Monday, July 31, 2006

Exhaustion thy name is ilanna... :)

it's been a LOOOOOONNNNg weekend... and i'm wiped. :)

Friday - I took the day off to go shopping with my mom. Mall is about an hour 15 away from me. 45 from mom (we kind of meet in the middle.) And I was looking for clothing to wear to the upcomming grouping of weddings I have. :)

SO we get there around 1030. My cousin met us at around 1145. My cousin left around 245 (we had a light lunch in between) and then mom and I finally left around 515 or so. We're looking at almost 7 full hours. Then I had a 2+ hour drive home cuz i Hit traffic in baltimore.

While at the mall, we went to Nordstroms. I found a couple of really cool brown (so warm) skirts with patterns on them. Both with handkercheif style hems. Then I got a brown sheer button down shirt that comes with a matching brown spaghetti strap tank. I also got an ice blue cowl nect "shell" that works nice. I have a lot of variation options with these outfits which is cool. I also found a nice coat, wasn't planning to get one though. It's a microcfiber suedy feeling outside with a fake fur inside. Very toasty warm - car coat length, nice coat and on SALE. So mom really thought I should get it so I did. (she bought me all the stuff at Nordstrom's. THANKS MOM!) So after deciding what to get we had lunch at the cafe, and then we went back to PAY for our purchases. :) Then we went to look at shoes. CUZ well see, i have lots of shoes, but the one thing I dont' have - is BROWN dress shoes. And you can't wear an entire Brown based outfit and wear black satin shoes. Just doesn't work. :) So i needed some brown dress shoes. but Nordstroms didnt' have anything. It's frustrating because apparently 4" heels are back in style this season, so it's either that or flats. Finding an inbetween isn't easy. So we then went to J. Jill. That's the store i was complaining about on thursday. They have some really nifty stuff. and they cut full! but they only carry petite and regular in the store. Oh well. I was able to try on some XL's and get a feel for what might fit from the catalogue, so I can always order if i so choose. Then my cousin left. So mom, and I started looking to see where there might be shoes. But we'd passed all the main stores, and we were so tired and our feet hurt so we decided going back to the other end of the mall was SOO not an option. So we went to JC penney and then Sears. Sears is where we hit paydirt. :) Of course I can't for the life of me find any of the stuff i bought on line. One pair of shoes was a pair by "Personal Identity" a T-strap wedge pump. The wedge is wide though not like those skinny death on heels type shoes. in a mottled brown leather with cut outs at the toe. really cool. Probably 2.5" maybe? The other pair is a pair of mudds. about a 2.5-3" "wood look" heel, but thick. and it's a round toe pump, but wider round toe, with beige stitching on it. Really cute. Neither of them are great for my back, but i'm at the point, that with dress shoes, it's not worth the $150 to buy appropriate shoes for dress and back, and for the few times i'll be wearing them (and the relatively short periods of time) i'll just suck it up. :)

So after that we got ice cream and then left the mall.

Saturday. Saturday, i had to get up and run some errands in the morning, and then pick up my husband so we could go to a bridal shower. (more like a wedding shower since it was one of those Co-Ed dealios.) It was a lot of fun, was enjoying it. Kind of odd for me though because I didnt' know ANYONE there except the bride and groom really. I didn't realize how little our friend base there overlapped. The only people I would have known didn't come down cuz she's due in like a month to pop out the first kid. :) so I understand her not being there. :) so it was kind of weird. :) But fun none the less. And then we had to leave early, but I won some movie tickets in one ofthe games. From there we went to drop M off to pick up his car, and then meet at friend's house for his birthday party. We then left from there and went to philly to see a reading of "the Tell Tale Heart" by edgar allen poe at the eastern state penitentiary. My friend was wonderfully surprised, as he'd thought it was just gonna be the 4 of us. Then 4 other friends showed up at the house, and then another 7 showed up in philly. :) It was AWESOME. There was some history about the prison, and the psychology, a discussion of the insanity defense and then some discussion about poe himself. It was a really great time. Then back to Delaware for dinner where another 7 -10 people showed up, also a surprise. Took over the entire friggin restaurant. :) it was GREAT! we had a blast there too. Got home around 1030 or so. ANd then I crashed. I slept until 1130 sunday morning.

By then of course Sunday had officially arrived. I went out to the store to pick up some stuff for organizing and what not. You know, I should have taken some before and after pics. We had to start cleaning up b/c our floors are beign install soon. My dresser: took me 3 hours, 3 trash bags, 3 bags of clothes to give away, the dresser is full, and so is my hamper, so no sure what i'll do once I do laundry :) And now that is clean. I haven't even touched under the bed or the shoes, or the closet yet. :) Or the nightstand except to remove water bottles. I filled a nordstrom's shopping bag with bottles to recycle. :) I have to empty them all out first. :) Then i had dinner - and crashed. Only to not sleep all that well.

So needless to say - i'm just WIPED. Add to that the heat. and popping in and out of AC'd stores into 95+ heat and back into AC store or AC car... it is just BRUTAL. and we're to have our heat wave this week. WHEEEEEE. I feel miserable in it. I can only say POOR PUPPIES when it comes to the doggies.

Oh well - good luck to everyone else with the heatwave. :)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Frustrating Fashion

Ok

So you have a store. their online catalogue carries, Petite, regular, Tall, and Women's sizes. And in just about all styles, all sizes are available. But the store itself, carries ONLY regular sizes and some of them carry petite. Why? Do Tall and large women not count? Do we not exist in high enough quantity that there's no point in carrying those styles in the store? When I find a place that has some nice fashionable things in good sizes, I get excited because it's a nice idea to have a clothing option that isn't a tent ya know? Which then leads me to another rant.

The concept of plus size clothing. Unfortunately the majority of plus clothing is a size 6 pattern blown up on a photocopy machine. obviously proportions are not the same. Plus women are not all butter balls and round shapes. There are boobs and butts and smaller waists etc.

I want to open a store called "boobs and butts and everything between." A store that has different lines, specifically designed for each sizing set.
And JEANS!! no more size 10, 12, 14 etc. No no, we're going to follow the logic that actually is USED in sizing of mens' jeans. Except instead of Inseam, it will be waist, hip and then Petite, regular, MTall, and Tall. :) how's that sound??

Who wants to start the revolution with me??? And remember, this isn't just for us plus folks, but for those short people, and tall people, and people everywhere in between who have size 8 tops and size 14 bottoms... it's a WHOLE new WORLD of clothing!!!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Sponge Bob Edamame

Ok -

This site has some amusing news posts (short summaries or segments of the post) and pithy commentary on those news stories. One of them is about the Licensing of Dora and Sponge bob Edamame and Edamame pods. Umm.. I'm not even sure what Edamame *IS* and they think this will work for kids? It is certainly and interesting concept, and just goes to show just how screwed up our world is sometimes. :) Spongebob vegetables... :) right, cuz that's what *I* think of when I think of spongebob... then again... mabye it's appropriate, as his apparent brain might be similar to the product "he" is endorsing. :)

I have to say - i just loved Mary's stream of consciousness blog this morning. was very entertaining. I want what she's having. :)

once again, i'm freezing in my office... I don't quite understand it. I have to dress warmer in the summer than I do in the winter. Silly.

so last night - i made lambchops for dinner. I marinated them first for a couple of hours in Vidalia onion honey mustard dressing. THen about 10 minutes before cooking added basalmic vinegar to the mix. My oh my did those come out tasty! Add to that the brown basmati rice and the steamed asparagus and I had a lovely dinner on my own. MY hubby was at his entrance interview for Massage School. He is now officially in as a student and will be starting classes on 9/11. The classes are 3 nights a week for 5 hours a night. I won't be seeing him much for the next 11 months... Oh well - on the bright side, i will then have a trained massage therapist living with me hmmmmmm.... that has lots of potential. :)

To anyone local - the massage school offers on thursday nights at either 6 or 7pm (both times are options I mean), a full 1 hour massage for $30. This is designed to give the students different people to practice on and different body types and issues to work on as well. You don't get to pick the student, and it's first come first serve. (Though I suppose you could call the school to sign up maybe and/or make an appointment) but for anyone who wants massages and can't normally afford the $70 they usually cost... this is might be a good way to do it and help out hubby in the process. :)

Umm - I think the stream of consciousness is probably coming to an end.

Oh wait. :) nope. So Minijaxter has now finished the sweater (MWUAHAHAHAH) and I have the tags. She has made me a couple of swatches so I can practice sewing things into the "sweater" material so I know how best to do it.. machine, hand etc...

Oh and the training is going well. :) I have bony ankles again. :) (instead of tree stumps) and My flexibility is starting to return in the process. I'm also not as tired all the time or feeling as drained usually. This is a good thing. Now i just have to start eating somewhat better and it will go even better in the long run. I'm signing up for another 30 sessions. :) that's another 15 weeks of torture. :) wish me luck :)

Ok - now it's over. Back to work! :) and have a great day folks. :)

Monday, July 24, 2006

I think i need to move away

From the heavy posting that is. :) lets move onto lighter things. Of course I don't really have a topic in mind at the moment.

Not much is going on really. I saw two movies this weekend. Pirates of the carribean 2- dead man's chest was the first. Then we did a double feature and saw ClerksII right after. I enjoyed both movies for entirely different reasons. Pirates was a great historical fantasy. Fun and energetic, and scary all at the same time. Clerks was just sick - which is to be expected.

Of course this leads to a minor rant.

For those of you with kids (and granted Idon't have any of my own yet) I understand the desire to get out of the house and see a movie or do something away from the house. But if you really need to get away. Get a sitter.

Bringing your 2 year old (roughly) to see a PG-13 movie is just ASININE and irresponsible. There's a reason it's PG-13. SCARY STUFF! I mean really. I honestly think that unless a movie is rated G, then children under 5 or 6 shouldn't even be allowed in the THEATRE, regardless of parental approval.

So yes, when we were watching pirates, right behind us was a couple with what appeared to be a 2 year old. one who was frequently crying and upset through out the movie. Kicking the seat I was in etc. But obviously unhappy with being there, whether or not he was scared of the movie. What p*ssed me off even more, was the parents who kept reprimanding him with "Shut your mouth right now!" So not only did you bring the child to a movie ENTIRELY inappropriate for him, but now you are punishing him and yelling at him for being scared and upset while watching said movie.

Truth be told, i'm an advocate for "childrens only" type shows. They used to do this on long island at one of the theatres i'd go to. It was labeled a "mother's show." It was a specific time that was publicized for parents to bring their children to. Anyone without kids who went to that show was informed that it was a mother's show, and to be aware there would probably be a lot of noisy children etc in the theatre and it is your choice to put up with it.

I know the ratings sytem is really a guideline, but I call upon ALL parents out there to actually use some common sense in taking your children to movies and realizze that PG13 is there for a reason, and should be SOME indicator as to the content of the movie.

Ok - rant over for the moment. I'm curious to see if all of you out there who are parents agree or disagree with me. it would be good to know if i'm speaking out of turn not being a parent myself, or if it actually makes sense. :)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Misunderstandings. . .

I think a number of people misinterpreted what I was trying to say yesterday.

Based on some of the commentary, many people are mostly concerned with the pictures and how horrible it is that children are signing bombs, and the impression i get is that they feel i'm arguing that this is ok.

What i was trying to say in my blog yesterday, was not so much about the pictures, but more about some of the commentaries I was seeing about the pictures.

I agree - it's horrible. Children should not hate that much. Whether they are justified, taught, or creative enough to come up with it on their own (which knowing children would not surprise me in the slightest - although that doesn't excuse the adults that condoned it) was not what I was trying to address.

Please, go back and read a number of the comments made on the other blogs about those pictures. What was MOST upsetting to me were the generalizations about "religious hatred" being taught, and the concept of things being a religious war. That is truly what bothered me the most.

The truth is the middle east is so screwed up I don't think anyone really understands everything that is happening. (that includes all of the governments involved as well.) I disagree that Israel is a bully. Yes they have one of the biggest and most efficient armies in the world, and yet are such a small country. However, I can't blame them for being prepared for what they see as the inevitable conflicts and attacks. But that is my opinion. nothing more.

Opinions are just that, opinions, and people need to be able to discuss them calmly and rationally and in an ideal world, be open to the other person's ideas. Take them in, think about them, and if there's disagreement calmly explain the points.

I think we all get a little too worked up over things, and if we feel attacked (even if that isn't the intention of our counterparts) we will fight back.

(and yes i'm segueing here.)

I urge everyone, to please try and be aware of what you are saying and how you are saying it and realize that if the other person starts yelling to you or at least responding in an agitated manner, to stop and think about how you've made your comments to determine if maybe, JUST maybe the other person could have construed it as attacking and aggressive. The other person may just be a nut job, or nervy, or an aggressive personality, but just maybe they felt they had reason, and your tone was misinterpreted. I think if we all just relax for a minute, and stop talking over one another and think about what we are all saying, things could possibly be improved...

Think - don't react. (we're not chemical experiments after all ;) )

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Politics...

I really dislike politics most of the time.
Everyone is so dishonest. They twist their words and most people tend to be too lazy to find out what is really happening, base all of their decisions PURELY on whichever TV ad catches their attention, and what their family and friends tend to do. I reiterate. *MOST* people. (b/c people are stupid) The people who tend to read my blog are not. :)

And I will admit - I'm lazy when it comes to politics. I tend not to pay much attention because it annoys me so much. And My mother is such a junky :) as is my brother and they think like I do, that i trust their judgement. So call me a hypocrite.

Today, I was reading on Kvatch's blog, along with a couple of others he referenced, their story with pictures about Israeli children signing bombs headed for Lebanon.

I have a number of issues with this story. And even more issues with a lot of the comments that came out of the story.

I can agree that it's sickening and sad that children are smiling and signing bombs with comments such as "from israel and daniel" or "to Hisballah with love" etc. But this is *SOOO* not a black and white issue. And what i absolutely *CAN NOT* agree with is the commentary that Muslims are raised to hate jews and jews are raised to hate Muslims. that is A) a GROSS generalization, b/c I have friends who are muslim. I am jewish. Neither of us hate each other, nor were we raised to do so. B) jews by nature are not raised to hate anyone (more to wallow in what is our own misfortune. :) ) B) So *NOT* the point of what is going on with Israel and Lebanon and Gaza and everything else.

I think we are all so hung up on the religious fanatics in the middle east bombing everyone that we can't separate any other conflict in the ME as anything BUT religious. Israel's war is a war of survival not of religion. They are a secular country not a religious one. (and please take note, I am *NOT* trying to say that israel is pure as the driven snow, and isn't to blame for some of the conflict. no one over there is without blame. no stone throwing there... at least not legitimately.) How many people have really STUDIED the history of that area? How many know all the things that have instigated this war? how many people have *REALLY* looked at a scale map of the Middle East after commenting on how Israel is trying to strong arm everyone, and then gone "oh sh*t, didn't realize how small Israel really is compared to the rest of the middle east!" Go here to see a map.

When Israel was created, no one WANTED that land. It was barren desert, that's why they said ok to giving it to israel. (yes this is probably an oversimplification, and if anyone can cite sources that prove i'm wrong, please lets start a civilized discussion of it) But then... Then Israel did the unexpected. They built a thriving country. They built irrigation systems and became a real agricultural mecca. Suddenly everyone wants their land back. what's wrong with this picture?

As for children signing bombs, think about it differently. What if we had a war on our home turf, our citizens, children, familes being killed by bombs? OR what if we had a way to send a bomb that would directly target Osama? Would we still think it sick and disgusting to have people signing bombs headed for our deadly enemy? It's very easy to be idealistic when we don't live with war every day.

last but not least, I have not yet been able to find any reference to this on any of the news outlets. Are these pictures even real? Where did they come from? And WHY of all things, are the children writing in english???? That's not their language. They aren't writing in lebanese, which would make sense since they are the recipients (though i don't think they'd be able to read it). Why, when sending bombs from your homeland, would you sign it anything BUT your national language? This screams propaganda to me, to get people fired up against Israel, so that they can then be attacked not just physically with bombs and bullets, but also be morally condemned by people sitting back in relative safety.

I again ask, what is wrong with this picture? You tell me.

**Update: the references are from here: Photo and short story However I believe that the location the girls are from, are LITERALLY on the border with Lebanon and has been bombed/shelled/attacked etc throughout history and are literally on the battlefront. Doesn't mean it justifies the behavior, but I certainly understand it.

Monday, July 17, 2006

There's a reason it's red . . .

Target is evil...

it is a black hole for money to be SUCKED into at an alarming rate. . .

yes you get to bring things home, but somehow you never realize just how much you've bought. . .:)

This weekend I went shopping. :)

I made the schlep up to concord pike to go to Bed bath and beyond because I had 2 wedding gifts and a shower gift to purchase. Of course beyond the $150 those gifts cost me, I managed to spend another $70 in that store... ;) ($30 for other people) I mean - how can you live with OUT the silicone basting brushes?? HMM??? those regular brushes they get all greasy and nasty, and i figured these would be easier to clean... :) and the marble mortar and pestle! i've been wanting one of those for AGES and it was so inexpensive! :) (you get the idea (grin))

So then, I go to lowes. That was at least a fixed price trip. Medicine cabinet. It was already picked out. the store by me had been out of stock, so i went to the one in the same shopping center as BBB. :) went in, bought it, rearranged my trunk, and had it put in my car. (my trunk is very full at the moment.)

but then... Then there's Target.

See, a few weeks ago, I bought a Tshirt from an online comic called In the Puddle. I really enjoy the comic. But the T-shirt!!! she made it herself.. iron on kind of thing - but it was PRINTEd on the most awesome Tshirt i've ever worn. 95% cotton, 5% spandex for just a little more fitted feel, and super SILKY soft... soooo nice. And that shirt - was from Target. (oh and it was tagless too - very important.) SO of course, while I was right there, I needed to go find more of these incredible t-shirts. I figured, if she's selling them for X amount, with the iron on and a profit, the shirt itself can't cost a WHOLE lot right? :) well I was right, the shirts were only $9. I went a little nuts. I think I spent almost $100 on shirts ALONE! but the great thing about target, it has a drugstore section too!!! so I got the eye cream I needed and some other things, and soap my brother asked for, and THEN i made it over to the electrics section and bought a 4 qt crock pot. (cuz a 6 quart is WAAAAY too big unless you are cooking large amounts. :) 4qt ismuch more usuable when you are cooking for 2 -4 people. and it's red. :) that's cool - bright red! :) so yeah - WAAAYYYY too much money. :) The problem is that target, has all the stuff that walmart has, but seems so much classier. It's so CLEAN! and the people shopping there and the people working there all seem to be happy and with it etc and the prices are all still really good. So you have no idea just how much money you are spending until you actually get to the check out. . . Dangerous store i'm telling you!!!! :)

umm that was my sunday. saturday I did some other errands but more relaxed. I went to the co-op and bought some food and stuff, and I went to the comic shop, and to panera for bread and then had a leisurely lunch while waiting to be told folks were headed over to the new house my friend was moving into. I got called after they were there and most of the way through unloading. Oh well - i went over for a while, and hung out and checked out the new place. It's very nice. :)

Btw - the trainer thing is going well. I can see ankle bone again! :) and my biceps have a little more definition, and according to my bathroom scale, I may have lost around 5 lbs. cool huh?! :) so i'm going to keep going with it - it's a good thing. :)

hope everyone else had a good weekend. Oh and we saw the producers last night. Very funny movie! :)

laters!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

bad ilanna... forgot to post :)

i forgot to post yesterday. Bad me. BUt i was fairly busy at work and looking into things and so didn't get around to it. Alas. :)

So yesterday we were discussing the latest suka plot.

We're goign to knit a baby sweater. a Relatively hideous one. Then we're going to sew in tags from a "designer" item purchased on ebay. :) We will tell her it was one of a kind. And then sit back and enjoy. :) Then there were suggestions tossed around that we should make 2. One that looks "manufactured" and one that looks all tucked and some ragged edges etc. Tell her that the ragged one was used for the photoshoot model, and we thought she'd like that, but didnt' think she'd want her child to wear hand me downs, and so got her a "fresh" one for the child to wear. :) There are various options :) but we may just give it to her with the tags, and not tell her anything and see what happens.:) the item with tags has been purchased already and should arrive soon.

MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
i'm so evil.

At any rate, not much else going on here. Just the usual busy evenigns and trying to plan around helping folks out. My brother is pretty much moved in. He just has to move stuff from garage into the house as he wants it, and figure out the set up. And the floors are almost done. (AWESOME!) only the trim pieces are left. :)

Planning for my floor to be getting done near the end of july or early august - looking forward to it. :) SO wasn't as upset when puppy started chewing on the carpet. :) Or when we found the blue ink stains all over from a pen we never found. (he did something with it though :) )

ahh well - boys will be boys... literally :)

:)

Monday, July 10, 2006

OY the DRAMA!

Ok - so we have FINALLY closed on the house. And oh what a drama it was. :) and truthfully none of the drama was caused by the bro. :) scary!

So... friday morning we head to settlement at the lawyer's office. (P) And my real estate agent (D) meets us there. the buyers of the old house are clients of his as well, so it was all a friendly happy situation. Making jokes, signing things etc. :) settlement on the new house was sched. for 9. Well, by 915 when we finished signing all the paperwork for the old house, the sellers of the new house had not shown up yet. So D calls them and finds out they thought settlement was still scheduled for 2pm. He reminds them of the new time and they say they are on their way.

In the mean time, we are discussing escrow issues. The electrical box had not been fixed prior to settlement and so we had requested $250 in escrow to cover repairs if the seller did not take care of it. Well at one point a few days prior, my brother was talking to the seller (J) and she told him that at one point she had decided to spray paint the firebox of the fireplace. (umm... not a good idea eh?) So we are suddenly scrambling to find out if this is toxic, if there's a problem etc. We put in a request that an additional $750 (total of $1000) be put in escrow to cover repairs if it was found to be a safety hazzard. Instead of responding, the seller's agent (ass) :) decided that the since the paint stores he called told him it would just flake off when a fire was lit, he was gonna go light a fire and test it. Fine by us really since if the house burned down, it was still J's. :) so heburned a fire for 3 hours in the FP and said there were no problems. We still asked for $$ in escrow to be there in case a professional fireplace inspection stated it would need to be professionally taken care of.

So around 1015 seller and her agent show up. Now, you have to picture this agent. He's HORRIBLE. He looks like a cross between a marine and Tony Soprano. He comes in dressed in khaki shorts and a tropical shirt with BAGRAM embroidered on the chest. The shirt is unbuttoned to the navel, with his full hairy chest poking out. And he's wearing the heavy gold chain with cross. He's the epitome of the sleezy defense lawyer. He wouldn't let J speak. and he was AGGRESSIVE!!! She sat there all cowed looking. Sometimes P would address mom and J and mom would answer and then he'd jump in and start talking for her. Most we got from her was a Nod or a head shake. It was insane. So we bring up the escrow issue again. They said that $1000 was extreme and way too much $$. (Please realize that this $$ was in escrow it wasn't a credit. if the fireplace company says 'no problem' the money goes back to J anyway) They only wanted to give us $250. Finally we split the difference at $750 total. 250 for electical and 500 for the FP. Then the argument over who would pay for the FP inspection cropped up. guy was saying OH NO!! this is part of typical homeowner inspection stuff you guys have to pay for it... rather than start an argument D said he'd pay it out of his own pocket just so we could move on.

THen more fun begins - mom is signing all the paperwork. In the meantime P is asking J if "this is her" on some documents. You see the house had been in foreclosure since may 20. (This was never disclosed to us.) We found out later of course, but figured the ass didn't disclose it so as to make sure his commission was higher. (figuring we'd lowball a foreclosure house.) Anyways she confirms it's her. At this point we've signed every thing so P let's us go. D stays behind to make sure everything else goes smoothly. He called me about half an hour later. Apparently, it wasnt just the disclosure. She had a $250,000 judgement against her for a failed business or something. A commercial venture. BUt our guess is the house was collateral of some kind. They never disclosed it, but the lawyer foundi t about 2 days before closing and really scrambled to get everything figured out so the sale could go through. So outside Ass corners D and starts laying into him. Yelling at him because D's clients were talking to Ass's clients and shoiuldnt' have been.. (what is this? a trial or civil suit? I live aroudn the corner I stopped to say hi.) what he was really pissed about was that J opened her mouth and told my bro about the fireplace and he couldn't just shrug it off or get away with it. Then started yelling at D about how the client got NO $$ out of the deal and it wasn't fair to her etc. I think they were trying to keep the judgement quiet so she would get $$ from the sale. But she got NOTHING out of the sale of her house and probably still owes more. Oh well, not our problem. We are in the house fine. THe flooring guys are doing a FANTASTIC!!! job of putting in the new laminate floors. (bellmanflooring.com)
and things are going well. :)

ON another note - I agree completely with minijaxter, it's sad when you can't say what you want for fear of reprisals, and that even when you use pseudonyms etc you feel restricted because of other people. It's a shame. But the new locales of certain folk are in my side bar - under their new names with no reference to their old... :) i'll stick around! :)

*HUGS* to all and thank the GODS that's over... :)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Sorry His Brain is Full. . . .

This week we close on my "brother's" new house. He's been going a bit nuts trying to pack up his house and get everything squared away. He's only had 3 or 4 weeks to start moving on this stuff. he waited til this weekend to really start moving. He even had the POD for about a week before anything even went into it. So he's got that mostly loaded, but he's still "going nuts" trying to get the little stuff etc. He had a bunch of people helping him and he just takes them all for granted. Specially me.

I was there before 10 yesterday. I brought him breakfast.(no i didn't get any $ for that.) Start working with the junk man while he and his friends get started with packing. Over the 4 hours I was there (i couldn't do much b/c of my knee) I asked him 3 or 4 times, what did he want to do with his bicycles? I hadmy car there WITH the bike rack on it, ready to go, but he kept saying, "I don't know." I finally had to say, "we do the bikes now, or not at all. NOW" and then he got mad at me for taking that Tone of Voice with him. Whatever.

I mean, I"m storing his stuff, hell we got some of our friends to help move the TV i'm buying from him, and they ended up helping him move all of his stereo components too to my house. ANd Gee, they carried all of it inside cuz he was too busy moving his fish, to come over and move his own stuff. So now it's all over the guest bedroom, which we are now goingt to have to clear out for my mother. We put it in there cuz he was supposed to stay with us for the 2 day transition, so we figured he could shift it around then. But no, he won't make up his mind about where he's staying. Then keeps saying he's not comfortable staying at someone else's house etc. It's a load of BS - he can't make up his mind, won't make a decision, and just leaves all the people who are trying to help him hanging in the wind waiting on "his lordship's decisions." Not fair to us. MY husband, one of the most easygoing and helpful men in the world, is getting frustrated and annoyed at his rudeness level.

I came home last night, and wouldnt' talk to my own husband. Not because I was mad at him, but because I was so tired, and annoyed, and frustrated and in pain from sitting around and standing around with no place but a staircase to sit on.

I mean at one point, he asked me or go buy gatorade. So i went to 7-11, and bought a whole box of drinks. I got a thanks from his helpers and an offhand "thanks" from him, but no offer to pay me back the $30 i laid out for all of it. Then he had me order pizza, and I had to order from a place where I couldn't eat the pizza. WHich is one reason I was so miserable when I fianlly got home. I at at 10. I got home at 330. I hadn't eaten anything in between. Only reason I lasted as long as I did was I drank a 24oz gatorade.

He is so focused and centered on his world, that he doesn't care what happens to other people. My husband came to help for a Little while. Didn't want to spend his whole day there. We told bro that, but he suddenly started planning for the use of my husband's wagon. No asking, just planning. it's obnoxious. ANd i'm not fighting back or refusing b/c the purchase is really my mother's, and I don't want to make it that much more difficult for her, and I just want it OVER with.

It sucks when there's a taker and just no good way to stop it. . . SO i'm very frustrated this week. ANd i have a very busy day. I was going to work from home this afternoon but not sure I can now, since I have a customer coming in with potentially a bad HD, so i'm going to need to get her up and running.. however long that takes.

Oh well - hope everyone had a better holiday than I did. . . .

Monday, July 03, 2006

I kneed a cane..... :)

So Thursday night.. 20 minutes before the Personal Trainer (PT) was due to show up, I'm walking downstairs in socks to get my sneakers (this is why i HATE wearing socks :) ) and I slip. My left foot slipped off the edge of the step and jammed down or did something and my knee POPPED! Now occasionally my knee cap moves in and out of place and it's a minor pop that I can walk off quickly and it's all good. Unofortunately this was a massive pop and my knee swelled up quite a bit later on.

So I called the trainer and said "what do you want to do?" and she said "well just modify the workout, no need to cancel." So that's what we did. We did a seated workout so there was no weight bearing on my leg. What frustrated me though, was that I had finally gotten my bike trainer, and the computer for it all hooked up and hadn't gotten a chance to try it out yet. We decided not to do the bike thursday though since my knee was hurting, and i would have had to go all the way downstairs again.

So, I have an MRI scheduled for friday morning at 730. one hour before i have to be at the lawyer's office for closing on my mother's houses...WHEEE that's gonna be a fun day. :) Hopefully i haven't damaged my knee further than it already was... but it's very sloppy now, and i'm using a cane since i'm paranoid. :) and it stiffens up pretty quick.

In the long run, not riding the bike was probably a good thing. See my mom came up this weekend because I was so excited about the idea of using a bike with a trainer, that she started to remember how much she used to LOVE riding her bike. But she doesn't have a functional one anymore. So one thing we did was go to the bike shop to see if she could find a bike she likes and so she could order a trainer for herself. While we were there i started discussing my issues wiht my bike and trying a few out myself. Wasn't sure though, so we went to lunch went home got my bike and brought it back to the store. Turns out when i bought it 3 or 4 years ago, it was too small. That's why my knees hit my stomach when I ride and my arms are all bent etc. It's a 16. now i'm only 5'3' or 5'4". a 16 is normal size for that height. unfortunately i'm also 5'4" but wear Medium Tall jeans. I have long legs. :) So i've got a new bike. (or will today when I go to pick it up.) A raleigh Venture 4.0. I like the gearing better, and it's a size 18 mens. The mens have a broader wheel base which is better for my longer arms and legs. The women's 19 felt smaller to me than the mens 18. Interesting eh? :) So they are putting on more Hybrid style tires for me, rather than the more "mountain" style that are on that bike now. it's a "comfort" bike - along the same lines as the hybrids, but more towards the mountain side and more "cruising" style. So thicker tires, not as designed for speed or performance. But changing the tires will make a big difference.

So - anyone want to buy a lightly used bike? :) size 16 womens? It's a great bike, and I liked it a lot, it just didn't fit me too well. It's a raleigh C40. :)

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend, and when i pick up the bike today i'll let you know how it is. :) Mom btw - bought the same exact bike.. :) like mother like daughter. :)