love my house. I'm maybe in love with it. I think about it before bed and wake up thinking about it and it makes me happy. And since Friday I've wanted to work on other areas of my life to make myself better. From what I remember about relationships, I think it's love. And speaking of love, I love the brother's girlfriend's mom. Well, I kinda dig her whole family but I really like that her mom sees things the same way I do. What a single person needs (or maybe any person or maybe just me) when she buys a house on her own is encouragement and affirmation. That's what I got from the girlfriend's family--an appreciation of what it is and the vision of how much more it could be. They're nice peeps. So all this has made me realize (again) how important it is to support people. It's been a crazy week so far. I had a quick trip to the greater Dallas area (full of stress and

When I posted about cattywampus the other day I realized that the next post would be #100. Since that's a little milestone, I decided to wait until today to post again (regarding a bigger milestone). I'm now allegedly a homeowner. I know, anyone I've talked to recently I've said "allegedly" to about a million times. The jacka$$ male homeowner still needs to sign and all the money still needs to clear. I, however, have officially signed my life away. I'm very pleased at how nice everyone was...my agent, my loan lady, and the title company woman. As I was warned, all my documents said "cjh, A SINGLE WOMAN ." Seriously, with bold and capital letters. On the upside, the title company woman said she has a 31-year-old son and that I was just a doll. I told her that she has all my contact information (and then some) so she could pass it along. Hopefully I'll be able to move some things in this weekend but I probably won't be fully mov

Topeka's version of "cattywampus."

First, I know..."most busiest." This is both to emphasize just how busy and to fit with the appropriate number of syllables for the song. Who thought the Christmas season was a good time to buy a house? November was my worst travel month since April (which was my worst month ever). It worked out ok that I was able to do the in-person house-buying things while I was in town for a day or two. But my personal "to do" list is once again a mile long. On Saturday you don't really get going until the afternoon and on Sunday not everything is open. Would someone like to take my car in for an oil change? We could peel off that little corner windshield sticker in advance so you don't get berated for how long it's been. Anyone? How about going to the post office? Like that chore isn't always horrible let's throw in the holiday season. Anyone want to be a personal shopper for hard-to-buy for friends? Or take my computer in to get fixed (yep, stil

So I woke up this morning thinking that this time next week I'll likely be vomitting next to my car after closing on my house. Seriously. But then, I can vomit here (possibly because of that tacky wallpaper): That's my bathroom! That's my bathroom! MY bathroom! heehee

That's something we sometimes use in reference to my brother (who finally "came to town" about a year and a half ago after living in the country his whole life). Today, however, it refers to me. I should be asleep since I have breakfast at 7am and it's midnight here. Where is here? The Ritz-Carlton. South Beach. I grew up poor and in the country (which, incidentally, I think is better than poor and in the city). We didn't take vacations. We didn't travel further than Houston or Corpus. I didn't leave Texas until I was 17. Didn't fly until I was 20. Now I have a life where keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground for more than a week seems like an eternity. A life where I say things like "it's been so long since I've been to Miami--7 months!" A life where people valet park my rental car. Where people offer to help with my luggage. Where, when I'm out to dinner, someone comes and leaves me tiny chocolates on my

The days go by so quickly, don't they? The days off? Even faster. I had a rushed trip to Dallas last Monday/Tuesday so that allowed me to only need to work a few hours on Wednesday. However, I had to fly back to Dallas yesterday. I stay here until tomorrow and then am off to Miami for some training. Then back home around midnight on Thursday. Thank goodness November will be over. It's been a rough month. Random quote for today. No need to seek hidden meaning or link it to any other part of this. It's just the Real Simple daily quote. And a good one at that. "I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one." -Mark Twain Ok, so I got finished with work a little early today and caught about half of Oprah. It was the second half of her Pay It Forward show. Yeah, it was a sob fest. In a good way. She gave each member of her audience a $1000 gift card sometime in October. They were to use it however they wanted to but she asked t

Just thought it would be a tad hypocritical of me to wax on about Thanksgiving and not acknowledge the actual day. However, I was spending it with friends and family and friends who are like family instead of blogging so maybe I'm not hypocritical afterall. I leave you with a quote... "Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." -E.P Powell

Brisk weather. Live music. Naps. Warm beds. Safe travel. Downtown skyscrapers glowing pink in the sunrise. Coffee. Vending machines. A glass of wine. A good meal. An entertaining book.

It's November 19. Last Sunday, the 12th, was the first time this year that I heard Christmas music in a public place. I heard it again on Wednesday and saw someone putting up yard decorations yesterday. This makes me crazy. I do enjoy the holiday season for the most part. (It's kind of a mixed bag for me.) But why do we have to rush towards it? Why can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving? You know, the holiday that comes between Halloween and Christmas. The one where we're supposed to show gratitude. Gratitude, perhaps, for all the material things society is been pressuring us to buy for Christmas. Part of my annoyance regarding the extended holiday season is because I like Thanksgiving. It gets overshadowed since it isn't as profitable a holiday. No myriad of gifts to buy. No costumes and tubs of candy. It only requires food. And family and friends. But if you go into craft-type stores like Garden Ridge or Hobby Lobby, you may be able to find generic Fall

1. You sometimes are ill-prepared for weather. You try to be prepared. You look, say, Sunday night while you are packing to see what the forecast is for the week ahead. It says the lowest high is 68. Not bad. You take a light jacket. The lowest high ends up being about 25 degrees colder than that with a wind chill in the teens/low twenties. You wake up in the morning and it is below freezing. There is ice on your windshield. You wish you had gloves. 2. You forget (Honestly! See #3 for reason why...) to remove small make-up bag from purse. You usually put it in the checked luggage, you really do. You know lip gloss and liquid foundation are contraband. You know someone somewhere knows how to combine those two items (or identical looking items) with some spit and maybe a paper clip to do some real damage on a plane. You ignore your oversight and hope security is lax. It isn't. You can't send these two small items through security on their own without being safely

Let's get the obligatory house update out of the way. The inspector came on Friday. Nothing major. There were two things we requested the owners fix and they said ok. The termite guy came today and no little pests living in the wood. He recommended preventative treatment (who wouldn't?) and also said he could collect the numerous feral outdoor cats living at the house. (Can you have indoor feral cats? That would really be scary.) So the next step is the appraisal. I hope it appraises for a little less and that the owner has to go down on the price. Our (meaning my agent and me) requests thus far have been called "reasonable" so hopefully they just want to get out of the house whatever the cost. The weekend was good. Got to visit two (count 'em, two) scrapbooking stores. Now, I'm not a huge fan of scrapbooking. I've made one in my life. I do love making cards and that lets me make use of the fun scrapbooking stuff. Well, at one of the store

...to all my friends whom I have been ignoring. Especially the calls I need to return. November is a crappy travel month. And add on all the stuff with buying a house. I will try to call some of you back tonight (but it is Dancing with the Stars finale night so I make no promises) and hopefully send some emails. And maybe post for real. I could tell you that it is cold in Oklahoma and getting colder as the week goes on. Tomorrow? Highs in the 40s and wind chill in the teens. That's nuts. Ok, I better get going. Must get to work at some point this morning.

"Overheard in the Doctor's Waiting Room" or "How to Tell a Man is Gay" Man 1: Isn't that just like the first settee you recovered? Man 2: Yes. Before I get hate mail, see #82 . Happy Friday.

- I had 4 flights in 3 days (which is not my personal best). - Only one had what I deem a good landing. - Two had a bit of a skid (that's comforting) and one kind of just slammed into the ground. - I like to critique the landings and wish the powers-that-be would give me Olympic (or Dancing with the Stars)-type numbers to hold up. - I get excited and surprised when my checked luggage is the first bag to come out. - I dislike valet parking at hotels solely because they take my keys and I forget what car I was driving. - For the first time since the weird liquid rules started, I tried to smuggle a bottle of water through security. On accident. - I got a little misty watching some people get greeted at the airport. - If I ever have a significant other, please tell him that I would appreciate an occasional (maybe twice a year) surprise greeting at the airport. - I decided that sometimes all I need to put a smile on my face is a relatively cute boy talking with an accent. - Knoxville w

Ever notice how you sometimes tend to let things go? Something comes up, whether you wanted it to or not, something that you don't normally have to deal with... Say, trying to buy a house, for example. Most of your energy goes to that one thing and all the little things go by the wayside. I really need to do things like take in dry cleaning and get my freakin' computer fixed. Maybe get a haircut (it's only been 3 months). Return an ill-fitting pair of pajama pants. Buy a cell phone that works. The thing that's driving me most crazy, though, is the computer. If it were fixed I could share with you how cool this hotel is. I'm in our great state capitol. I didn't early vote. I know, add it to the list. And I'm not going to be home tomorrow. I'll be here. You think they'd let me vote anyway? Cut out the middle man? I don't think I'd vote for the current governor so I doubt he'd let me sneak in a vote in the wrong county. I don

I don't know...it's just the sound I'm quietly making. I just heard back that the sellers slightly countered and we have settled on a price. Now we just have the inspection and the appraisal. And then...I'll be a homeowner. The homeowner. Of the coolest freakin' house around here. Woohoo!

I made an offer on the house.

If I'm really only supposed to post about house stuff once per week (per my self-imposed restriction), I don't think I'll be able to post anything until Monday. It is an all-consuming, stressful, exciting, wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night, splitting-headache-inducing whirlwind of, um, fun? If you ownded a home very near the coast, do you think you would have some degree of worry in the back of your mind all through hurricane season? If (sticking with starting all paragraphs with the same word) you had a choice, would you pick what seemed like your dream home over other so-so homes if you knew it would make money slightly tighter in the short-run?

Here's to being whoever you want to be...

Yes, feeling torn. Here's the house update...maybe it could become a weekly thing so that y'all suffer less. Meanwhile, it will remain pretty much the only thing I think about. I have a realtor. She was referred by friends (thanks) and I really like her. We spoke on the phone on Friday (twice and for quite awhile). She's very helpful and explains lots of things that I never even would have known to ask about. When I asked her questions she either answered them or said she would have to do some research on that. She actually did do some research. When I sent her two other houses I was curious about she promptly gave feedback, both positive and negative and all practical and relevant. Since I'm still not sure about the house that you've all seen, I wanted her to go with me to see it. And I took the brother along. (As an aside, it's weird to be a fairly goal-oriented person who is now in the position of just wanting to be told what to do, what decision

So, yeah, I've been awake for 4 hours. I woke up during that last band of storms--the one that was followed by these gloriously lower temperatures--and I couldn't fall back asleep. After about an hour I figured if I was up already I might as well get some work done. Now, at not-quite-8:00, my workday is nearly halfway over. I really do need to start a list about why my job is great. This would be one of them. That if I can't sleep (which has never happened before), I can drag myself (PJs and all) the few feet to my office. If, for some reason, I do get tired later, I can nap without guilt because I know probably not many people were at work at 5am reading some boring crap and sending e-mails. That's actually why I started working this morning--the boring crap. I thought that if anything would make me want to go back to sleep that would be it. But it didn't. The upside is that, again, not many people are reading the boring crap at 5am and the program works

6:45 am - Wake up. 7:00 am - Get out of hotel bed. Look outside and realize it is very dark. Time change is coming, as is bad weather. Think that flights will probably be delayed today. 7:45 am - Look for Starbucks online. 8:00 am - Get stuck in traffic even though hotel to Starbucks to office should be very short trips. 8:15 am - Use Starbucks Drive-Thru because it is pouring. Think how annoying the car in front of me is because woman does not turn off wipers causing water pouring off Starbucks' roof to fling directly at barrista. 8:16 am - Turn off wipers. 8:30 am - Make it to office. Still raining. 11:30 am - Tired of snarky comments written in notes by employee here. Decide to be a b!+ch right back and point out every little thing she did wrong. 11:31 am - Annoyed at employee using ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME. Why do people not know this means they are yelling? Maybe she does know... 1:15 pm - Finished with work. Go talk to employee before heading to the airport

A little more of a break before getting back to house stuff. Here's the post I've been delaying. I got this e-mail from a friend of mine who was around during these times. Thought I'd share. Walk with me down... Let's go back... Before the Internet or PC or the MAC. Before semi-automatics and crack. Before Playstation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari. Before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail... Way, way, way back... I'm talkin' bout - Hide and seek at dusk - Red light, Green light - Red Rover, Red Rover... - Playing kickball & dodgeball until the first...no...second...no...third street light came on - Ring around the Rosie - London Bridge - Hot potato - Hop Scotch - Jump rope - Duck...duck...GOOSE!!! - YOU'RE IT!! - Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home (no pagers or cell phones) - Mother May I? - Hula Hoops - Seeing shapes in the clouds - The sound of crickets - Running throu

Ok, cheesy new poll to pass some time and give us all a little break from the house stuff. (Note--It's not my picture. Still can't post any of those as the personal computer is still dead.) No one was very interested in Hal. No one cared why I loved him. It was because of all those things... Enjoy the cool weather!

Ok, so I've decided I just really want the house. That the stand-in real estate agent just sucks. Why should I listen to one stranger's opinion when he doesn't even know the neighborhood I'm talking about or the geography of the area despite his 20 years of experience? And, after painting his grim little picture, doesn't even follow-up. Tomorrow I'm going to run up to my bank to see if they have a mortgage person there. If not, I'll call the woman in town who can help me get pre-approved. Then I'll shop around...just want to have that pre-approval. Thanks to some of my fabulous peeps (new and old), I now feel like I have some direction in which to move. I've never done this before, it's scary, it's not something I want to learn as I go along (because I've never been that kind of person), and all big events make me crazily emotional (because even the happy things are tinged with sadness because Mom isn't there). I'm not apol

***WARNING: If you do not want to be subjected to sad whining, please read only the information in bold.*** That's what I'm supposed to be doing--regrouping. I'm supposed to say I didn't want that house anyway. That surely there were tons of things wrong with it. That it just wasn't meant to be. That all feels like bull$h!t right now. I love that house. I think it should be my house. I saw it and didn't want to look around for another one. I still don't really. I want to sit on the couch watching the Project Runway finale (finally!) and cry a little with them because their dreams are coming true. And maybe eat some sweets... It sucks. The woman who owns the house only bought it 2 1/2 years ago for probably more than she should have. That pretty much translates into cjh won't be able to afford it. Still. Can't afford it. The other houses like that around here--that could possibly go on the market if all the stars aligned--would go fo

It's not going to be my house.

Tigger, this one's for you... I know you believe it is most important for me to visualize what I want but I could seriously use everyone's help. What we need to be visualizing is me in this house (even if you've never met me--I think you can visualize my spirit or something). We need to visualize me getting pre-approval for a loan. We need to visualize the inspector saying it looks great. We need to visualize the sellers coming down on the price so that I feel comfortable with it. We need to visualize it all going smoothly and positively. Honestly, I love the house. I could see myself living there and at the same time can't believe I could be so lucky as to own that house. It would make all the waiting and the sacrificing and the being responsible all worth it. It's so beautiful. And like all big steps in my life, I wish Mom were here. She'd be so proud that my brother and I are doing so well. And I think she would have loved the house, too. (Ok, I

Yesterday I forgot to mention what made me really nuts. I knew I needed to call the real estate agent to set up an appointment to see the house. It was like calling a blind date. I was nervous and had to psych myself up. How ridiculous is that? I'm going this evening at 6pm. First, I'll have to do my hair and change clothes nine times. Anyway, I've never purchased a home before. My credit is quite good. I have a bank and a credit union. I know nothing about home-buying--loans, paperwork, realtors, making offers. A friend told me yesterday that she figured I would know a lot from when my brother bought this house. I talked to him about it last night and he said all he could tell me was that after he signed the papers he felt like he needed to go outside and throw up. Unfortunately, that's the only part that I think will come pretty naturally to me, too. Any and all advice is welcome. Feel free to comment or e-mail me. (The upcoming post I mentioned this past

Ok, it's tomorrow. I called the agent and am waiting for her to call me back to set up an appointment to look at that house. Seriously, this is already making me insane. I woke up early this morning because it is super windy here. Granted, it is always fairly windy but when the Weather Channel's little picture tells you it's going to be windy you know you're in trouble. The wind chimes were making me insane. I went outside to take them down and then couldn't fall back asleep. I was thinking about the house. Since it's been so long since my "stuff" has lived with me instead of in storage, I was thinking about my old apartment and what was where. Then I was thinking about where I would put things in the new place. And what colors I would paint things. And how much I could really afford to pay for a house. And if anyone else wanted "my" house. And how it would look decorated for different holidays. And on and on. I know if this is

How beautiful is this house? I'm going to call the agent about it tomorrow. Not that that means anything but I guess the house hunting has begun... The other post will have to wait another day...

Just a quick little note... I really should keep a list of things regarding work. Things that make it cool to travel, things that are nifty about working from home, misconceptions, how it makes you weird. Here's a weird one. I never really traveled before this job. I grew up a poor, country kid. I never left Texas until a band trip the school raised money for when I was 17. It was Disney World, by the way. And I never flew until I was almost 21. That was to see a friend in Phoenix. I didn't feel left out then. It really was a simpler time even though it wasn't too terribly long ago. (My post for tomorrow will oddly relate to this. "Why are you not posting that today?" you ask. Because I still want comments on my last post--God love you and your motherly concern, Bubba's Mom--and poll responses.) So here's the weird part. As I was driving (off into the sunset) to the BBQ cook-off last night, I saw a plane coming in for a landing at the small

It's here. It's really here! At least for today... So even though I haven't been traveling out of town this week, it's been very busy. I've been trying to fit in all the social obligations, deal with some dilemmas, get all my work done. Last night I had a fun, progressive evening. Before-dinner drinks, dinner, dessert and coffee each at different places I've never actually been inside before. Good times... Somewhere along the way I mentioned "Hal," my recently developed crush. At the time, I could not think of his last name (don't you hate it when that happens?). It's Sparks. (I was going to just ask questions here but I'm totally making a slightly inappropriate poll. I apologize in advance to the people who think I'm still 8 years old and think boys are icky.) Here are some pictures. Tell me why you think I like him so much (you can vote for more than one choice). Oh, and people love The Breakfast Club most, then Ferris Buel

Remember how I mentioned before that my personal computer broke? Apparently that was only the beginning. Yesterday my work computer crapped out at times. About the right third of the keyboard ended up taking control. And by that I mean it was like I was pushing the "control" key. That's fun. And I could only use the left shift key. I have realized that I almost solely use the right shift key when typing so this has thrown me off. And sometimes "shift" did not work at all. And some of the numbers just ignored me at times. I tried to restart. Still broken and I couldn't even log on because my password and ID each have a capital letter. Sweet. If I shut down, walked away, and started all over again it would work. For maybe an hour. Today it seems to be ok. During all of that I was listening to my iPod. It suddenly just stopped playing. Six seconds left in an REM song...froze. No button would work. It would do nothing. This sucked because I ha

Usually it kind of gets on my nerves when people say that. However, when you've worked more than 40 hours by Wednesday, it pretty much captures your feeling by Friday. Despite that, it was a good week. I'm not sick (knock on wood), I didn't die in the broken plane, I had an interesting chat with a girl in the airport who told me she had a learning disability but neglected to mention she has auditory hallucinations as well, I dug myself out of the hole I was in at/with work... I got a piece of mail addressed to "the amazing (insert my real name here)." Let me just say that if you actually send fun mail to a person, you should always address it to "the amazing," "the fabulous," "the beautiful," etc. person. It is an even nicer way to get mail. I got to see and feel Fall for a good 4 hours. Did you know there are fall foliage hotlines as well as regional fall color maps ? And last night we had a little girls' night dinner. I

Ok, so it wasn't 1,000 miles (more like 768) but it should have been. Since I've been so backed up with work lately (I'll interject here that this is kind of punny as I'm working on a constipation study), I felt thankful yesterday that I was smart enough to have booked myself a 5:30pm flight. I still had time to get some work done yesterday and attend a conference call. Made it easily to the big airport. All my tiny liquids and gels fit in their resealable, quart-size plastic bag. We were leaving from a B84 gate, which sucks. That's the gate that crams way too many people in way too small a place and then makes you take a teeny, tiny bus trip to the plane. They called for us to board the bus right on time. Things were looking good. As soon as I hauled my bags up the bus steps and got settled, some kind airport employee peaks her head into the bus and tells us we'll have to go back inside. Apparently there was some mechanical problem with our plane. Tha

In an attempt to get caught up with work, I spent most of yesterday at "the office." In an attempt to not be too pathetic, I only did the mindless tasks and ones that may possibly be construed as fun (if, say, one were imprisoned or something). But I did get work done...work that I would never have had time for because of all the catching up I have to do. And, maybe, work that will help me do a better job in the future. Success? Only time will tell. Very sad that the Astros season is over. So close... But it was an incredible run at the end, and I'm still proud. I blame Doug, my former supervisor, who felt compelled to talk about the winning streak. What kind of male/sports fan is he? That's the quickest way to end a streak... Thanks for all the comments on the last post. Feel free to keep throwing out ideas whenever they come to you. And the new anonymous, welcome. I spent part of the weekend looking at houses online. My house isn't for sale yet. I

Finally, I'm back home. It was a long week as indicated by my inability to answer a simple question posed by an airline representative. "What was in your luggage?" "Clothes," I say. No kidding, thinks Rep. "Yes, but what kind? Even saying 'a green shirt' would help locate your bag if the tag fell off." "Hmmm, slacks? Yeah, some khaki slacks?" I reply. Why can't I think of what I wore this week. What did I wear yesterday? "Honest to God I can't remember what I wore yesterday. It's been a long week." "I bet." Honestly, it was. My luggage is supposedly arriving by 9pm tonight. Doesn't it seem weird that there are people who drive other people their luggage? It's their job. Airlines need to pay people to do that...seems strange and wasteful and an exercise in inefficiency but whatever. So on my way home I was listening to the radio, flipping through the stations. You know how occasiona

Tigger stealthily sneaked my quote from the other day to use in her blog. Today, I'm sending you there for this . Would love to do this in airports...

There's so much to do. You know how missing work because you're sick makes you behind? You know how when you're out of the office for pretty much any reason (even if it is work-related) it makes you behind? I'm really, really behind. My schedule was so well-planned before I got sick and had to rearrange things. I was supposed to have two busy weeks separated by a catch-up one. Instead, I was sick (physically and then mentally from that freakin' medicine) for two weeks. Schedule began to suck. Now, pull out your calendar. See September 14th? Yeah, from then till the end of the month, wanna guess how many days I was in the office? You have a good number in your head? Mmhmm...the answer is one. One day. That's not enough to catch up on things. And then you pile on more work every single day. Ugh. When you tell people you travel a lot for work you get "must be nice" responses most of the time. These come from people who never travel for w

It appears that people become concerned now if I don't post on a somewhat regular basis. That's kind of nice to know. Or maybe they just become concerned when the last post revealed possible mental health issues and then there was a lack of communication. Regardless, I don't really have a lot on my mind right now. Since Thursday I've worked at home, bought yet another pair of boots, got a free pair of underwear, been told I'm an interesting combination of creative and analytical, read some blogs, gone to Home Depot and been surprised at how excited the store is about Halloween, realized yet again how great my friends are, made meatloaf, watched the Astros, been asked to do laundry... All in all, a pretty normal few days. I haven't watched any news, preferring instead to live in my own tiny little world instead of the greater one. I haven't delved too deeply into my head or anyone else's--a rarity for someone who majored in psychology. I haven

I'm so happy that Grey's Anatomy is back. It's like the return of old friends. Maybe like the friends you wouldn't see all summer but you were reunited with the first day back at school. Does that happen in the city? We lived far away from some of our friends, not just down the block. Anyway, I'm glad to see them. I'm glad, like old friends, we could pick up right where we left off. So we need a new poll. If it were up to you people and if the universe worked like Survivor, we'd be voting off Mercury, Mars, or Neptune. Jupiter won by a nose. I'll work on a gigantic sash and crown for it. The new poll will keep with the theme of old friends...

Wow, where to start? I feel like I've been out of touch for so long... I'm finally feeling coherent and nearly healthy. I haven't had to nap at all today. I've been able to focus and actually do my job. That's more than I can say for the past two weeks. Ugh. This weekend some of my friends had a fondue party. We had three courses--cheese, main course (broth and oil), and chocolate. Yummm. It was all so good and good company, too. And, of all my friends' houses, I think theirs is my favorite. I was in Detroit/Ann Arbor on Monday and Tuesday. I might as well have been in any town in any state in the country. I flew in and it was raining and dreary. I had to drive to Ann Arbor in the rain and with my mind in a fog. Couldn't exactly browse the surroundings. Went straight to my site and got there around 1:00. I had to leave a little after 4:00 because I couldn't physically stay awake. It sucked. And the site was not so great either. I went

Just a quick post to let y'all know I'm alive. Honest to God I just started feeling somewhat normal (for me anyway) tonight. I've been sleeping a bunch and traveling and lacking internet access. So much to catch up on and we need a new poll and everything. Hopefully I'll be able to post more tomorrow night. And read up on everyone else's lives...

(Think the Peanuts gangs' teacher's voice with that one.) Oh, geez, where to begin... I'm in Ft. Worth, which I think I like better than Dallas. I don't think I've ever been to Ft. Worth. The football stadium looks old from the outside. Ours is all shiny and new. I'm saddened that Ann Richards died, although who wants a cancer battle to drag on and on... I heard her speak one time years ago. I liked her. First Steve Irwin and now good ol' Ann. I'll await one more. I heard an interview with Kinky on the radio this morning. I would be super entertained if Willie Nelson were more involved in politics and if Padre were temporarily "sold" to Jimmy Buffett. Is it just me or does it seem like Rick Perry has been governor forever? I also heard on the radio this morning that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, was in Houston today. I like her, too. Sassy and red-headed. Wish I could have swung by to see her at the radio station. It seems like

Not much going on with me. I seemed to have made a good decision with not going to Oklahoma this week. I think my height of relative wellness was on Saturday and it's been downhill ever since. I will refrain from talking about the stuff that is coming out of my nose. At least the doctor can see me today and give me antibiotics...I'm not leaving without a prescription. Please let them make my head feel better before tomorrow morning when I fly to Ft. Worth. So, yeah, instead of having a crazy work schedule this week, a mild one next week, and a crazy one the week after, now I get two crazies in a row. Bubba's Sis, that means I probably won't be able to do lunch until October. Also, I've got the groggy, disconnected feeling today without the aid of drugs. Maybe you've noticed? I started the sixth HP yesterday. I've been reading it so much that I think I'm starting to turn a little British. The title of the post is for my psychology peeps. No rac

Wow, one way to get absolutely no response is to tell people you're sad... In an effort to counteract that (and perhaps appear bipolar), here's the bit o' Harry Potter I laughed out loud at this morning. They were in the middle of their OWLS... "Well, we were always going to fail that one," said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examiner's reflection. "We shouldn't have taken that stupid subject in the first place," said Harry. "Still, at least we can give it up now." "Yeah," said Harry. "No more pretending we care what happens when Jupiter and Uranus get too friendly..." "And from now on, I don't care if my tea leaves spell die, Ron, die --I'm just chucking them in the bin w

For another list of 100 I blame Geek . I am thankful: 1. for having all five senses. 2. for being mobile. 3. that I'm smart. 4. for not dislocating my knees in quite some time. 5. that my heart issue is not as scary as it first seemed. 6. that I have lots of great friends (and all that that means). 7. for having the ability to make friends. 8. for having a close relationship with my brother. 9. that I was adopted. 10. for being employed. 11. for getting to work from home. 12. for being able to read. 13. for being alive. 14. that my bio-mother chose life. 15. for having a place to live. 16. for having a reliable car. 17. I live in Texas. 18. I live in a place that is not war-torn. 19. for the relative safety of the town in which I live. 20. that I have all my limbs. 21. that it's socially acceptable for women to wear makeup. 22. that I can afford most of what I want and not just what I need. 23. for my parents. 24. that I was raised poor. 25. for bug spray (not necessarily rela

like ass. I'm not feeling great physically but that's not it. Emotionally, I'm not doing well today (having issues with numbers 54, 78, and 86). Part of me thinks that because of that I should not post my Thankful list. The other part of me thinks that's exactly why I should post it. So I am. I just didn't want to include "ass" in the same post...

If you go back to my 100 Things list, you will see that I've been keeping a list of things that make me happy for quite some time. I don't know why, but I feel compelled to make the list only one page. This means that as some things get added, others get removed. This also means that margins and fonts change to squeeze in just one more thing. And it means that the things way up at the top are the oldest items on the list (generally speaking). I don't want to have one post be the Happy List, however, so I'm going to reveal it in stages up there at the top. Just thought I'd let you know what you were reading (if you read that part at all).