Why do I clean?

Wow it's been a few days since I posted and I promised myself I would write every day. So I could get better at it and more disciplined. And bore my three readers even more completely than writing just once in awhile. But here it is 4 days since my last post and I just realized that I have not fulfilled this promise to myself - or to you. Like a New Year's resolution. Or a diet. Over before I ever really get started.

But that's not what the point of this post is. The point of today's post is cleaning. Do you clean? I mean, are you the kind that worries when your carpeting isn't freshly vacuumed? When you can see a thin layer of dust that no one else can see? When a book is lying on the coffee table and it isn't positioned perfectly? Oh, you don't do that, huh?

My family calls me "right-angles". I can always tell when something I have set somewhere has been moved because it will be left askew. And that is unsettling. For me, not for anyone else. It's one of my more endearing quirks. Do people even use the word askew?

Today I had the carpeting cleaned (blame it on the dog) and that led to the need to clean everything - inside and a little bit outside - because I want it all clean at one time. For the 10 minutes that it will last. It's always too good to last very long. I would have to live alone for that and, well, that isn't happening any time soon. Thank goodness. Although solitude (and cleanliness) does sound ok from time to time. Oh and I got my hair cut, and trimmed my son's nails...see, have to do everything on one day. Except I didn't get the car washed. Bummer.

I'm not sure why I have the compulsion to do it this way. It's frankly too exhausting to clean like this and then I start rambling more than I usually do because I'm so tired. You didn't notice that, did you? And all because I think if I get it all done in one day, it won't have to be done again any time soon. Yeah right. Tomorrow it won't look like it was ever cleaned. At least not to me. And let's face it, that's really all that matters.

Time for American Idol.....see you tomorrow - or whenever I remember to write again.

Wicked

I think I am officially obsessed. My husband and son are treating me to see "Wicked" on April 6th and while I read the book quite awhile ago, I only recently acquired the Broadway music (thanks, Kathy!) And I can't seem to stop listening. And to make matters worse, I can't seem to stop listening because, as I am getting old, I can't retain the words of the songs as quickly as I used to and I really have a desire to sing along. So I have to keep listening over and over so I can pick up the words. So I can sing. Anytime I want to. Maybe even during the play.

Meanwhile, as my old ears are trying to grasp the words, I have these tunes stuck in my head constantly and I just randomly belt out pieces I know. Which isn't much. So when "Popular, I'll make you so popular" comes out of my mouth, that's all you're getting - cause it's all I know! Tomorrow, I might add another line. How lucky for my family. Not only do they get to listen to me sing but they only get to hear a line at a time becasue I'm old and lame and can't get all these words down any faster, thank you very much!

"Dancing through life...hum, hum hum.......when you're dancing..through!" Yes, what I joy I have become around the homestead. But I simply can't enjoy the musical as much if I can't at least sing along in my head while watching it. Like I did at Mamma Mia. Although I might have sung out loud. Sorry if you were sitting next to me.

My husband happened to mention that, although he likes going to musicals, he hates when people near him sing along with the music. Hate to tell him - it might have been me.

"No one mourns the wicked.....lalalalalala......." Oh what is wrong with my brain that I can't absorb this stuff? I used to be able to listen to a song once and sing the entire thing 13 seconds later. Now I have to play it over and over (recharge the iPod batteries) and over and over...."They call me wonderful, so I am wonderful...." Did you see that? That was almost 2 lines. A record.

I have to go now - time to listen to it all over again.

Baby Mole

This is not my story - rather it is my sister's story, told to me by my mom. Why am I telling you then? Because, things like this seem to occur with members of my family and because it will make you laugh. I think.

My sister was visiting with my mom yesterday and they decided to pick up a pizza for dinner. So sister goes out to pick up the pizza, comes home and parks in the street. Mom looks outside and there she stands, just watching something in the street. Mom and visiting aunt go out to find my sister watching a baby mole in the street and she's worried about a car possibly hitting it. So they scoop it up and put it safely back in the grass.

A little while later, the mole is back in the street. Wondering how to protect it, it gets scooped up again and relocated to my mom's front yard garden area near her porch. There is a wood edging around this area so the thought is that the tiny mole won't be able to get out.

Meanwhile, sister puts in a call to her mother-in-law who is a little bit of an animal lover/caregiver. She wants info on what to do for this mole. Mother-in-law not home so she leaves a message. She then heads to her own home where she finally gets a call back.

Mother-in-law says she looked up information on the internet about the care of baby moles and guess what? People don't CARE about baby moles - they eliminate them so as not to have them proliferating and destroying yards!!!! Um, duh! So no useful information on caring for said mole, who is now practically planted in my mom's yard! Who, by the way, said she finds it hard to believe that they found a mole because there aren't any moles in their neighborhood. WELL, THERE ARE NOW! 

This is not the actual mole - this is just a stock photo of a mole. Cute little critter - when he's not digging up your yard!!

In a related story, last winter our dog, Leia, found one of these in our yard and brought it to me at 6 a.m. But it was dead - the way a mole should be!!!  I am an animal lover - don't get me wrong - but you really don't want these guys in your yard. One of the reasons we got a dog - they tend to avoid yards with dogs. And that's ok by me. I guess if I ever find one alive, I'll be sure to ship it to my sister.

Yesterday was a cranky day

I failed to post anything yesterday because quite frankly, I was cranky. And I knew if I posted it would just come out in the post that I was cranky. And who wants to read a cranky post from a cranky person. My point exactly.

Work is stressing me out as I seem to be behind more often than not and I really need a day off but I know if I take a day off then I will just be more behind. Whew. Long-winded sentence but there it is in a nutshell. The problem with work. And the reason I'm cranky. And as my son noted yesterday "Mom spun in a circle and said the "F" word." Yes, I may have done that. Cause my slipper fell off. I'm tellin' you - it didn't take much yesterday for me to go off the deep end. Even the dog took cover in her cage.

But I think it will be a better day today. For one thing, it's my day off. Although, as behind as I am, I probably shouldn't have days off ever. again. But I do so I'm going to try to get caught up at home. Where I am behind as well. Are we starting to see a pattern here?

But it's 7:00 a.m. and I'm too tired to to make any progress yet on my behindedness so I'm going back to bed for awhile. And therein lies the rub....

Costco Cake

This past Wednesday, on St. Patrick's Day, my son and I went to a little school function at his college that was meant to be just a "hey, it's like a holiday and since we're a Catholic school and don't condone drinking, we'll invite you to stop by for green punch and some cake". Catholics like punch. Anyhow, this post is about the cake because OMW (word) the cake was gooodddd. Not God. It was good. I dodn't want you to read that wrong.

It was a sheet cake from Costco and let me tell you, I haven't stopped thinking about it! So I looked to see what almost holidays are coming up this week that would give me an excuse to buy a cake. Here's what I came up with:

March 22 - National Bavarian Crepes Day (although I do love the crepes almost as much as cake, not sure this is worthy of cake)
March 23 - Toast Day  (who the heck celebrates toast? Not me)
March 24 - National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day  - now I can get behind this celebration cause I love me some chocolate covered raisins but I can eat those without cake
March 25 - National Lobster Newburg Day  - umm, yeah...
March 26 - Duncan Hines' Birthday - all right!! Now we're talking!!!!

I most definitely feel that I can celebrate Duncan Hines's birthday with a Costco cake! Woohoo!!!!

Just don't judge me if I start my celebrating early.

Yes, I was a Hootchie Momma

Tonight I took a drive to a University about 1/2 hour from home so my son could attend an Anime and Gaming Club. Yes, I gave birth to a geek. He doesn't deny it. My daughter went along for the ride for lack of anything better to do. On the way home, we started talking about dating - guys my daughter dated while in high school, in college, after college - oh there were some real winners! And I mentioned some of my dating experiences which shocked my kids because, while I had these few dating experiences, I was also, at the same time, dating the guy who would eventually become their father.

Now back me up - if you are in your 40s-50s like I am, wasn't it kind of the norm when we were dating to "date around"? I mean, we didn't necessarily find one guy and stay exclusive with him, did we? I know my mother always thought I was too serious with the future-husband-then-boyfriend-#1 and she encouraged me to date other people. So I did. Never seriously but one date here, another there...a total of 2 guys in high school and another 2 in college. And there may have been a little hanky panky but these were never serious relationships. But I always had the hubby-to-be as the main guy and the others were just "experiences". Does that make me a Hootchie Momma? I don't think so but my kids do. Maybe I am way off course here. Maybe I'm a Vixen. Or a Blitzen. So what say you? Did you date around or always have one solid guy at a time?

(Someone back me up here, please)

Cook-Out Day!

Ever have chicken waiting to be cooked for dinner but you're thinking - what am I going to do with chicken tonight???? That was me - 5:30. Then my daughter and son-in-law called and wanted to have dinner with us. Yes, there was an ulterior motive. We have a grill - they do not.

So they brought the burgers and dogs and we grilled. Like it was summer. And despite the fact that it isn't close to summer yet, and we may still get snow (shoot me now) it felt really good. And it was nice to have the kids here. Even if my s-i-l was overly "peppy"....maybe from the nice weather, maybe too much caffeine - one never knows - but we've come to expect it and, for the most part, ignore it. I'm gonna YouTube it someday. Maybe it'll go viral.

What does that mean anyhow? Viral? Like you watch it and get a virus? That doesn't sound like a good thing. Or is it when a video is "infectious" and catches on? That must be it. What do I know? I'm old and lucky I can still see the keyboard well enough to post ramblings like this on a blog.

Tomorrow we start with a new home health aide for Jacob - can't wait to see how long this one lasts. I think our track record so far is about 4 months and then something happens and they're gone. Maybe this one will be good and will last. So I'm outta here for today so I can rest up for the aide run-through tomorrow morning.

I'm sure whatever I post tomorrow will be good and viral.

New blog for the pregnant mommy

I convinced my daughter to start blogging about her pregnancy (whether she wanted to or not - I'm annoying like that). But in order to get her started, it was my job to set up the blog and make it "cute". So I got it started and I think it looks just right for my daughter but I haven't gotten the seal of approval from her yet. If you want to check it out and post your opinion here so she can see how many love it, that would be great. And maybe that would save me from having to re-do it. And that would mean a lot to me. So here's the address: Words from the Belly.

In other news - although I guess that didn't really count as news in the first place but what do I know - I made a new steak rub tonight. I got the recipe online. Was supposed to be like what they use on the steaks at Outback. It was good but it wasn't Outback. Of course, I didn't have a Bloomin' Onion so maybe that's what was missing. And it was a little too much rub. If you Google the recipe and decide to try it, just sprinkle it on the steak, don't rub it in. Too much. But still tasty.

Now I'm off to bore myself with American Idol. I just can't find anyone this season to cheer on. They are all just so-so. I've heard a lot of the judges using the word pitchy this year and yep, they are. I keep hoping there will be a "moment" (thanks, Simon) and then I will have someone to vote for. But no one yet.

I think watching Idol for an hour calls for snack food. Do Girl Scout thin mint cookies go with not-quite-Outback-over-rubbed steak? Yep, I think so.

My 4 way flasher mystery

Did you ever have one of those days that starts out by making no sense and it doesn't get much better throughout the day? I got up this morning at my usual too-early time of 6 am and noticed - on my way to the bathroom - that there were red lights flashing in the vicinity of my driveway.

So I go to take the dog out and find out the red flashing lights are coming from my car. The 4 way flashers are going off. Blink, blink, blink...stop.   Blink, blink, blink....stop. Over and over. So I'm a little weirded out and take my killer instinct dog with me to check it out. Nothing out of place. Just lights blinking. So what the h--- is up with that? 

I open the door, check the hazard light button - it's fine. Lights - check. No one sleeping in the car -that's good. Nothing missing - also a plus. I grab the keys, start it up and it's still blink, blink, blinking.... I back it down the driveway, open the ramp door, close the ramp door, still blinking....turn the car off, check the tailgate, still flippin' blinking!!!  By the way, husband is no help and he "needs to leave for work or I'll be late!!" Thanks so much.

So I go back in the house, gotta get showered and dressed and take the car somewhere cause I can't drive to work with a car that has it's 4 way lights blinking all over the darn place! Other drivers would think I am either A) having serious car problems that are bigger than a light problem or B) am an idiot driver who doesn't know she is driving with her hazard lights on. Now, here's the crappy part - I didn't have to be to work until noon today so the plan was to sleep in!! Now I'm showering and dressing and it's not even 6:30 in the freakin' morning! Oh this day is not starting out well. Not well at all.

After the shower, there's a message on my phone - husband called to make a suggestion as to what might be wrong with the car which is TOTALLY not the answer. Thanks again for nothing! And then I think - hey, I didn't check the back door on the driver's side! So I go out, open it, shut it and the blinking stops. For good. A door that wasn't closed completely tight. And I didn't think about it until I am wide awake, showered, dressed and ready for my day.

10 minutes later, I'm back to sleep in my recliner. Not back to bed - I already did my hair and makeup and am not doing it twice. That would definitely make no sense. No sense at all.

Baby, Baby....

It's official - my daughter is expecting. I'm excited and scared and worried and happy and way too many things that I can't even name right now. If you are new to my blog, you will see why all the worry on this post: Highs and Lows. This past year has been a medical travelogue as we have discovered various concerns that my daughter has regarding her ability to become and maintain a pregnancy. But her doctors, or I should say midwives, have been tenacious in finding all of the problems as well as the solutions and once it was determined that she wasn't going to get pregnant unless she was ovulating (you do need that for the pregnancy thing) and it was addressed, she got pregnant pretty easily. So we are very, very early in this pregnancy but we did see the little "seed" on an ultrasound and it has a heart beat so all is looking positive.

Not sure why I'm going with "seed" as it's nickname but my daughter and son-in-law are going with Elmer so I don't think either of us are batting 100 with names. Not yet. Plenty of time for a good name. By the way, Elmer was chosen because they want this one to stick like glue. Can't say as I blame them.

Now to think positive and enjoy the coming months. If you're inclined to say a prayer for their success and a healthy baby, we certainly would appreciate it.

Ultrasound pictures coming soon.

Spring: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Don't get me wrong - I like Spring. I guess I like it mostly because it isn't Winter. Not that I mind Winter a lot but I do get really sick of wearing a coat. I'm lazy like that. I want to just put on clothes and leave the house. So the warmer weather does help. And I like flowers. Every year I am always checking my tulips to see how things are growing. I don't know why it always amazes me that things are actually growing but maybe it's because I usually kill plants. Plants and me don't get along. So it's nice to see flowers do their thing without much help from me. They're lucky that way so I don't kill them.

But then there's the bad and ugly about Spring:

Like the yard clean-up. With all of the trees, we have a lot of these laying around. At least I didn't take a photo of the dog poop that needs to be cleaned up in the yard. Not that I couldn't find it - it's more like I can't avoid it but I didn't think you would want to see it. Considerate, don't you think?

And then there's the rain. It always seems so wet in Spring. So having warmer weather doesn't really mean anything because in order to enjoy it, you have to stand out in the rain. And that takes all the fun out of the warmth. And you might even have to put on a coat, again, so you're not all wet. Yuck.

And then there's this:

Along with the rain comes the muddy paws. These paws get cleaned at least 5 times a day and the dog on the end of these paws? She hates the paw wiping. It's apparently torture that her people feel the need to inflict on her. But cream colored carpeting and mud don't mix very well so there's going to be paw wiping. Every. Single. Time she goes out. Someday maybe she'll wise up and not go out so often.

At least she isn't a plant that I'm likely to kill. Unless she gets mud on my carpeting.

Commandeering this blog

This blog started out as a way to share pictures and stories about our loveable lab, Leia. But over time, as she has grown a little older, there seems to be less and less to share cause, well, she's just a dog. It's not as though she has work stories to relate or good "tales" to regale you with regarding her past relationships or anything. And while I could make all of that up just for fun, my own life always has a story or two to share and this is going to become my place for those ramblings.

There might still be Leia stories, you never know. I can't rule that out all together.

And I decided not to rename the blog, even though I am redesigning the purpose of it because generally speaking, my life does tend to be like a ridiculous lab - and by that I mean something that makes little sense, tends to be a bit funny while sporting some soulful puppy eyes and wants to lick your hand. Or your face. And always needs a good belly rub and a snack.

So with that all cleared up (no, it isn't? hmmm) I hope you'll check back from time to time and see what's going on in my life. I hope I have something to share with you that makes you think, laugh, cry, feel good...or just gives you something to waste 5 minutes of your life reading. It's all up to you.

Mary