Trout Fishing in Mexico
I am strangely fascinated with the show Man Versus Wild on the Discovery Channel. This crazy guys is running all over Copper Canyon in Mexico with no supplies and he has to find his way home. The show amazes me because I'm pretty sure I would be s.o.l. if I was ever in a situation like that. For one thing I really don't think I would be able to club a fish to death and then eat it raw, even if I ate fish. Secondly I am one of the most accident prone peopl ein the world and I am not sure cliff scaling is up my alley. When I was a freshman in high school my sister and I tried to do a little light rock climbing and I ended up with a my chin slit open, a sprained wrist, and my leg sliced in multiple places. I distinctly screaming at my sister to flag down a boat to save me. Not my most lucid moment. My point is perhaps I need to be more of a girl scout. You never know when the world is going to end--look at this morning's events in London.
Today I finished plastering the bathroom, and next week I paint. After all of the hours I've put into this room, I think I'm going to have a party in there or sommething. It needs to be celebrated. I am not sure what the appropriate celebration for a new bathroom is, but I intend to find out.
We're waiting for Petey and Kim to come to spend the weekend with us. I am very excited to have visitors. I think I'm becoming omestiated, but I enjoy playing host.

I must get back to the wilderness--he's crawling through an ice tunnel in the middle of a glacier in Alaska. I love it.

Dante Was Wrong
I only have a minute but I wanted to point out that despite his well earned literary and philosophical reputation, Dante doesn't know jack. There is a tenth circle of hell that is wall paper stripping. Actually I went one better, I have spent the last three days dealing with wallpaper and I had to go to the obgyn. Yes, it's been a lot of fun.

My Baby

Wtnh.com, Connecticut News and Weather - Black bear in New Britain

I'm Getting to Be Like Stephen ColbertWtnh.com, Connecticut News and Weather - Black bear in New Britain

Home Improvement Hell
Why couldn't I have learned from the infamous red bathroom incident? Why couldn't I just leave things alone? My big project was to strip the ugly wallpaper in the master bathroom, retexture and paint the walls. The task has proved one of Heruclean proportions. It turns out there are several layers of wallpaper on the wall with varying degrees of stickiness. Even with a gel stripper it took me all day to get a tiny portion of the room done. This will end up taking me weeks. Perhaps it's just as well--I had no time today to mope, groan, or even watch television. Maybe this is saving me from idle hands. Still I wish it were slightly easier. I hope this does not prove quite the disaster of the red bathroom. I have such a great vision for the room if only I can avoid completely screwing it up.
My uber smart hubby ran out of gas this evening and his coworker had to take him to a station. I am trying to be sympathetic, but it's after 8, I'm hungry, tired and cranky, and I have never once run out of gas because I actually look at the gas gage before I am stranded.
The dog is literally on the shit list. He has thus far today pooped on the floor twice and vomited on the carpet once. I don't know how much longer I can deal with the beast when he insists on making my house smell like a porta potty. Everyone has a limit--this is mine.
I think the fumes have gone to my head, but at least I didn't spend the day like yesterday, watching not one but two volcano movies. I seem to be obsessed with lava lately. There's probably some really deep rooted psychological meaning, but I really like the look of it.

We Are Family
I just wanted to add this pic of Jen and I from Tim and Alicia's wedding. It's a great shot of my favorite girl.

Brown Beasts in Brasov

Europe Bear carnage in Romanian forest
Oh my. First my mother has a fake heart attack in the capitol building, then dad twists his ankle in Trannsylvania, then I see this on the news.
Logically I am sure these tourists eaten be a bear are not my parents, but still. . .

Pillow Fight
When I woke up yesterday I certainly did not anticipate getting smacked by pillows in the lobby of the Adolphus Hotel at 3 a.m. It didn't figure into my plans at all.
We went to Tim and Alicia's wedding and had a most excellent time. I wish I could share pics, but we had some technical malfunctions. Oh well.
Today is a lazy day--I'm not convinced I"m going to get to the putting on pants stage today. I must say it's really not looking good. In fact I think I need to spend the rest of the day floating in the pool being a truly irresponsible adult. Sometimes you have to do that every once in awhile.
I just spaced out for a few minutes. It's that sort of day.

Zydeco
There are some days a woman is just in the mood for accordian music. I refuse to apologize.

Although I have said it many times in the past, this time I am truly convinced that Toby has lost his damn mind. He has pulled out most of his tail hair and spends hours running back and forth between the chairs in the dining room. In the middle of the night he slams his body into the bed repeatedly. He did this last summer, and the vet told me that he just has personality problems, not any sort of skin condition. I was not surprised.

Only two more days of summer school although I will still be going in next week for my editing job, so I will not be completely despondent yet. I have high hopes that I will not lose my mind this summer. God knows I would not want to join toby in the craziness.

Tiny Skeletons Everywhere
Something strange is happening in Grapevine.
I've noticed a disturbing trend: I was out briefly today and during my trip I saw the bodies of 4 squirrels in the neighborhood. Coincidence? Evil psycho killer on the loose? Perhaps they are symbols of something nefarious?
In other disturbing trends, I have not seen my husband all weekend. I'm feeling more like a maid and cook than a wife.

The bright spot--because Toby destroyed the shade I had in the dining room, I got new curtains and even put them up myself.

Singleton
I have joined the ranks of Bridget Jones and have spent the last week as a single lady. I'm pretty convinced that it sucks. Actually being single isn't too bad, it's hanging out in the big house alone waiting for somemone to come home. Still, I have promised not to feel too sorry for myself. Last night I hung with Jen, Jay, Todd and Wendy which was lurvely--took my mind off of everything. I even got to actually talk to him from 12:36 to 12:55--a record!
In an effort to be the best wife ever I got up early this morning to bake muffins for him to take to the boys at work, but I put a note on top saying "Please enjoy. Now send my husband home!" We'll see if bribery works.
I might have to step it up to cookies tomorrow.

Darkness and Light
Today seemed to be a day for disasters for other people. One of my mother's coworkers lost her mother (the day after the anniversary of her husband's death), and one of my coworkers found out that her 20 year old niece had some sort of freak bacterial infection, swelling of the brain and is now dead. I can't even imagine how you deal with that one. Very sad.
Still, and perhaps this is horribly wrong of me, but I couldn't help but really be happy for what I have today. I don't have a really fancy place, I can't jet to Europe on a whim, and I will never be coordinated enough to play a sport, but I have a job that fulfills me, a family that loves me unconditionally, and a husband who completes me (even if he hasn't been home in days).

I do have one thing I could do without, however, and that's a very sore throat and cough. It came upon me suddenly. I'm sitting back with my raspberry tea to see if I can fix it.

So strange, it's an ordinary day for me but in the households struck by tragedy this is a day that will define them.

Other Houses, Other Rooms
Some people crave change at the new year or during spring, but perhaps as a side effect of my business, I yearn for change during the summer. It might just be my restless nature and love of action, but I find myself wanting to transform my body, my life, my house, my yard. . . everything.
I have embarked on a quest to entirely change my body composition, and I just hit the 92 pound over all loss and the 32nd pound since August mark. I have also gone from 42% body fat to 26%. This summer I have really stepped it up a notch and have begun swimming every morning and running and lifting weights after work. I want a change.
I want to improve my mind as well--I've been working on the dictionary reading and the book club, but I want something more as well. Perhaps I will begin memorizing poetry or learning a new language or something. A sleepy mind is a waste.
I have spent most of the afternoon cleaning and rearranging furniture--for some reason I have it in my head that I need to be a more effective home owner. My plan is to clean at least one area each day so as to eliminate huge cleans. I also lugged the Love Sac across the room and moved Eric's desk, reorganized the office, and folded linens.
I have also been really feeling the need to practice more environmentally friendly measures. I bought buckets to collect water from airconditioning condensation and one to catch shower water, and I'm going to use it to water the plants. In addition, I've begun really paying attention to what I am consuming and how I am doing it. We also made the decision to buy all antique and consignment furniture--not only will we cut down on environmental impact, it will also keep things out of the landfill and it will provide us with one of a kind found objects.
I am not sure all of these plans will amount to the change I want to make, but I am at least glad to be doing something.
Yeah, a change will do me good.
In other news, I am so pleased with my summer school classes. With groups that small I am able to really make progress and see them picking up on new concepts. More importantly for me is that I've been bonding with the students in different ways. One of my students is a girl I have really struggled with, and I've been able to see her in a new light. I've now found I enjoy her company and her intellect. It just goes to show that it's never to late to re-evaluate a relationship.
Toby's woes continue--he's now pulling out of the fur out of his tail. Charming.

Payback
In a piece of delicious irony, Toby finally got his comeuppance! Background: we are baby sitting Henry, my sister's greyhound this week and the house has been in constant chaos. Anyway in the middle of the night Henry wanted to go outside. This meant of course that Toby wanted to follow him--Toby seems to think he is Henry's sidekick. Once outside they found Clementine and her friend the orange cat in a tree. Both of the cats freaked out when they saw that giant that is Henry. Both dogs began barking and then it happened. . . the orange cat peed on Toby! Vengence is mine!

Free Tip
When a greyhound is galloping around a living room at almost full speed, it is wise not to get in the way. Word to the wise.

Eddy
The swirling eddy of action of the school year has come to a close, and as much as I am enjoying the lack of tension, the dearth of pressure, and the utter absence of drama I really am a little at a loss for how to fill an afternoon. I was rockin and rolling this morning--swam laps, drank coffee, went to church, taught, and then worked out, but by the time I got home at about 2:30 and ate lunch I was pretty much bored. I did manage to write thank you notes, read more dictionary pages and slog my way through a very boring book club book, but it's just not the same without the sense of chaos. Actually, what I don't miss is chaos, it's company. I am just not very good at spending time with myself doing nothing. I must get a hobby--either one that gets me out of the house, or one that so captivates my attention that I do not notice the lack of human companionship. Maybe I'll make my own jam--I refuse to let the fact that I do not eat jam get in the way of my dream of canning.

Everything is Molecules
I enjoy teaching older students who are well on thier way to becoming adults. I get a lot out of guiding thier journey, and I truly love having the ability to have a conversatin with them. That being said, today I had a real treat. After summer school I had to watch the little kids who were participating in Sports Camp for 30 minutes, and it was an unexpected delight. They immediately began asking me questions and discussing the mysteries of life. They wanted to know all about molecules and if it was possible to grab just two and if people could actually see molecules. Then they wanted to know if Heaven had molecules. After that we hit a rough patch when they wanted to bury a whole apple to see if it would grow an apple tree. This lead to the brillant conclusion that they should bury a person and grow more people. I told them burial wasn't on my schedule for today but maybe I'd pencil them in next week.

Incidentally I finished the Ds yesterday and will begin the lovely letter E tonight. Some may say this is a ridiculous, quixotic quest, but I say I know what a dzo is and you don't.

Scary Meow
Background: Mom and I somehow manage to end up watching the most disturbing television. To prove this I offer the following example from last summer--we began by surfing movies on demand and ended up watching scenes from Club Dread and then some Britney Murphy movie. When both of those stunk, we surfed the personals on Time Warner, and watched strange Indian men in the tech industry ask for dates. I say this as a preface to tonight's madness. After a lovely swim we settled in to eat dinner and watch a little tv. Mom suggested watching the Game Show Network which should have been my first clue. We began innocously enough watching Lingo, but things degenerated from there when we spent the next hour and a half watching the Cat Fancy Club International Meow-Minster Cat Show. Oh yes. The winner was a giant poof ball blue Persian named Flip. The losers were plentiful. One woman fed her cat raw ground buffalo meat every day! By watching the commercials during the cat show we determined that the people who watch such things are 1)overweight (hence the Nurtisystem and exercise ads) 2)incontinent (numerous Depends ads plus a service that delivers adult diapers to your home!) 3) bean lovers (many B ush's Baked Beans ads)
And the real losers of the evening: the two of us who couldn't turn away.

Mea Culpa, Fowl Friend
Doing my daily dictionary reading reminded me of three other subjects I know nothing about: birds, botnany, and knot tieing. Boy Scouts hate me.

In One Ear
A few days ago I was telling my mother that I was having difficulty liking someone because they consistently uses poor grammar (i.e. misuing there, their, and they're), and while I acknowledge the ridiculous level of snobbishness of this prejudice, there it is. Anyone, mom tried to get me to see that despite the fact that knowledge of grammar is important to me, there is a lot of knowledge out there that either I never gained or that I quickly forgot. I am trying to keep this in mind--
Things I Have Lost:
1) The ability to calculate the Doppler effect (in fact, most of my knowledge of physics has disappeared)
2)Graphing parabolas
3)Most of my knowledge of French verbs
4)Easy recall of the names of Egyptian temples and the difference between the different kingdoms
5)The elemental properties of the noble gases
6)the succession of Chinese dynasties (and my understanding of the tea industry)
7) a lot of European intellectual history
8) my understanding of the ancient sub-Saharan African kingdoms and their exports
9)the ability to talk intelligently about the theology of Karl Rahner
10) the words to "El Ciervo en la Fuente"

Things I've Never Known--
1)How to diagnose a car problem
2)Calculus
3)The proper technique for edging a lawn
4)Advanced genetics
5)How to bake a souffle
6)Anything involving plumbing or electrical work

This is just a partial list, but I guess given my vast ignorance about huge sections of human knowledge, perhaps I can cut people some slack for poor grammer. I will still cringe on the inside, however, I mean come on! Good vs. well?

Quasi Vacation
Today marked my first day of quasi vacation, and I"m pretty convinced that this is really the way to live. I got up with my baby, made breakfast and did morning chores, swam laps in the pool, took my time getting ready and went to work. I got to work just enough to keep my busy but not enough to stress me out. . . plus my principal is hiring me to do some editing work as well next week for another few hundred dollars. Then I got to go to the gym before returning home in time to read and hang out. I could get used to this.
We had a rockin' weekend. Friday we dined at Dream Cafe which is amazing because it manages to be both delicious and good for you--where else can you get a meal of steamed veggies and brown rice that actually tastes like decadence? Saturday morning we saw Knocked Up which made me happy--most excellent! We also got to go to the Soulhat concert at the Granada which was pretty amazing. It was different because it's not a band which I am really familiar with, but I enjoyed listening to the music for the sake of listening if that makes any sense. Yesterday we brunched at Mimi's which again made me feel good because I had a super low fat, low calorie meal that tasted wonderful. Ever since my trainer got me started on the My Apex program, I have been really mindful of both everything I put in my mouth and how much of everything I put in my mouth. Since I started I've lost another 2 pounds which is something since I've been on a plateau for a long time. This is the first weight I've dropped in amost a month. My goal is in addition to continuing watching my intake and working at the gym that I will swim laps each day. Not only does it feel amazing, it will help tone areas I have not worked on yet.
It's raining. I don't know why I should be surprised since it has rained every single day for the past 6 or 7 weeks. I am so sick of it. I just got the Grapevine newsletter, and they said we needed to conserve water, but even they sounded rather half hearted as the lake is above all previous levels. Does anyone have an ark? I think everyone in North Texas should be required to see Evan Almighty! We're living it.

Ceramic Mug
I got to drink my coffee out of a real mug this morning at the oh so luxurious hour of 7:30! Practically heaven. At the same time, I also had to go into work for a meeting, so I got the best of both worlds. I put in six miles of cardio, got the car inspected and still got home in time for Magnum P.I. Yeah, I 'm cool like that.