Birdwalk

How could I forget to mention this?

Another reason for my recent absence was the appearance of these in my basement -- where the computer is.

They are REALLY BIG, really ugly and they jump unbelievably high. They also have incredibly long antennae. I called in an exterminator after opening the door to the unfinished part of the basement and having one of these things leap directly at me, then chase me around the basement. I immediately went online and googled it and tried to figure out what the hell that thing was, and tried to convince myself that this was just one bug that wandered into my house by accident. I put out glue traps, thinking that if there were more than just that one bug that they'd end up on the traps...well, the next day I came downstairs to find two of them stuck to the glue traps -- one of them just inches from my desk, in the finished part of the basement. GAAAAH!

The exterminator came, sprayed, and laid out more glue traps (interesting aside: the glue traps are called "Gluee Louees".) There are now a total of four of these nasty insect corpses stuck to the Gluee Louees in my basement. The other day I ran out of paper towels upstairs and I had to go in there to get more...I ran in, grabbed a roll of paper towels, and scooted right back out. For the next hour I felt like there were things crawling on me.

Yes I've done it again

I know, I know I broke my vow. I'm a loser. No, really my recent absence was due to a recent conversation I had with one of our tech guys in which I was informed that yes, they do indeed monitor our internet usage and they have a list of sites that are under special scrutiny...every time I went to post on Blogger after that I got all paranoid and that kinda took the fun out of it. But now I'm home, safe, and I thought I'd stop in and drop a few bons mots. Or bons bons. Or bonsai. Or....oh, never mind.

I've got a cute picture to post of me and the niece. Very cute. Of course I look like two people squeezed into one set of clothes, but what can I do. I don't know when or how I got this big and floppy looking and frankly my mental image of myself just does not match what I see in photos, so I don't know what to believe. I'll post it soon. I have to scan it, which is -- you guessed it -- at work.

Two things happened in the past week that got me thinking. The first was my 4 year wedding anniversary last Friday. I can't believe it's been four years already. And the second was my husband leaving on a short business trip. He's back now, but he was only gone about four days. He only goes away about once a year. I remember the first time he went away and left me alone, about three years ago. I couldn't sleep and woke up at 4 am and threw up. I was a nervous wreck. At the time I had no idea why, but in retrospect I think it was because I was afraid I couldn't handle things while he was gone -- the dog, the house, all that stuff -- which is ridiculous, considering that I'm a grown adult who lived by myself in my own apartment very happily for more than five years before I even met my husband. People kept calling me to see if I was alright. His mother and his sister called several times to check on me. I resented having to do the things I considered to be "his" jobs while he was gone -- feeding his fish, taking out the garbage, emptying the dehumidifier. I didn't want to eat because what's the point if there's nobody to cook for.

What a huge difference between then and now. This time, I was actually looking forward to having a few days to myself. I wasn't even the slightest bit nervous -- and I can't imagine ever feeling that way again. But this time I noticed something interesting -- for the first time I really missed my husband. That panic attack that first year wasn't really about missing him, it was more about the shock of suddenly being alone after a year of 24-7 togetherness. I guess it's similar to how you'd feel after suddenly losing a spouse. But this time it was like that old saying about absence making the heart grow fonder. I didn't miss him for the things he does -- I can empty the dehumidifier now, no problem -- but I just missed having him around here. I missed the essence of him. I missed having someone to do things for. I think a little bit of distance allowed me to really see him at arm's length, so to speak, and see the forest instead of the trees. Which was a real surprise for me.

Marriage has been a really interesting little journey so far. When I first got married, I was stunned by the finality of it. It suddenly struck me one day about three months into it that hey, this is it. This is it for life. I didn't see this as a bad thing, but for some reason I couldn't really comprehend that fully until I was actually married. Then I went through a stage where I secretly longed for some parts of being single...not the loneliness or -- God forbid -- dating, but the ability to be alone sometimes, or to not have to share your environment with someone else ALL THE TIME. When I was dating my husband it was fun to have him in my apartment, mostly because I knew that he'd eventually have to go home and I'd be lonely again. But now that we lived in the same place all the time, I longed for some alone time to do nothing but putter around or read magazines or clean out my closet or whatever completely uninterrupted.

Now, however, I don't really long for that anymore. I find that I'd much rather have my husband with me. I miss him when we're apart, not because I'm insecure without him, but because being with him is just plain nicer than not. (Shopping, of course, is one exeption.) While he was away on this business trip, I found that I really like him, in addition to loving him. Which was a very pleasant surprise. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to have a few days to myself (and yes, I did clean my closet) but I was also very glad to hear him come through the door tonight. I made him a pie to celebrate.

Steamy Friday

So it's Friday and I've taken the day off for no real reason except for the fact that I have tons of PTO time that I will lose if I don't take. So this morning Mickey and I slept until 10 AM...yes that's right we slept until the unheard-of hour of 10AM and now I'm just checking office email, drinking coffee and reading the paper and in just a few minutes I'll be going upstairs to make a second attempt at steam cleaning the carpets. Sound boring? Maybe to you but I'm looking forward to having nice, clean carpets later this afternoon.

Best thing that happened recently: Lunch yesterday at Pop's Barbecue. Awesome.
Worst thing: I'm now fat and bloated. Yecch.

Big Food Tuesday

Woke up hungry today and can't seem to stop eating no matter what I do. It all started with a bowl of oatmeal, then a bran muffin (well, just the top, actually) then a lovely panini (fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, provolone, pesto, olive oil) then a krispy kreme, then a tiny Hershey bar. Looks like I'm treadmill-bound tonight for sure. Played tennis last night, too, and it was good.

Best thing for today: Well, that panini was pretty darn good. But the best thing was waking up this morning with my dog's front leg (the "wrist" area, if dogs can be said to have a wrist)somehow wedged between my big toe and my second toe and his head resting on my foot. I have no idea how we got so entangled.
Worst thing: Trying on three pairs of pants, one after the other, at the tailor's. I HATE GOING TO THE TAILOR'S.

Catching up

So I believe I owe you several days of bests/worsts. Here goes.

Thursday:

Best thing? Bought the long-awaited Brian Wilson album, Smile. Record store owner who rang up my purchase asked me how old I was to even be interested in this album, saying, "What are you, in your mid twenties?" God bless that man.
Worst thing? Had to explain to the young kid standing next to record store owner who Brian Wilson is and why he was a genius. I felt very old and frankly kinda creepy.

Also fit into a size 10 skirt at H&M. Finally.

Friday:

Best thing? Mickey was really good at the vet. So much so that the vet called him a "sweetheart" and said he wished all of his patients were like Mickey.
Worst thing? I took the whole day off to take Mick to the vet and I was really looking forward to using the afternoon to steamclean my carpets (yes I'm a freak but I'm a freak with clean carpets) today. However, it appears that a broken three-cent plastic valve on my very expensive steam cleaner has the power to stop me in my tracks. Spent a half hour on the phone with Hoover and still couldn't fix it -- apparently this is a factory-installed piece and once it quits, it's done -- so I had to spend $40 ordering an entirely new tank for a machine that I've only used 6 or 7 times. I completely shredded my fingernails, wasted time, got aggravated, and worst of all my carpets are still dirty.

Saturday:

Best thing? The extra two hours of blissful slumber I got this morning while cuddled with my dog on the bed after watching Spongebob.
Worst thing? I did not win $101 million and therefore must still go to work on Monday.