my views

JoJo, doing one of her favorite things--destroying a soda bottle after she has removed the lid in under nine seconds.



This is the view from my chair, looking out the window in the study this morning. The light on the tree was eye catching. If you look closely, you can see the remnant of spidey's web in the upper corner of the window. I sometimes think I should go out and clean that up, but what if, by some miracle, he has survived the warm winter we've had and by destroying his web, I kill off all of his babies? And, besides, in order to get to his web, I have to push past the monstrously big barberry bush, that lovely red bush with all of those hatefully long spikey thorns. I fear my fragile skin would not survive that experience. So I'll leave the web as it is for now.

This is the view out my kitchen window this morning. Gaaa. Dishes to wash, counters to wipe.

And this is the view of my pantry. It is good to have food. It is better to be able to find the food. I should tidy this up today too.

This, and this are the drawings on my whiteboard, courtesy of the extremely talented Ms Audrey. I think the thing on the right is a house full of critters and a couple of cars. But I didn't ask her to explain it and I didn't want to erase it (in anticipation of new art this weekend) until I took a moment to document it. So creative that girl.


Also, these are on my counter. Jack picked them out while we were shopping at Costco last weekend. Brilliant colors, but just one question. Whatever is that big pink one in the middle? I've googled tulip-shaped flowers, artichoke-shaped flowers, pink flowers, and tropical flowers (as well as many combinations of those descriptive phrases) and can't find one like it or the name of it. Puzzling. I'm hoping my little bro will read this post and provide an answer. Because he knows stuff like that.


An update on the bff project between the dogs and cats around here.







Yeh, somebody is having fun. Two somebodies. They are not the cats.

she ain't heavy, she's your mama

Two nights ago, Jr came upstairs and asked if we'd like to go see the Californians. He's out of school tomorrow, so he thought we could leave yesterday afternoon at 2:00 when he got done with work. Then we could go to the beach and then drive back home.

I was in. All in.

Jack pointed out that if we left at 2:00, we'd arrive at 4:00 (a.m.) on Sunday, then we'd drive an hour to the beach, an hour back, then drive another 14 hours home. And then go back to school and work.

I suppose the 32 hours of driving in 72 hours of time wasn't really going to be much of a vacation, even though it would have included the Californians. And the beach.

This morning, Jr proposed we go skiing instead. I think it's been five years, maybe more since I've been skiing. It was kind of like riding a bike--scary at first, then it all seemed to come back to me.

And there was the part where he found my ski gear, loaned me a pair of his ski pants, helped me put on my boots so I could wear them around the house for a few hours to get used to them again, drove us safely to Alta, helped me find my way to the ticket office, waited the ten minutes it took me to get from the ticket office to the lift (which should take about 20 seconds), helped me get off the lift, waited waited waited for me as I remembered how to snowplow, and countless times, offered his pole to drag me along when I was going too slow and would have probably gone backwards and, you know, fallen down, where he would have helped me back to my feet without laughing or mocking.

Somehow, I'd forgotten how great it feels to move outside in this beautiful snowy place with this amazing kid I live with. We've got to do this again.

random

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Just like when I was a kid, I gave valentines to some people and other people gave valentines to me. So funny and surprising.

~~~

Jo jumped up and over me and my chair and my compy yesterday, knocking my compy to the floor. My pretty new mouse works no more.

~~~

Every time I think about Whitney Houston, I feel sad. I remember thinking when I first saw her that she was so fresh and cute and wow could she sing. I don't really pay a whole lot of attention to the lives of celebrities, but through the years noticed her face on magazines while waiting to pay for my groceries and was vaguely aware that her life seemed chaotic. But now her voice is silent, gone--so soon. Her passing feels like I imagine it felt to my parents when Judy Garland died. Yes, there is lots of big bad far worse stuff going on in the world. But still, what a loss.


~~~


And if you need a bit of boost, just check this out. You probably can't see her new sunglasses perched atop her head, all stylin' while she blows her cool, new, non-spill bubbles, but it made me smile even after my computer took a dive off my lap...

crap

I guess it's inevitable that if you drive your car over 108,500 miles in just under six years, you might, at some point, get pulled over for speeding.

And maybe it's normal to have the cop tell you he clocked you at 54 in a 45.

Perhaps your response--"oh, my"--had something to do with him only citing you for five over.

And you might realize it could have been much worse.

But seriously. Crap.

walkin' on sunshine

Sometimes there are good times all around.

Like breakfast, lunch, or cookies with good friends.

Weather that insists I wash my car, and if nothing else, I listen when the weather tells me to do something.

A shiny new library card that will allow me to e-check books on my Nook.

A big tax refund--I know, Suzy Orman, I should change my deductions and get that money working for me each paycheck, and perhaps I'll do that this year, but right now, a big tax refund feels pretty good.

And a yard sale conducted by people who bought the contents of a storage shed and were selling it. Seriously, we ran across people who thought they were on storage wars, living right in little ole Lehi. It was so overwhelming I couldn't buy a thing. Not even that adorable little serving platter. I may regret that.


And on a completely different note, Jack and I recently watched Good Will Hunting and we enjoyed it just fine. I know, we should have seen it years ago. Can I just say that I wish I'd had the kind of therapy that Robin Williams performed on Good Will, the kind where all of a sudden you have this amazing breakthrough and then! WHAM!! You're fixed!!! Healed! Whole!!!! Where do I get that?

Last night we watched Contagion. I am no longer touching anything, including and especially my face. Ka-reep-ee.

artistry

I was going to fill you in on last night's bankruptcy class wherein I politely questioned the teacher's lecture on at least three separate occasions--politely, seriously, I just used my "but hey, wait a minute, I don't understand what you're saying here" voice----

But then I thought, maybe you'd rather see the pictures Audrey drew on my whiteboard last Sunday. Autographed and all.