I updated the Week in Pictures for this week.

Wow, the weather has been awesome! Seriously, it is so nice outside that I spent a good portion of it in my lawn chair, writing. I had to move three times to get out of the eventual sun, but man...oh it was nice. I made coffee, which has turned into iced coffee today, and I think I am going to do it all over again.

No secret class today, I guess I gotta go tonight and get beat up. :P

I watched the two best episodes of B5 last night. The show where Vir kills the insane emperor and the resolution of the battle between the Vorlons and the Shadows. It was great! Tim mentioned first that we should only watch one episode. I told him that it was like pringles...you just couldn't have one. Then he said "But it's just going to be a Wesley Buys Shoes" episode anyway."

After watching the first one (season four, disk two, episode 1) I concluded that Wesley had just gone to Payless Shoe Source, Footlocker and DSW, and the ending was a tri split screen of him holding a pair of shoes from each store followed by a 'to be continued.' I did not get to see what kind of shoes Wesley got, and therefore demanded we see another episode. Ahh... in the end Wesley went with New Balance.

But now that the major conflict is over...what do we have left? PsiCore? Clean up? Sigh. American movies don't deal with clean up....we just resolve the conflict and slap the credits on. Clean up is for your imagination or something. I almost feel like the show is over. I guess I will have to watch some more and then make that decision (even though all B5 people talk about how much season five sucks.....).

Today I am going to put up shelves.

Teenagers are stinky and they eat a lot. I know this is no revelation for millions of parents, but dude.... I had to throw in an extra plug in that room.

And, WHY for the love of god, do people put their dirty dishes in the left side of the sink? Do people WASH dishes on the left side? No. They wash them on the right side, so that they can go to the left to get rinsed and then put in the rack right away. That is why. Where ever the dish rack is...you put the dishes one sink over. You know what? I don't really care if you rinse them. What I care about is having to get my hands wet, moving your damned dishes over to the DISH side of the fucking sink, so that they can get washed. There is a side of the sink that should always be reserved to getting water for cooking, cleaning, drinking, whatever. I should not have to complete with DIRTY dishes on the sacred side of the sink. What the hell is wrong with you people. For fucks sake, quit putting the dishes in the basin BY the dish rack. Not unless you want to incur my wrath.

In other news, we met with our "little" on Saturday. Tim and I hate the lingo that Big Brother and Big Sister uses...but I don't want to confuse you with my stinky good natured younger brother. Anyway, we picked up Ty Quan on Saturday and brought him to our place where he was afraid of the dogs, but even more scared of the cats. Especially Arkham! He's the sweetest friendly cat there is too. We played basket ball, DDR, made root beer floats and then played a little dynasty warriors before we brought him back. He is one heck of a small 10 year old, and insufferably shy. We couldn't gauge whether or not he had a good time. I think yes....because he reminds me of Andrew (younger bro) when he was little...just as shy...but it turned out Andrew had a good time. SO. We have gotten wet....and not just to the ankles in our commitment.

Okay, so...FINALLY I am caught up. I updated my web site with the past two weeks in Pictures. WOo! I know that is what you have been waiting for. Not to hear me talk about things like...uh...um.. I just took a shower, and am kind of peckish.

Here is a sample...Tim and Matt as the Cock Rockers, was a force to be reckoned with on the badminton field.



For more pictures, visit the Photos section on your left OR click here. A big thanks to Adrian, who took the camping pictures (June 2).

So my little brother is here. He is in the garage right now cleaning my bike with W-40. It's a good bike, I like it. It was my first most expensive item I had ever gotten. I feel like I am hovering though...I suppose. It is a ways from his Mom's and has to be a little more exciting than sitting around in the trailer playing the same old games with his brother and watching rented movies. Which he can do here too, of course. Not to mention we have cable, but he seems to only like TV Land, because it's old.' Hm.

I need to figure out the ftp information and put it on this computer before I can upload this last weeks in pictures. I still haven't gotten the camping picture from Adrian...I guess that will go up when it goes up.

I need to write today. I started a new story. My goal is to keep it to 3000 words or less. My goal is to write one page today, and then do at least one page every day. I gots to really start edit my other ...uh..novella.

This last week was great. A total rock star week. It started by driving to Chicago last Wednesday to see Skinny Puppy (which was one of the best shows I have ever seen!...wow), to visiting with Kate and Eric. Ahh how nice it was to hang out with them again, like an old shoe...comfortable and relaxing. Turns out they aren't leading the total rock star lifestyle I have been thinking they have been leading. It's nice to know that others have mellowed just as much as me. Well maybe not as much as me, but to a degree. On Thursday we brunched at Swedish diner in Swedish town. I miss eating out in places like that. In Madison it would be a big deal to have a place like that, but in Chicago it's another run of mill. I miss the diversity.

After brunch Tim and I went over to our old neighborhood and found Greg sitting outside of Chase Cafe playing his guitar. He noticed us before I could take a picture--dang. Then we saw his new apartment -- wow, what a great place and such good fortune. Afterward we went to the Lighthouse for a drink and more chatting. I really miss the Lighthouse...oh to have a bar across the street that was comfortable and cheap to visit.

On the way home we stopped at Ikea to get some things for the house. Wine glasses, knobs, hooks, shelves, a plant shelf for the kitchen, and rugs. Totally boring stuff, but exciting for the house and for me! We got back to lonely puppies, pet them and then went over to Sarah and Luke's for dinner and to see their new place. It was really nice and Sarah is SO creative that she inspired Tim with ideas for decorating our guest room.

Friday was ... Friday. There was a little domestic drama, but it all worked itself out by midnight. Saturday we got up and headed out to walk dogs at the GPA kennel. Thank goodness I went, otherwise Tim would have been there all day walking dogs by himself. There were other volunteers there, but all they did was brush the dogs, and then take them out to the big play area and yell at them. None of the menial labor of walking them...dear god no. Then I drove back to Janesville before Tim took over and we came home and hung out until that night when we went to the Inferno for Bella Morte (which I had thought for some reason would be Cruxshadows). I drank too much, and we left at the encore.

Sunday, I paid for my sins of not eating Saturday night and drinking too much. I felt so...tender. But not as bad as it could of been...it was only a 3:00 hangover as opposed to a 7:00 hangover. As a result, Tim had to drive us to Warrens (near Tomah) to pick up Andrew. Turns out....that Cody (Andrew's older brother) had a baby! Their mother, Lori had mentioned on the phone that Cody wanted to show us his new baby. We debated the whole way over what the 'baby' would be. I said a new car or something, but Tim was convinced it was human child. Turns out he was right! The little girl is seven months old! We berated Andrew for not telling us, especially since I always make it a point to ask how his brothers are doing. The last report he said "Oh, Cody got fired from his latest job and got a job at a gas station. Oh and he moved to a big house." That was it. He of course claimed that he had told us. Figures. I asked Lori how her sister was doing, and she reported that she had two more kids! Geez...Cody commented that we need to call all of the people we haven't talked too in awhile to see who has procreated.

Cody is only 18 or 19. The other brother Alex, is looking for a job...but they don't come easily to a 17 year old complainer in a small town.

I drove most of the way back. At first Tim told me to go on the interstate...which I didn't want to do. Especially since Highway 12 was right there. But I got on the Interstate and nearly got us killed because I didn't accelerate enough on the on ramp (according to Tim). I got stressed out, we yelled a lot and finally got my way back on to Highway 12 where I could practice the whole shifting thing more. Yes, I stalled at almost every single light stop, and in Baraboo Tim was sure the end was near. Sigh. My nerves were wrecked by the time we got to Saux City and I happily relinquished the wheel to Tim who got us the rest of the way home. I had to remind Tim that drivers have at least 30 hours of driving practice before they take their test, and I only less than 10. He just doesn't seem to get that it takes time to learn how to drive--especially when there is shifting and a cranky, impatient teacher at my side. He keeps insisting that I need to take a class...but that isn't it. I KNOW how to drive, I have already taken a class...it's that whole fucking shifting thing. It just needs time. I would like to practice with someone else...but I can't think of anyone that would want to drive with me. Sigh.

We got back, watched Salem's Lot on TNT, ate tacos and then went to bed early. I needed it...it was a long exhausting day.

Last issue of Time Magazine had a section on Blogs. I like to think that I was part of the revolution starting mine in 1999, but ... I am not famous yet. After reading the expose, I feel like I should be writing political bullshit, or social satire, and more funny/interesting tidbits about daily life instead of the drivel that pours out of my finger tips.

At the same time, I like reading those boring drivel bits about daily life and find myself glossing over long 'rants' (I hate that word) about politics, philosophy, etc. Oh, and I also hate the word "snarky." Uhhh vomit anyone?

It's my Mom's birthday today! She is 56. Woo. I gotta call her later on.

My teeth hurt...no my gums hurt. My teeth feel fine, if a little imposing.

I have been writing machine! I got seven letters done...whew. I am bound and determined to catch the heck up. I like sitting back and waiting for letters to arrive on my door step. AHhh... okay. Gotta clean clean the living room, finish the kitchen, mow the lawn, weed the garden and finish up the office...and try to finish attacking my pile of letters.

My bottom wisdom teeth are in a competition of pain. Eating food feels like the mush goes into a pit of inflamed gums. I am beginning to think after four years the teeth don't have enough room to fully come in. Suck. I am big baby when it comes to dentists.

Um. So I didn't take any pictures this weekend...instead I suggested one for Adrian to take (which he did) and I will post when he sends me a copy. That will suffice for Weekend in Pictures... so I guess ... stay tooned.

Camping was fun, mellow and fun. I sunburned my forehead, nose and forearms...sigh. Right now all but the forehead and nose have diminished. How embarrassing. When we picked up Gypsy last night I wore a fancy scarf pirate style to cover it up.

Gypsy had a good weekend, she went to both the meet and greet at the Fitchburg place, and then to the Mounds Dog Fest. Cool. The person who looked at her last week came to the Dog Fest to look at her some more. I hope she decides that Gypsy is the one for her.

Sarah Sister in Law, is going to stay over night on Wednesday to take care of the hounds while we are in Chicago watching a another kind of puppy. ;)

I gotta write today.

I got sick of waiting for the rain to lessen that I finally bite the bullet and got wet. I really needed to go to the grocery store to get food for the rest of this week, and more importantly for this weekend. Camping good. What I do, is take a holding basket...and fill it. I tell myself that when it is getting heavy, you should stop because you are riding your bike. HA. I lugged that muther around the store and even contemplated milk before giving up. It was so heavy! My arms were falling asleep but it equaled three bags of groceries...none of which is really tasty or good. Except for the girl's only Luna bar I got, and the mixed cookies for this weekend.

Roberta called the moment I came into the door and told we talked about the academic book group not happening tonight. Why? Because someone is coming over to look at Gypsy! You better believe it. They are coming at 6:00 PM, so I gotta get on the ball in a few minutes here to make the place look effortlessly clean.

Oh, and my six year old gateway computer? Dead. It's so sick it won't do anything but trillion...and even that is iffy. I am on the Dell computer--what I used to call Tim's...but now should just be mine. I backed up everything important on the server...and this computer had a copy of dreamweaver and photoshop...but damn...I had so many good publishing software things on the gateway that are all going to be lost in the great reinstall. What I need is friends who do graphic design....right here in Madison.

Last night I sparred. I got hit in the head three times and punched in the face once. It didn't hurt and it was ultimately a lot of fun. I want to go again, but next week is Skinny Puppy! Woo. After that I suppose. Oh, and yes...I was the only female. I have a feeling it is going to be like that for a long time. Good thing I have so much practice hanging out with boys growing up with my brothers and all.

Sarah came by yesterday with Luke and invited us to dinner next Thursday and then gave us a 100 bucks from when she lived with us. Cool. Later that night we went to Target to buy badminton/volleyball set and a soccer ball, and a air pump with needle to blow up the soccer ball in the set and put more air in the basketball we got. Now, I feel like we have a complete sports set...everything except the football...but who likes that anyway? For that matter who like's basketball?

Alright. I thinking about a slight redesign of the website...I might have to think some more on that. I guess you will know it happened when it happens.

If it feels like I have been avoiding you this week, is because I have. I
am sorry, but hey...at least I fessed up to it.

Week in Pictures
for the weekend of June 1st is up. I couldn't come here and babble on
about the trivialities of daily life if I didn't have something to offer
that was juicy....

Fucking skeetos! I have a total of six major, harassing the hell out of
me, bites all over. They are swarming everywhere outside...terrible, nasty
little things. Tim and I both thought of the skeeto women in The Scar
(China Mieville) and their insatiable thirst. I feel bad for Pluto most
of all. The instant he steps outside there is a swarm on on him. When I saw
swarm I mean at LEAST 20 - 30 of the blood sucking monsters. I did some
research to see if there was any bug repellent for dogs for the camping
trip this weekend, and Tim is going to check Mounds after work. I hope he
can find some, otherwise we are going to end up bringing a skeleton back.

Last night we watched Kill Bill Vol. 1. For some reason I thought that all
four of the major spanks were gonna get killed in this one, I didn't
realize it would only be two. Eh...it was still good. Now I have Sea
Tricuit to watch, and 'I fell into a burning Reign of Fire' is on it's
way. Tim hasn't seen it, but I recall that I enjoyed it thoroughly. Ahh
dragons. End of the world...what more could you ask for? Not much, except
maybe a vaccination that would make my blood repellent or even deadly to
mosquitos.

[Fuck...fuck fuck. Blogger crashed on me again. It seems to happen when I
reach about this much typing...thank the gods I had just cut and pasted it
to Eudora to spell check, other wise this would all be gone. Why do
computer have to get outdated? Why for the love of god...why?]

Well, I might as well finish what I was going to say here and then just cut
and paste it in there....ha. Take that.

We found someone to take Gypsy for this weekend. Rock on! Not Tim has to
do all the work of taking care of Pluto. A vacation for me, to be sure.

Hm. Oh, after 27 more patient tries with bead weaving I am going to give it
up for the moment and try to figure out some other way to bead a five foot
... uh....ribbon of beads? I wanted to do it the traditional way...but for
the life of me, I can't seem to do it. I did one once before...but this
time it just isn't working and it is making me furious and depressed at the
same time.

.... great...now Mozilla won't work. I have to try the half and half
Explorer. I may have to start bogarting the other computer.

Just got back from John's birthday barbecue. Had to leave for the dog's sake. Now I am drinking a beer and drawing on the puter with Hilary. This new Yahoo thing is fun.

I have an ear ache! How can that be? Only kids get earaches...or when you go swimming or are sick. Not for no reason whatsoever. It hurts.

Tim has to go to work tomorrow. What a bag of horseshit. I should go all religious on him....but he doesn't want too either. So...suck. It means my weekend is ruined too. No quality time with my darling.

Tomorrow I am going to help Roberta sort through her storage shed to find things for her garage sale which I am hosting at my place...since I have an empty garage and all.

I am still working on my letter to my Mom. I feel bad. I have gotten four letters from her since I last wrote. What is wrong with me? I have a huge pile of letters for penpals I need to respond to as well. I just feel like I have been incredibly busy lately. But that is a good thing...busy is good. Especially when it is productive. But I have to remind myself...nay...force myself to write too. I can't put that on the wayside. Must not... have ... to...fight ... it.

I mowed the lawn today! Second time ever, first time in the United States. The first time was in Finland when I was 18. It was hard work. It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to start the darn thing.

I rollerbladed in my basement for awhile. It was fun.

I wish someone would teach me how to weave beads...figuring it out on my own is hard. I think I am going about it the long way too. But then, maybe there is no short cut for it. Just time spent...one weave at a time.

My computer crashed three times in midst of making posts..and reposts. Now it is much later and I am not taking any chances...thus it is short and sweet.

Went to Children's Musuem on Thursday with Hilary and her kids...was fun. State Street stroll = great.

Got my orange belt today. Whew. Rode bike to terrace to meet with Tim and his coworkers. Had chipolte afterward. Good.

Watched Big Fish and Koi Mi Goya (indian scifi movie...india indian).

Read Nickle and Dimed, and a romance I won't bother to name the title for.

Went to Bennie F to make a hankercheif for Gypsy that says adopt me.

Going to John's Birthday BBQ tommorrow.

Got a little brother we will meet next Wednesday.

Don't trust this anymore---gonna post it. At least it inspired me to backup everything on the server. Now we have to debate whether or not to buy a new computer or a new bed. My computer is over six years old. It's a battle axe of a machine.

Weekend in Pictures

Today is my brother's birthday. I saw him this weekend working at the gas station, I wanted to take a photo but I didn't know if that would be okay to do in a gas station...a busy one at that. Anyway, I told him I would see him later, but I never did. How typical. He is thirty-four today.

This weekend was super packed and busy. We hung out with Eric and Kate, went to Kenosha to visit Andrew (Tim's most foul mouthed crude co-worker to date) and see his little girl for the first time. We attended Tiara and Adrian's barbecue and had tons of fun! Then drove back, went to bed with expectations of getting up early but that was not to be. We slept in, mosied around the house and I cleaned the car for the first time in two years or so...maybe even three? Nah...just two. We are THAT piggy. :P Then put the backs of the seats down, threw the dogs in with some supplies and drove to my Dad's in Dells Dam. What's that? Dells Dam isn't on the map? That because is because it 'local' to 'locals.' It's between Neillsville and Hatfield.

The visit was okay, although it wasn't as relaxing at it usually is. I think it was because of the extra company, dog sitting the dogs, and massive amounts of rain -- although I did get some beads, and made plans for Andrew (my brother) to visit us for two weeks at the end of this month. We got back Sunday night and I went straight to bed, I hurt so much (bad headache). Then yesterday seemed like we had been gone for days...everything seemed neglected: the cat boxes, the cats, the kitchen, the whole...feel of the house. Tim and I were both in bad moods yesterday and had little energy. His work thing is really getting to him.

Today is better though. I got to go to the super, secret TKD class...just three people with the woman teaching it a fanatic for weapons and self defense. It's fun, I like those classes...it's where I feel like I learn the really good stuff. Now I am here. I just finished updating Week in Pictures, writing this...and soon I am going to work on some letters. Although I might tidy up the office because it still feels neglected.