Category: Daily Life

I woke up this morning coding HTML hyperlinks in my head. You can see what kind of day I’m setting myself up for.

Actually, we’re supposed to have some sort of office picnic/outing today, so I’ll have the spend the early part of the day scrambling to catch up on deadlines if I plan to participate. I hope that whatever activity they have in mind is not supposed to take place outdoors, because we’re having a full-on thunderstorm with hard rain right now. That’s good news for my lawn, but not such good news when it comes to any attempt to shuttle 15+ people all over town for fun and team building.

The weekend was low-key but in a good way. On Saturday we had our book club discussion of “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” Despite its inclusion under the mantle of “evil sluts of literature,” we all felt fairly sympathetic to the title character. We’ve decided to abandon the theme (already!) for next time and read Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984.” I had hoped some of my book club guests could stay to watch a movie, but since they included two new moms and someone who constantly travels for work, I understood when more pressing activities called them away.

Wow! There’s a lot of lightning and thunder with this storm. If only I could crawl back into bed and listen to it for a while. But no, I have to shower and make my breakfast shake. I just hope a lightning strike doesn’t knock out our electricity. The good news is that at least I can save some hair-fixing effort today. With this much rain, I think a ponytail is called for.

Thus ends another rambling Monday blog entry. Thank you so much to everyone who commented last week. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy this little spot of writing every morning. It’s even more gratifying to know that other people enjoy it, too.

After I asked for suggestions on Monday, Mark Beck came back with this intriguing idea, “I’ll ask you the question from the book, ‘Generation X’ — ‘If you could take only one memory to heaven from this life, what would it be’?”

As an actual Generation Xer, I’m naturally tempted to say something hip and witty with a tinge of sarcastic bitterness. As an aging Generation Xer, I’m probably not alone in immediately dismissing that impulse as I gradually gravitate toward deeper consideration of life’s imponderables.

I know I’m not usually known for revealing much in the way of emotion – here or anywhere else – but this question can only lead to an emotional answer, so here it is: The one memory I would take is the look on my husband’s face when he’s looking at me fondly.

Why? Well, in most circumstances you are loved by your immediate and extended family just because they’re your family. Your spouse has to begin to love you at some point and then continue to love you over time as you change and grow. If, ten years down the line, your spouse still looks at you lovingly when he or she doesn’t know you’re watching, I’d say that’s a memory worth holding onto.

Okay, tomorrow I’ll be back to regular, acerbic Jane. I’ll take the other suggestions I received and discuss gangsters, gunslingers, vampires and my other TV faves.

When I woke up yesterday, I first thought I might be paying the price for drinking most of a bottle of wine with the previous night’s dinner. If only it had been so simple.

My entire Tuesday was one of those days that involves long stretches of time spent sitting or lying on various bathroom floors. I couldn’t drink water. I couldn’t drink Sprite. I couldn’t hold down saltines. Clearly, some food poisoning bug had managed to grab hold of my poor stomach.

Foolishly, I went to work anyway. That lasted about an hour and a half, most of which I spent in one of our admirably clean bathroom stalls or with my head down on my desk. I gave up around 10:30 and went home to sleep for a while.

I awakened at about 1:00 p.m. and managed to keep down some chicken soup, so I checked my e-mail and went back to the office to give it another go. I made it through a brief meeting and tidied up a few of the projects mentioned prominently in the e-mail, then bailed again when the desire to lie down overrode the desire to soldier through the workday. What a lovely impression to make on my SECOND DAY ON THE JOB. Luckily, the office is pretty empty this week and I sit in a remote corner.

Anyway, I went back home and started Round 2 of the tiresome game, “What foods and drinks will my stomach accept?” The answer was “none of the above.” By now my head was splitting and my face was flushed. I Googled my symptoms and ran across the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s list of common foodbourne illnesses, which they’d saucily entitled Meet the Bugs. It reassured me that I probably wouldn’t die, and I went back to bed for many, many hours.

I finally awakened again well after dark and accepted my husband’s offer to bring me more chicken soup, some pre-made Jell-o cups, and some Gatorade. I could already tell my stomach was making normal noises again, but was still pleased to be allowed to keep and digest the new food. The fever and headache were gone. Life seemed back to normal.

Today I feel pretty good, albeit dehydrated and under-fueled. I’m not taking any chances, though. I’m bringing soup and Jell-o for lunch!

After two false starts, I realize I have nothing of interest to impart this morning. The weekend was filled with mild activities that are not worth sharing, punctuated by long naps. The week promises to be work-intensive. The cat is doing better and is home and eating.

You see? Nothing.

Clearly I’ll need some help until the next marginally-interesting domestic crisis pops up. Here’s your assignment, using the comments form: “What should Jane write about for the rest of the week?” Discuss amongst yourselves.

With a vital deadline looming and hours of work remaining, I stayed at the office last night until 7:00 p.m., took a dinner break with my husband, and resumed work at home from 9:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. I’d planned to allow myself to sleep in, but here it is, 6:36 a.m., and I’m peering blearily at my computer screen. So much for that idea.

The good news is that with a fourteen-hour day under my belt for yesterday, I wouldn’t have to spend all that much time at the office today to round out my 40 hours for the week. The bad news is that I have an online training session to attend from 3:00 p.m. until at least 4:00 p.m., so I can’t leave that early.

My job goes from contract to permanent as of Monday and I couldn’t be more thrilled. In four months, it’s already allowed me more room for creativity than any job I’ve ever had.

The project that’s been taking up so much time is nearly complete (hence the all-nighter), and I think it’s fairly atypical of the kinds of things I’ll ordinarily be working on. It involved a series of emotional interviews that I’ve transcribed and turned into feature articles. I’m very proud of how it turned out, but ready to move on to something a bit lighter and more fun. Fortunately, my next two big projects fit the bill perfectly.

Sorry for all the rambling and vagueness. My eyes feel as though they’re ringed with cheap indoor/outdoor carpeting. If I weren’t so vain, I’d consider wearing my glasses all day rather than face the certain discomfort of putting contacts in my tired, puffy eyes. I’d take a shower first, but my nearsightedness is too severe for me to be functional sans glasses in even the most straightforward tasks.

Well, off to hyper-caffeinate myself to try to make it through the day. Will I be going to that 7:30 a.m. breakfast on my calendar tomorrow. Uh, no.

Happy Thursday to you, my loyal blog readers. I only have a few minutes before I go to face a deluge of deadlines, so I figured I’d wrap up a few of the threads I’ve left hanging from earlier this week.

The cat – Because she’s very old, my husband and I had already discussed whether we might need to have her euthanized. However, her problem turned out to be potentially solveable with a change in food and some supplemental Metamucil. She spent last night at the vet, and we should have a clearer picture of her care needs today. Even in obvious discomfort she’s been alert and mobile, so we take that as a good sign. She reeks, though, and I’m not looking forward to trying to give her a bath.

The cars – I’m still not going to have my car back in time for the rally I wanted to do in mid-May. However, my rally partner wasn’t about to give up that easily – she’s offered her car instead. It’s a lot newer and nicer than mine, so that should be fun!

The emergency backup car turned out to only need a new battery, so it’s up and running again. However, that leads to another little story.

Yesterday morning I was headed out the door in plenty of time to run an errand on my way to work. My husband had been driving the car, so it had fast food trash on the floor. I put the key in the ignition and set my purse on the passenger seat, grabbed the trash, got out and put it in the barrel next to the garage. When I returned to get in the car and leave, it had locked itself completely.

You can imagine how I felt. My every interaction with cars of late has resulted in money being vacuumed from my wallet, and this would be no exception. I called a locksmith and made it to work 30 minutes late and $40 poorer.

I’m staying optimistic though, ’cause what else is there to do? I’ve long since passed my “weeping and gnashing of teeth” phase as a response to daily stresses. It takes too much energy and just makes me feel bad.

Yesterday I got to thinking about the milestones that made me realize I was an adult. I don’t mean birthdays or graduations – these are more subtle symbols of adulthood. Here are a few of them in chronological order:

• Buying your own plane ticket – Can you think of a more potent symbol of adult freedom? I remember thinking, even at the time, “Wow, I’m really grown up now!”
• Purchasing a piece of new furniture – After years of making do with other people’s castoff furnishings, it’s a big deal to buy something new for yourself.
• Replacing a piece of furniture you originally bought new – This is when you really start to realize you’ve grown up. For me, buying a new clothes hamper to replace my original one had special resonance.
• Buying a house – I know, “Duh.” But it marks the transition between, “Hey, man, it’s a free country – I can walk across your property if I want to!” and “Hey you kids – get off of my lawn!”
• Putting away the tchotchkes of youth – Huh? Let me illustrate: Last night my husband bought some wonderful incense and we wanted to burn a stick of it. I knew it meant we’d finally left behind our “just out of the dorm” lifestyle when it took me twenty minutes to round up an incense burner.

So that’s my not-particularly-profound collection of thoughts for today. Enjoy your Wednesday!

I don’t have much time this morning, so I’ll just do a few updates:

• My car is becoming a yawning cash-flow vortex. While dismantling the motor, our mechanic discovered something else wrong with it that’s unrelated to last week’s incident. The “new” problem adds more than 25% to a repair bill that already made me feel queasy.
• I forgot to mention that my emergency backup vehicle is also having problems – either the battery or the alternator, we’re not sure. It’s lucky I have an emergency backup vehicle at all, I know, but it’s becoming a little difficult to get to and fro.
• One of our cats is ill, so my husband is taking her to the vet sometime today between job hunting, trying to get me a car that runs, and his many other errands. Now I feel a little bad about yesterday’s anti-cat rant, although it’s all still true. The sick cat is the one we took in when my husband’s mother died. The cat is coming up on age 20, so I fear there’s not a lot the vet can do for her.
• Today at work: deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. I’ve worked this way my entire life, but that doesn’t make it any less stressful when I find myself needing to write eight articles in one day. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing in about two hours. Wish me luck!

Yesterday I spent the early part of my workday filing away the masses of papers that had covered my entire desk. I followed up with a thorough cleaning of all desk surfaces – and, boy, were they dirty! The only remaining mess source is the rapidly-expiring bouquet of lilacs I brought in on Monday. I may have to cut some more flowers to replace them – it was nice having fresh blossoms in the office.

Tomorrow we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain during my niece’s birthday party. There’s an inflatable bouncy castle on order, so it would be a shame if it couldn’t be used. I, personally, am very much looking forward to leaping around in the bouncy castle once all the kids leave!

I’m heading over early to help with the party prep and make punch. I’ve hosted or co-hosted a LOT of baby showers recently, so I’ve developed some standards for party punch that the uninitiated might not consider. For example, one should always take into account the color of the finished product. At one shower, the punch tasted delicious but the color…well, to use an out-of-context quote from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” it could be described as “obscenely biological.” I’ve found a recipe that uses frozen condensed orange juice and lemonade, club soda, ginger ale, and a scoop of powdered punch mix. Basically it ends up being sparkling Kool-aid with visible pulp, which is fine. The important thing is that all the artificial dyes in the punch mix make the concoction a pleasing shade of pink.

I have an enormous collection of faux copper Jell-o molds, so I tried to make an attractive ice ring for the punch the last time around. Unfortunately, I dropped it in the sink as I was unmolding it, so it ended up floating in the punchbowl as a group of oddly-curved icebergs. I’m going to let my sister be in charge of the punch accoutrements this time. Some strawberry sherbet would be a nice accent, I think.

It promises to be a fairly relaxed weekend after that. My husband has a gig on Saturday night (he’s a drummer), so I suppose I’ll have to seek out some entertainment plans, lest I spend the evening vegging in front of the TV (again). On Sunday, maybe I can finally get around to some yard work. All of you – have a lovely weekend yourselves!

I swung by my hairdresser’s shop at lunchtime yesterday to buy some shampoo and conditioner. My last bottle of shampoo had run out a couple of weeks earlier and I’d been using a shampoo of my husband’s that leaves my hair dry and horrid-looking. For some reason, my supply of conditioner lasted a bit longer, but by yesterday’s shower I had scraped the last milliliter of funky, leftover conditioner out of the last sample bottle. It was definitely time to start over.

The last time I had my hair cut, I’d gotten some samples of shampoo and conditioner, so I figured I’d buy those. She was out of the conditioner, but gave me a big glob in a paper cup from her own bottle. I bought a bottle of shampoo that I thought was what I’d had in the sample packet.

This morning I hopped into the shower and poured some of the shampoo into my hand. It was NOT what I was expecting! It was a deep, dark purple that reminded me of a cloud of squid’s ink. Turns out, it’s designed to counter the brassy golds and yellows in blonde hair. I immediately got a mental picture of an elderly lady I’d seen at a restaurant not long ago, her hair a soft pouf of lavender cotton-candy.

As it turns out, the shampoo did quite a nice job on my hair in color and texture both. Even though I’d missed the “rinse immediately” instruction on the bottle the first time around, I didn’t end up with violet hair. Whew!

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I completed the sale of my car last night and the buyer is overjoyed with it. He’s much more willing to dig in and make all the necessary repairs than I was, so I’m glad he’s so happy. I’ll still see it since we belong to two of the same car clubs.

My car that’s in the shop will be ready in about three weeks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to drive it in a weekend event on May 15-16 that includes a rally and an autocross.

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My biggest minor triumph of the morning was in beginning to address the avalanche of laundry that had been forming around each clothes hamper. I realized that today’s pair of undies was the last from the “acceptable” stratum of the drawer. After that, I’d be faced with the “why haven’t I thrown these away?” layer. The “relatively new pairs that actually fit” selection was exhausted more than a week ago.

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That’s all I’ve got for now. Time to head to work for a lovely morning of filing!