On the Road Again

Today I flew out to New Mexico to see Mom and Dad. It was a rough morning: I woke up late and left late to get to the airport, which means that instead of being 2 hours early I was 1 1/2 hours early so no threat of missing my flight really but not the way I wanted to start my trip. On my way to the airport I realized I left a bottle of milk out on the counter...That will be pleasant when I get home. Got to the airport and economy parking was full/flooded so I had to park in the short term lot and mentally prepare myself to be financially sodomized when I get my car out of hock. Wheee! As I put my credit card into the kiosk to get my e-ticket I silently prayed there would not be a problem with the name change that occurred between when I purchased the tickets and today. Happily the airport Gods smiled on me.

My luggage tried to kill me several times in both the Philadelphia and Phoenix airports.

***never fly when you have PMS...If you're lucky only the inanimate objects will be abused***

I gave in, had a little tantrum and replaced the offending luggage while in Phoenix waiting for my flight into Farmington. It wasn't pretty.

I did manage to catch up on 4 months of Smithsonian Magazine that had piled up on my coffee table. Some very interesting articles as always, and one bit I hope was a typo. They were discussing when certain southern states accepted the amendment outlawing slavery. According to this article Mississippi didn't do it until 1995...I really hope that is a typo, but with Mississippi you just never know!

Now I am safe in sound with Mom and Dad catching up on life and making plans for the weekend. I will be regaling you with tales of gem shows, horse racing and family visits as the days go on. Now I'm going to go make up the couch...Dad sold the futon I usually sleep on to make room for his new loom.

Space...The Final Frontier

"I have a MySpace account," for the longest time I felt like I was standing in front of recovering alcoholics admitting my addiction. Now a lot of my friends have them, so I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or just enabled, but it is a lot more fun! Originally I was just curious about what my interns were talking about...then Monie announced she had one and I told her I had one...and the adventure really began.

MySpace... where you can find old friends, new friends or if you're me, attract Nigerian men. Yes, that's right, I've become irresistible to Nigerians, though I've been told just about every woman on MySpace is. I think it's amazing someone can write so much without using a period. Or grammar. Or spelling. Here's my pick for the best of the worst so far:

"Hi, how rae u i see your proffile and i like it pls can we tlk pls u can mail me back very soon i need you care 4 you so much take care of ur self. my nane is [edit] single 36year old." Yes, spell check started smoking on that one.

But the most entertaining one was looking for "the man closest to my heart". Translation issue or did he not notice I'm a girl? I choose to think I'm now attracting gay Nigerians. It makes for better stories. And now I can add to my mantra: Send me your poor, your socially awkward, your mildly retarded and your gay Nigerian masses...

But seriously, I've gotten back in contact with some wonderful people from my past, so this is definitely a good thing. And really funny.

Hey!

I just had mini ravioli for lunch. There was not 1, not 2 but 3 mini ravioli in this container. Who packs these things?

Life Lessons

I'm going to see my parents in New Mexico this weekend...let the insanity begin! Of course I have a million and one things to do between now and my plane leaving. And I WILL get them done. One thing I'd like to do is have longer hair...but as extensions take time and money I don't have, this is one goal I am forced to admit won't happen short of a miracle. That said...

I woke up at 4:55 this morning and decided to get some things accomplished since I was vaguely conscious. Here comes the life lesson part: 5 AM is a bad time to make decisions about your hair. Frustrated at its wild streak this morning I decided to cut my bangs...never a good idea. I managed to camouflage the affected area then decided to take out the trash. Funny thing about the door to my building, it seems to trap water a lot like a bucket. So a wet, unhappy me trudged out into the rain with her trash and came back in for shower #2.

By 6 I was pretty much done all I could do short of vacuuming (don't need the neighbors to hate me) so I decided to head to work early and do some odds and ends on the way. Ha! Between spontaneous lake formations from the rain and an accident it took me an hour to get to work. I did get to drive down some new roads though, so that was a nice change. Tally: Day 3, Liz 0 but I'm not giving in just yet! Assuming my shirt doesn't shrink I'm putting laundry in the win column. Yes, I'm doing laundry at work...have I mentioned I love my job?

But it will all be worth it once I'm on the plane. I have a weekend of hiking, museum going and horseracing ahead of me -along with some quality time with Mom and Dad and hopefully my aunt and uncle. And it isn't raining there...yet

Full of Sound and Fury

Yesterday was an exciting day of dodging the lakes that this rain has created where roads used to be. Happily I did not have to paddle my car out of any. Once safely home I started dinner and let Buster the Psycho Kitty out for his evening run of the apartment. He's a very talkative cat, and aside from mistaking my leg for a scratching post he was very well behaved. Since he was calm this seemed like the perfect time to cut his nails (I'd told Connie I'd try). So I got out the Evil Green Towel and had Buster on his back in my lap in no time. Not a happy kitty, though the towel was only draped over his tummy and he could have escaped if he really tried. You'd think he was going to rip my face off as he growled, spit and hissed! But for all his menacing he was very well behaved and I didn't get a scratch. Of course I couldn't resist the opportunity to kiss him on the head and tell him he was a vicious creature in mocking tones. Once clipped he slunk into a corner and glared at me, refusing to purr (or run away) when I came over to scratch his head. By bed time all was forgiven...after all it wasn't me. It was the Evil Green Towel that put the dent in his dignity. I love cats, they make little sense but they are great to have around.

Around 1 AM the symphony began...Buster would cry every so often, followed by Cabott's hearty thump. I don't need children, I have these jokers. I found myself in the den telling Cab to chill and petting Buster's head telling him to shut up and go to bed. Meanwhile Callie looked at me like, "I'm the good one, right?" So clinching the fact that I can't become the crazy cat lady because one is quite enough.

Everyone Else Is Doing It

Things of note: As it has been raining for the better part of 3 days I'm starting work on the ark. I'm going to stray from the formula of 2 of every creature and just go for loading family, friends and their pets on to this baby. That will be enough to clean up after, thank you very much. That's always been my big question for Noah: How the heck did you manage all that manure? Or was that an unrecorded miracle?

Since the weekend was pretty much drowned it turned out a lot quieter than planned. Friday was a nice healthy walk/gripe session with Jill followed by running errands and then seeing the family Reisse and their newish daughter Charlotte (hereafter known as The Smooshie). They were even so brave as to let me babysit for an hour! The Smooshie has stellar timing as she stopped crying when Mommy called and again when the folks came home. I think they might even let me do it again!

Saturday was supposed to be the annual Monie b-day picnic, but since sugar melts and most of those invited were quite nice the festivities were postponed until after the birthday grrl gets back from Portugal next month. Instead the day was filled with various domestic duties and playing with the inhabitants of my zoo: Jewel, Hickory and Cabott (the bunnies); PJ the couch potato guinea pig; and of course Callie the wonder cat.

Excitement came in the form of Buster. Connie is puppy sitting what may be the most decrepit dog I have ever heard of so she had to find someone to look after her problem child cat Buster. I have first shift this week and some other lucky person gets him on Thursday. Buster is a beautiful black and white short haired male. Buster also has a personality disorder which I was warned about but did not fully comprehend until his Mommy left. Of course Callie was not happy about the house guest, so after a lot of hissing we decided that the cats would have to take turns having the run of the apartment. Buster was given the guest suite (spare bathroom) and Callie would be in my bedroom when he was out.

Buster is a very vocal cat. Buster cried non-stop until 3 AM when I gave him some Rescue Remedy to chill him out. Enter Buster's new arch- enemy: The Green Towel. What? You think I was going to do it with my bare hands? Buster cried no matter where he was or what he was doing. Buster almost went out the window that night.

Sunday morning was free time as my breakfast date decided he was Harry Houdini and vanished off the face of the earth (I think my guardian angel may actually be a hitman). Callie was asleep on my bed so I let Buster out to roam around. I scratched his head and cheeks to much purring and happiness. We were getting along quite well as I made my cereal then went to sit on the couch. Buster played with his feather for a bit, took a lap around the living room, then jumped up on the couch bit me painfully and ran away. Like I said, personality disorder. For the rest of the morning it was alternating between crying and hissing. Oh goody!

Have I mentioned my cat is great? If I wasn't sure before I certainly am now! Sunday evening I did escape for a few hours to see The DaVince code with Monie. A much better movie than the reviews would have you believe, I was pleasantly surprised.

It may not have been an overly active weekend, but it definitely was interesting.