totally bailed

I went to my bankruptcy class tonight. Had a legal research paper due in the class after it. Hadn't finished the legal research paper. Completed the legal research paper during the bankruptcy class.

Turns out I cannot listen, think, and type all at the same time, so I didn't listen.

Class was over in 35 minutes. I was happy. Research paper was ready for submission.

Win all around. Yes, I know, the other kids probably depend on me to call bs on the teacher at least twice per class and I probably let them down today.

But hey, it was only 35 minutes, right, and sometimes, you gotta look out for number one.

thoughts from the floor

Day two on the floor. Day four horizontal. My back can be such a pain in the back.

Clearly, I was abusing it. Saturday morning, pouring milk over my cereal, noticed a slight pain in the old familiar place, lower left hip. Ate my cereal, emptied and filled the dishwasher. Wiped off the counters. Hauled the laundry basket into the laundry room. Realized that sorting laundry should happen on the countertop, not on the floor. Started a load of colors. Cleaned out the catbox, collected the garbage from bathrooms, bedrooms, office. Moved the load of colors into the dryer, started the load of whites. Collapsed onto the bed. Could not turn over or get up. Really wished my right shoulder was completely healed because surely that would allow me to get up, right? Stayed in bed, until the stomach flu hit. Gaaa. really? Likely payback for harassing my mom for taking care of my 50-year-old brother when he got the flu last week instead of insisting he care for himself. So grateful for Jack bringing me Sprite and toast and for Jr checking in on me. Truly appreciated dinner from the drummer and his wife on Sunday. Moved to the floor early Monday morning, still there today. May be up and back alive by tomorrow. Fingers crossed, right?

yard sailing, really?

Yes. Sugar and Colleen and I went to three yard sales this morning.

There was snow on the driveways at two of the sales.

Was the best part of the morning the like-new White House Black Market jacket, skirt, and sweater that I picked up for $3 each?

Was it the stop at Einstein's Bagels or the stop at Great Harvest?

Was it petting Diego, the awesome five-year-old St. Bernard who lived at the house of one of the sales?

Noooo. All of those were pretty great. But the best part was spending the morning with those two wacky sweethearts who are my friends.

i'm paying for this

Went to my bankruptcy law class tonight and learned the following:

1. If you make double payments on your mortgage, you'll pay it off in seven years.
2. You should save 5-10% of your income.
3. You should set aside money for date nights.
4. The man of the house should be in charge of the money.
5. Both people in a marriage should have a separate checking account and the husband should put a portion of their money into an account for his wife--an allowance--that will allow her to pay some of the bills (so she learns how to take care of money) with a little extra that she can save for when she wants to buy herself a new appliance or a new dress.

There was more.

If it weren't so early in the semester I'm certain I would have raised my hand and asked if I should have given my paycheck to my new husband if he had no job and insisted on gambling away all of our income or if he spent it all on drugs. Jack didn't do that. But seriously. What century are we in?

happy day

Back in school! In the Judge's class. So great.

total stalker raccoon getter

Saw this on the Dooce's website. It is my life with Jo and Gus.

Gus spends pretty much every waking moment either catching food that's tossed within five feet of him or stalking the cats. Yes, he's stopped trying to drag Millie around by the scruff of her neck even though she weighs at least five pounds more than him. True he isn't dragging her around, but he still spends an enormous amount of time staring at cats. He can't seem to help himself. If there is a cat in the room, he.must.stare.at.it. I think it's in his DNA--his breed (or perhaps the combination of his breeds) forces him to look.at.cats.

Which isn't all bad.

When the cat is a raccoon. Under the deck. At 3:00 a.m.

True, JoJo was the one who had to go out at 1:00, then 2:00, then 3:00, while Gus slept peacefully curled up on my bed. But as soon as she let out her massive, I'm-a-big-dog-who-might-be-scared-a-little-bark, Gus was off the bed, barking all the way down the hall, through the laundry room, kitchen, and dining room and out the door to back her up. He was the first to recognize the scent of raccoon (did I mention how glad I am that we have raccoons and not skunks?), and he was the first one under the deck, cornering the critter, refusing to back down or back away.

Yes, Jo joined him under the deck, hitting her head on every joist, since she is at least twice as tall as the space under the deck. And she didn't give up the barking, at least not until I got the squeaky dinosaur out of the china hutch and squeaked it. (Whaa? You don't keep dog toys in the china hutch by the front door so you can grab them when the dog decides to go for a full-out run down the street?) See, Jo, she can't help but come to the squeak. Squeaky toys are her cryptonite. She had to come out to try to take it from me and I had to trap her in the house. It's what we do.

But Gus? No way. No way he's leaving a furry animal under his deck for some punk squeaky toy.

By the way--Sorry cranky neighbor about the dog barking manically from 3:00 until 3:08 a.m. You're right, my dogs do bark. Sometimes. WHEN SOMETHING IS IN THEIR YARD. Duh, that's one of the great things about dogs.

Okay, except when you can't get super raccoon catcher dog to stop barking and come back in the house.

And there's no way I'm going out in the dark carrying a flashlight wearing my new nightgown to peer under the deck at some wild critter while the dog is barking and waking the neighborhood. So I woke Jack, who stumbled to the door, called out to the non-responsive (at least not to human sounds) dogs, and then suggested I get their leashes.

Oh yeh. The leash. That is the cryptonite for G-dog. As soon as I leashed Jo to the basement handrail and rattled Gus' leash, he couldn't help himself. He had to come find the leash. (What is that mentality that says, hey, I'm running free, but wait, what's that? The sound of a leash? Oh, please, please, hook me up and keep me in line. Yet another example of the lack of brain power in Gus.)

So I used my super dog wranglin' powers (thanks, Jack, for reminding me) and got both of them in the house.

And of course, they totally ignored my requests that they go quickly back to bed. Because, hello, there's something under the deck.

After giving the raccoon a 60-second headstart, I held onto Gus tightly and opened the door for Jo to go scout around. After she gave the all clear, I let Gus go out to confirm that the critter had left the building. Or the under-deck world.

Eventually the dogs came back in the house and we headed back to bed. Of course, it took Gus another 70 minutes to settle down. Dog nearly got hisself another raccoon. Had to strut and leap about, totally ruining his coolness rating.

Kept me up until 50 minutes before the alarm went off. See that's how it is with my dogs.

i think i'll try this

Nearly a week into the new year. I've been considering what may be called resolutions or perhaps goals to achieve and have come up with these:

~~More face time with friends

~~Be more fit

~~Graduate from college

~~Heal my shoulder

~~More feeling and expressing


This seems like a satisfactory list. One per quarter or a little of each every day or something like that. Oh wait, there are five things and only four quarters...I'll work on this--maybe add one more and make it one every other month? Nah. These are definitely things that will need to be done regularly, daily or weekly. Often. I see pancakes and tea in my near future.

you tell me

Was this the longest day ever at work today or what?

what does this mean?

For Christmas this year, this is one of the gifts I bought for my mother-in-law:


I searched through Kohl's website until I found something I thought she would really like. And I was right. She loved it.

During that same search, I found this for my mom:

Are we seeing a pattern here? Yep. I bought the same nightgown for my mother-in-law as I bought for my mom, only one was pink and one was yellow.

I didn't realize I'd bought them the same gift until the package arrived in the mail.

There's more.

The day before Christmas, I went to the bead store to try to find ideas for something to make for my mom. Somehow, my brain figured out that I didn't have time to make anything, so instead I bought her a bracelet there. But see, then, I'd spent as much for her bracelet as I'd spent on my dad's gifts and on Jack's mom's gifts. So I decided to just give her the bracelet and return the nightgown.

She loved the bracelet.

I kept the nightgown. I'm not sure what it means when I love the nightgown I bought for my mom and my mother-in-law so much that I kept one for myself. But it is oh so comfy.

And my mom dropped in one night last week when I was already in my nightgown and robe and commented on what a pretty gown it was.

Uh. I feel just a little bit guilty about wearing the gown I bought for her, but I soothe away that guilt by remembering how much she liked the bracelet.

Sheesh. I'm wearing my mom's nightgown. And sleeping well in it, thankyouverymuch. TMI?

catchin' up

I know this is the time of year when bloggers often reminisce about their posts of the past year.

But see, I happen to know that there's been a whole lotta' stuff going on around here in just the past few weeks that I have yet to post about, stuff that I know you're anxious--or at least curious--to hear about.

So, kind blogger that I am, I'll share at least a portion of that recent stuff. In my favorite written form: the no particular order list.

1. Have I mentioned that Gus has a tiny brain? Like, so small, that it's only big enough to ensure that he keeps breathing, his heart keeps beating, and his legs keep him upright, although he often uses only three of four legs while running. It's becoming more and more clear to me that every time he blinks, it's as if a new day just started. He operates on instinct and his instincts tell him to do whatever other dogs do (read: JoJo does). She runs, he runs. She catches food, he catches food. She fetches, he, well, he hangs off of her neck by his teeth while she fetches. Tonight it became clear that at some point in his pre-gardens life, somebody used to brush him. He jumped up on my lap tonight and I started brushing him, thinking he'd freak out and get down, but he turned into this calm, non-biting, non-licking sweetheart. I did not see that coming.

2. For Christmas, Jack gave me a Nook. One of his friends had heart problems recently, and when Jack went to visit him at the hospital, the guy's wife was there with her Nook. She said she loved it and Jack thought I might like one. When he told me she had a nook, I thought he meant a little corner of her house with an old-fashioned reading lamp and a comfy chair. Uh. So. Any suggestions for books or magazines I should add to my reading list? Besides textbooks.

3. Tonight for dinner, I made lima beans and ham. Such a great use of the remnants of the Christmas ham.

4. Do you know how many blogs are out there on the internet? Whoa--it's a big world.

5. Jack, Jr & I spent several days at the Provo house in the past couple of weeks. The tile in the upstairs shower was threatening to fall into the tub. Jr and I went down the day after the tenants left for their two-week holiday vacation. I pulled off one tile and sand poured out from the space behind the tile. Keep in mind that this was the above ground part of the house, not the basement. After the sand stopped falling into the tub, Jr and I discovered black mud. He started scratching at the mud, and I kept thinking, wait, we're above ground, why is there dirt in the wall? Have you guessed yet? We pulled down the rest of the tile and that is when we discovered the adorable 1928 brick bungalow Provo house was made from adobe blocks, then faced with brick on the outside and plaster on the inside. Apparently there was a leak from the window in the shower behind the tile, which destroyed the plaster. After a week of drying time, we made several trips back and repaired the window, put up metal lath (sharp, metal screen), then a coat of cement mortar, then cement board, then tile, then grout, then caulk, with accompanying patching of plaster and paint. Totally did not see this project coming. I don't know how I thought the house was built, but I did not ever consider that the structure was built out of clay blocks.

6. My mom got her eyelids done a week before Christmas. Eyelid surgery. At 76. I could post for days about this whole thing, but I won't. I'll just say that the evening after the surgery included a three-hour visit to the emergency room at the hospital to check her heart rate (it was healthy), and it was similar to previous visits to the ER, except that when she talked to strangers this time, it was to assure them that her black eyes were not caused by her husband hitting her. Strangers. After two weeks, her eyes are starting to look more normal. If you know my mom, you know that she is all about asking people (who she doesn't know but who look somehow 'foreign' to her) where they are from--and if someone says they are from, say, Sandy, she'll reply, "No, where are your people from?" I'm convinced she means no offense, she's just curious and a bit out of control. So it was kind of fun to ask her what she was going to say when people started asking her where she was from because it appeared to me that the doctor had slanted her eyes up a bit. She thought it was hilarious.

7. For Christmas, I gave Jack a blue-ray player. Do you know how many movies are out there on Netflix?

8. We had two family parties after Christmas--Jack's family one night, mine on the next. Lots of people in the house, lots of food, lots of commotion.

9. The Californians came on the 23rd and stayed until early on the morning of the 30th. It was great to have them in the house. They had a lot of visiting to do during the week, but we still got to see them every night. I could count on a girl snuggling tight on my lap whenever they were in the house. It was a delight to sit in the office and listen to them playing together in the next room, especially when their cousins were visiting too. Yes, there were a few moments of, um, drama, but mostly it was delightful. One day, all of their parents went bowling and the five girlies played for several hours together in the gardens. Lots of giggling, happy sounds. One of them wanted to take a bath, then a sister joined her in the tub, and before I knew it, all five were splashing together. It was so much fun.

10. After all of the parties and commotion and Provo house remodeling and giggling, Friday was very quiet around here. I may admit to staying in my jammies until I changed into different jammies late in the day. I may admit to feeling a bit alone with no girls in the house. I may admit that for the first time I remember, I didn't even brush my teeth until it was time to go to bed that night. Yes. Poor me.

11. Yesterday, Melissa came to clean the kitchen, bathrooms, floors, and dusty horizontal surfaces. I had to get up, shower, dress, and put on my happy. One of the great things about having her come every other week--I know the mess can only get so bad and then she'll show up and wipe it all up, everything will be tidied, polished and bright. And she does this really cool thing that I love--she folds the end of the toilet paper into a point, like the way the toilet paper looks when you first check into a hotel? It always makes me smile.