Hotmess: Above and Beyond an Ordinary Mess

It's official. Some days I would rather lay around in my own squalor rather than clean the house. But look at how cute my laying-around-pals are. It was a 3-cat pile up!






We decided to take a Saturday afternoon catnap rather than scrub the toilet, vacuum or mop. A decision we may regret at a later date, but fully enjoyed today.

It was a really fast work-week. Busy, busy. Only made it to the gym one night, but I guess that's better than none. Although that is now officially two Resolutions which have been breached. I think I need to revisit those, I'm not having much success so far and it's only 11 days into the year. Or 12 days, can't keep 'em straight, even with my new Palm Pilot TX. That's a whole 'nother story, which includes tears and a scrunched-up frowny face. I seem to have it stuck on one Excel sheet, can't figure out how to get to my other documents, reminders for tasks don't "pop up" and remind me (not even sure if they're supposed to, or if I'm just supposed to check 'em daily), and I don't know how to download files I've created on my laptop into the Palm. Well, one thing at a time, I guess. I did get some CDs ripped for my MP3 player, but that's about all the progress with technology that I have made recently. Sad, really. During the crying spell, I told Kenny I was taking it all back and buying a good old-fashioned spiral bound notebook and a new ink pen. I miss the good ol' days, simpler times.

Speaking of simpler times, Friday night the girls from Product Management and myself had a good old-fashioned night out at Saddleridge, learning to line dance and two-step. As corny and ridiculous as it sounds, it was really a LOT of fun, I tried a few different dance steps and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I had feared. Kenny stopped up to make sure I didn't need a designated driver (nights with those girls can sometimes creep up and break bad on me!), but he wasn't interested in two-steppin' and boot-scooted on outta there when he saw all was fine.

Stefanie and I stayed the latest, and perhaps should have left when the rest of the girls did, because at some point it seemed like a good idea to ride the mechanical bull. Stef went first, and last. The a-hole DJ turned it up super-fast and it swung her around, knocked her in the head and threw her off. She thought she lost a tooth. Luckily she did not, but I'm sure she is sporting a very large and painful bruise on her jawline, but she Cowboy'd Up and didn't even cry. I chewed his ass out for that stupid maneuver, I think he was afraid I was going to tell the owner on him or something. He said it was an accident, but I'm not sure I believe that. Whatever, I'm just glad she's okay, and that she went first; if I had gotten knocked off like that I would have ended up in the hospital, I'm sure - I'm not nearly as bouncy as young Stefanie! I did give Stefanie the movie Urban Cowboy, which just happened to be riding around with me in my car for the past few months (don't ask why).

The big exciting news of the week is that Kenny and his friend Jim finally found and rented some very suitable office space for their businesses. It's very close to home, 3,000ish square feet with three separate offices, a waiting area, a kitchen, bathroom and a very large storage area for all their stuff. Kenny's going to make a man room out of one of the offices, complete with flat-screen t.v. and a pinball machine. He informed me there won't be a flower to be found in the entire place. It's a man zone. He's excited, and I'm excited for him. Plus, it means the basement and garage are going to be emptied out! Which means - possibly, maybe, just maybe - we might have room to park cars in the garage by next winter, and makes it slightly more reasonable for me to buy the convertible I have my eye on for the spring! I need a place to keep it during the winter months, don't want to just leave her sitting out in the cold and snow - she's a warm-weather kinda girl. Or will be, if or when I ever get her. Anyway, regarding the office space, we're going to give some of the rooms a fresh paint job, so that should keep us busy for the next couple of weeks. I don't mind some new painting projects, that will be rather fun for me.

Regarding my Resolutions. I have made some mental revisions and here they are - it's cheating a little bit since I've already accomplished one of them (line dancing).

1/ Try Something New - Line Dancing! And I want to go back, so hopefully this will be something that I am somewhat proficient at by the end of the year. I wouldn't mind going two or three times a month for a while, it's very fun.



2/ Open my Learn Italian CDs I purchased before my trip to Italy in 2006 and actually try to Learn Italian.



3/Write my book. It's in there, I will coax it out.



That's it, along with the others sans the sex thing. That was just crazy talk.

So another week wraps up and here we are again. No closer to finding the Meaning of Life, but all-in-all happy with where I'm at right now. I did ask Timmy if he was happy with where he was at in life and he responded, "I don't think I'm going to amount to much more than this." It made me laugh out loud, which is really what the importance of living boils down to - laughing with friends every chance you get. It helps to balance things out when life is a hotmess.

Kenny just got home from a wedding and he followed the wedding rules I established for him - cake is in the house! I believe I will go sample a few bites momentarily.

Peace. I tried to come up with a new sign-off for '08, but then decided that a little consistency isn't a bad thing.

Is that a carrot in your pants, or are you just happy to see me??

A gentleman farmer presented Sophie with this carrot:

She tried to give it to me, but I told her I had no need for it, I have Kenny. Although while I think he could go head-to-head (get it???) with him in length, the carrot certainly wins on girth. Thank God, or my uterus would fall out of the gaping hole that thing would leave in it's wake.

Sophie decided to keep the carrot. She said she'd make soup.

Resolving to have a GREAT 2008

2008 roared in with a bang - right over the Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas for us! It was a very fun time being in Vegas for New Year's Eve - Lileks put it best: Vegas! Soulless, thrilling, teasing, Vegas!

Twinkle packed himself and was ready to go with us again:

Overindulgence was the word of the trip - late nights blurred into early mornings of gambling & drinking. We all had, as Rusty calls it, "meat sweats" from the amount of beef that was consumed. Three-hundred dollar dinners were the norm - good wine, great food, great company. Of course, Kenny "Lucky Pants" won $3000 on a video poker machine. No gaming story would be complete without a "Kenny Wins" story.

The view from our room at Paris was really nice, we overlooked the pool and Eiffel Tower.

Our fancy party invitation came to life, with real "fairies" all over the grand ballroom.

Las Vegas actually closed down Las Vegas Blvd to accommodate the crowds that would fill the streets as it drew closer to midnight. Kenny was excited to stand in the middle of the street. Of course, he was also a little drunk, which may have made it seem that much more exciting.

All-in-all, it was a really fun trip, and by far the most fun New Year's Eve I've ever spent. And our flight home was the best, somehow we lucked into an empty seat in our row so we were able to sprawl out in complete comfort. And now it's officially 2008, and I'm hopeful that it's going to be great!

The return to normalcy was a little rough, getting back into the work schedule and just doing everyday life stuff. We did a bit of grocery shopping today, some laundry and such, and I made what I believe will be a life-changing purchase today: a Palm Pilot. I have grandiose ideas that it will keep me hyper-organized and on-track with dieting, budgeting, novel-writing - all of it! It has a lot of responsibility on it's very slim shoulders. She's charging up right now, I need to figure out how to use it - along with my MP3 player, which I haven't figured out yet, either. This is the big electronics weekend for me - it's all on my resolution list.

Speaking of resolutions, I'm pretty happy to report that I did in fact achieve some of my goals last year. The house is entirely painted, the back room is somewhat organized (some crap on the bed needs to be put away, but overall it's in pretty good shape), the house is getting where I want it to be. I actually wrote some book paragraphs, contrary to Mr. Murdoch's prediction that I would be no farther along at the end of the year than I was at the beginning. Now, it's not much, to be sure, but it's something and it is a start. I have more goals for that this year, but I'll get into that in a bit. I've also managed to get my back nerve issues under control and I stopped being chronic pain girl in 2007. I joined a gym - and have actually used it on a rather regular basis. All those things I am very proud of accomplishing - so I get a self-clap for that!

My goals/resolutions for this year may be a bit harder to accomplish, I'm ramping up my expectations of myself a bit. I've already semi-failed on my first resolution, which was to have sex every day. I had just read an article in Glamour about a couple who tried that, so I thought, "Why not?" Why not indeed. It's actually a bad decision. Bad, I say. Don't try it - trust me, you'll just want to go to bed and watch House Hunters three days into it all. I've forged ahead, as Kenny has been quick to remind me, "Nobody likes a quitter," but tonight will probably be the end of that resolution. Maybe not the end, but definitely a revision.

My other resolutions haven't had a ton of thought, but I'm putting them down here and hoping for the best. Here goes:

1/ Gym - 3 times a week, minimum. Add 20 minutes of some form of cardio to the Pilates routine I've been doing.

2/ Book - have a strong outline and 2 chapters written by year end.

3/ Budget - track spending for a month as advised by Meggan (on my new Palm Pilot!), formulate a savings plan to see what is achievable within the next 5 years. My short-term goal/desire is to buy that cute little convertible I want this coming spring. Now, I could do that now, but I don't want an extra little fun car to infringe on my vacationing, so I need to do a bit of planning to get there.

4/ Read more books. Last year I sadly - and yet happily - read four books, which is more than I have in the past few years. But still not as many as I would like to get through - I really enjoy reading, but watch too much television just because it's a mindless way to keep entertained. But I made strides last year, and I'm sure I can do even better this year. Or at least the same, that would be acceptable as well. But not less. Too many good novels out there to let pass me by.

I think four is plenty, that's not even counting that crazy daily sex idea. I saw a commercial on t.v. that was mocking resolutions and the three they mocked were all mine - organize, lose weight, write a novel. I'm officially not very original. Except for the sex thing :)

Last night Tim, Kenny and I played Drunken Rockband.

We all slept til noon on Saturday. The boys are back out again tonight at Fox & Hound in Parma watching football, but I declined the invite and opted for home and the couch instead. I just watched We Are Marshall for the first time - what a good movie! I cried and shouted along with the team.

The cats had to get their obligatory New Year's Photos. I could only catch three of them, Widda and Stanley were having NONE of it.

Peace, and on behalf of Kenny, the cats and myself we wish you a Great 2008!

Wrapping Up 2007

We leave for Vegas tomorrow evening. I should be doing something productive, like, oh, for instance, laundry or putting away some of the Christmas haul, or something. Packing. Stuff like that. Instead I've pissed the day away, doing sporadic tasks that don't amount to much at the end of the day. And it's about the end of the day. I did manage to take the Christmas tree and few miscellaneous decorations down and packed them away in the basement. So that counts for something. The cats - particularly Twinkle - will really miss the tree. He got my money's worth out of it again this year.

I think I'll take a little nap....

Santa brought the kitties some toys; they had a good time playing with them:

Kenny's grandfather Stanley opened his gifts. We bought him a Master's hat (golf), which he really liked.

My nephews, Trevor and Justin, at Sophie's house where we exchanged gifts:

Kenny and Linda figured out how to work the digital photo frames:

The Girl Cat - what a pretty little thing! She's getting more lovable, I've been forcing kisses on her and she's finally coming around a bit. I'm not in fear of her anymore. At least, not as much.

Getting ready to head out on Christmas Day. I look like a 41 year old. WTF.

I'm single-handedly bringing Sexy Back:

And Sexy is officially back:

And Christmas 2007 drew to a close:




Peace and enjoy the last few days of 2007 and start those resolutions for 2008! I'm happy to report that I did accomplish some things on my list.

2007 was somewhat tumultuous, I'm hoping for an easier 2008.

God and Oreos

There is so much to say, and I'm currently hampered with my normal effusive writings. Let me backup....

My computer power cord has decided not to participate in it's job any longer. It just up and quit on me two days ago. They don't sell them in any of the stores we tried on Monday, so we've ordered one off of Ebay, which naturally hasn't arrived yet. I feel like Edward Scissorhands without his scissorhands - I feel incomplete without my laptop stuck on my lap! My fingers are motionless, except for some random cat scratchings. At present, I'm using Kenny's computer to bang out a few words and get my "fix," but for the most part I was just letting my reader know that I can't post. It's just not the same on someone else's computer.

Anyway, instead of using the few moments I have to write something of importance, or recognize someone special, I have instead decided to post a picture of the fabulous dessert I made for Christmas day. It's Meggan's famous Triffle, although I made one switch to vanilla pudding rather than chocolate, just to put my own stamp on it. It was quite a hit and I left the remains at Marge and Stanleys for the out-of-town company that arrives on Wednesday. There was almost a triffle-incident; I couldn't find my brand new triffle bowl that I purchased from Pampered Chef just so I could make this particular dessert. I hid it from myself pretty good and I had to do quite a search around the house until I found it, nestled in a cabinet above the stove. I never put anything up there - what was I thinking? Well, apparently I was thinking, "there's plenty of room up here, I don't store anything up here - I'll store the triffle bowl!" You can kinda see behind the triffle one of Marges jello treats she whipped up - no holiday is complete without something from the jello family.

Here's the holiday rundown in a nutshell:

Saw Sophie, Melinda and my nephews for an early supper and gifting on Sunday. Enjoyed the day very much!

Monday we visited with Kenny's other grandmother and family. Kenny's grandmother Helen has become bedridden since we last saw her in the spring. It's rare that one rebounds from "bedridden" - it's looking grim in my opinion.

After visiting there, we headed over to Dan & Bevs for a later-evening open house. Very good time, Timmy and Kenny watched the football and won their Fantasy Football championship - a $610 victory!

Today was Christmas and it was quite nice.

Kenny got me a really pretty watch and some misc. stuff.

I bought him Rockband for his Nintendo 360 (I think that's what it's for, if not it's one of those gaming units he has), plus some miscellaneous stuff. We had an early dinner at Marge & Stanleys, opened BAGS of stuff - crazy amounts of stuff! It's all just sitting in the living room, I'm not sure what in the world we're going to do with everything. We're very spoiled, for sure. This evening I met my little brother Chucky at Cinemark, Kenny left tickets at the window for us, and we got to enjoy Sweeney Todd together. We both gave it a 6.5 or 7. We liked it, but I'm not sure if it's Oscar worthy for me. So it was really nice to see him - it's been at least a year and a half. He looks good. Asked me if I'd had a boob job. I told him it's all God and Oreos.

The good thing that happened with the demise of my power cord on my computer was that we were trying to fix it and moved the couch and found the digital camera. I've been snapping pix like crazy, but alas will have to wait to post them. I need my own programs. I have some really cute pictures of Twinkle in my Christmas tree. It's 1:00 a.m. and I have to work in the morning, so I am logging off and heading to my very puffy bed. We purchased a "resort-style" mattress topper and it's next to heaven - both in softness and in tallness. I have to take a running leap to get onto the bed, it seems! Kenny's afraid he's going to sit up and get his head lopped off by the ceiling fan. If that happens, I'll be sure to post pictures!

Peace, and I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas with those they love!

The Gifting Begins!

Merry Christmas to Me! Monday night the girls and I planned for our annual Holiday nice meal together. Normally it's an extended lunch at Macaroni Grill, but with my hectic and unpredictable work schedule of late, we made arrangements for dinner at Carrabba's after work on Monday instead. Jill was unable to make it at the last moment, but Fran, Geri and myself were still able to get together, so we did! We had our gift exchange, and I was the very lucky recipient of the Burberry golf visor pictured above. How stinkin' cute is this??! I will be very fashionable on the golf course next season, with my Burberry accessories - I have the Burberry towel that Jill gifted me with last year. I'm very stylish! Hey, if you can't play good, at least look good! So anyway, I was quite excited and needed to give the hat a special blog of it's own!

Meggan brought over her annual tradition of lottery tickets. She potentially gave me $250,000 - that was the grand prize. Instead I won a dollar, and I was happy enough with that. It was very cute that she still included me, even though her gifting of the tickets is usually reserved for bowling participants - but she grandfathered me in anyway.

Mimi gifted me with a Bonnie Bell lipgloss. We have a no-exchange rule, she has enough kids and whatnot to buy for without worrying about me. But even with the rule in place, I still got her a little something, a mascara named Big Tease from Sephora. She was excited. Only girls would exchange makeup and be excited about it!

I am happy to report that I have closed in on my Christmas shopping - I have it almost under wraps. I gave Kenny his gift tonight, it's a ceramic heater that he needs in the garage for when he's working out there in the cold. I really wanted to save it so he'd have something to open, but he's going out there either late tonight or early morning and I was worried it would just be too awfully cold so he got it early and unwrapped. But he was quite thrilled, and very appreciative to have it early.

Kenny's coat is ordered, but it won't make it here until, well, who really knows. There was a snafu with my Capital One No Hassle credit card - it was quite a hassle. They declined the charge for "fraud" concerns and never notified me, so the folks in London just didn't start the order. I looked like a bad credit card giver, so they didn't even bother contacting me. I found out the troubles after a follow-up email to confirm all was well, and it wasn't. So after my head nearly exploded while on the phone with Capital One, they set my account up for "overseas travel" so when the order from London came through, it would process. This is the same credit card that declined my purchase in Cozumel in September. They decline all my purchases. I'd cancel the whole card, but they have a very low 1.99% interest rate. Of course, they can offer very low interest rates if they decline all my transactions! They can offer to GIVE me money for every transaction, but then never actually make good on it, because they flag them all as fraud. Hell, they might as well do that - it would be one great marketing program. A MILLION DOLLARS FOR EVERY QUALIFIED PURCHASE!

Peace, I have to go wrap up a "zoink" for a White Elephant gift exchange tomorrow. Nothing like waiting til midnight to take care of that :)

Snowin' & Blowin'

A blustery snow storm has settled over the city. Sitting in my living room chair, I can watch the winds struggle against the plastic on the windows, pushing and straining to get out of the cold themselves. Alas, they are not allowed in; the plastic is being bullied, yet holding firm in it's stance.

Morning dread is creeping over me all too soon, infringing on my evening. The thought of facing the cold and snow with the dawn of the new day is less than appealing. Dare I stay home and cuddle up with cats? No, not tomorrow. Too many plans and appointments for the day, it would be too much to cancel and rearrange. The girls and I are supposed to have a holiday dinner at Carrabbas right after work. Mimi and I have lunch plans. So I'll trudge in, despite the blowing cold, because I would hate to miss my pre-holiday shenanigans. Next week is a big party week all the way around with department luncheons and general catching-up. I still have to get my Christmas cards in the mail. I've been sporadically addressing them, I don't seem to have everything contained in one spot, so it's been catch-as-catch-can with them. I'd better get busy with it, or I'll miss the entire carding opportunity for yet another year.

We had some folks over to watch the football game with us and Kenny got in trouble. He was left with a short list of things to do while I was at the gym today and he failed me. Needless to say, he's been in a lot of trouble and I pulled out the "I'm Moving Out!" move again. He's been repentant, but full of excuses for not doing shit around the house again. Same old story. Oh, let me also say that before I went to the gym - while he was on the couch - I cleaned the bathroom, baked cupcakes and put on a crockpot of sweet & sour meatballs. It's not as if I left him with a chore list while I was off gallivanting footloose & fancyfree. I had just completed my part while he sat on his ass. So I think he's buying us a housecleaner for 2008. That might do a good job alleviating some of this strain. It's just about the only thing we argue about, and since it's been the same argument for 2 years, it's not going to change. It is who he is. But it's unacceptable for me to be the wife, maid, lover, handyman, et al. So he can pay for a maid and then he can sit around and do nothing and not have to listen to me bitch. See, already a New Years Resolution is in place! Oh, and I'm due to start my period any day now, so I'm sure my rant was hormonally inspired, but so what.

We did a bit of Christmas shopping, Kenny ordered digital picture frames for his parents and grandparents. Incidentally, he got the idea from Tim's "girlfriend" (it's quoted here because I don't know if they're on or off at the moment, it's touch-and-go by day), who sent that to his parents. While they are "on a break," so that sounds a little bit manipulative to me. Sending your "ex" boyfriends parents a gift you can't afford in the first place = manipulative. But anyway, we got a good idea out of it, and that's all that matters. They were expensive, though - $120 each! I also think I might order a Blockbuster gift subscription for my sister-in-law as a gift for the family. They're not horribly expensive. Oh, yeah - I got Kenny's leather jacket ordered up, too. But it would take a Christmas Miracle to have it even in time for our trip to Vegas, so it will be more like a Valentine's Gift - I shoulda probably got on that a little earlier than I did. Well, I have a few more small ideas for him to open on Christmas day. He'll be fine, God knows we both have enough shit already anyway.

I've been busy thinking about our upcoming vacation plans for 2008. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Jan - Vegas (but only barely into January, since we come home on the 2nd)
Feb - Vegas for Valentine's Day (Kenny has a great offer with hundreds of dollars in a shopping spree at the Caesar's Forum Shops)
June - Vegas for Kenny & Timmy's 40th Birthday
~~Rob, take a deep breath, I know all this Vegas makes your heart palpitate a bit - it gets better from here~~
July/August - Alaska Cruise
November - Caribbean Cruise

And that rounds out the year! See, Rob, Alaska is adding something new and wonderful to explore - we'd be branching out! And I seriously doubt the Vegas trips will all happen, it's just a sketchy plan at this point.

Alrighty, I'm off to read a book before bed. Still trying to get through one my friend Emily lent me, The Way the Crow Flies. It's good, it just takes a while to get into and it's really dense reading, so I don't get through a lot of pages in one sitting. I have been trying some speed-reading techniques I just read about, but that kinda takes away the fun of reading for enjoyment.

Peace, and I hope everyone stayed safe and warm this blustery winter weekend!

P.S. - yes, that's me at the top! Hotdamn, I'm CUTE!