‘Eh’ is where I’m at

I had one of those days yesterday where everything just seemed to be going wrong. I was miserable — miserable, I tell ya — and working my way into such a state that the lack of a decent help section in our new webmail application nearly sent me into a breakdown-level tizzy. Today, on the other hand, was a definite improvement.

For one thing, it was Lucy’s last day of school, so we had planned an afternoon of hanging together. Based on promises made throughout last week, I took her to lunch, then to ice cream, and then to Target. At the last of those spots, I very deliberately let her literally walk through every aisle as she tried to decide what to spend her first $14 worth of allowance on. (A slip and slide, in case you were wondering, plus a Hello Kitty puzzle.) Then we went to the library, and then came home, made popcorn, and watched a movie. It was pretty awesome to see that the things she wanted to do on her day off were almost exactly the things I wanted to do. The bonus of it all was that, rather than being angry that we are sending her to Y camp for the rest of the week, she actually seemed quite excited. So, yay — no guilt! That’s quite nice, let me tell you.

The second part of the turnaround was that she got her report card and her reading level, which I had no doubt would be at above her actual grade level, indicates she’s where they want people to be at the end of fifth grade. Is that not awesome? I am so incredibly proud of her.

The day, though, did make me think about what I want to be doing with my life. (That and the whole, we’re-doomed-since-global-warming-is-bringing-the-world-to-the-end-so-decide-what-you-want-your-last-days-to-be-like thing, of course.) Which was where I was mentally when, lo and behold, an email came across my desk that had a job that can be done entirely remotely for a company that I think is pretty cool. For the last hour, I’ve been trying to figure out whether to actually send the cover letter that I wrote. It’s not just a lifestyle thing. I feel like the last several months have burned me out in a way that this job hasn’t before. I’d like to think that these few days off will help; the last few didn’t, though, so I’m not overly hopeful.

But is getting a new job the answer? I’m not really sure it is. I’m not sure I want to learn new ropes and meet new people. Oh, I’m sure they’re all pretty great — in fact, I spent the better part of this evening reading through blogs and twitter postings and various websites that gave me a pretty good sense of what the supervisor for this position is like. She seems pretty awesome and yet the coolness factor — that I do not in any way share — is almost tiring. It makes me feel, well, old. Who are all these 2.0 people, and can I possibly keep up with them? Or actually, do I want to invest the energy in keeping up with them. I don’t know. I just don’t know.

Not that I’m assuming that I’d even get anything beyond a cursory ‘thanks for your email,’ if even that. But if I did…

Anyway, I did write the cover letter. I sent it to myself, just to do something; I guess I’ll have to see what the morning brings.

Of course, I didn’t invest any time in doing what I had intended to be doing tonight, which was finish the frickin’ chapter I’m working on. I’ve got a whole line done — yep, sentence #1. I even have a sense of what sentences #2 and 3 will be. I just can’t actually bring myself to write them. I have a feeling that this is some major psychological block going on… And that’s about as much as I want to think about it for now.

Sigh. Now it’s past midnight and I’m tired. I was even planning on trying to get more than 6 hours of sleep tonight. It truly annoys me to go to bed, though. It’s like I’m giving up on the day. Like some big failure. Yes, I realize this makes very little sense, and yet that’s how it is.

And on that note…

 

Quick hits

I’m tired, and I’m trying to get through the email that came in today on my vacation day with Will. (Trying really hard not to devote to much time as, well, note that it was a vacation day, but instead to just get the quick stuff taken care of and the rest into a folder to deal with on Monday.)

Anyway, some things that are just in my head and I need to get them out…

* My TV habit has been to switch to Top Chef (as opposed to yet another CSI or Dexter or even Bones) once I hit 10:30 or 11 so as not to freak myself out. I’m noticing, however, that it is not helpful for the diet. My mouth is literally watering as I watch them cook the steaks. Oh, goodness.

* The “Best of Craigslist” is freakin’ hilarious.

* The Will story of the day:

This morning, we hung out at Dunkin Donuts for awhile, me drinking my coffee while he drank his strawberry milk (he refused both a donut and munchkins — I once again ask where he actually came from) and played with his cars. An acquaintance walked in just as he announced he had to go to the bathroom. (Yes, this is a bathroom related post. You know it’s gonna be good or else I would so not be posting it.) With all our stuff on the table and him saying “Now!” it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t sure what to do. Olive said she would watch our things while I took him.

Thanking her, I said, “It will be quick.”

Will, donut-resisting-abilities-notwithstanding, does tend to take after me in the sense that talking about bathroom activities is done in private. He waited until we were safely locked away in the bathroom to say, “I have to poop, Mommy.”

“O.k.,” I said, not thinking much of it.

He looked at me with what can only be described as an expression of ‘You idiot.’ What he actually said, though, was, “It won’t be quick.”

Oh. Well, right. Luckily, Olive is a daycare provider and not unaware of the intricacies of taking kids to the bathroom. I am not worried. I am, however, apologetic. “I’m sorry, Will. I think it will be o.k.”

He gave me the Ammirati look. (Yay, he really is related to me.)

“Are you mad?” I asked, wondering if more apologies were necessary.

“No,” he said, finally releasing me from his piercing gaze. He looked at the toilet paper roll. “I’m disappointed.”

Did I just hear that right? “Disappointed?”

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged his yes.

Oh, my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness… I literally had to turn to the wall, shaking with laughter. What kind of five-year-old says that?

My five-year-old. Hell, yeah.

 

Do over, please

Today was supposed to be my first day back after my nice, relaxing vacation. Not so much.

To start with, I didn’t get out of the shower until 7:42. Granted, I’m usually on the later side, but I’m at least usually getting myself into the day. 7:42 is twenty minutes later than usual. We’re supposed to leave the house by 7:45.

We come out of the house to find not one, but TWO garbage trucks closing in on us, one from each direction. We manage just barely to get out before the trucks made it the point of no return. At the same time, we’re definitely running later than normal. I get Lucy off with mostly no hitches. The only problem being that I completely forgot to write the note to her teacher telling her that I’m picking Lucy up early. Luckily, I’ve got eight million pens at my disposal in the car. No, wait — that one doesn’t have any ink. Not that one, either.

I finally manage to get her into the building, note intact. Off we go to Will’s school.

Well, maybe not entirely since we’re now stuck behind a street sweeper that is going just fast enough that passing it is obnoxious; just slow enough that I. Am. Going. Out. Of. My. Mind.

Fuck it. We’re driving around.

Excellent — I’m now no longer behind the street sweeper; instead, I am directly in front of it since after swerving around it and being an ass, I find myself confronted with a red light. I choose not to look in the rear view mirror to see the street sweeper driver smirking at me. 

Green light — off we go! I am happy to leave the street sweeper in my dust. Three stoplights later and we’re at the school. Will is being awesome, gives me a hug and kiss (and then a second hug and kiss when I ask for it), is all ready to push me out the door, when Patricia asks if we’re ordering any pictures. Picture day? Yes, of course I knew that — we let Will pick out the shirt for it and everything. Why I thought we didn’t have to pay for it, however…

It is now 8:20 and I am officially running too late to get to the 9:30 meeting that I need to run, my first official act back from vacay. Yet I must pick between Package A, B, C, and D, all of which are overpriced and none of which have the necessary amount of wallet photos. Fine. Package B plus Option W for a total of 8 wallet photos, 2 5×7s, and one class picture, yours for the dirt bottom price of $32. Which, by the way, I now owe to Brid since I have not nearly enough cash and no checkbook.

By the time I get to the parking lot (after more hugs and kisses and Will’s sweet “I won’t cry, Mommy. I promise”), I have realized that there is no way I’m making it to the office today. Not when I have to leave by 2 in order to get Lucy and also have hopes of getting anything done. So I call wonderful Alisa. I tell her I’m not coming in. She doesn’t freak. I love her.

After getting a very large iced coffee, I come back home. It takes me two hours to get through the messages from this morning and yesterday evening (with a half hour conference call to take the place of the meeting I was supposed to run); I’m screwed. Still, I think it was a better plan. I did manage to at least read all the emails that came in last week and even respond to some of them. I have a ton more to deal with, and tomorrow is a completely lost cause since I am in meetings for all but one hour of the day. During the dance rehearsal, however, I will continue to slog away. When I’m done writing this post, of course.

Fast forward five hours and 500+ messages later. I look at the clock and, yay, I’m late again, this time to pick up Lucy. Rush, rush, rush out of the house. No roadblocks — or at least not overly bad — so I manage to make it in a reasonable amount of time. I know I’m in trouble, however, when I see that Esneda has picked up Vanessa a full half hour earlier. Every time I think I’m old hat at this… Sigh. 

Still, we’re doing o.k. — I’ve got the video camera, the regular camera, my laptop, etc.; I know where the makeup is, have even managed to find two hair elastics. Lucy is changing — she’s SOOOOO happy and excited, having chattered her way all the way home and up to her room. Damn, we’re good! I even remember to remind her to get a snack AND a bottle of water. We get to the car — 3:00 p.m. means a whole half hour to leisurely drive there and get her hair and makeup done — she looks through her bag, and… “Mommy, where are my ballet shoes?”

Ballet shoes? You mean the ones you need for the dress rehearsal we’re now on our way to?

@*&#)!!#*(@#$$$)_@)

I try not to be annoyed. Payless is (kind of) on the  way to the high school, and they happily have a whole shelf full of ballet shoes (as I noticed when we were there on Sunday, and would have just purchased then if we’d known we were missing the shoes, but that’s neither here nor there). Seriously, in the greater scheme of things, being late to the dress rehearsal, especially when I had originally told Deb that we weren’t going to make it on time in the first place, is not an awful occurrence. And, having become more aware over this last weekend of how my reaction affects everyone else, I particularly try to make sure that Lucy is not upset on this day that she’s so incredibly excited. I force the irritation out of my voice and ask how she’s doing in the back seat since it’s so quiet. “Fine,” she says, actually sounding like that’s the case (thank goodness). “Just watching that big cloud.”

Big cloud?  As in, big, honking, 75%-of-the-sky-is-now-pitch-black-and-reminding-me-that-we’re-getting-the-system-straight-from-the-midwest cloud?

#%@^#&^@**(#@#&*

There is, of course, no parking whatsoever at  the mall, but we only lose ten minutes (and eighteen bucks) on getting the shoes. And it has not yet started raining. Now, not getting lost on the way while trying to avoid traffic would have been preferable. Happily, however, we are but one of a million cars pulling up to the high school at the same time. Granted, all the other girls have their hair and makeup done already. Not bad, however, considering. And it doesn’t start pouring (thundering/lightning/blowing trees down) until we’re halfway to the building. Without my raincoat, my trip to Dunkin Donuts is out of the question (well, depending on when her dance is). We’re not the latest ones, though, and not the only ones frantically doing hair and makeup as Deb calls everyone to the stage.

We are now seriously underway, and all appears under control. Lucy has run through the opening and closing numbers and is now out in the lobby eating her snack. We did not get hit by lightning, and, so far, the worst part of all this is that my iced coffee is out of the question. (Man, and Esneda’s family just walked past with their bags of McDonald’s takeout smelling so incredibly yummy. I will not succumb. I will not succumb.) Well, that and it’s hard to be here without Cathy and Aitana. Other than that, though, we’re doing good.

 

A few more links from today’s email:

www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_gen_y_is_going_to_change_the_web.php

blog.webdistortion.com/2008/05/17/13-free-cms-options-for-web-design-professionals

 

 

 

Are we really at that stage?

It’s 10:37 p.m. and I am falling asleep — Cousins’ Weekend 2008 has tired me out! I think I may actually turn in, although it feels entirely too early. Before I do, however, I need to note: Lucy just got a call from a boy. Five calls, actually, and he didn’t leave a message. We only figured out who it was because I finally managed to get to the phone before the answering machine picked up and, when he asked for Lucy, I asked who it was, and he said Damarcus.

!!!!!!! 

So anyway, my initial thought was — goodness, she’s only in second grade! Then my immediate next thought was — did Mean Girl #1 put him up to it? Is this going to be an analog cyber-bullying thing? Having Mommy here and egging me on didn’t help, of course. Having Jaime here, however, was immensely helpful — she totally laughed at us and said did it ever occur to us that maybe he was just calling for a playdate? 

There is no chance he’s calling for a playdate; of that, I’m sure. On the other hand, putting Damarcus up to a phone call does seem a bit too old for 2nd grade. Maybe not, as kids are definitely seeming older these days. But if that’s what was really going on, I don’t think Damarcus would have been quite so ready to talk to me. As soon as he realized it was me, he would probably have hung up; or at least sounded a little bit uncomfortable. So for now, I’ll just try and go along with Jaime’s way of thinking about things.

On another note — we had a great time today. We did the duck tours, both Lucy and Will got to drive. They were both good, but it was amazing to see Will at the wheel. He was incredibly serious, steady at the helm (literally), and, I dare say, a bit more in control than either Lucy or the other 8-year-old boy who took a turn. After the duck tour, we had lunch at Border Cafe. Then we were all very full so we didn’t do ice cream as originally planned. We did a bit of looking at shoes for Lucy for Jaime’s wedding, and then we hit Paper Source for the seating cards. From there, we just came home and hung out on the deck drinking Malibu Bay Breezes and eating cheese and crackers. (One of these days I’ll get around to uploading pictures to here or Flickr or Facebook.) Now Juno is ending, and it’s probably time to go to bed. 

 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…

[Written on Friday, but not posted until Sunday]

The mean girls are at it again. Mean Girl #1 was on Lucy’s back all day, then got Mean Girl #2 to join in at recess. Apparently, Lucy is always mean to Mean Girl #1 (which, I don’t actually believe, but hey, if she were, I could understand why). Mean Girl #1 then proceeds to yell at Lucy and keep saying ‘Why are you yelling at me? Why are you mean to me? Why don’t you want to be my friend?’ (Do we really need to answer that?) Lucy, being much more mature than she was in K2, basically just ignored her, leading Mean Girl #2 to call across the tables at lunch, ‘Why are you being mean to [Mean Girl #1]? Why won’t you be her friend?’

Again, Lucy ignored her, which in turn led to Mean Girl #2 having Atarrah of all people go and ask Lucy why she didn’t want to be Mean Girl #1’s friend, to which Lucy also didn’t respond. That particular lack of response then had Atarrah telling Lucy that Mean Girl #2 didn’t want to be her friend (proving, once and for all, that Mean Girl #2 is actually Alpha Mean Girl, making her Mean Girl Numero Uno, aka Mean Girl #1). Lucy tells me she said, “I don’t care,” which I truly hope she did. Lucy also tells me that she just kept playing with Hannah and Ruth and Francesca, and that she only cried a little during lunch. 

Why, oh why, do there have to be mean girls? And why, as Lucy pointed out, do mean girls always seem to have so many friends? Sigh. If I could answer that one, I would have had a much happier elementary and junior high school experience. 

Luckily, we were heading to dance class and, as Lucy pointed out, there aren’t any mean girls there. Somehow, this group has worked out to just be a great group of kids — some of whom, granted, I find quite annoying (o.k., just one), but all of whom tend to not pick on each other, thank goodness. By the time I left (wanting to cry myself, of course), I could hear her laughing hysterically with one of the other kids. 

So here I am, typing away on my laptop as I sit on a park bench, thinking of how proud I am that she’s handling it so well and that she’s not letting them get to her the way they used to, but also just wanting to put her into a cocoon so that she never has to deal with mean girls again. Is it unethical for me to teach Will to be a playah and break the mean girls’ hearts? (Just the mean ones, I swear.) 

O.k. So no, I know I’m not allowed to do that. Wah. I will therefore move on to less emotional topics, such as…

Season Finales

Without A Trace — Good ep, happy ending (as WaT goes) — second one in a row! Is that a record? I’m not a big fan of the Sam/Jack story line, but I was ok with the way they played that. It was sweet. I guess Parker Abrams is gone for good? Too bad he doesn’t get to play good characters. At least Poppy Montgomery (and, presumably, their actual baby) loves him.

Criminal Minds — A really good episode. Not as creepy as most; one of the more scary ones, though, in its own way. Tell me again why a character has to die in every show’s cliffhanger (or be a murdered himself, but I digress)? Oh, right. Drama. God forbid we can actually just move on throughout the day. I swear to you, if I ever do get a book contract, and the publisher tells me I have to kill off one of my main characters just to keep things interesting, well, as Lily said to Marshall: Suck it. (Sorry, Mom.) Anyway, my take on this one is that Will (I think that’s his name) is the one who got blown up. (And I don’t actually know that, so it’s not like I’m giving any extra spoilers.) I mean, really — why else would you have him come all the way from New Orleans to see his Baby Mama and have her be happy in love if you’re not going to dash her heart to pieces? Drama, people! Which leads me to…

CSI — Was that necessary? I mean, plot-wise, that one actually makes sense (if you don’t mind the whole Warrick going off the deep end thing, that is). And, even if you didn’t know it was coming, how could you not have a hint after the lovely slow-mo good-bye breakfast, and the slow, lonesome walk to the car. Clearly, being a CSI at season’s end is not a good thing to be. First George Eads (I can’t think of his character’s name right now), then Sara, now this? At least the first two survived. To be honest, I think the Sara-going-away plotline was one of my favorites ever in having an actress leave a show. It’s the way most things really work — people up and move. Just when you thought you had finally reached a point in your life where you had some awesome friends, they up and move to (ahem) California. Australia. And that’s if they didn’t already live halfway across the country in the first place. Sorry; digressing again. Rarely, however, do they get buried alive (one each season!) or shot in the head. I mean, really. They just find a U-Haul and go. Seriously.

The Office — Heartbreaking, in a whole new way. Oh, Jim — so, so sad. (Possibly even Emmy-worthy — talk about conveying emotions without saying a word.) The set up, the fireworks, the romance… Sigh. What a wonderful proposal story that would have been to tell the grandkids some day. It was even one of those plot devices that you could actually believe. Can’t you totally see Ed Helms’ character seizing that moment while at the same time have it come out of nowhere? The one thing is that, the way things tend to run in that office, counting on everything going smoothly wasn’t exactly Jim’s smartest move. Usually, though, fireworks are a pretty reliable time for everyone else to just be doing their oohing and awing.

Grey’s Anatomy — To be honest, this was, I think, the first time I’d watched it all year. With it having its two-hour show last night, though, and with CSI’s season finale being last week, the DVR did something right for once and actually picked it up fairly randomly. I began watching it about fifteen minutes from the end (you know me, I have to see how it all turns out before I’m willing to commit, especially when dramedy is involved) and, well — holy cow! Everything ended up perfectly, according to my book. Even the Chief was ok in the end. Alex and Izzie — I know that’s going nowhere good and yet of everything, I think that one made me the happiest. (Not being invested in Rebecca, of course, her tragedy doesn’t play at my heartstrings. Hot boy crying and needed Izzie for ‘just one night’ — ‘…please.’ Hand me that fan, please. I’m all in.) Granted, I am trusting Shonda Rhimes not to have Derek meet up with Orson Hodge on some dark road, which may be a little much to ask, even after she promised everyone that Derek and Meredith would end up o.k. For the summer, though, everyone is good. 

I haven’t watched Bones yet, or CSI: Miami or :NY, so I’m sure I’m in for some more doozies. And I’m not sure if the Ugly Betty and The Game I just watched were finales or have one left to go. I’m liking Hilda and the Coach, though. Let’s not have this one die in a convenience store robbery? We should at least be safe until next spring at this time. Until the next post…

 

No way!

Watching The Game now. I am constantly surprised at how much I like this show. That’s not why I’m posting, though… I just had to say that they actually just used the “If it’s yellow…” line! (The full thing; not just what I can physically write.) Jason is truly hysterical. Now this is what I’m talking about about playing something straight. “I’ve got bills to pay,” and all that.

Goodness…

 

Observations

I’m feeling talky today, so be forewarned: there may be a lot going on here today, and it may not make a lot of sense. Depending on how it all goes, I may just post one entry or I may post a bunch. Let’s get crazy!

Some Random TV Thoughts

Zach? Really? I haven’t even watched it yet, and it pisses me off.

R.I.P. Shark, Back to You, Women’s Murder Club, Moonlight
I truly don’t understand how TV execs think. Didn’t Shark used to be on top? Not that it’s the best show ever, but I don’t think it’s bad. It feels like it was all over the place schedule wise this season, then with the writer’s strike, it was gone for even longer, it seemed, than others. And I just read that it’s not coming back. That irritates me. I’m also annoyed that Women’s Murder Club didn’t get a better chance. Again, not like it was Emmy-worthy; at the same time, it seemed that with a little more time, it could have gone from mediocre to good. With the built in audience from the books, I would think that it wouldn’t have taken much more work to get the ratings up. Thanks, CBS, for all your nurturing.

Back to You and Moonlight I can understand a little more — one never seemed to find its audience and the other was probably unlikely to (at least by regular network standards), although I personally think that these, too, should be coming back.

On the Other Hand…
I am grateful that some other quirky shows — Reaper and Chuck, for example — are making it back, as is How I Met Your Mother. Oh, and The Unit and The Adventures of New Christine. I was wondering what happened to The Unit — I don’t think I’ve been able to see it at all this season — but I do really like it (is anyone surprised?), and I’m glad it’s coming back. I’m also pretty happy about how some of these shows will be mid-season shows, as opposed to Fall. Thanks to the DVR (LACK OF) storage capacity, it’s kind of hard to keep up. With new shows coming in the summer (yay, Burn Notice, Monk, Psych, The Closer, Saving Grace, Army Wives!), the Fall lineup, then the mid-season stuff (including a new season of Law & Order, which, if you gave up on it is definitely worth a new look these days), well, there’s a lot of good TV watching to be had. (And, um, that’s before you even take into account my new reality tendencies (Project Runway, Top Chef, American Idol and Dancing With the Stars [gulp, I have succumbed], Dance Wars, America’s Best Dance Crew, and, although I haven’t watched it yet, I’m expecting to have a new favorite in So You Think You Can Dance).

Jane Doe
Thank you, Hallmark channel, for bringing me back to the 80s. With Joe Penny and Lea Thompson as the main characters, and that Perry Mason guy, too (sorry, Perry Mason guy, I’ll go to IMDB and get your name — William Moses), it’s a major flashback. And in the episode I’m watching now, Erin Gray is actually a guest star! The faces are definitely 30 years older, but still, nice to see for the most part.

It’s not just the faces bringing me back, it’s the style. This is definitely old-school. The writing, the acting, the directing — there’s a reason this is on the Hallmark channel. Put this up against, say, The Closer, and… Ouch. Seriously. I mean — “It seems as though he was an unwitting accomplice to whoever is behind these murders”? Picture Lea Thompson saying that with an ‘I have to be a serious, weighty secret-agent-slash-mom so I will make sure my eyes and expression convey serious, weighty secret-agent-slash-mom thoughts’ way of talking, while the director is thinking ’she must use many useless and distracting hand gestures while standing with feet wide apart and head cocked to the side in order to convey the serious, weighty secret-agent-slash-mom dialogue that we are giving her.’

Well, you get the idea.

And it’s not so good to have Joe Penny as her straight man, since he’s actually good. Erin Gray wasn’t so bad, either. The worst part? I don’t think Lea Thompson is an awful actress. Back to the Future proves that. It also proves, however, how important writing and directing are. (Yes, that’s a shout-out to you, Jess. )

This Week’s TV - WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Or, actually, thanks to being behind on the DVR, ‘Two Weeks Ago TV.’ The CSI/2.5 Men writer crossover? Eh. I can see how they must have all loved the read-through — definitely a lot of inside jokes. I think it would have been better if in the end they had played it a little more straight. Of everyone, I think Brass was the best. He’s always got that slightly amused look on his face, so having it there for this whole ep was natural. Grissom is usually like that, too, but for some reason it just didn’t work for me here. That said, I did like the ending — both Brass and Grissom were perfect in that scene (although, in a real ep they obviously would not have had the same outcome, so there was definitely some suspension of disbelief required). I also like the actress who played Banana #2; this was a better role for her than the perpetual annoying best friend in the perpetually annoying Notes from the Underbelly.

Without A Trace — yay, happy ending! I mean, if you can ignore the whole girlfriend and her son dying in a fire thing, of course. Normally this is not something I can ignore at all. In order to watch WaT, however, I always have to close off that part of me. Kind of a figurative sticking my fingers in my ears and saying, “Blah, blah, blah” at the top of my lungs.

I can’t remember what else I watched yesterday; those are the ones that stood out.

Right now I’m doing another 80s flashback, thanks to Anthony Michael Hall — The Dead Zone. Another show I’m not sure what happened to (and, frankly, don’t care enough about to waste the three minutes to find out). With some of these cable networks, I have no clue whatsoever as to what’s a current season, and what’s a rerun (or, to be even more complicated, what’s a rerun of a current season since they tend to replay them over and over again, sometimes within a week, sometimes within a season — hello, MI-5! ). I’m pretty sure that it was done as of last spring.

Hmph. This is an irritating one — Armageddon, Stilson, and the Reverend. Sigh. I may not make it through the whole episode. Except, well, there’s Walt. I do miss him. We’ll have to see.

And One More Thing
Alas, a casualty of the dinner/movie outing last night was the season finale of NCIS. We got the first 15 minutes, but it appears that settle down time intervened. The more annoying thing? I’m almost positive that the intervening show was American Idol. If only I’d known, I would have asked them to at least record that if we wouldn’t be getting anything else. Sigh. That will have to go on the punchlist of shows to catch in the rerun.

Oh, no, wait — there’s a much more annoying thing than that! Put this in the “Top Ten Reasons the DVR Pisses Me Off” category. Why was the DVR only allowing one show to be taped in the 8-9? When I tried to put American Idol in in the first place, it would only let me if I cancelled NCIS. I get it when it spills over into the 9 p.m. time frame (oh, how I hate the 8:00 - 9:02 stupid shows!), but this didn’t even do that. And it wasn’t like there was a second thing recording on another network. It just decided that it would have to cancel NCIS if it taped anything else. Isn’t that the whole point of the DVR? That you can tape two shows at once? It’s the one improvement over TiVo (the only, as far as I’m concerned) — so if it doesn’t work, then it’s pretty useless. Grrr.

Further Ramblings

Well, geez. No wonder I always feel like I don’t have the time to get everything done that I want to — this post took me nearly two hours to write. That’s a little discouraging, considering that it isn’t exactly Pulitzer-worthy. And, although it doesn’t pay the bills, that’s kind of what I like doing. Write. In order to post regularly here, I would have to take a substantial chunk out of my day. And that doesn’t include the time needed to help out my friend, Hux. (Different kind of friend than Esther. Also therapy in its own way, but I don’t have to pay Hux. ) Right now my days don’t have that kind of time.

Speaking of categories, put that in the one called ‘Something To Think About’…

Yes, we are definitely going to be breaking this into more posts. Two hours doing one thing is getting me antsy. And my email hit 100% capacity at 4 in the morning, so there’s work to do there.

 

Slow Going

I’m taking a week off so that I don’t lose my vacation time. It’s only today that it started to kick in since yesterday was an entire day devoted to PSF. (8 hours, but who’s counting?)

Today, however, has been kind of nice. In my head, I prepared to not feel at all relaxed until at least noon, since I had a 9 a.m. appointment (with, um, the friend who listens to me talk about myself for exactly 45 minutes and then schedules another listening date for three weeks from now; my insurance is very nice and pays for this friend), then I had plans to get a pedicure, then a Staples trip. And although those, of course, were completely within my control, I still resented the time it took to do them and was affronted that they nudged their way into my day. Dumb things.

Anyway, I was pretty proud of the fact that I don’t have a huge amount of expectations for this week and told Esther (said ‘friend’) as much. I then proceeded to get completely stressed due to the feeling that the week was nearly over and I’d gotten nothing done. I then got even more stressed because I was annoyed that I wanted to spend my vacation cleaning out email and I knew people would say that’s not what I should be doing. Esther was quite helpful and told me the whole point was to do what I wanted to be doing and that if that was cleaning out email, then that’s what it was. And if I decided at any point that cleaning out email (or cleaning the house, or whatever I happened to be doing at the moment) was no longer working out for me, then, well, I should stop doing it and move on to the next thing. Funny how those friends actually know what they’re saying. Hmph.

I then headed to Staples and bought only the one thing that I completely needed (the binder to replace the binder that got stepped on when I left it on the living room floor several weeks ago — go figure), knowing that I still had a whole month to spend out my rewards check. From there, pedicure. I actually brought my own book so that I wouldn’t have to get invested in a magazine only to have to leave it behind and, with the exception of that uncomfortable feeling that all the ladies talking in a language I don’t understand are talking about the horrendous state of my — blech, I can barely even type the word — toenails, I was able to enjoy myself and only once feel like the time was being wasted.

I got a grinder on the way home and ate it plus doritos for lunch (Weight Watchers be damned). Then… Email!!! My progress so far:

* I didn’t feel at all guilty dropping everything to watch Top Chef, CSI, and Without A Trace with my full attention. (Is it just me, or do Andrew and Spike look like the same person? I get SO confused.) When Smallville is over, I’ll have deleted 4 things off the DVR, bringing that capacity down into the 80s.

* I picked some crap up off the floor. Even went so far as to vacuum up some dead flies.

* I managed to archive and/or delete all the May 2005 emails in my inbox. Yes, I got the irony that I was dealing with emails from literally three years ago today.

* I managed to clean out another 15 folders from the inbox sitting on the server

Mind you, I’m still at 99.72% capacity email-inbox-wise (do you see a theme here?), but every step takes me further.

Kelley and the kids will be home soon, so I’d better get the DVR stuff lined up for tonight. (Grrr. Why will it only let me tape one show from 8-9? Sigh, how I miss TiVo.) It’s anniversary #13, so we’re going out to dinner and then to see Baby Mama. Woo-hoo!

 

The Sunday Feeling

I hate that Sunday feeling. I especially hate it when it is not a Sunday night. I’ve been sitting here for several hours, kind of checking email, kind of thinking about all the things I need to do, and kind of thinking I should just power down and relax in order to get rejuvenated. If only I didn’t have yet another day packed full of meetings…

At dinner, Will told me how Libby told him that a cow lives next door to her house. (A black baby cow, no less.) At first, he said, he didn’t believe her. He didn’t believe that there was a cow next to her house. But then, he said, “I asked my brain and my brain said that it was true. So now I believe her.”

Yes, well…

So maybe I should take a page out of Will’s book and tell my brain not to worry about all the things and instead just get them done. Hear that, brain? What are you waiting for?

 

Busy weekend

Dinner with a friend, Freedom Trail, and two movies - oh my!

Friday night, Brid and I had dinner at the Border. It was sad not to do the regular dinner with the family, but nice to have dinner with a friend. Adult conversation — not a bad thing.

Saturday, we all took a trip to the North End with Conal. He’s been wanting to show Lucy and Will some of the Freedom Trail things now that they’re big enough to appreciate it a bit more. With the exception of not preparing well and putting Will in boots, it was an excellent day. Actually, it was excellent anyway, but it would have been nice not to be worried so much about him jumping in the puddles. I believe in jumping in puddles (when the stomping doesn’t throw muddy water in other peoples’ directions, of course), but with Will’s cough being back, every puddle seemed like a step closer to another hospital trip. When, ten minutes after getting out of the car Will said that his socks were wet thanks to a particularly deep puddle, well, all I could think was: pneumonia, here we come. (Happily, it’s Sunday night now, and he doesn’t seem any worse for the wear, so we’ll knock on wood that everything’s fine.)

We got some pizza - yummy, Brooklyn-ish pizza! - before heading over to the Paul Revere house. It wasn’t quite as substantial as I had expected, but it was definitely interesting. We saw a silversmithing demonstration (”Can we leave now, Mommy?” Will kept saying), and I liked seeing the kitchen gardens. It would have been nice to have a better understanding of the context of the site — if it was really that big, how the houses related to each other — although, to be honest, it could have been there and I just missed it. Lucy and Will are bigger; doesn’t mean that they can sustain their interest for much longer than 15 or 20 minutes, though.

From the Paul Revere house, we walked over to North Church. More puddles, a little bit of complaining, a lot of pestering about hitting every gift shop along the way. We managed to avoid too many complications, though, and got to the church. I didn’t realize it would be such a nice walk — there’s a fairly big plaza that I hadn’t expected. If it had been a nicer day, it would have been a nice place to hang out for longer. As it was, it was good to be able to let Lucy and Will run a bit and, yes, splash. We threw some pennies into the fountain, then got to the church.

It was packed! I was surprised at how much so. It also felt wrong to have a church be so, well, noisy. People just walking up and down the aisle willy-nilly. It reminded me of the Sistine Chapel — something that should have been quiet and peaceful, and yet would put a bustling, busy market to shame. I took Will out while Kelley, Lucy, and Conal stayed to look a little more. Will and I found this tucked away garden (St. Francis of Assisi, I think), which I could have stayed in for days. I don’t have my pictures downloaded yet, but when I do, I’ll post them. It’s probably not a secret place or anything, but it felt like we’d stumbled across a hidden gem.

From the church, we went back to the car via Mike’s Pastries. To be honest, I’m not sure why I’m willing to put up with the crowds and the rude counter people. It’s not like it’s the best bakery I’ve ever been to. There’s something awesome about the endless display of cookies, though. It was a nice end to that portion of the day.

On our way home, Jean called and — thank you, Jean! — she was able to babysit so Kelley and I headed out to the movies. We saw “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” which was pretty awesome. Exactly the right movie for my mood. The perfect amount of light and not. That one’s a keeper. It was actually our first movie of the weekend. Kelley had tickets for this afternoon’s game. We’re getting old, though, and neither one of us was really interested in sitting out in the cold and rain. Our neighbors were happy to take the tickets, and we were happy to take advantage of the fact that we had a babysitter lined up and went to a matinee. This one was “Iron Man” and it was another good choice. Of the two, I liked Sarah Marshall better, but Iron Man wasn’t bad at all. It was a little more violent than I like (although not nearly as violent as most things out there); seeing as it was a about a weapons dealer, though, it could have been much worse. Robert Downey, Jr. was the perfect choice for the lead, and it was nice to see Clark Gregg (I think that’s his name) show up as well.

There are actually a bunch of movies that are coming out that I’d like to see. One coming out every weekend for the next month, it seems. Next up, (hopefully) is Baby Mama. If Camilla wants to see it, then I’m golden. Oh, wait, but I’m counting on her for Made of Honor. Hmmm. We’ll have to see.