tellalittlestory

I'm moving to WordPress

2011-05-07T13:22:00.000-05:00

I'm moving from tellalittlestory.blogspot.com to tellalittlestory.com

I'm actually done with the move, but still working on the redirects. That should be done Monday. I'll be doing my new posts over there starting today.

Thanks for reading. :-)

I'm not asking because I ate all the ice cream

2011-05-06T18:17:00.002-05:00

This is Mr. G defending himself in the thermostat situation, and me telling him what I want for dinner, because reality is that he is an Eagle Scout and a saint who brings me dinner when I am sick. This is my order: Big Earl dinner with BBQ chicken and polish sausage, baked beans and potato chips. Split an okra basket? Dessert? Go back out for that later? I'm not asking because I ate all the ice cream. I'm just asking.

The Thermostat Conspiracy

2011-05-06T17:02:00.000-05:00

I think that Mr. G is conspiring against me. I realized it last night when I finally came down from the cough-medicine haze and asked him if he would check the thermostat. I said, "I'm hot. Will you check the thermostat?" which clearly means, "Please make sure it is set to my required 68 degrees Fahrenheit so that I don't die of heat stroke in the night." He said, "Yes," which apparently means, "The thermostat is set well above 68 degrees but I wouldn't turn it down even the shingles were sliding off of the roof in the form of molten lava."

I have proof! This afternoon, when I started sweating again for the first time since I've been sick (which is also, weirdly, how I know that I am getting better), I saw that it was 73 degrees in our bedroom:

It was so hot that Luce collapsed on the floor, to be closer to the cold air:

So I checked the thermostat:

Ha! It's set to 69! Definitive proof that Mr. G lies and hates me and wants me to die of heat stroke in the night! Not 68, which means sleeping comfortably and NOT dying of heat stroke. No, 69 degrees! I'm onto you, Mr. G!

Idiot fish

2011-05-05T21:29:00.004-05:00

Apparently I don't respond well to Delsym, or TheraFlu, or a combination of the two. My first clue was when I got in the floor with my dog this morning, and climbing back into my bed was hilarious. And the pillow cases were hilarious. And the bed was hysterical. And I thought, "Laying down isn't normally this funny." And if you doubt the validity of my story, you'll find that I tweeted that thought when it happened. It only got worse from there. Here is the text message conversation that Mr. G and I had this morning:

Me: Do you have a break to bring me food? It's ok if you don't. I think I'm delirious. I just thought that laying down was HYSTERICAL. taking a nap.

Me: I can't sleep. I'm flopping around like an idiot fish and everything is hilarious and I want potato chips. I need to be sedated.

Then he called me to ask what I wanted. I told him, and he asked me to text it to him. I told him I could not do that. Then, apparently, I regained the ability (or so I thought) to text and the following occurred:

Me: Ok. I cam do it. Black bean soup and potato chips and tomato mozzarella sandwich and a delicious pastry and a frozen drink. And I love you and autocorrect love me.

Mr. G: Do you like the chocolate pastry?

Me: Yeah. And potato chips a lot. I lo e you.

Mr. G: I love YOU

When Mr. G came home with my lunch, he found me lying face down on the living room floor. I'm pretty sure I went in there to lie down with the dog, but I don't clearly recall. It took awhile for him to get me off of the floor, and I had the imprint of the carpet in my arm and face when he finally did. I got back in bed and ate my lunch. I also convinced Mr. G that I was actively dying (in spite of my ability to sit up, converse, and eat), and that he should call the doctor's office back as soon as they came back from lunch. We had this conversation after he had a chance to make that call:

Me: I'm singing a song about how I am cold and this is dumb.

Me: I feel crazy and twitchy a d everything is hilarious. Did you tell the nurse these things?

Mr. G: The words I used were "wired, delirious, and finding songs about potato chips hilarious"

Me: What did she say?

Mr. G: Oh and, not ok.

Mr. G: That it sounds like the Theraflu and delsym were reacting against each other.

Me: That does not sound confident or definitive.

Mr. G: From me or the nurse?

Me: The nurse. "it sounds like"? She doesn't know. I'm dying.

Mr. G: Sounds like are my words not hers.

I amused myself for awhile, mostly by reading Hyperbole and a Half. Then I started taking my temperature in various places, like my armpit and the back of my knee, and decided that my husband needed to know about it:

Me: I'm still actively dying of bronchitis.

Me: And u want you to buy me a real thermometer. Bur pronounce it "thermo mee-ter."

Me: I am now taking my temperature in various places on my body to prove that this thermometer is crap.
Me: It's my kneepit.

Me: Still awake, completely insane, and actively dying of bronchitis. But not capable of doing anything but freak out about it.

Mr. G came home a few hours after that, and this time he found me lying in the closet floor. I had gone in there to trim my cuticles, because sharp things are a good idea when you are clinically insane, and then decided to lie down in the floor with my cat. Then I laid there for like 12-45 minutes obsessively picking at my scalp. Then my poor husband came home and had to drag his cough-medicine-hazed wife off of the floor. AGAIN. Then he brought me pizza and I started to come down. I have now clearly sufficiently recovered, as is evidenced by my recently-returned ability to type in words and sentences. The TheraFlu and Delsym are now well out of my reach.

2011-05-05T11:08:00.002-05:00

And this is just precious. I might be hallucinating with fever.

2011-05-05T09:39:00.001-05:00

And this is just sad.

2011-05-05T09:29:00.001-05:00

That's a little better.

2011-05-05T09:06:00.001-05:00

I live with this.

2011-05-04T21:43:00.002-05:00

"Um, no, I am not laying on your lap because I 'care that you're sick' or because I 'want you to pet me.' You haven't fed me tonight, you a-hole, and I'm going to put my face in your face until you do."

2011-05-04T21:32:00.002-05:00

"What? You are actively dying of bronchitis? I was too busy pooping on your floor to notice. And can you keep it down? Your coughing is disturbing me. Ok. You go away now."

2011-05-04T16:32:00.002-05:00

Today's little story is about how my body actively opposes any effort I make to do things/eat things that are healthy. When I'm all like, "I'm gonna do a 5k! Yeah!" my body is all like, "O rly?" And I'm like, "Yeah, asthma, it's fine. I'll carry my inhaler on the course." Then my body is all like, "That's what you think. Muahahahaha!" Then I do it, and then I suck on my inhaler for a few days of general malaise, go to the doctor, and my body is all like, "Bronchitis! Blam! Eff you and your 'exercise.'" And I'm all like, "Fine, body. I'm going to bed. Meh."

Because I was changed forever.

2011-05-02T22:54:00.002-05:00

The Oklahoma City Memorial Museum states, “We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.^®”

I was 14 and in the 9^th grade on April 19^th, 1995. The details of that day are familiar to all of us; I won’t recap them here. It is a shared experience. What I will say is this: I have now been alive longer after the bombing than I was before it. I fall into that last category of those that were changed forever. I'm 30, moving into a new phase of my life, and decided this was the year to remember those lost by participating in the Memorial Marathon: A Run to Remember.

This is a view of the stars and searchlights over the new federal building (that replaced the Murrah Building) as we arrived in the rain before 6 a.m.:

Previous posts on this blog (like this one and this one and this one) talk about where I started and how far I have come in the last few years, but to summarize, I was in heart failure two years ago. I've lost some weight, made several life changes to improve my health, and I did a 5k yesterday. I did a casual 5k with my Weight Watchers group last summer, in one hour, on a lovely June day on flat ground. Yesterday, it was 47 degrees and raining, but I had already set a goal for myself to complete the race in under an hour. My only goal was to beat my own time.

This is before we lined up to start, after I hid under a tree for awhile, along with everyone else trying to find any spot out of the rain, and then Mr. G showed up with our umbrella:

I was so pleased to be there, in spite of the conditions. The announcer kept reminding everyone why we were there, and I was certainly emotional. I kept listening to him, and seeing people wearing shirts in memory and in honor of victims of that day. There were awesome guys like this one (who did give me a free high five):

And admirable runners like the pace setters (I don't think that if I even ever run a full marathon I'll be to the level that I know what pace I'm running, and that is this guy's job):

Even more admirable, this guy. The back of his shirt said, "Who has one leg and two hot chicks walking with him?":

They announced a 30-minute rain delay, so we hung around under a parking garage chatting with people we knew that we ran into under there, and taking pictures while the sun came up. Then the announcer asked us for a Run to Remember tradition, 168 seconds of silence to remember those killed. It was incredibly powerful. It was so awesomely silent, and there were 25,000 people outside in the rain. The only noise was the rain. And then this happened. If I regret anything about the day, it's not getting a better shot of this:

That is about 20 firemen arriving in full gear to run the marathon. Just process that for a second. These are the people that set what is now known as The Oklahoma Standard in response to disasters. They got huge applause as they walked down the street, as well they should have. I call myself a writer, but I don't have words to describe what I felt when I watched those men line up.

I was still processing a lot of emotion when I lined up a few minutes later. I jogged the start, walked most of the route, but jogged a few more times throughout. I was thinking about that day, and where I've been, and where I'm headed. I made sure to thank everyone volunteering on the course, because while I was getting rained on in the cold, I was hot because I was walking. They were standing out there freezing their backsides off. One volunteer even said, "Not a cloud in the sky! It's a beautiful 94 degree day!" It was very helpful. Possibly more than he knows.

I still can't think about the bombing without crying. That is true to this day, 16 years later. Walking gave me something to do with those emotions, so I think that "A Run to Remember" is a wonderful thing. As I walked up the Walnut Street bridge, my knee started to hurt. That hill is quite steep, and everyone around me was feeling it. I pushed and kept going, and in the back of my mind, I recalled the story of a woman whose leg was trapped under the rubble of the building that day. A surgeon amputated it in the rubble, using several blades, and eventually his pocket knife, to cut off her leg to allow her to escape the building. Thinking about her, and all of the other stories that were coming back to me from that day (and there were soooo many), made me keep going. Daina Bradley is that woman's name, and thinking about her made me know that I could certainly walk three miles in the rain.

I made it up the Lincoln Blvd stretch, saw the two mile marker and the time, and thought that there was no way I was going to make my time goal of under an hour. I forgave myself then and there, already feeling accomplished for just walking/running in that weather. Then rounded 10th St, where I did some more jogging. It was a second wind, I think, and I realized I wasn't ready to give up that goal. I didn't realize how close I was at that point, but then I turned the corner on Broadway and saw the finish line. I did some more jogging to get closer, then walked it out to the finish:

I pulled my phone out and checked the time as I crossed the line, and I did it in 59 minutes. I did it.

I didn't go to the finisher's tent, because I was finished. I had done what I set out to accomplish, and didn't need anything else but to take off wet clothes and get warm. Many of my co-workers and friends raced as well, and if you still need any more inspiration, think of the ladies from this relay team:

They are, from left to right, 7 months pregnant, has a 10 month old, has a 3 month old, ran her leg in hail stones, 3 months pregnant. And that's why their shirts say "Sisters, Not Sissies." For real, this is my friend Abbi (2nd from L) and her sisters-in-law Anna, Ali, Katie, and Erin. Notice that they are in front of the Fire Fighters Local building. I love firemen. :-)

So that was the day. I'm not sure my post has done justice to the emotion or the experience that I had. I plan to do more distance or running next year, and to participate in this race from now on, to remember.

2011-05-02T21:02:00.001-05:00

Should have started documenting this earlier, but Mr. G started a garden. I'll keep documenting progress as these guys get big enough to move outside (and if we ever get peppers). Those are tomatoes, onions, and squash so far.

And now for something completely different.

2011-05-02T13:55:00.000-05:00

Because I never post about my animals.

Say what?

I just wanted to post these pictures of mah beasts while I think on my post about the Memorial Marathon.

One down...

2011-05-01T21:53:00.003-05:00

I did it. It was 47 degrees and raining but I finished the Memorial 5k in 59 minutes, and my goal was under an hour. I am working on much more expanded post about the whole experience that I will put up tomorrow, but this will suffice for now to celebrate what was a major personal accomplishment for me. I have lived more of my life after the bombing than I did before, so this was a big deal for a lot of reasons. Look for another love letter to OKC tomorrow.

This Saturday is better than last Saturday

2011-04-30T12:26:00.003-05:00

I lost 4.8 pounds this week. The difference was the tracking that I talked about in last week's weigh-in post where I also discussed how the scale was mind-bleeping me. Well, it would appear that this week, I mind-bleeped the scale, but I did not. I was going for my #7daychip this week, which means eating in a controlled way for seven days, and you can read more about that at the link. Eating in a controlled way, to me, means tracking my Weight Watchers points. While I did that all week, I feel like I lost control on Thursday evening, at about 5 3/4 days. I went for Taco Bell drive thru for my husband, and ordered three items for myself off of the Fresco menu, which is reasonably healthy. I could have just ordered his food and gone home, or only ordered one or two of those items, but I didn't. I ordered all three and ate them in the car. That is not eating with dignity, which is something that I learned from my former WW leader, who passed away, and something I strive for. While I did track those items when I got home, I didn't feel good about my choices. I did something similar yesterday with a foot-long veggie sandwich from Subway at lunch. I could have ordered a 6-inch, or eaten part of the sandwich at lunch and part of it later, but I didn't. I ate it all in one sitting, and I didn't feel good about that either. So I did lose 4.8 pounds this week, which I am not overlooking. That is awesome, rock-star type stuff. I just don't feel like I earned the chip, so this is Day 1.

2011-04-29T12:49:00.001-05:00

We're just running errands. I'm definitely NOT posting this from the car.

Thunder Up!

2011-04-28T21:03:00.001-05:00

Mr. G and I lucked into playoffs tickets last night, and went to one heckuva a nerve-wracking basketball game. Events like this one always remind of why I live in Oklahoma. I may not think the way that the majority does, but I've lived here all my life, with the exception of one summer in Upstate New York, which is a story for a different day. Here's the why today. I could write many love letters to my hometown, but I'm going to limit this one to yesterday's game.

This is the arena just after 7 p.m.:

At about 7:45 (for an 8:30 tip off):

And just before the game started:

Yes, it's full, but that's a given. The remarkable part is that everyone is wearing the same shirt. They were provided, and on the seats, but everyone puts them on. I read an article during the last playoff series with the Lakers that fans in L.A. were just too cool for that sort of thing. Well, it works for us. More than one opposing team/coach has talked about how intimidating it is to play in the Thunderdome (ok, OKC Arena), because of the noise and the united front.

It's not just matching shirts and yelling, however. It's stuff like this Blue Crew:

It's the fact that everyone says "Amen" after the invocation. Have you ever heard 18,000 people say "Amen" at once? It's a powerful thing. Everyone takes their hat off and puts their hands over their hearts for the National Anthem. No one fights. People are polite, and actually there to support their team and watch the game. I've been to professional sporting events in other cities, and here, it's an incredibly uplifting experience. So here's to the OKC Thunder, but more importantly, here's to OKC.

Mak's feet

2011-04-28T20:43:00.001-05:00

Can you stand it? I want to eat those feet like a snack. This is Mak, my 2-year-old niece. She says, "Mommy, I need to paint my noenails!"

The Marlboro Man for The Pioneer Woman

2011-04-27T17:27:00.003-05:00

This is the thank you gift I gave to The Pioneer Woman when I met her yesterday (here's yesterday's post about how this happened):

It's a thermometer that hung on my grandparents' patio with their pool table for years. I have the memories, and don't need the actual object in my home. I thought she'd get a kick out of it since she calls her husband "The Marlboro Man." I managed not to thoroughly embarrass myself when I gave it to her, but I did kind of mumble and get shy and freak out and pretty much turn into the opposite of myself. I was very, very sweaty when I left. She did sign my book, and very graciously accepted my gift to her:

even though I am a crazy person who looked like this outside of the store:

I'm not sure that she got the whole "Marlboro Man" connection, which was why I gave it to her, but we talked about thermometers for a minute. This is her saying that cowboys have a different name for them, but she didn't remember it because she's not a cowboy (it's also a really excellent shot of my backfat. ugh.):

So I survived without total humiliation, got my book signed, and gave her the thank you gift I have been intending to send for a long time. Not bad for a day's work.

Driving in the rain

2011-04-27T14:41:00.003-05:00

We really, really need the rain we’re getting OK right now. It had been 60 days in some parts of the state since the last rainfall. I was worried about the wheat crop, worried about the dried up lakes, worried about what the neighbors thought of our lawn…you know – important stuff. But oh my heavenly days do I hate driving in the rain! Back in Aug/Sep, I went down to Texas for a funeral, and had an accident exiting the highway after it started raining. I hydroplaned, crossed two lanes of traffic, and skidded sideways through a ditch for what must have been 15 minutes. When I finally came to a stop, I called my husband (and my car looked like it does in that picture posted above, taken later that day). I started with, “I’m ok, but I had a wreck.” About that time, a very nice cowboy (have I mentioned that I love cowboys? And firemen?), pulled over, got out of his truck, checked on me and my car (which was miraculously fine other than the grass covering it), and talked me through driving back out of that ditch. Bless him. But now I am scarred for life and hate driving in the rain. So it probably wasn’t a great idea that I jotted down blog ideas while driving down the highway in it this morning. J

Oh.em.gee.

2011-04-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

I may not make it. Through circumstances that definitely did NOT involve me looking at Twitter on my phone while I drove to work this morning, I found out that The Pioneer Woman will be at Best of Books in Edmond today, doing a signing to celebrate the release of her new children's book, Charlie the Ranch Dog. I may or may not have immediately swerved into another lane to alter my route to get a ticket to said signing. I'm number 24. It's not for another three hours and I'm already shaking and terrified of embarrassing myself. I don't know why. I'm a total badass and I catch softballs with my face. :-) I really am a huge fan of hers and she inspired me to get back to my blog with this post of hers. I have a thank you gift to give her for doing that, and will hopefully have pics of me giving it to her to post tomorrow. Wish me luck!

#7daychip

2011-04-25T11:21:00.001-05:00

Breakfast on Day 3 of the #7daychip. Twitter has become a great support system for me in my fitness and weight loss efforts, and this is a new one that I started Saturday. #7daychip is seven days of controlled eating, whatever that means to you. Completing it earns you a virtual "chip" for your efforts. For me, it means tracking my Weight Watchers points all seven days this week. I have been successful so far, even avoiding the unexpected queso and dessert at last night's family dinner, because I had not planned for those. This morning's breakfast was instant, lower-sugar, cinnamon-spice oatmeal with a banana cut up into it. I ate it after I did all 20 minutes of my 20-Minute Pilates workout! I'm on track and feeling good. The month of three 5ks starts Sunday.

2011-04-24T20:00:00.001-05:00

My view as I walk off my feelings instead of eating them.

Saturday's Weigh in is R-rated

2011-04-23T12:17:00.002-05:00

Ok. So I'm down .6 this week, but I watched Get Him to the Greek last night, and I have two R-rated words for this situation. You've been warned. Here they come: Mind-f*cked. This scale is mind-f*cking me!!! Reality is that I need to start tracking my food again, instead of just relying on activity, but the mind-bleep is that I bought new, smaller, super-cute clothes yesterday and my legs are visibly slimmer, even to me. And I only lost .6! Muscle vs. fat, fluid retention, yeah yeah yeah, I know. I need to stop letting the numbers mess with my head and just be excited that I am total badass with softball tread marks on my face and smaller pants!

2011-04-22T08:52:00.001-05:00

I'm Luce. Be distracted by how cute I am playing with this dragon while I lay on the floor. Pay no attention to that mud on your bedspread.

2011-04-21T07:16:00.001-05:00

I am a total badass. Please excuse my morning face. That goose egg on my forehead is from catching a softball with my face last night at the co-ed league I play in with work. Yes, those are lace marks in my skin. The ball bounced off of home plate and hit me in the forehead. In spite of this in the first game, I knocked it way out into left field in the second game and scored. The funny thing is that the other team's catcher told me to count to three after the ball leaves the pitcher's hand and then swing. She offered the advice after I whined about a strike on my first swing. I did what she told me, and it was the best hit I've had so far. Everyone heard her, too, so we were all laughing after I hit it and after I scored. She told me she wasn't allowed to talk to me anymore at my next at-bat. It was really funny, and we all had a great time. Now I have to go to work looking like this. My story is that I took one for the team.

2011-04-20T08:21:00.002-05:00

Everything looks more delicious in a lovely bowl. Granted, Fruit Loops are pretty tasty already.

2011-04-19T10:06:00.001-05:00

I spent some time here this morning, remembering. We ring the chimes 168 times at 9:02 every year on this day. Today I thought about the fact that I have now been alive longer "after" than "before." I thought about the lessons we should have learned. I thought about the profound effect that this day had on so many lives. But mostly, I remembered.

2011-04-18T22:01:00.001-05:00

I have a life-long love of teeny-tiny versions of regular sized things, and ridiculously over-sized versions of normally small things.

2011-04-17T20:12:00.001-05:00

It's just exhausting around here on Sundays.

2011-04-16T19:18:00.001-05:00

Ok. Here goes. I've decided that my post each Saturday will be a picture of the scale from my weigh-in at Weight Watchers. So, um, yikes. This was this morning, up 1.4. My cardiologist told me yesterday that I'm holding into some fluid right now. My muscles are still sore from this week's activity, which includes walking 5 miles, playing 2 softball games, and doing Pilates. I have faith that the scale will catch up with me next week.

2011-04-15T07:17:00.001-05:00

I found this in my shoe this morning. Sometimes I just don't want to know.

2011-04-14T20:07:00.001-05:00

After more The See Spot Run training. I am proud to say that Luce looks worse than I do, although we are both laying in the floor right now. :-)

A "Loser" Update

2011-04-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

I normally post from my phone, so I don't usually even have titles for my posts. I'm actually writing this one on a computer! So weird! My "weight loss journey," to borrow the oft-used Biggest Loser phrase, has a difficult-to-pinpoint start. I feel like I've been fighting this battle my whole life. Then I turned 30 (last June). I got rid of a lot of excess baggage and BS in a lot of ways.

I joined Weight Watchers last March (for the 4th time in my life), and this time, I got it. I had been playing at it before, working to lose some weight, then stopping and going back to what I had been doing, absurdly expecting to maintain that way. However, I still managed to hit a plateau around the holidays. For more about why I got to 288, see this post about Congestive Heart Failure that I wrote after I was diagnosed. This post is about the turning point in my illness, and this post is how I started WW this time. And if you spend 20 minutes reading them, you should be fairly well up to date. :-)

So, that plateau. I let several stressful life events be my excuse to eat with abandon and stop exercising. However, I never stopped going to meetings, or being aware of myself in that time, and I'm back on track now. I joined the softball team at work, and am walking three 5K races in the month of May, so I'm training for those now. I haven't started tracking again, except for a few days at a time in half-hearted attempts. I am making better choices at the grocery store, going meatless at home (because it works for me, not preaching here), and upping the activity for now. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

The three races I'm walking in May are The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on May 1, a non-sanctioned 5K walk with my WW group on May 22, and the one that I'm crazy excited about, The See Spot Run on May 14. You can do this race with your dog, I'm walking it with my Shar-Pei, Luce, and I can't stand it! It's going to be so much fun!!! It also benefits Free to Live Animal Sanctuary, where my big black cat Snug came from.

So that's where I am. I still have about 100 pounds to lose, but that's not what I focus on. Overall health is my goal, so I'm working on eating better and moving more (sound familiar?).

See you Losers on Twitter on Tuesdays! #BL11

2011-04-12T21:41:00.001-05:00

That second tweet down, the one from @BL11Austin, is from Austin, competitor on this season's Biggest Loser, to me. I asked him if it was the camera perspective with Ali Sweeney (who tweeted me last week!), or if he was actually 8 feet tall. I do love the #BL11 live tweet nights! I have great tweeps, and occasionally stuff like this happens.

2011-04-11T21:17:00.001-05:00

This dog is just as tired as I am. We took a long walk today.

2011-04-10T19:07:00.001-05:00

Enjoying the view. Both of us.

2011-04-09T15:41:00.001-05:00

We're doing Pilates.

2011-04-08T21:53:00.001-05:00

Ninja cat!

2011-04-07T22:07:00.001-05:00

Other hand of tiny fingers! I played Barbies with big sis today. Sweet babies.

2011-04-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

I played softball today, for the first time in about 19 years. I am in bed already and couldn't drag my sore carcass out of it if the house was on fire (which is a real possibility tonight in Oklahoma). These guys actually hurt the worst. My socks and shoes rubbed that red dirt into my ankles pretty good. I re-broke that nail I had glued together. In spite of all that, I had a great time. I can't wait to go back next week.

2011-04-05T07:49:00.001-05:00

Quick update (as I eat this from bed). It is really freakin' good.

2011-04-05T07:29:00.001-05:00

Nutritious AND delicious. Greek yogurt, local honey, cherries. Coffee with fat free half and half (I don't know how they do that, either). Cute spoon. All a better start to the day than when the small cat tried to hack a hairball onto Mr. G's face at 4 a.m.

2011-04-04T20:04:00.000-05:00

I love prizes in the form of office supplies. These are sticky notes. I'll let you guess from where.

2011-04-03T12:20:00.001-05:00

Snug looks so nice in green. And daylight.

2011-04-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

And this why training for
The 5K doesn't start until Monday. Spring cleaning will serve as my activity for the day.

2011-04-02T14:28:00.001-05:00

The Christmas Eve Incident of 2010. We may never know the real story.

2011-04-01T17:01:00.001-05:00

She sits back on her butt/hip instead of straight up. She's so cute that I want to eat her.

2011-03-31T12:28:00.001-05:00

Be mesmerized by the sparkly band-aid...ignore the dog blankets. Luce put them there herself.

2011-03-30T21:26:00.001-05:00

My friend had a baby and he has tiny, precious fingers!!!

2011-03-29T20:50:00.001-05:00

Another little story that tells itself.

2011-03-28T19:20:00.001-05:00

Comfort food redux on this turd of a day. Mr. G was transported by ambulance for back injury today, but I decided early on in the ordeal not to freak out about it. Now that everyone is home and safe, I'm doing what I do best: cooking. These are reduced-fat crescent rolls wrapped around turkey dogs. I'm reducing our meat consumption this week, but slowly. And I couldn't find not-dogs anywhere. So here these are, uncooked. We'll see how they taste. I'm sure they'll make me feel better!

2011-03-27T19:06:00.001-05:00

This little story actually moved me to real tears, and I don't feel feelings. I take drugs for that. My husband, Mr. G, teaches technical theater at the high school level. He found a small bit of graffiti written about him on the stage today, and it upset him more than it should have. I blame this nasty weather. Anyway, in response, the drama teacher had the entire cast of the current show write nice things about him all over the stage floor right after the show while another teacher stalled him in the lobby. (This may have been a ploy to get Mr. G to re-paint the stage floor, but I digress). I had the pleasure of showing it to him by asking him to show me the original graffiti. We got down to it, and he says "Uh-oh" as he spots the rest of it. I wiped tears off of my face as he fought his back when he realized what they had done and read all of the nice things that they wrote about him. It nearly restored the faith in humanity that Snooki stole from me by publishing that book.

2011-03-27T09:33:00.001-05:00

We're watching t.v. We don't want to get up.

2011-03-26T11:37:00.001-05:00

Brunch with this guy. We both had haircuts this morning.

2011-03-25T12:47:00.001-05:00

So this is why the generic is cheaper. Huh.

2011-03-24T12:44:00.000-05:00

Our latest round of tug-o-fetch.

2011-03-23T15:23:00.001-05:00

I do not know why I did not use my big, fancy, pink KitchenAid stand mixer with the dough hook instead.

2011-03-22T21:48:00.000-05:00

And this is book no 12 in the 50 Books in 2011 Challenge from one of my coworkers.

2011-03-22T21:21:00.002-05:00

Yep. This just happened.

2011-03-22T17:23:00.003-05:00

This is two beds, three if you count ours, and a dog on none of them. Although, truth be told, she prefers the big human bed to the two on the floor and can be counted on to sleep in it at times when we are not home.

2011-03-21T08:08:00.002-05:00

This is one of the many reasons I love our vet. When Luce had her eyes done last week, they sent us home with antibiotics and these pain pills. The pain pill instructions said to give her a half each day. When Mr. G opened the bottle to give her the first one the next day, he found that the pills had already been broken in half for us. They also legitimately love our dog, and not just in the fake way for show. The last time I was in with her, the vet tech kept kissing Luce, and loving on her, and telling her how cute she was and how much she loved her. As my editor put it: "that would be really inappropriate if it was your child." Truth.

2011-03-20T09:33:00.001-05:00

This is just turning into a waiting game with Mr. G, although I am risking the dog chewing up my shoes while I play mind games with my husband. Hmm.

2011-03-19T22:25:00.001-05:00

This pretty much destroys my faith in humanity.

2011-03-19T10:51:00.001-05:00

Oh.mah.gah.Becky. It is so good. This is the reason I was up (and posting) in the middle of the night last night. My boss loaned it to me because the movie is coming out next month. I have this theory that the seeing the movie first makes the book even better, because then you're not disappointed by what was left out of the movie. I'm glad that I read this one first though, because of a lovely twist in the plot. I'm curious about how it will be handled in the movie. The book is best described as gritty, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved it. Highly recommended!

2011-03-19T00:47:00.001-05:00

This is the carpet burn I got on my knee wrestling with Luce. My niece, who wrestles my phone away from me to look at pictures of Luce every time she sees me, operates the phone better than I do. She's two, going on twenty- two. Last time I saw her, she flicks through all of the pictures, as usual, before I take the phone back. A little bit later she gets it away from me again, opens the pictures, and says "I wanna see the boo-boo." So here it is, my weird little sadist. I'm going to have to have a talk with your mother...

2011-03-18T09:57:00.001-05:00

I took the day off. We're watching Ellen.

2011-03-17T20:14:00.001-05:00

And sometimes we share quite well.

2011-03-17T15:25:00.001-05:00

We are not sharing well today.

2011-03-16T20:14:00.001-05:00

Uno! Dos! Tres!

2011-03-16T18:59:00.001-05:00

Sarcastic carhop much?

2011-03-16T08:52:00.001-05:00

'Just put the food down and walk away, human! And somebody needs to do these dishes!'

2011-03-15T13:08:00.000-05:00

I had trouble getting off of this pillow this morning, too.

2011-03-15T13:05:00.001-05:00

'Um...excuse me. Why has dog returned?'

2011-03-14T17:32:00.001-05:00

On her way home! Yay!

2011-03-14T10:28:00.001-05:00

Luce after her last eye surgery. She's having another one today, and I am one sad, stressed out puppy mama.

2011-03-13T19:23:00.001-05:00

This one deigned to take a nap with me today!

2011-03-12T20:42:00.001-06:00

This guy.

2011-03-11T18:19:00.001-06:00

Wildfires west of Norman. The picture doesn't begin to capture it. What a day in Oklahoma.

2011-03-10T19:05:00.001-06:00

It's a really good thing she's as cute and sweet as she is. She thinks fetch and tug-of-war are the same game, and she only turns to the left.

2011-03-10T17:25:00.001-06:00

Oh really?

2011-03-09T18:41:00.001-06:00

She just can't take it anymore!!!

2011-03-08T17:52:00.001-06:00

This can't be sanitary.

2011-03-07T21:15:00.001-06:00

I'm Luce. I'm kind of a disaster and am generally this pathetic anytime I'm forced into my harness and leash. My mama is sticking with her Weight Watchers and activity even though she can't walk me. She's even training for another 5K! She tells me all the time that it's a good thing I'm cute.

2011-03-07T16:46:00.001-06:00

'What do you mean, "Where is dog?" Just ship box!!'

2011-03-06T08:51:00.001-06:00

Chillin' with her peep.

2011-03-05T09:36:00.001-06:00

We must occupy every box that comes into this house. In or on, some way somehow.

2011-03-04T18:17:00.001-06:00

This is where we keep the cats.

2011-03-03T19:26:00.000-06:00

Oh good grief.

2011-03-02T17:24:00.001-06:00

It's a pile of puppy feet!

2011-03-01T18:43:00.001-06:00

Can you stand it? I certainly can't resist this face. I managed a carpet burn playing with this dog. What am I, five?

2011-02-27T10:19:00.001-06:00

Luce and I are playing a fun game where I put her toys in her basket and she drags them all back out.

2011-02-26T15:15:00.001-06:00

I'm Luce. This is me after my family pulled the carpet up when I got skunked and rubbed it all over the house. It's a good thing I'm cute, because I'm not terribly bright. I got skunked again this morning. I didn't manage to cause major home renovation this time. Thank goodness.

2011-02-25T22:59:00.001-06:00

It's not the best pic, but it is all of the hairy beasts that live here.

2011-02-24T20:49:00.001-06:00

Who's the boss?

2011-02-23T17:36:00.001-06:00

This can't end well.

2011-02-22T22:03:00.001-06:00

Yeah, they're judging you.

2011-02-21T21:00:00.001-06:00

And then there's this one. Tolerating the rest of us for five years and counting.

2011-02-20T18:26:00.001-06:00

Cheesy themed parties are the best!