Aidan is back in Ohio. He left early this afternoon. It was hard. It always is. The summer good-bye is always the hardest, though. Because he’s been with me for so long and I’ve gotten so used to him being here. It’s so quiet in the apartment now.

Yesterday, all three of us went to Naperville just to hang out–our last full day of hanging out in the summer of 2012.

He’s like a kid in a…oh.

We had a fun day. I miss that little booger. *sigh* But this year, I did something I’d never gotten the chance to do. I got to buy Aidan all his school supplies and some of his school clothes! Chris and Matt usually do that after Aidan’s in Ohio. Chris did buy most of Aidan’s school clothes, and Matt got him his backpack. But I got to buy all the supplies (I’ll take any excuse to buy office/school supplies) and his lunchbox and socks and stuff like that. Probably kinda silly to get excited over that, but I’m not going to apologize for it.

So, this evening I’ve been sort of relaxing but also trying to sort out all the stuff I need to start focusing on. It’s time for seasonal deep cleaning. The annoying thing about cleaning is that it doesn’t STAY that way after all that hard work. But a dear friend of mine pointed me toward the UFYH tumblr and it has some really great ideas about getting stuff done. Adam wants to reorganize our coat closet area in the front room, which I’m totally in agreement with. I have a LOT of coats and I’d love to see them all contained in a wardrobe that CLOSES. If we can find one big enough. I’d like it to have room to hold shoes and purses as well. I know.

I also need to go through all my clothes and get rid of stuff. Like for real. I have too many clothes and nowhere to put them. It’s time to go HAM on that stuff. The last time I did that was 2008. Basically, here is a rundown of all the work I want to do:

- Declutter my closets. All three of them. Getting rid of clothes, shoes, coats, anything I simply cannot fit or don’t/won’t wear anymore.
- Thorough cleaning of Aidan’s room. Boys are truly disgusting sometimes. I’m not sure WHAT Aidan did in there but man. Adam and I have our work cut out for us.
- Clean up the foyer. The motor oil stain on the carpet out there–we can’t do anything about (don’t even ask but it wasn’t our fault), but there are random boots and shovels and paint cans out there. I’d like to clean it up at least a little bit.
- Organize all my CDs. I have a buttload of CDs and I have to figure out how to get them somewhere easily accessible yet they need to be nicely organized.
-Redo the DVD shelves. They WERE organized, but Aidan and Adam have since ransacked the things looking for certain DVDs and/or video games.
- Unclutter my lotions, soaps, hair products, fragrances, makeup, etc. I have SO MUCH of that stuff and most of it just needs to GTFO.
- Clean out the refrigerator. It’s back to being a hot mess.
- Clean out carb city. Cause there are things there that have been there since 2008 or 2009 (unopened, of course), and y’all, that ain’t kosher.
- Get rid of old magazines and catalogs. I don’t know WHY I am holding on to some of my magazines… I get so many free subscriptions and honestly, the ONLY ONES I ever really read are Reader’s Digest and Yoga Journal (which are not free, go figure), so I need to let all the other subscriptions run out and just keep those two, right? I mean, I LIKE having my bathroom filled with Popular Science (come on, it’s SCIENCE!) and W and the Rachael Ray magazine (they were all free!), but Newsweek is usually outdated by the time I get around to reading it. I don’t even know what else I subscribe to. Oh wait, Fitness or Self or Shape something like that. I don’t need to renew those subscriptions. And catalogs. I keep Free People around for writing inspiration, but I need to just cut out the pictures I like and trash the rest. I don’t want to get rid of my American Girl catalogs but seeing as I have them come to two different addresses, I don’t need to have doubles of all of them, now do I?
- Do something about the HUGE number of books I have. Which will be painful, but is so necessary. We’re completely out of shelf space.
- Clean up my doll display. I still haven’t unboxed my Designer Jasmine and Tiana, and one of my Ellowyne Wilde dolls is hidden behind a baby Tiana doll. Poor Katniss is sitting here like “WTF. You bought me as soon as you could and now I’m just sitting here in the box.” I need to change my Julie out of her summer clothes and into an autumn outfit and maybe I should think about displaying another American Girl doll because I have 12 of them and most of them are in a bin in Aidan’s room.

Me and Julie, when I first got her in 2009.
She was an early birthday present.

The Katniss Barbie I just got last week.

Some of these need to be done immediately, others (like the CDs and DVDs) are pipe dream projects that will happen when I’m inspired, have time, and really just want to get it DONE. I also feel like some trips to Garden Ridge and/or The Container Store and/or Ikea need to happen for everything to take place like I want it. AND I need to have a plan when I go into those stores. We went to Ikea last week and my mind just goes like this about EVERYTHING whenever I’m there:

And then I get all overwhelmed and I’m just like:

So I really need to have some sort of plan before I hit those stores. It’s cute that Ikea sent me a huge catalog the other day, isn’t it, tho?

Basically, though, for my sanity and just because it’s better, I need to seriously tackle some projects around the house. Get some music on, bust it out, room by room, and be like:

Maybe I can post before/after pictures? Make it kind of a series here? What do you think? I wonder if I could even stick to it, but it would be great accountability….

In other words, I got my yoga teacher training midterm today. Twelve pages, 225 questions, 4.5 credit hours. I have until September 20 to get it done. Trying to coordinate meetings with my other classmates so we can work on it together. I’ve already filled out a few answers that I knew off the top of my head. We’ll see how it goes.

My 2013 Life Planner arrived on Saturday. I think it’s super pretty!

My 2012 Life Planner has been amazing. I take the thing just about everywhere and I love showing it off to people. It’s worth every dime I paid for it, and I’ve already started filling in my 2013 Life Planner. Lots of yoga teacher training things to populate.

And this guy finally got to come home with me:

Love Beast!

One thing I really want to do is cut back on my Internet time. I waste away many, many hours on tumblr and Facebook games when I have toys to be played with, books to read, hell, books to WRITE, yoga poses to practice, journals to write in, pictures to take, an exercise bike to use, and of course, there is that list^^ of all the cleaning I need to tackle. But it’s hard because as a freelancer, I am essentially ON CALL and need to be available, at least from 9am-5pm M-F. (Who am I kidding? Like I actually get up at 9am!) And I’m actually really happy with the amount of work I’ve been getting. It’s just the right balance. Enough to keep me quite busy, but it’s not taking over my entire life and stressing me out to the point of tears and wishing I would get sick so I could call off work.

But in the evenings? I really need to unplug. One thing I loved about the movie Juno was that the parents were never on their computers. They were always doing crafts or projects–engaging in hobbies that were not computer/tablet/smartphone related. And even though I suspect that Juno was set in a time when life wasn’t so computer-centered, it’s still nice to see.

OK, this entry is really long. Sorry about that. I guess I had a lot to say.

‘Til next time!

(Originally posted at http://anywhere-is.net. Comment here or there.)

I’m not doing so well today. I am worn down, exhausted, and have zero motivation to do a dang thing. Mercury is in retrograde and OH WOW is it showing.

1. Web browsers are acting weird. Google Chrome is acting weird with my WordPress dashboard, so I have to use Firefox to add posts. I also need Firefox to work on the newsletter for Moksha because Namaste Light does not play nicely with Chrome these days. However, Firefox is SLOW once it gets going and it really lags on my system. Plus, it doesn’t always play nice with LiveJournal. So now I get to bounce back and forth until one of them gets their act together.

2. Monthly newsletter went out and there were some hiccups AGAIN. I asked them if they wanted me to step down and she said no, that I’m doing a great job, and it was just one of those things. I’m doing a good enough job on everything else that they’re still going to trust me with January 2012. So, I will DO DAMN BETTER. I promise.

3. I ran MacKeeper to get rid of duplicate files, but it decided that many different original files were the same, so it tried to delete all those as well. I caught them, but now it’s a disorganized mess. Fortunately, I have backups of most of the organized folders, so I can just overwrite the messed up ones.

4. My iPod crashed. It crashed and deleted all of my music and playlists. I manually sync because I don’t have the same things on my iPod that I do on my computer. Saturday evening, a Tori Amos song kept erring out, and I think that’s what did it. iPod corrupted. Hours of hard work, selecting and sequencing those playlists by hand… gone. *sigh* The Christmas 2011 mix was the best mix I’d ever made, too. And the yoga practice mix? That was freaking hard to put together and now I have to do it again. But first, I have to get the thing to mount. And also to stop crashing and locking the library. Time to restore all systems, I suppose.

5. Computer battery needs to be serviced. Which likely means replaced. Which means bye bye $130.

On top of Mercury’s retrograde screwing with all my technology (and giving me an inexplicable urge to buy an iPad when I don’t need one at all), I’ve just been feeling like a poop log lately. Worn down, nauseated, and just generally tired. And my ear is hurting again. I have so much I need to do and no motivation to do it. This weekend, I was hit with a double whammy headache, one of them being a migraine that was extremely painful. Little appetite, just not feeling myself. I don’t like it. Oh, and the tip of my tongue has been burning the past few days. Feels like I burnt it with food or bit it a million times, but instead of getting better and going away, it’s getting worse.

I NEED TO GET BETTER!

Just to give you an idea of how worn out I’ve been:

1. I turned down a trip to Target. Adam knows that if I say “no” to a Target run then something’s seriously wrong.

2. I haven’t watched one Christmas program/DVD/movie. Not even A CHRISTMAS STORY. I adore A CHRISTMAS STORY. What is happening?

3. The apartment’s not completely decorated for Christmas. Honestly, Adam and I put the tree up Friday, I decorated it, then I was done. I haven’t made any effort to do anything else since. THIS IS NOT LIKE ME.

To add insult to injury? My new(ish) awesome glasses? They have a chip in the lens. I dropped a plate the other day and thought it had avoided the glasses, but I guess not. So it’s back to the ugly cheap frames for me until I can get them repaired or either get a new pair. I mean, I can *somewhat* ignore the chip, but I don’t know if other people can. Suck.

I have so much to do (in no particular order, it just all needs to be done on or before December 15):

01. Christmas newsletter
02. Christmas cards
03. reestablish iPod
04. finish decorating apartment
05. major litter box cleaning
06. organize closet and clothing
07. wrap presents
08. clean living room (this may as well be a permanent on the list)
09. plan Christmas menu
10. make Christmas food shopping list
11. return library books
12. finish Christmas shopping
13. buy cat food
14. laundry
15. two newsletters for Moksha
16. use Body Shop Groupon
17. send packages

Yea, whatever is bugging me needs to GET TO STEPPIN’. I ain’t got time for this mess.

As much as I love iProcrastinate, I didn’t like that it didn’t give me reminders of when things were due. So I decided to use Producteev. It has a reminder function. Except… it doesn’t seem to be working. I should add that to the list of things screwed up by Mercury’s retrograde. *sigh* Or maybe the software just sucks.

So now I’m on the hunt for another To Do program. I might have to break down and PAY FOR ONE. *gulp* I mean, what’s the point of having a productivity program if all it does it make me panic because it doesn’t tell me when stuff’s coming up, just when it’s due RIGHT NOW?

In spite of all this bleh, I had a good time Saturday night. I hung out with a bunch of former coworkers from Schawk. It was so good to see them all again. One can be glad to escape the craziness of the workplace, but the people will always tug at me.

Brad, JT, Hayley, me, Tyrone, Duane

I’m a homebody. I don’t go out a lot. It’s nice to get out sometimes, though. Although I think Saturday night might have done me in. Maybe I’m still recovering from that.

Also, did I mention that my birthday is in 14 days? No? Well, now you know.

Anyway, I’m off for now. Time for more resting so I can get better once and for all. I WILL get better. Hear that, Universe? I WILL get better within the next 12 hours.

Please send me lots of good vibes for many various things, OK?

Till next time….

(Originally posted at http://anywhere-is.net. Comment here or there.)

I’m tired. I need a full day where I don’t have to do anything but read and sleep. I really should not allow myself to indulge in such a day until all my chores are done, but meh. I also should not be blogging at 1am but there you go.

Christmas is 46 freaking days away. Time is FLYING. I have all of these “to do” items that i put in my iProcrastinate in early/middle October. When it’s the middle of October, November due dates seem far away. Well, now all that stuff is coming due now and I’m kinda like WHOA. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN? In fact, two of my items are past due. FAIL.

I started Christmas shopping in earnest Monday. I was out with my friend Angelo, and we hit Bloomingdales, Filene’s Basement, and many other assorted stores along Michigan Avenue. I was able to knock out a good chunk of my shopping for Adam. Go me! I also let Angelo treat me to a white chocolate raspberry mocha from Starbucks. I very rarely indulge in Starbucks, and I get this particular coffee drink once or twice a year. It was yummy.

Adam and I went out to the ‘burbs yesterday. I found the most awesome store at the Westfield Fox Valley mall. It’s called Funk-E-Breeze and it’s the store that Hot Topic and Spencer Gifts WISH they could be. I wanted just about everything in there, but I settled on buying lots of incense. Because mmm, incense.

We hit Anderson’s Bookshop, the best bookstore in the whole wide world. Seriously, you should be jealous of that bookstore because it is *just that awesome*. This bookstore gets folks like Tyra Banks, Weird Al, and Jodi Piccoult. And they *hand sell* books. They listen to what you like and suggest books that are similar. Awesome. Anyway, Adam’s an author, and he went to Anderson’s to sign stock. How cool is that? But you know what’s even cooler?

You can win copies of Adam’s books!

EXTRAORDINARY is an epic tale of love, magic,
mystery, musical theatre, and unicorn poop.
UNICORN POOP people!
You know you want to read it.
Honestly, it’s my favorite one by him thus far.
Check out the entry post here.

Adam also writes under the pen name S.J. Adams.
(I think Adam thinks S.J. is real. Seriously. I get concerned.)
SPARKS is a John Hughes-esque novel about a
Full House-obsessed girl
who attempts to get over a crush
by embarking on a “holy quest” with
a couple of misfits who have invented a religion.
Check out the entry post for this book here!

Yay! And that’s all for now. Til next time!

Linking up with:

Whoo!

(Originally posted at http://anywhere-is.net. Comment here or there.)

I really enjoyed the weather we had the end of last week. Warm, sunny, and so springlike. I went downtown again, met a friend for lunch, and even had a massage. I went to Cortiva and got a student massage. $35 for an hour of bodywork. Awesome.

Of course, it snowed Saturday, the first day of Spring. There’s Chicago for you. 60 on Tuesday, though. And sunny! 60 seems much less cold when it’s sunny out.

The no-pop thing has been going well! I almost slipped up a few times (falling for the “harmless” stuff like orange or fruit punch pop) but it really is pretty easy to drink juice instead. And I am making a point to drink 100%, no sugar added juices. Not juice drink or anything like that. I still need to drink more water, but this is a good starting point, I think.

I need to make a to-do list. Otherwise, I just won’t do the stuff I need to do to prepare for Aidan’s Spring Break.

1. Clean Aidan’s room I hate this chore. I don’t do a thing in there, but Adam does and I have no idea what, but it’s always a mess by the time Aidan’s next visit rolls around. So I have to go make it presentable again.

2. Get groceries. The word out on the street is that Aidan’s going through a growth spurt. This means that he will be doing a lot of eating and sleeping if he’s still dealing with that the next few weeks. Not only do we have to pick up some food he likes (chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, mac & cheese, pot pies, etc.), but we have to get a LOT of it! I’m also going to be encouraging him to try new things. Like BEEF. I understand that kids can be kind of meh about beef–Lord knows I was–but it’s so good, and he likes the beef flavored Ramen noodles.

3. Plan Easter. I want to have a cute little Easter celebration for Aidan. I plan to make a basket for him, and I have some of that YUMMY ham frozen from Christmas which I will thaw for dinner. I’ve had some interesting Easters over the years. The main thing was that the weather was always nice and warm and sunny by then. I remember the big old Easter egg hunt we had when I was about 11 or so. When I was in college, I was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church at an Easter vigil. I remember being at an overnight retreat not so long ago, and participating in a sunrise service–the first time I ever prayed out loud in a group.

Here’s a picture of Aidan from Easter 2004!

I won two book contests recently, which means more books for me! I just finished reading TWENTY BOY SUMMER and SKINNED. Getting ready to start on GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE. I really should check when those books are due back. I’m tearing through them, but you know how time sometimes gets away from you.

I must sleep. Adam and I are going to watch Alice In Wonderland with Claudia Gray tomorrow/today and I should at least TRY to be awake during it. *grumbles about being a night owl again*

Night!

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

Six more days!!
One more till my birthday! I’ll be &@#&@&#@. Ooops, must have missed something in the translation there….

Today, I got a a gift certificate to Amazon.com from Adam’s dad (and my future father-in-law). THAT makes me so happy. Books! This evening, I got a package from Rosa (meimeigui) and Richard, with strict instructions not to open anything early. So I have a birthday present next to me, and a Christmas present for me, and a Christmas present for Aidan, under the tree.

Janet spoiled me yesterday at work. First, there was this at my desk:

Then, a bunch of us went to La Chatelaine for lunch, and Janet treated me. I had the lunch combo: ham sandwich, tomato basil soup, and Caesar salad. Yummmmo. I really like that place and want to go again SOON. The prices are not unreasonable, either.

Karen gave me a card and told me not to open it until tomorrow. I sat it by my computer so I can remember. If I am up at midnight tonight, I’m going to open the present from Rosa and Richard.

This morning, I came into work and found a poinsettia, two cards, candy, and two books on my desk. What a nice surprise, yes? This time of year is so awesome. One of the cards had a lottery ticket in it. I didn’t win.

E Mae treated the copy editors to lunch at Spagio. It was good. I had leftovers. It’s really rich food, so I can eat like, 1/3 of a serving at a time before my mouth says NO MORE FOR NOW, you!

I have to wrap all of Adam’s gifts tonight, as he’ll be here tomorrow. (!!!♥!!!) I don’t take him for a snooper, but I just want to have it done. Some of the boxes are soooo cute that I’m not bothering to wrap them. But the animal print ones I picked up at Marc’s—DEFINITELY getting wrapped. LoL.

Aidan’s disappointed because there are things under the tree for him and he can’t open them yet.

He’s still cute though:

My Favorite Present, Always!

I took a Spending Style test on Tickle today. Here is the result:

Ronni, you’re a Bargain Hunter

In your life, you’re willing to go the extra mile in order to find a good deal. Whenever possible, you hold out until you can find the least expensive version of something you need. Your patience and persistence generally leads you to significant savings, which you likely take great pride in. While some may mistakenly think you are cheap and puzzle over why you prefer thrift stores to overpriced boutiques, you’re content to let them squander their cash while you chase down a great bargain.

When it comes to your financial state, you tend to feel like you’re about where you think you should be.

Except for that last statement, it’s pretty much right on.

To Do, Revisited:

- renew driver’s license (12/20)
- renew license plate tags (12/20)
- clean my room (that includes finally unpacking my clothes from my Atlanta and NYC trips, changing the sheets, and general tidying up)
- finish Christmas shopping
- Christmas cards
- insulate windows with some of that plastic stuff you use with a hairdryer
- hair
- clean little Lucy’s litter box (thorough cleaning, not just litter exchange)
- burn a Christmas CD
- wrap gifts
- get groceries

My computer is SO SLOW. It’s driving me nuts. Takes freakin’ Facebook forever to load, and to switch between programs… the thing acts like it’s straining to do that. I have 1.5 gigs of memory and it’s a 2.something gig processor. Web sites take ages to come up. The thing takes at least ten minutes to fully boot up. It amazes me how much Windows deteriorates after a few years, or months even. I also hate how certain programs steal focus. I’ll start something in the background and then go to something else while I am waiting for it to open. Instead of the other program blinking in the taskbar to let me know its ready, all of a sudden, whatever I’m working on disappears and a new IE window or something is in the way. Drives me bananas. But the new Flickr Uploader is awesome. I can do EVERYTHING I need to do to the photos right in the uploader, so no need to wait for the site to load to finish editing (tags, sets, etc.). Good times.

At about 11am tomorrow, I will be leaving ZB until next Friday. Can’t wait. No more Core TEs to bother with for days and days and days. *glares at vendor*

OK, gonna go finish with the gifts and trying to make Aidan giggle. Later!

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

The season has officially started for me. I saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas last night. The CARTOON one, not the Jim Carrey one. I’ve never actually seen that one. Anyway, for some reason, I thought I had the DVD, but I don’t. I go through this every year. I think I have the DVD and I realize I don’t, then I get surprised that I don’t have it. But last night, Aidan and I went over to my co-worker Heather’s house and we hung out, watched movies, and had a nice, relaxing time. It is amazing how traditions happen without even us realizing it. Apparently, Aidan and I ate McDonald’s last year. I said the same thing about the season not starting until I watched The Grinch. I didn’t remember any of this, but Rob, Heather’s husband, did.

Thursday, another co-worker and I went to see a free screening of Juno. We got tee-shirts and punch cards. It was rad. Like the movie.

In five days, the busiest days of the year will come into fruition for 2007. My birthday is December 20, and on that day, Adam’ll be flying in to town. Christmas is December 25, and then Aidan’s birthday is December 30. Life will be a bit busy.

I have a huge To Do list. Today, I have Aidan, and we’re under a winter storm warning, so I’m taking it pretty easy. I’ll be hitting the ground running sometime tomorrow.

Here’s the stuff I need to do:

- renew driver’s license (12/20)
- renew license plate tags (12/20)
- clean my room (that includes finally unpacking my clothes from my Atlanta and NYC trips, changing the sheets, and general tidying up)
- finish Christmas shopping (Aidan’s all that’s left—I want to get him an argyle sweater!)
- Christmas cards
- insulate windows with some of that plastic stuff you use with a hairdryer
- hair
- clean little Lucy’s litter box (thorough cleaning, not just litter exchange)
- burn a Christmas CD
- wrap gifts
- get groceries

It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when I’m at work all day and have limited evening time to do it, and a low tolerance for crowds, weather, and foolishness, believe me, it’s a hassle. But I’ll get it done. And I’ll be able to relax once Adam gets here. I hope.

Unfortunately, my sore throat hasn’t gone away despite the fact that I’m almost done with this round of anti-biotics. It’s a weird sore throat, too. It’s not scratchy, like a cold. It feels like something heavy is sitting on it. Sometimes it feels like the heavy thing is pushing something sharp into the glands or something. Or that something is sitting on my eardrum and poking it. Some nights I can’t even swallow, it hurts so much, and it moves from one side to the other. Today it’s on the right. A couple days ago, it was on the left. I’ve been downing the Naproxin Sodium like crazy for some relief. I don’t know what else to do. I might have to suffer with this indefinitely because the doctors never seem to bother looking further into this before writing me off with another script and if I put in one more anti-biotic I will seriously screw my body up. Time to switch up the pain relievers so I won’t get too tolerant. *sigh* Tylenol, here I come.

(Aidan just now, as he is watching Tom & Jerry: THE CAT DIDN’T FINISH HIS SONG BECAUSE THE MOUSE BURNED HIS BUTT!)

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

- Must go to Hallmark *pant pant* Lots of birthdays, special things and such coming up. MUST GO THIS WEEKEND.
- Buy stamps
- Write Write Write!!!!

Okay, I’m done. For now.

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

I must go to Meijer tomorrow. Here is my list:

- Wipes
- Diapers
- Shower gel
- Storage bins (?)
- Stuff for a certain someone’s birthday celebration
- some other stuff I’m forgetting right now…

( Random Survey )

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

I feel yummy today. I am not sure why. Maybe because the sun came out when I was driving to work this morning. It’s supposed to be in the 60s today, and the 70s tomorrow!

I’m almost caught up on all my email. Considering I had over thirty at some point over the weekend, this is a phenomenal feat. In my opinion, at least.

I got loads of new CDs yesterday:

Britney Spears: My Perogative Pt 1 | Import Single
Michael Jackson: Bad | Special Edition
Tori Amos: Tales of a Librarian
Tori Amos: The Beekeeper | Special Edition
atb: DJ in the Mix
atb: Addicted to Music

Yeah, I went a little bit crazy…

There was so much I wanted. DJ Tiesto for example. *sigh* If only I had all the money in the world…just… so much music!!!!

Oh well. I’ll just have to pace myself. Now I’m back in Credit Card Payoff Mode. Like, SERIOUSLY. I will have three paid off by the end of the summer, three more by December, for a total of six cards paid off in 2005. And I paid one off last week. So I guess the total for 2005 will be seven cards paid off. Can you dig it?

Should be fun. Like it’s fun to go to Best Buy with Bizzy and speak with a British accent almost the entire time. And fun to have lunch at Smoky Bones with 19,000 people from church. I always wonder what they think when they see large crowds come in. “Oooh, TIPS!” or “OH NO, WE’RE GOING TO GET SLAMMED!” Our waiter, Ryan, was cool though. He said that we made it easy on him.

And the cornbread was SO YUMMM!!!

I am so ready for 4pm. I have to get an oil change tonight and do a bit of work on The Bark. Tomorrow, I’ll copy it and have it ready for distribution.

Restless much? Oh, you bet I am.

Apparently, Chris is doing all sorts of crazy things to the house. I’m excited to seee what he’s done since I’ve been at work today.

And WOOHOO! Another reserve came in for me at the library: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson.

I have to get an oil change tonight. BORING. But at least it will be done. I’m going to one of the 10-minute places; I bet it’ll be crowded. Bugger. I need to get gas before I do anything, though! So tonight:

- Gas
- Library
- Oil change
- The Bark
- Rob (hopefully?!?)

*mentally tries to speed time up, but only for a bit*

You’d think I’d be all “WHOA! THE TIME IS GOING FAST TODAY!” Thanks to Daylight Savings Time, but I’m not that lucky. Getting use to this always takes a bit of time, but I know I’ll get used to it and love it because the days will be longer and warmer and all that good stuff.

This makes me sad.

And I want to see this. Any of you local folk up for a field trip?

‘Til later…

edited to add – Gmail now gives 2 gigs of storage!!!!

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)

Things To Do Before 2005:

- return/exchange ______ to _______ (haha, Chris)
- new tires
- finish Christmas shopping (week of 12/20)
- balance checkboook
- pay bills
- buy stamps
- wrap presents (week of 12/20)
- answer emails
- HW assignments
- buy and send rest of Christmas cards (asap)
- GET BETTER! (ASAP!!)
- make CD of pictures to print for “friends” scrapbook
- get pictures printed
- call mommy (12/09)
- query an agent or two (week of 12/13)
- clean the house
- plan menu for birthday party (week of 12/13)
- plan music for birthday party (week of 12/13)
- laundry (AGAIN!)
- one or two chapters in new novel

(Originally posted at Anywhere Is...)