Why DH wants to ban me from PetSmart

I'm too sensitive for my own good. DH and I went to PetSmart today for some kitty supplies, and the Montgomery County SPCA had a kitten adoption thing going on there. Despite DH's begging me not to go visit the kitties, but just to focus on the task at hand, I just had to go over there and take a look.

It's so heartbreaking! There are all of these cute kitties without homes; all I want to do is scoop them up and take them home and cuddle them and protect them from all those dog smells and people and everything. There were a few especially cute kitties there today. I think that there was a pair of sibling grey tabby cats and they were so sweet. I totally would have taken them both home. Instead, I donated some cash that I had on me, and of course donated the $1 when I checked out, but I was in tears all the way back to the car. DH of course pointed and laughed at me for being such a softie, but I think that he's secrety relieved that we didn't come home with another cat.

Remember, people, adopt your pet from a shelter, and, as Bob Barker always says, help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.

Sniff, sniff. They really were so cute. I'll have to pacify myself with Cute Overload and Kitten Wars.

Afraid to say anything

I'm scared to say anything for fear of jinxing it - but things that I have been working on for almost a year are finally coming together and I think that I might be very, very happy in two weeks. I'm really excited, and the fact that I might be working on one of the biggest international environmental meetings this year... agh! I can't say anymore because I've been working on this for so long and if it falls apart at the last minute, well I'm going to fall apart too.

But whales... and maybe sharks too... might just be in my future.

Worst. Illness. Evar.

So, here we are over a week later, and I am still sick. My ears are all plugged up, I'm still coughing like a 2 pack-a-day smoker, and I've finally given up and made a doctor's appointment. I'm probably going to be prescribed antibiotics, which I hate taking. But, I think that the cold has become either a sinus infection, or more likely, an ear infection, and if it's bacterial, it's the only way I'm gonna get better.

Maybe I'll feel better sometime in 2008.

On a lighter note, we've got about an inch of snow on the back porch, and I had some yummy Indian food this weekend (I got the Vindaloo - figured the spicyness would cut through my cold).

This sucks!

Please, kill me


There is nothing - nothing - that sucks so much as being sick. I'm on day 4 of this sinus/ear/throat infection/cold thing, and I am utterly miserable. DH is looking forward to going to work tomorrow just to get the heck away from me. I am a very unpleasant sick person to be around, particularly when I've gotten about 7 hours of sleep since Friday night.

All I can say is that the person who cures the common cold should be richer than Bill Gates.

Gettin' by

This week was supposed to be my first full week back at work since before Christmas; however, I've managed to avoid it! Unfortunately, it's because I'm suffering from some kind of ear/nose/throat infection thing that is making me hack up ugly phlegm-balls and ache all over. Misery.

My lot was not much improved by my choice of entertainment. I rented The Devil Wears Prada via Comcast-On-Demand and, other than some really awesome shoes and coats, it was pretty disappointing. Anne Hathaway's character was a whiney bitch, her friends were not much better, and Meryl Streep could have been a bit bitchier at the end. Not that the book was any better; some of the story elements were naturally changed a bit for the movie, and some for the better. Maybe it's me, but one of Anne Hathaway's key moral lines (if Miranda were a man, she would be celebrated for being so good at her job) was completely undermined by some of the plot developments (Anne's boyfriend assuming she would follow him to Boston, for example). Meh.

Happily, all was not lost. My new Pottery Barn couch was delivered today, and although putting the slipcover on the couch and cushions was exhausting (see blogpost point #1), it was super super comfortable for watching the less than fulfilling movie. I can totally tell the difference between the cheapo couch we've had and the nice couch we have now.

The cats are generally terrified by the new couch.

I. am. so. confused?.?

Several tidbits of news today have me genuinely perplexed, surprised, confused, and even a little scared.

#1 - CNN reports the death of Yvonne de Carlo, the actress who played Lily Munster, a character I know well, having grown up with Nick at Nite and whatnot. Strangely enough, this same actress also played Sephora, Charlton Heston's wife in "The Ten Commandments." Really? Really? It totally blew my mind that these two characters were played by the same actress. Totally.













#2 - Fark.com had a link to pictures of what Megatron is purported to look like in the upcoming "Transformers" movie. Now, I'm about to reveal a little bit too much about myself here, but here goes. When I was young, I was a total tomboy. I was utterly uninterested in most girlie things, and I loved watching "Transformers" after school. I even had Bumblebee, the little VW Beetle transformer. I was there with all you 80s boy kids hating Starscreamer and his whininess and being confused by Optimus Prime's ability to have that trailer appear from out of the blue whenever he went back to being a truck. I was awed by Shockwave (he's still one of the coolest Transformers, IMHO), utterly unimpressed by the Dinobots (SO FREAKIN' LAME), and I remember when Optimus Prime died (he was kind of fragile, as I remember).

So the raping of my childhood memories continues. I was a little perplexed when I saw the trailer for the "Transformers" movie before "Little Miss Sunshine" (huh? The Transformers aren't from Mars? WTF) But upon seeing this picture of what Megatron is supposed to look like, well, now I'm not only a little perplexed, but totally annoyed. WTF is that? The thing on the left looks nothing like the original cartoon character on the right. I call bulls&^t.












What is going on in this strange world we live in? I'm an old woman, I'm confused.

What once was lost has now been found

Phew. What a day. This morning I noticed that my wallet wasn't in my purse. Crap, I'd thought, it had been sitting on my desk all night (I'd had it out yesterday at work and thought that maybe I had left it out). I got to work - no wallet. Crap crap. Maybe it had fallen out of my purse on the train ride home that night. Meanwhile, if that was possibly the case, I called all my credit card companies to put temporary holds on all transactions - to prevent anyone from running up the bill! Chase and my credit union had no problems, but Citibank, who I have had a credit card with the longest, gave me the option of leaving it open or cancelling the card outright - no hold options. Well I never use the card anyway, so I told them to go ahead and cancel it.

The whole day I'm hemming and hawing, wondering what the frick I was going to have to go through if I had lost my wallet. My SS card was in there (I know, I know, but who listens to that stuff), my driver's license, my Metro Smartcard. Worse yet, my PetSmart and DSW Rewards cards. Argh.

So finally, I get on the train (I'd called MARC earlier, and they said my best bet was to ask the conductor on the train) and ask the conductor if he had found a small black wallet in the quiet car the night before. No dice, Chicago. The whole ride home I'm thinking where else I could possibly look. I get to my car... check it out all over the place - no luck.

Finally, I get home, and there on the couch where I unceremoniously throw my purse every night, hidden under a couple of things, was my wallet. And after two quick calls to Chase and my credit union, all is well again in the world.

Dude, losing my wallet would really have sucked this week in particular. I have a hair appointment on Thursday night.

I'm Henry VIII I am, Henry VIII I am, I am

PBS's The Six Wives of Henry VIII is one of my favorite history programs ever. I love the stories of the six women unfortunate enough to be married to him, and always wonder what I would have done if I was in their position. Catherine Howard's story is my favorite, although I always feel bad for Anne of Cleves. It's hard to remember that Henry VIII was king of England during the height of the Italian Renaissance, and that he was the father of Elizabeth I, perhaps one of the most interesting women in history. It's not quite as hard to remember that he's the reason for the English split from the Catholic church - leading to the establishment of the Church of England.

I'm watching the first part of the series now (on Catherine of Aragon), which I've never seen before. I've seen all the rest several times - so I'm happy to see where it all began!

Damn Swayze - he's the reason that Herman's Hermits are burned into my memory!

Progress on my resolutions!

Here is two, two, two blog posts in one!

1) I nearly blew one of my New Year's resolutions right off the bat today! Impulse control! I had lunch today with a friend of mine who works at NASA (he had the day off and lives in Silver Spring). We went over to Mama Lucia's - a pizza joint. I got a slice of white pizza with broccoli and a small side salad, and when asked if I wanted a drink I said "why not?" I grabbed my cafeteria-style plastic cup and walked over to the drink station and impulsively went for the root beer. Then I though "whoa, my New Years resolution!" I stood there, confused for a second. What was I going to do? Salvation - there was a ice tea brewer right next to all the sodas! New Years resolution failure - averted!!

2) We had somewhat significant progress on our New Year's resolution to finish the kitchen today! The plumber and the contractor actually showed up reasonably on time, and the dishwasher is now properly installed. Of course, I did cause a corresponding setback when I accidently smashed the glass of one of the pendant lights above the island, which I now have to reorder, but at least that part is under my control rather than relying on the damn contractors.

It's a twofer!

New Year's Resolutions

So, this is the time of year when we are all supposed to be resolving to make ourselves better people in the upcoming year. Eh. I'm never any good at keeping these resolutions. One year I resolved not to eat after 8pm (I think that lasted about 3 months), another I resolved not to use the term "starved" when I was merely hungry (actually, I slip now and then, but I am pretty conscious of it).

This year I am going to resolve a couple of things that I hope that I can accomplish in 2007:

1. Finish the kitchen. This is defined as having paint, backsplash, molding, new door leading to the garage, new table and chairs, and general organization of the kitchen.

2. Finish one other room in the house. Now that we have this new couch coming, I should try and finish painting the living room (since the color in there right now is a bit too dark for the room) or settling on what we are going to do with the yellow bedroom upstairs, or even the den.

3. Drink no soda! No diet coke, no Dr. Pepper, no root beer. This one is going to be hard, but I think I can do it. Actually, it won't be that hard, since I don't drink soda on a regular, semi-regular, or even occasional basis. However, the times when I do drink soda it is usually a moment of weakness or craving or something (especially root beer in the summertime) so I am going to try and eliminate it all together.

4. Save enough money to fully fund my own Roth IRA contribution. I funded this year's contribution with a little help from DH and some money from some bonuses that I received through work. This year I want to try and find a way to set just a little bit aside to do it on my own. I might have to use some bonus money to get there, but I'll make a go of it.

5. Be nice. I know this sounds weird, but I'm not really a very nice person sometimes, especially with people who piss me off. So this year I am going to try and find a way to be a little more compassionate, a little more understanding, and be nicer to people. I think this resolution has the least chance of long-term success.

New Year... New Couch!

Happy New Year everybody! Since moving into our new house 4+ years ago, DH and I have wanted to get a new couch for the living room. For the last two years, we've known what style and color we wanted, but haven't bitten the bullet to buy it.

Well, the wait is over. After being briefly distracted by a the new Pottery Barn Basic Square couch (until we saw it in person at the PB in Arlington - HATED IT!), DH and I have gone ahead and ordered a new PB Basic Couch in Cardinal Red. Unlike our Crate and Barrel leather couch that we ordered last October and received in February (like 12 weeks later), this one is supposedly going to arrive in under 2 weeks. Wow!

So now we've got to figure out what to do with the old couch! Any takers? We should have done this a couple of weeks ago - then we could have donated the couch to the Salvation Army or Goodwill and taken the tax deduction.

Our new couch:


I can only imagine how long it will take us to choose new end tables and a chair for the living room.