Category: Daily Life

I’ll start by sharing the shock and dismay I felt when I heard at the news that Steve Irwin was killed this weekend.  All goofy stunts aside, he was an important voice for conservation and I sincerely hope that others will continue his work (preferably without exposing themselves to so much risk).

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On Saturday, I spent most of the day at home except for running a few errands.  I started a new blog, to which I’ll link when I get the "About" section and at least one post completed (perhaps by tomorrow).

I also did some baking:  Amazing Pecan Coffee Cake and Path of Least Resistance Oatmeal Bars from Prepare to Meet Your Bakerina (scroll down to the bottom of the post for the recipe). 

I served both treats on Sunday morning, along with grapes, raspberries, strawberries, pineapple-orange juice and coffee.  The coffee cake really was amazing – I’ll definitely make it again.  The oatmeal bars were actually cookies, but they made a nice breakfast treat, too, and I took the remainder to a party in the evening.

My sister, my niece, two of my friends, my husband and I all went to the rodeo after breakfast to watch The Cowboy compete.  It was a beautiful day and very pleasant in the stands.  I was wearing my new gold-washed cowboy hat from Target.  I liked it enough that I may find excuses to wear it elsewhere.

My niece had fun picking dandelions, clover and foxtail and making little bouquets, occasionally stopping to watch the action.  One of the cowboys stopped at the fence and let her pet his horse.  After that, he’d say "hi" to her by name when he rode by, which you could tell delighted her.

We stayed at the rodeo until almost 3:00 p.m. and I emphatically thanked my husband for going with me even though I could tell he was bored (and a little freaked out when guys flirted with him).

In the evening, we went to a party at another couple’s house and sat around the firepit all evening.  Party animals that we are, we were home by 10:00 p.m. and I was asleep before 11:00.

Today, there’s a lot of work I could and should do: housework, yard work, actual work for my job, blog posts for the new blog, song lyric writing and plenty more.  I guess it really will be a Labor Day, even though I might prefer a Vegging on the Couch Day.  We’ll see how much I actually accomplish.

What do the rest of you have planned for today?

The incredibly cool company I work for had a "kidnap" yesterday, in which they loaded all 300+ employees onto buses at 12:15 and took us to an entertainment complex and mall.  We each got a $100 gift card that we could use to play video games at the party location and/or go shopping.  There was an open bar and hors d’oeuvres, so you could also choose to sit on the patio drinking, snacking and chatting all afternoon.

Party pooper that I am, I weighed my delicate stomach and 6:15 vocal lesson against the alcohol supply and decided that it would be best to keep the drinking to a bare minimum.  As soon as I read through the list of businesses enclosed with the gift card and discovered that they had a Converse store, I knew it was going to be all about shopping.

Accompanied by a friend who is due to give birth pretty much any day now, I walked the outdoor mall and popped into any shop that caught my eye.  I got two pairs of sneakers (buy one, get one half off…using someone else’s money!) and eventually decided to keep the last $40 for a later shopping trip or perhaps a dinner sometime.

Today, half the company gets the day off and thus a four-day weekend (I’m working because I chose to take my four-day weekend over Memorial Day), so it will probably be very quiet at the office.  That’s good because I have a LOT of work to do.

Tonight we’re doing some recording and planning to take a break to go to our favorite pizzeria for dinner.  Saturday is open and I hope I can rouse myself to complete some serious housework of the closet cleaning, cupboard straightening and basement mopping variety.  The Cowboy is spending the weekend with us and we’re going to the rodeo on Sunday morning and afternoon to watch him compete.  We have a party to go to on Sunday night and another open day on Monday.  Whee!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

When I stayed overnight at my sister’s house last weekend, I had the chance to experience the memory foam mattress pad she’d been raving about lately.  It was really, really ridiculously comfortable; it made me feel as though I were floating a couple of inches above the mattress.

Once I got home to my regular old, hard mattress, the contrast was striking. I’d wake up with my hip and shoulder sore from lying on my side or my lower back would be stiff from lying supine. I vowed I would get one of the fancy, expensive mattress pads as soon as I got paid.

Well, I jumped the gun by a day, counting on the slowness of the banking system, and bought one yesterday after work.  (It was cheaper at the store than online, just so you know.)  We pulled it out of its vacuum packaging, peeled it gently apart and put it on top of our just-turned mattress.  It’s supposed to take 24-72 hours to unsquash itself fully, but we figured we could live with a little lumpiness in the meantime.

Even in its partially-compressed form, it was AWESOME.  I actually woke up around 5:30 this morning feeling fully rested, but went back to sleep for an hour because I didn’t want to get up. 

When my husband came to bed at 6:30, I told him if we ever got our sleep schedules in synch, we might end up pulling a John and Yoko for the non-altruistic reason that our bed is too comfortable to want to leave it.

Who knows?  Maybe my morning commute will be calmer and less profanity-laden since I’m so fully rested. Probably not, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic.

There’s almost no work-related thing I dislike more than a meeting that’s scheduled anywhere between 11:30 and 1.  Oh I’ll go, but unless you’re going to feed me, I won’t be gracious about it.

I come in early and stay late every day for the opportunity to leave my desk for an hour starting around 11:30, get a change of scenery and eat something that hasn’t been squished into a bag in the refrigerator all morning. 

I know that the people who set up meetings cannot help but be tempted by that blank space in the middle of my calendar, but they should really resist.  I’m not nearly as nice with low blood sugar.

Ah, food poisoning. My favorite thing.

Apparently my lunch got me yesterday. I started feeling very, very bad within an hour or so and the rest of my meetings were excruciating.  I don’t think I remember a word anyone said.

After yakking once, I finally left the office only to be stuck behind a truck that had a huge photo of french fries on the back. Ugh.

Once I was home I was aching all over, hot but with cold extremities, and I crawled into bed immediately. There I stayed except for one brief venture out to the couch.

I’m still all achy today, but I think I might be able to make it through some of my workday. Naturally this would have to happen when I’m really busy.

This is the second time this year that I’ve gotten food poisoning at lunch. I’m going to run out of places to eat near my office.

Wish me crackers, Sprite and luck.

I don’t know that I actually accomplished very much this weekend, but the activity was non-stop nonetheless.

On Friday evening, we had a recording session and got a bit further with some of our songs.  Our main problem right now is that the Mac Mini that’s our main recording computer just isn’t cutting it.  As soon as my grandparents’ estate is settled I’ll be able to afford a better one, but in the meantime we’re limping along between crashes.  It’s frustrating, but otherwise I think the band is gelling rather nicely.

I had an eye doctor appointment on Saturday morning, which made me regret the coffee I’d had at 11 o’clock the previous evening.  My eyes were fine and I really just wanted a new prescription of the contact lenses I’m used to, but this doctor always wants me to try the newest ones on the market.  It didn’t work out at all well last time, but this year’s model seems better so far.

That afternoon, I went to hang out with my sister and her kids.  She was bored because my brother-in-law was out of town, so we ran around and did a little bit of shopping, then got my favorite carry-out Chinese food for dinner.  After my niece and nephew went to bed, we drank pinot grigio, made ice cream sandwiches with the gingersnaps I’d bought at World Market, and watched comedy DVDs until we both got sleepy (which didn’t take too long, in my case). 

I decided to stay over, which was a good test of my new contact lenses as I had no choice but to sleep in them.  In the morning, we all went to breakfast and I made it home before my husband woke up.

On Sunday, my husband and I finally went to see Who Killed the Electric Car?  It was heartening to see that the theater was nearly full.  I hope it’s a sign that people are waking up to the way the government and corporations are working against the best interests of the citizenry.  As we left the theater and got into my Honda Insight, we ended up having a fairly long conversation with the guy parked next to us (who, interestingly enough, worked on the production line at GM) about the hybrid car and the possibility of converting it to a plug-in hybrid.

After an evening spent mostly in front of the TV (we saw the season finale of "The 4400" but haven’t gotten to "Deadwood" yet), I turned in early. 

I predict that this week and next week are going to fly by.

Last night, my husband and I did our duty as active Internet participants and saw "Snakes on a Plane."

It was awesome.

The title perfectly set our expectations so that we could just sit back and enjoy the ride.  Yes, it was cheesy, but that was part of the fun. 

Pajiba compared it to seeing "Evil Dead" for the first time, which I think is an apt comparison even though I’m pretty sure SoaP had a much higher budget (which isn’t saying much).

I found "Snakes on a Plane" much more entertaining than most of the lengthy so-called blockbusters I’ve seen in the past few years. During one scene, I actually jumped in surprise so violently that I hit myself in the nose with my hand.

There’s been a lot of debate about whether the movie’s $15 million opening weekend makes it a "hit" or not. Some people seem to think that the future of Internet-based promotion rides on it. 

Here’s how I see it: without the name, the hype and the enthusiasm of the star, the movie would have probably gone straight to the video store without ever making back its budget.  As things stand, it’s certainly never going to rival the "Pirates of the Caribbeans" of the world, but on the other hand, it didn’t cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce.  By the standard of paying for its production and turning some profit, I think it’s probably going to be a great success.

"Snakes on a Plane" (and, I’d argue, "Serenity" before it) shows that the Long Tail of movies may start at the theater these days instead of at the DVD rental outlet.

I apologize for laming out with yesterday’s post.  To be honest, I’m having the same blog malaise that seems to be plaguing a lot of bloggers right now.  Sometimes it seems as though I’ve already written about every possible topic in my sphere of experience.

To keep from talking ad nauseum about laundry, songwriting, cats, housework or TV, I’ll move on to something only slightly less cheesy than a meme:  a bulleted list.

• Have you ever thought that you should make your fortune knocking out romance novels?  Why not participate in this contest and see if it’s as easy as you think?  The prizes aren’t all that impressive, but it sounds like fun.
• If you think pharmaceutical ads are obnoxious now, check out these vintage drug ads.
• I want to try this recipe for Watermelon Agua Fresca sometime soon.  I could use the limes from my lime tree.  First, though, I’ll be making an apple pie with a bunch of Granny Smiths that my sister gave me yesterday.

By the way, I’m still having a great time playing with Kaboodle. Check out my pages of links to t-shirt sites, eclectic home furnishings and handcrafted jewelry:

Have a lovely Tuesday!

I know it sounds like a minor plot point in a low-budget comedy, but circumstances last night led me to spend the evening singing in the bar of a Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant, backed by a band that had never played together before.

I’d spent the early afternoon at a blues festival watching my cousin and his band play.  After I got home, my husband and I had intended to go to a movie, but he got a call from one of my old guitarists.  His band had gotten a last-minute gig, but only his bass player was in town and available to play.  He needed my husband to play drums.

My husband agreed to take the gig and I figured I might as well go with him since I didn’t have anything better to do.  Because the band only had one vocalist, I offered to sing some songs but waive any pay.

When I arrived, I found that a second guitarist – another former bandmate of ours – had been recruited.  They were all happy to have me sing a bunch of the songs, so I circled all the ones I thought I’d heard enough times to be able to pull off (as long as I had the lyrics in front of me) and we headed to the restaurant to set up. 

This is not a triumphant story.  Everyone in the makeshift band (which the guitarist dubbed, "The Scramblers" because it was thrown together at the last minute) was a good player, but without any practice and with limited familiarity with the songs, the end result was not good.  Also, the sound mix was awful, with loud vocals and drums carrying through the whole building while the guitars and bass were swallowed up by the palm-frond thatch over the bar.

When we arrived, the place was still pretty full.  Once we started playing, people began exiting in droves.  By the second set, we were lucky if one person clapped politely after we ended a song.  By the last set, the few remaining patrons weren’t even bothering to do that anymore.

I stayed on the tiny stage even when I wasn’t singing lead to try to offer some backup vocals and the occasional harmony.  There were some songs I ended up doing well ("Oh, Darlin’" by the Beatles) and some that were disastrous ("Don’t Dream It’s Over" by Crowded House, which is SO not my style, and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar, which I wrongly figured would have been right up my alley).  The positioning of the lights made it very hard to read the lyrics on the stand in front of me, so there were times when I was just making word-like sounds to the tune of whatever song we were doing and hoping nobody noticed.

After the second set, I broke my usual "no drinking during gigs" rule and got a beer.  It clearly wasn’t going to make any difference.  At the end of the night, while the band leader was collecting the band’s pay, the bar manager expressed surprise that we’d never even practiced before the gig. Surely he was just being polite.

So that was my Saturday evening. How was yours?

Okay, here’s the story:  while cleaning out the closet in our studio yesterday, I came across my wedding dress.  It was wadded into a corner, spilling out of its original Jones Store Co. garment bag from 1965 (when my mom originally bought it). 

Since I’ve now been married for almost twelve years, I think it’s high time I took or shipped the dress somewhere to be "preserved."  That means they clean it, wrap it in acid-free paper and pack it neatly in a box.

So how much is reasonable for this service?  I saw an online company that does it for $99, but even my unsentimental self is a little hesitant to just ship the dress off to an unknown company.  However, I inquired at my local cleaner and they charge almost $300 for the same service, so it is somewhat tempting.

I can’t help but suspect that the online services probably use exactly the same vendors for the actual gown processing, minus the huge markup.  Still, I’d be a lot more comfortable with a recommendation.  Internets, what do you know about this?