Category: Daily Life

Last year I happened to notice the Kansas City Zoo advertising their Pumpkin Smash Day, so I recruited a friend and went to see what it was all about. It was so much fun that we went again this year and brought along two more friends.

So without further ado, here are photos of cute animals eating (sometimes eating from, as the zoo folks fill some of the pumpkins with stuff the animals actually enjoy eating) and/or playing with pumpkins.

The lemurs don't like pumpkins, but they certainly enjoy the frozen grapes and blueberries the zookeepers put inside this jack o'lantern.

The meerkats were hella serious about eating their pumpkins. Their keeper said they would eat until they were stuffed and round-bellied, then have gastrointestinal repercussions all day tomorrow. Apparently it's all okay since it's only once a year.

I didn't catch what kind of monkeys these were, but this one was pretty focused on its pumpkin.

This prehensile-tailed porcupine did not wish to share with his monkey neighbors.

Last year the baby golden lion tamarin was very tiny and still clinging to its mother's chest. This year it was the first to investigate the fascinating and delicious pumpkin.

The African wild dogs were mostly interested in the pumpkins because the zookeepers put some chunks of meat inside before they chucked them over the fence. There was a little bit of growling involved.

The hippos each ate a whole pumpkin. I didn't get a good photo of that happening because they got out of the pond to get them.

Penguins don't care about pumpkins, but it's still fun to watch them swimming.

Same goes for jellyfish.

So that was a fun start to the day. I made it home in time to have a meal with my husband before he left to play a gig and now I'm looking ahead to an evening at home with an open agenda. Possible activities for tonight include starting the long book I need to read for a book club meeting a week from tomorrow, baking some pies, and doing laundry. I lead an exciting life, I tell you!

Driving home from work today, I saw a kid on the sidewalk doing a thoroughly dorky dance. He saw me looking at him, caught my eye and gave me a big smile and a wave. Naturally, I smiled and waved back.

I get so much joy from how unselfconscious kids are. My nephew loves to dance and he will dance and dance until he literally burns up all the dancing energy left in his body. I watched him do it at the MC Yogi/DJ Drez concert at the Kansas City Yoga Festival a couple of weeks ago.

In fact, here he is doing a light saber routine at a school talent show a couple of years ago. (Sadly, the music has been removed.) Look at all that energy!

Adults worry WAY too much about what people think of them. Go ahead and give that speech, sing that song and do that dance. Your audience is way too wrapped up in themselves to judge you in any way that's going to matter tomorrow. Don't be afraid to express yourself the way your inner voice is urging you to do.

Now get out there and dance!

We have a woodchuck (a.k.a. a groundhog) living under our deck. At least I thought we did until I talked to my neighbors last weekend and learned that they think of it as the woodchuck that lives under their deck. So it turns out that there's a very spoiled woodchuck in our neighborhood with at least two luxury dens.

This woodchuck is just shy enough to make sure we don't try to do anything crazy like touch it, but it's bold enough that we see it pretty often. It suns itself on our patio, grazes in all parts of the yard, and sometimes just peers out from under our deck steps.

We've been coexisting nicely for quite some time. In fact, I'm pretty sure this is the same woodchuck that I used to see ducking in and out from under our shed when it was younger and smaller a few years ago.

However, recently we have had a minor difference of opinion regarding the mums I planted in pots and flower beds around our yard. I believe that mums make great fall decorations. The woodchuck believes that mum blossoms are incredibly delicious and should all be eaten.

At first I only suspected that it was the woodchuck smooshing my mums and removing the flowers. Then I caught it red-pawed the other day as I was coming out my front door with the dog. It was standing on its hind legs, removing the blossoms from the mums I keep in pots on the front walk. The dog barked, the woodchuck ran, and now the front of the house is flower-free.

Fortunately I only spent 98 cents for each mum plant, so the lost investment is minimal. Also, the plants remain largely intact except for the missing blooms, so it's possible that they'll survive as greenery.

There is one final pot of intact mums in the center of our driveway between the garage doors. If the woodchuck is very bold, it may get them. If not, it will be the only fall decor I have left unless I decide to put out our Halloween decorations (which hinges on whether I feel like staying home to give candy to the half-dozen trick-or-treaters we can generally expect).

Under the circumstances, I think I will forego putting out any real pumpkins for decoration because I suspect they are equally as delicious as mum blossoms.

I am willing to overlook the sacrifice of my mum plants just because the woodchuck is so cute. I'm glad my neighbors and I have provided a safe place for it to go about its woodchucky business.

Warning: This post contains lots and lots of whining.

My birthday was Monday, July 7th and I was perfectly cool with yet another year ticking over on my personal odometer. That is, until this Monday. That was the day when I noticed my lower back strongly protesting as I routinely gathered the trash and cleaned the litter boxes. My back hurt enough that I actually asked my husband to take the trash out for me, but he was already shoeless and ready for bed, so I did it myself.

That day at work I spent a lot of time in my super uncomfortable office chair working on a project that required significant concentration. My back was not happy about it, but I used my foam roller when I got home and I thought it was all good.

The next day I got out of bed and thought I was still okay. That is, until I got to work and realized that my back was not feeling cooperative about the whole "getting out of the car" thing. It all went rapidly downhill from there. I fidgeted uncomfortably through my morning meetings and found that I couldn't quite straighten all the way when I got up from sitting. Toward the end of the day, I could barely walk at all and I spent the last meeting of the day standing while everyone else sat. 

My massage therapist couldn't get me in until next week, but she gave me some advice on trigger points to work on. I think that's what got me out the door and back to my own house.

I applied a variety of treatments when I got home: Biofreeze, ice pack, bourbon and cola. They all helped dull the pain, but the stiffness remained. I couldn't take the massage therapist's advice on further foam rolling because I could no longer get to the floor.

Sleeping wasn't bad as long as I lay flat on my back and didn't try to move. When the dog needed to go out at 2:00 a.m., I called my husband and had him come down and take him. Unfortunately my husband didn't respond at 4:30 a.m. when it was dog feeding time, so I had to execute an elaborate plié to get the food from the measuring cup into the bowl on the floor.

This morning I was trying to be optimistic about my ability to get to work despite the fact that I cannot bend at the waist at all. My inability to dress myself ultimately decided the whole thing and I emailed my boss to tell her that I'm going to spend the morning trying to schedule some kind of therapeutic care that I hope will allow me to get to the office later on.

I am really rather angry at my own body right now. I have stuff to do and I don't have time for this. I'm performing with my band on Saturday night, for one thing. And I'm heading to BlogHer next week. Not being able to sit is a rather signficant impediment to air travel.

Apparently this is a test of my patience and resilience. So far I'm getting a failing grade.

Update: I managed to suck it up and do the recommended foam roller work, which made me functional enough to put on pants and get to the office. Even better, I now have a deep tissue massage appointment at 4:30 p.m. today, so let's hope this is all behind me soon.

I don't want to jinx myself, but I am having a thoroughly delightful summer so far.

As I mentioned, I started with a nice trip to Virginia late last month.

My band has been playing out pretty regularly, including a performance at Fort Leavenworth on Independence Day. There I am to the right, in all my red, white and blue glory.

I've gotten the chance to float in a lake with my sister and her family and their boat. Yes, I got a sunburn because apparently I'd forgotten that sunscreen must be reapplied periodically, but it was fun and relaxing.

In past week, I have had two long board gaming sessions that included friends visiting from out of town. Oh, and I brought cupcakes from a new shop in my neighborhood to this weekend's game, and cupcakes make everything better.

Today is my birthday, which I've been celebrating for a week or so already. My husband got me an iPad Mini. My sister and aunt took me out to lunch yesterday and stuffed me full of fried plantains, guacamole, black bean tacos and margaritas.

I have the day off today because the company where I work gives an extra day in relation to all the summer holidays. I spent the morning finishing up a presentation I'm giving at a conference on Thursday and now I have the rest of the day to relax, read, snuggle with our pets and possibly take a nap later on if it seems like a good idea.

Next on the red-letter summer agenda (aside from another band gig the weekend after next) is my trip to BlogHer in San Jose. I am very excited about that!

Clearly this is just a check-in post, but I do want to remember how contented I am right now. The year did not get off to a good start at all, but everything feels as sunny as the summer sky at this juncture and I am endlessly appreciative of that.

Today I had an MRI for the first time. It wasn't for anything scary (I hope) – just a peek at the elbow I injured last year. It's considerably less painful than it was at first, but recently it's developed some swelling and a lump near my bicep, so I figured it was time to seek a professional opinion.

Because it's me, I somehow failed to write down the name of the imaging center on the calendar entry for this morning. Fortunately, I had managed to register in my brain that it was within a couple blocks of my office, so I figured out which one it was (on the first try!) and made it there almost on time.

After filling out a smattering of paperwork and taking off my rings and necklace, I went back and put on a gown that covered my upper body. Then it was time to get propped into the MRI machine. The tech taped something that looked like a pair of Vitamin E capsules over the area of my arm where the little lump is. Then she had me lie on the table so she could tether me into the ideal position for the scan.

She told me that the whole process would take about 45 minutes, during which I was not to fidget, cough or clear my throat. The machine is loud, so she put headphones over my ears and then began to slide the table into the machine.

I don't think of myself as being claustrophobic, but there was something very oppressive about being inside the MRI. It was the open-sided kind, so at least I wasn't completely enclosed, but I quickly realized that keeping my eyes shut was going to be a good idea to keep my anxiety down.

Lying still for 45 minutes is no easy task, but I concentrated on my breathing and let the MRI noises form themselves into little songs in my head. I think I nodded off from time to time, but luckily I didn't twitch too much when I woke up. It seemed to take a long time, but the tech spoke to me from the next room from time to time and gave me updates about how long each imaging session was going to take and how many were left.

At the end, I was relieved when the table slid back out of the machine and I could finally move freely. My sore elbow was stiff from being restrained, but it shook out pretty quickly. I left the center with a CD of the scans, which of course I looked at immediately. It was full of pictures of…cross sections of my arm. Yeah, I don't know what I'm looking at there. That's my doctor's job.

So that was my adventure today. Have you had an MRI? What did you think of the experience?

Is there a prize for neglecting your blog for the longest amount of time while still considering it "active"? It's true that Typepad had a couple of lengthy service outages during that period, but I probably wasn't really going to write a post during one of them anyway.

Here are some of the things that have happened since I checked in last.

I attended Go Blog Social. It was strange to go to a blogging conference in my own town where I didn't know anyone. As you can see from the photo, this was a young and stylish crowd. Many of the bloggers had gotten their start in school, so I didn't have much in common with them. Still, it's always interesting to see where blogging is headed.

The following weekend I went on a trip to Hermann, Missouri with a big group of friends. We learned the maximum number of wineries a group of adults can visit in a day before needing a nap (answer: 3). It was lots of fun, though.

Because I'm such an early riser, I took advantage of the mini vacation and took morning walks each day. This is me heading back across the Missouri River toward Hermann.

When I got back in town, I started a new job. As you can see, they've been very nice from the start. I've now been there for about five weeks. I disposed of the welcome balloon when someone newer joined our department (and I no longer needed it to find my way back to my desk).

I finally got the opportunity to see my husband play with the band he joined a few months ago. They're called The Sexy Accident. 

I spent an entire weekend cleaning my house. (Notice the smeary mirror. I have learned my lesson and since purchased the good kind of glass cleaner.) Uncompensated plug: I highly recommend Invisible Glass in the spray can. They sell it in the automotive department, but it's perfectly good for inside the house.

5K season began. This was actually my second organized race of the year; I did Earth Walk the weekend before. Neither was timed, but I did a pretty decent amount of running during Race 4 Domestic Violence Prevention, so it was probably my best pace of the year so far. I did another 5K walk/run with the dog after I got home that morning.

Speaking of the dog, Toby is as derpy as ever.

Last weekend I went to a drag show where they read through the entire script of Romy & Michele's High School Reunion. It was just as silly and fun as it sounds.

We celebrated Velvet's 7th Gotcha Day last week. I didn't post about it after her first illness, but Velvet relapsed and spent four days at the veterinary hospital in February. It turned out she had a severe liver infection and at first it seemed as though she wouldn't pull through. I visited her every day and she managed to rally after several days of fluids and antibiotics. Once she started eating again, they sent her home and she's been back to her old self.

So that's the Cliff's Notes version. I've been staying busy, but not too busy. I'm happy and reasonably productive. My exercise and diet are getting back on track after a rather poor start at the beginning of the year. My band lost its keyboard player but the rest of us are carrying on as a four-piece and we have a gig the Saturday after next. 

Best of all, I have my plane tickets to BlogHer '14, so I'll be San Jose bound with Cagey this July and we'll be reliving our BlogHer '05 experience with an extra decade of experience to leaven things (not to mention several thousand extra attendees compared to the first conference).

So yes, I'm back. And I missed you!

I have this whole week open because I am between jobs. That's not a euphemism—I left one job last Thursday and I'll start a new one on Monday.

As it happens, this is the perfect week for a break like that. The weather's getting nice enough for long walks with the dog, I'm in spring cleaning mode, and I had a good bunch of errands I'd been putting off. This also gives me the opportunity to spruce up my wardrobe a bit so I'll look more professional at the new gig.

Yesterday I started the morning at my favorite coffee shop, reading a book on my Kindle app and breaking my fast with a blueberry scone and two big cups of coffee. After that I got a much-needed manicure and pedicure, then joined a friend for lunch. Once my husband woke up, I accompanied him to his favorite drum shop, then we had dinner (well, breakfast for him), and made a quick run to Target.

Today my plan is to get in some solid house cleaning and laundry. The only thing on my calendar during the day is a lunch; tonight I have a board meeting and a dinner party with friends.

Tomorrow my sister has agreed to help me shop for work clothes and we'll undoubtedly have lunch together while we're out. Then I'm getting a haircut and rejoining my sister in the evening for a seminar about women and money.

On Friday morning I'm taking the train to Hermann, Missouri to help a friend celebrate her fortieth birthday. We're bringing lots of games and snacks, and the eight of us are taking over an entire building at a bed and breakfast inn. We'll spend the weekend visiting wineries and shopping and I think there was mention of a karaoke bar. I'm really looking forward to the trip.

The first few months of this year have been kind of a stress-filled blur, but this week marks the turning point. Onward and upward!

Now excuse me, but I need to empty the vacuum cleaner and get started on the floors downstairs…

Way back in mid-2013 my sister asked if I could stay at her house the last week in January and take care of my niece and nephew so she and her husband could go to a yoga retreat in Belize. Of course I said yes. I figured it would be a fun chance to hang out with the kids, and my original plan was to take the entire week off from work and bring Toby with me.

Well, some of that plan went awry. Toby got himself uninvited on Christmas Day when he sneaked off into their house and voided his system in several inappropriate places. Also I changed jobs, which meant that the vacation plan was off the table.

Still, it all worked out. I arrived on a Saturday morning after my sister and brother-in-law had already left for the airport. My niece was still asleep and my nephew was down the street at a sleepover. I took the opportunity to hang out with the family pets a bit.

I'd forgotten that my niece had a friend staying over. Once they got up, I made a pan of cinnamon rolls out of refrigerated dough and whipped up some eggs and toast so their breakfast would have a little more substance. My nephew eventually got home and brought his sleepover buddy with him. Throughout the day, other neighborhood boys kept showing up and the house was filled with activity until early evening.

I made a batch of veggie chili for lunch, but its lukewarm reception by everyone except my nephew's vegetarian friend told me my usual cooking style was going to be off the table for the week. 

We met up with my husband for supper at a restaurant in my neighborhood, which is fairly distant from the kids' house. The big treat was that we were going to the bowling alley afterward. A friend's band was playing and I'd invited some of my friends and their kids to join us. 

Everyone stayed up WAY past their bedtimes and had a lot of fun.

On Sunday morning, both kids were game to go with me to Petco while I took my volunteer shift caring for the adoptable cats. Afterward, we went out to breakfast.

Then we stopped by A Librarian's house to take care of her cats, and my house to pick up a few things I'd forgotten to pack. 

We finished our afternoon of errands with a fast food meal and a trip to the grocery store. During breakfast we'd made a meal plan for the week, which proved to be very helpful.

The work week was kind of a blur. Every morning I'd pack a lunch for my nephew and make him something for breakfast. My niece needed to be out the door to catch her school bus by 7:02 a.m., and she did a great job getting herself ready and taking care of her own breakfast and lunch.

I dropped my nephew off at his friend's house each morning so he could get on the bus from there and I could make it to work on time.

My meal plan got us nicely through a week of suppers and fortunately the kids were used to eating late, so that all worked out with my hellishly long commute time. Usually I'm traveling against rush hour traffic both ways, but that week I was in the thick of it. 

One thing that was nice about staying there was that I slept quite well. The kids went to bed no later than 9:00 p.m. and I generally wasn't far behind. Sometimes the cats slept with me (the dogs each sleep with their favorite kid every night), but they didn't generally wake me up. In fact, Starsky thought I should sleep later each morning.

Friday night was the exception. Both kids were invited to sleepovers and there happened to be an ice storm that day. Because I was in no hurry to get back to their house, I went to my own house for a while and hung out with my husband until the traffic had time to clear. When I got ready for bed, I made the mistake of letting both dogs sleep with me. Both young, rambunctious dogs. Yeah, not a good idea.

The next morning, my nephew came home and revealed that he'd gotten in trouble at school the day before. When he'd gotten in trouble at school earlier in the week, I'd withheld dessert as a punishment. This time, I decided to go with no TV or video games. Instead, I had him read for a long while. He helped me scrape the ice off my car and then we played board games and ate popcorn. Yeah, not much of a punishment.

My band had a gig on Saturday night, so I couldn't hang around to wait for my sister and brother-in-law to get home, but my niece is old enough that she had the evening covered from the time I had to leave until their folks got in. In fact, she managed to score a babysitting gig in the neighborhood, so she was able to take her brother with her and make some money, too.

I made a just couple of mistakes but they weren't too major:

• I forgot to put a drink in my nephew's lunch the first two days. Then again, it took him until the third morning to tell me.
• The last day of my visit, I watched the postal delivery lady pull up and struggle to jam the mail into the box. That's when I realized I hadn't brought the mail in a single time during my stay. Oops.

All in all, it was a great experience. I don't find myself spending nearly as much time with my niece and nephew as I'd like and they're growing up really quickly. I'm glad to have had so much one-on-one time with them and I think it brought us closer.