Guess who got up early! ME! Yeah, I had a bad night's sleep and then woke up around five and couldn't get back to nod, so I got up when Tim did at 6:00.

Zoey, a four inch scarf is pretty short! You sure you don't want it a little longer? ;)

New office and Bedroom closets are done. Man sorting through clothes is such a huge pain in the ass. First you have to decide what season it is, then is it something Tim would use in a layer, then is it jammy or old t-shirt gear or is it just plain old and should become rags? Followed by 'Do I even wear this any more? (Am I saving it for .... what? Cos it cool looking? -- okay that is valid. But what about that crushed velvet stuff -- I don't wear that, and this shirt is just too pink, and that is too small, and etc" ...so I ended up making a tiny pile of clothes that were good enough to sell at a garage sale. Woo! The last time I had clothes for that...wait...I donated them. It wasn't worth moving them to Wisconsin. Still, it might be worth a few bucks total in the end although it's looking like that garage sale I offered to help my friend with won't happen this year.

Sigh. Oh well, I got a free couch and a carpet piece out of the deal and that is pretty awesome.

Tim is going to Evanston tomorrow morning until Friday for a business meeting...no wait, on business. He isn't actually going to be doing anything except 'observing.' That means the whole fort is left up to me. I have to walk the dog, pick his poop up, feed the cats, pick their poop up, feed the fish, feed the possum and pick her poop up all by myself. I already know what I am going to make for dinner tomorrow too -- fish sticks. Yeah...fishy sticky goodness with mayo (read salad dressing, the cheap version of miracle whip) smeared all over them. Talk about living large.

I gotta clean the rest of the house today...it's been a little neglected with the ongoings in the bedroom, office and basement.

I made cookies last night so I could have something sweet while having my glass of wine and watching Sex and the City. Oh that reminds me, I need to look up and see what a crab louse really looks like.

Today has been pretty good. I added another layer or polyurthane to the workbench ( in preparation for the ultimate tiling experience), been working on fixing up the new office (Where do I put the cat boxes?? Damnit, they cannot be in the same closet as our clothes. That just isn't right, n stuff. Someone hacked into Acedarwin.net! Poor Tim, I had to help him straighten it out and gain control of the domain again (saving the day, hey it's all in a day's work).

I am in love with ( these ) or what? This weekend was good. We went to Lenscrafters to pick up Tim's trial contact lenses and I stopped at Barnes and Nobles to buy coffee with the six bucks burning a hole in my wallet. But while I was there I remembered that I wanted a better paper journal than the one I picked up a few years ago (a bunch of little books with a leather cover I made). I noticed they had some cute little ones the last time I was there, so I got a pink one with a bird on it. It's lined, but I can deal with that. Sometimes my handwriting is even too small for my own comfort. Since I only had six bucks I had to debit/charge it, and five bucks is too small -- so Tim got a book. I recommended RedWall by Brian Jacques and he decided to give it a try. I remember really liking it -- I was amazed to see that there were TWO B&N shelves dedicated to him and his Redwall series -- he really became prolific.

Later on we picked up our 'little' and headed over to the New Overture Centure (read old civic Center). It was boring, boring, boring. We moped around a little, looked at the art in the art galleries smooshed up at the way top away from public eye and decided that Eric and Lowen could do much better stuff. What a disappointment that the grand opening is going to be the only time the general public ever goes in there. At least the rich and wealthy have a new playground. Thank god for them, I'd had to see rich folks loitering in the near by KFC parking lot.

Since that was lame we left and tried to go to the zoo, but Saturday was a football home game, which meant that every single parking spot downtown was parked up. I forgot how annoying it was to see all that red and lack of parking - I hated what football games do to the downtown of Madison. Hopefully I won't have to run into that again for another six years. So we just drove to the Arboretum and took a walk to see a natural spring before stopping at Culver's for chocolate goblins and then dropping him off at home. When are we ever going to find out if he is having fun? Hell if I know.

Saturday night I switched the office and bedroom and we ordered pizza. I love ordering for pizza...it's so hot and fresh and quick. Now I am still working on sorting out these two rooms (again, where do I put those cat boxes?) I guess I will figure it out.

Sunday Tim had a game -- they played Paranoia? Of course I am not invited to nerd fest (quite all right with me) so I stayed home and worked on my projects. There seems to be so many of them. I watched Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman last night -- totally destined to be a WE or O movie in a few months. The best revenge is a life well lived....huh. Okay, but a LITTLE face rubbing would have been nice. After all, it is TV and TV is fantasy.

I also watched the Surreal Life (all while knitting) and my god. I just can't quit looking at Joey from Full House. He's so bitter, jaded and creepy. So is Bridgette N. for that sake. I like Flava....and Jordan is SUCH a pansy! I need to stop watching this show but they keep putting it on VH1 and I just can't help myself. It's a traffic accident.

I have post sick fever! That means, I have lots of mental energy to do stuff but none of the stamina. I took Pluto on a pathetic forty minute walk where he dragged ME most of the way. It's a nice day outside though. Hell the whole week has been pretty nice.

I got a call from one of the jobs that rejected me, asking if it was okay that they pass my resume on to another LTE position that was just created (but not yet sent to HR). I said sure. No I don't know anything about the job, but the thought was nice. I used to do that...if I found a person I thought was great I would let them know about another job.

I watched Calandar Girls last night -- a movie about old, naked, english chicks. It was pretty good. I liked it.

I haven't had a *real* kiss from my darling in three days. Last night was the third longest night I can remember. The first was when I had a bad case of tonsilitis in Finland and the second was the night I got my back brace (right after surgery) in the hospital. I haven't been this sick in such a very long time.

Today however I was cheered by a few things. First that I could sleep naturally for three uninterrupted hours this morning. Second that Hilary stopped by with some homemade chicken soup (which I ate while watching a harlequin romance on WE), and third -- Tim brought me flowers, bridge mix and cough drops. *swoon*

How could you help not feeling a little better from having such good friends?

As promised, I updated Week in Pictures. There are a lot of pictures...it would seem but I guess it has been a long time. Enjoy.

Last night I had to buy Bengay for a back problem. That stuff is really really weird. It's hot and it's cold. It's strange. But it helped to dull the pain enough to fall asleep. Today the pain is gone but it is replaced with the first cold this year. I had a cold last year about this time...suck suck suck. Getting sick is for losers.

Which is certainly how I feel right about now.

I had a good time this weekend, as evidenced by the photos (which means I don't have to say much -- which is even better because I don't feel like it). Pluto went to his first sleepover *sniff* Our little boy is growing up- which I don't have pictures of but you should know that anyway.

Look at this! This means your bike can be stolen with a lousy bic pen! That sucks. I am going to go out and try to pick my lock later to see if it really works. Biker's beware!

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2004-09-16-bike-lock_x.htm

And in other news...I can't seem to fall asleep before 3:00 these days and wake up when Tim goes to work feeling like crap, fall back asleep and then stumble out at around 11.30. This is a terrible habit! I have been going to sleep at a normal time...but last night I felt like I could have done another work out. You know maybe I should have. Laying in bed listening to the night is only so much fun for 3-4 hours. They (the mysterious they) say that if you can't sleep you shouldn't force it and just get up and do something.

I should have done that. But you know, the basement isn't done yet. Going into the basement that isn't all cozified is kind of creepy in the middle of the middle of the night. I am working to change that -- but it is going to take a little time. My newest project is, I am going to tile the workbench! The bench is so damaged that I would have to replace the whole top -- not an option. So, why not tile the top? Great option! And it will last for a long time.

Rain = tired. I got up this morning to fight with Tim over the quality of 'soft clothes' in the house before finally finding him a slip of cloth I had gotten to clean my glasses some time ago. Thank goodness I keep all these stuff. So I had to delint it with my special delinting thing because the twit at Lenscrafters has Tim paranoid that secret fibers are embedding themselves everywhere and just waiting to scratch the anti-reflective coating on his new glasses. Once it was skinned of unneccessary fibers I found a small bottle of cleaning solution for "all Lens Types." Very important that it said that because otherwise paranoid boy would start bitching about how it might not be the rightest solution for him.

After that was over and he left the building, I set the alarm and went back to bed. I got up at 10 like I planned and decided I still had a headache, my dreams were pretty good, and I should go back to sleep. But I had to get up and pay bills before the mail lady came...ten minutes later I discovered my bed was still warm. Then it really started to rain and I went back to sleep my dear Arkham at my side (and Migo on the other).

Now I have been up for awhile, a little groggy but that is going away with the assistance of lunch and a pot of Earl grey tea. I can't go downstairs to paint -- even though it is a blustery day....wait...why can't I? I should.

Yeah.

My neighbors gave me three tomato's and a cucumber. Cool. [pun...get it? ha ha ha] Right now I am washing a load of laundry and my uniform. I forgot to wash it over the weekend and had to wear it last night and almost caused myself to pass out. Ugh...and no matter how many times I do it, I never seem to learn the lesson -- spraying freshner on it will not make the smell go away. It just makes it worse. I just don't want to smell like semen dude. Yeah, I know you wanted that imagery.

I got up early this morning, like I should. Although I have to cut myself SOME slack because I didn't get any good sleep the night before. I wrote a letter to my Mom and watched a MTV show that was about embarrassing parents. There was this teenage kid who was going with his Jedi father in full costume to a Star Wars conference. I haven't laughed so hard -- my favorite part was when the teenager dressed up as a Storm Trooper and his father got all misty eyed and cried and caused the dude they were borrowing the ST costume to cry too. It was just so touching.

Ha ha. It still makes me laugh.

Now taking applications for a stayover with Pluto. Anyone? I sent and email to Jack's family asking if they were available this weekend to watch Pluto -- but it would be nice to know if anyone would watch the hound.

Man, why does coffee taste like such crap when it is a day old and warmed up? I mean...blech...it's nasty! And yes I did drink it all...but I still wish I hadn't or wouldn't do it again.

This weekend was good. Visited with Callie and Jason, ate at Glass Nickle, got Tim NEW glasses (picture to come soon...I will do a week in pictures thing), played Monopoly with our 'little' and tried to watch the remake of Peter Pan (but it was broke and we had to send it back...dang...it was really kind of creepy, weird...and when did I start reading all kind of crap into it? The whole 'enigma of Peter Pan' that Hook refers too, the changing weather that mirror's Peter's mood, the allusion to kissing him would change him from a child to more grown up --- eve and the temptation of sin anyone?, hook getting jealous when Peter is with Wendy...man. It is as if Neverland is nothing more than Peter's pysche and everyone is trapped within it. Now THAT is an interesting story...who the hell care for the never growing up bit.

I always wanted to grow up...while my child hood was happy and fine and all that...I still wanted to be grown up and responsible for myself. You have no rights when you are a child. Those people that wish they could be children forever kind of creep me out.

I think I will take some photos this weekend. It's been awhile. I can't completely abandon my idea either. Yesterday I made a punching bag! It's awesome and heavy, and hangs just right and now all I need to get is those bandage thingies to protect my knuckles. All I have are those slightly stretchy bandages...I don't want to cut circulation off to my hands. Is there some other kind of bandage I should know about? Like a straight bandage or something?

Callie and Jason were supposed to come up tonight, but now they are not. Oh well, they will be here tomorrow which is cool, but I kind of am tired of going to the Inferno. I am really getting inferno'd out.

Last night was scrabble night and we were all tired and cranky. I am still tired even though I went to bed at 12, and got up this morning at 8 for a half hour before laying down to 'rest my eyes' and wake up again at 11:00. Then again I didn't really sleep the night before and was up all day yesterday. That is how I was able to make the punching bag...I stayed up all night thinking about how to do it (and some great writing ideas).

I don't know what else to say publicly today.

Oh today is kind of just there. I finished my letter to Scifi Kim, wrote a bit, read some Time magazine, ate lunch and now I am going to go to Walgreen's to get some Walatrin for my darling and his allergies. I talked to the neighbor and admired the squash, dumped some stuff in our compost bin and played with Pluto. Then later I have to go get kicked in the head and then watch Matt rock in his first live show at the Inferno.

I had a great dream where I made out with Richard Dean Anderson! Woo! When is Jude Law gonna make a similar appearance?

Damn it! I wrote a great post, but something happened and it disappeared forever. The only thing that is left is the part that I copied out to spell check, but that was only a paragraph. Argh. I have half a mind to just let it all go and pout. But that isn't really fair to my future self who will no doubt wonder what I did this past week.

We went to Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin Dells on Friday and had a blast. Driving go karts is alot more fun if you don't drive, I would expect. Which makes it so appealing to kids. There weren't many people there so we got to ride and try out everything (except the kiddy rides) including the big water roller coaster. I kinked my neck there because of a stupid free running hose they had going that was frigid! It took three day for that to go away.

The rest of the weekend was spent reading, sleeping, watching movies, going to the dog park and all around relaxing. I just finished reading Phillip Pullman's: His Dark Materials series and it was great! Wow, it was great stuff (a bit disappointed with the ending...more of a...huh?) kind of thing, but I still liked it. The ideas were great...I don't see how this could be a young adult book though. It is most definitely suited for older teenagers and adults of all ages that aren't religious zealots. It made me doubt...and no book has done that before.

Tim's vacation is over. Back to the grind. And now for that part that was saved from the previous post that never made it:

Finally, I am sick and disgusted to keep seeing these commercials for disposable toilet scrubbers. "I am a sensitive person, and I can't stand that there are germs in MY bathroom! Those ordinary toilet scrubbers grab onto the germs and make me want to puke. Thank god for this NEW invention that allows me to flush the mean, nasty germs away!" If you don't want "germs" in your house....quit shitting in your house! Follow the wisdom of our ancestors and get an outhouse.

Super busy week! Tuesday night we went and had sushi with Ned and walked the length of State Street to look at all the youngun's reveling in their newfound freedom. I remember how great it was to finally be out on my own and have my own place to retire too...that was fun. You could actually taste the fruit of possiblity.

Last night was fun as well. We went to the Great Dane with a bunch of friends of Ben and Jen's (but we knew many of them), sat outside in the ivy garden and had fish and chips. Man I love that sauce....it was so nice. The last time I was there I think it was with Melissa and Kersten? I might be wrong, but it was with good lady friends...I do remember that. Afterward we we went to the Inferno where they played awesome music, and there was a ton of people that I haven't talked to in a while....Nate, Kelly, more Ned, and of course Jen, Tiara, Angie, etc. It was just like old times, I had such a good time.

This morning we all had coffee and chatted leisurely like before everyone headed their seperate ways. Now I am all squeakified from a shower and about to get dressed and go to Woodmans to get stuff for a picnic. We are going to some Glacier Park over by Geneva to fish and look out for a lost greyhound. It escaped from an old lady two weeks ago and she has no interest in finding it, the track obviously doesn't care, and the dog is a spook. What is a spook? A dog that is afraid of humans and had other mental problems. Spooked easily...so hopefully Pluto will attract it's attention. Oh man, this is going to be fun though. A whole day of fishing, picnic and I couldn't have asked for better weather. Seriously, it's fantastic out!

Too bad I didn't take any pictures this week. I would take some today but my camera is full and I don't feel like downloading the pictures to empty it out. Somethings are better left in memory though.