Inane Chatter

I skipped April Fool’s Day this year.  I mean, I was there for it.  I was awake and active in the world or whatever, but it completely slipped my mind until fairly late in the evening, and I wasn’t aware of a single prank.  This morning, John showed me the Firefly one on Reddit (which I can’t find right now).  That was a good one, if mean.  Oh, and I saw the Google Nose thing after I got home last night.  I don’t mind missing it.  I don’t usually do April Fool’s.  It makes me wonder if that’s how April is going to go, though.  Am I going to miss every other day?  Or rush through the whole month?  Maybe I’ll just view everything through my congested fog.  That’ll be fun.

Quick updates:

1. John has been really sick all week.  I think he’s starting to get better, but he’s still miserable.
2. Book club tonight went well.  There were only six of us, but I think that was okay.  We had a good time.
3. It has been a CRAZY week.  Like, crazy came to visit, snooped through my medicine cabinets, and then rearranged all the drawers in the kitchen.  I can’t tell up from down.
4. I didn’t finish my book club book (the one I picked) until an hour before book club started.  I’ve been too busy to read, but I had to have the book finished before people came over.  I mean, I picked it.  Failure was not an option.
5. Not having the house cleaned, not having the book read, not having enough time during the work day to think, and not having John to help (because he’s been so sick – not his fault) has made this week super stressful.
6. When I tried to log in to this site about an hour ago, I couldn’t do it.  Kept screwing up the password.  Lots of times.  Might have had a bit too much wine.  At least now I’ve picked up, washed some dishes, and I’m a little soberer (more sober is probably the right way to say that, but I’m in no condition to really tell) now.  Soberer enough to find where I store my passwords and make sure I can log in.  And here I am.
7. I have no idea what I’m going to read next.  I’ve been so stressed out about finding time to finish my book club book that I haven’t put any thought into what’s next.  Probably something I own already.  Whatever it is, I don’t need to decide tonight since I’m going right to bed.  And tomorrow I have a shopping day planned with Emily and then we’re going to dinner and then the ballet, so there won’t be any time for reading.  Maybe Sunday.
8. I don’t understand why I’m still awake.  I haven’t had an uninterrupted night’s sleep since Sunday night.  I keep expecting to crash, and it keeps not happening.  Now I’m really dreading it.  Maybe I should make Emily drive tomorrow.  Whoops.  Today.  It’s officially Saturday now.
9. I hope I don’t fall asleep during the ballet.

I have not gone off the deep end, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, and I have not gotten trapped under something heavy.  I’m here.  Very distracted, but here.  Except not really because I have to get on a plane tonight and go to a bridal shower tomorrow.  And I’m not bringing my laptop.  But I WILL come back.  Very soon.  I swear.

Today has been the longest day.  At least three different times during the workday (and again just now), I was convinced it was Tuesday night (or possibly Wednesday).  That much has happened since I woke up this morning (which, admittedly, was earlier than usual because it’s one of John’s boxing days – more on that later).  Actually, not that much happened today that’s of interest to anyone I don’t work with, but it was a super busy day.  And I got my year-end bonus.    Yay me!

Man!  I completely skipped my online morning routine, too.  Pause while I check Woot and XKCD.  Better, and only 10 hours later than usual for a Monday.

I’m trying to reconnect with whatever feelings of calm I found yesterday while I was getting my nails done.  I went to my favorite place, and they were completely empty.  I was the only customer and no one seemed to be in the mood to talk (which was fine with me).  It was so peaceful, utterly quiet except the god-awful muzak they were playing (which I tuned out as much as possible), and now I have awesomely hot pink toes.  However, I also have a rock band playing in my basement (for the first time in months), so peace and quiet are nowhere to be found.  Instead, I will play online and watch adorable videos, like this one.

This is almost as good as the cat on the roomba.

Dear Internet,

Why are you so big?  You make it very hard for me to keep up some weeks.  Don’t misunderstand; I’m THRILLED you’re as big as you are because that means there’s always something new to find.  Lately, though, I don’t have time during the day, and I don’t have the energy after work.  I’m missing out on so much.  I haven’t visited my bloggy buddies (I think I’m stealing that from Wombat – Wombat, can I steal this please?) in forever, and I certainly don’t mean to neglect them.  Some evenings I open tabs for all of my favorite websites and I still don’t get to them all.  Also, why does WordPress insist that I’m misspelling favorite?  Also, why is “Moves Like Jagger” allowed to be used in commercials?  I’ve managed to avoid hearing it for weeks and weeks, but now it’s back and stuck in my brain.  Also also, if happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can’t I?  That may help with my song-stuck-in-brain syndrome.

Oh, wait, this is a letter.

Affectionately,

Zannah

What? I love the internet.

We’re* two-thirds through a three-day weekend.  Already.  And poor John doesn’t have tomorrow off.  Of course, he gets the week between Christmas and New Year’s off, so I don’t feel that sorry for him.  We had a good couple of days together.  Yesterday was all about the yard.  We got up early, grabbed breakfast, picked up 16 bags of dirt from Home Depot (I think it was our shortest trip to Home Depot ever), scooped and mowed the back yard, raked up the bare spots, put down dirt and seed, put up temporary fencing, blocked the dogs from getting under the deck (and sneaking into the new dirt that’s calling out for digging), and mowed the front yard.  All before 2pm.  We were really rushing at one point because it looked like the skies were about to open and we didn’t want to get soaked.  False alarm.  That must have been the cold front coming through, though, because the temperature dropped pretty quickly after that.

Today has been chilly and damp.  A perfect day to go to the Waterford Fair!  We got all dressed up in our hiking-in-Wales attire (so called because that’s why we bought that stuff – boots and coats and hats) and headed to lovely historic Waterford, which had been taken over by Civil War reenactors (is that really a word?) and craftspeople for the weekend.  John carried his umbrella around the whole time, so it didn’t rain on us.  We tramped all over town (it’s not very big), shared a hot dog, some mac and cheese, some hot chocolate, and a funnel cake, met some chickens and puppies and sheep, listened to a couple of bluegrass bands, and took care of birthday presents for John’s mom (a little late) and Gaby (early for once, if I can manage to ship it soon).

Tomorrow I plan to clean out some closets.  I have shoes and clothes to get rid of, and I need to clear out the linen closet and the cabinet in my bathroom.  That might be too ambitious for one day, since I also plan to make a quick run to the mall, but we’ll see how far I get.  I’ll be up early since John has to get up for work, so that should help.

Dinner is wine and bread and olive oil.  I’m kinda surprised I’m feeling hungry now, after all that food at Waterford, but that was 3 or 4 hours ago…

*”What’s this we bullshit?”  -John

I spent all day today with my personal tachometer pegged at, like, 8000 rpm (or whatever is really high).  What do I know?  I drive an automatic.  Red-lined is what I mean.  And that includes my commute home, when you’d think I could take some time to breathe, and when I was actually sitting in a car going 30 miles per hour (at most).  It wasn’t until I sat down to eat that I slowed down.  It wasn’t a bad day, just long and very busy.  I didn’t even realize I’d been racing all day until I walked into the house.  Now I’m home and fed and I’m going to have maybe a third of a cookie and some milk (it’s a really big cookie) and then go to bed and start all over again tomorrow.

For me, tomorrow means more of the same, but Emily and Corey have just embarked on brand new…things.  I’m not sure what word to use there.  “Brand new chapters” sounds ridiculous, and “brand new lives” sounds too momentous.  I mean, their happenings ARE momentous, but it’s not like they’re changing everything…okay, fine.  It’s a VERY big deal.  And it does change a LOT.  I mean, Emily just moved to a new apartment in a new city and started a new job today (and apparently her first day went well).  And today was Corey’s first day of law school, for heaven’s sake, which seems to have scared him to death.  He may bury himself so deep into his books that I won’t be able to talk to him for three years.  So maybe “brand new lives” isn’t such an overstatement.  (Also, I’m not sure why Corey starting law school required a “for heaven’s sake”, but it seemed appropriate.  I think it’s really cool, and even though law school has never appealed to me all that much, going back to school full time sounds lovely.)

Oh, cookie cookie cookie starts with c.

I haven’t mentioned it much here, but we’re about to go on vacation.  We’re supposed to have internet in our cottage, but we were supposed to have internet in our cottage in Wales last year, too, and that just didn’t happen.  So either I’ll be able to post intermittently over the next week and a half or I’ll be completely silent until Memorial Day.  We’ll see.  I just wanted you all to be prepared because I know how much you rely on me to start (or finish) every day.  You just can’t get along without me, right?  Right?

I think we should live somewhere where we can legitimately call our house a cottage without getting laughed at.  I would like to live in a cottage.

Anyway, Mom called me yesterday evening to discuss when and where she and Dad are going to pick us up on Saturday, and that conversation kick-started my pre-trip hyperventilation* because you know what?  I hadn’t even THOUGHT about that.  I got off the phone and fluttered around the house for a couple of minutes, wondering how stupid it might be to take two hours out of my last useful 5 or 6 hours (not counting working and sleeping) to go to the gym for my fun classes.  Reason and sanity eventually won out.  There wasn’t THAT much to do and exercise and yoga would be good for me, especially in that state.  I came home from the gym much calmer and I managed to get to bed (packing about halfway done) before I could think too much about what I hadn’t finished yet.  This morning, though – the countdown had begun and I was climbing the walls.  WHY was I going to work?  WHY wasn’t I packed already?  I hadn’t arranged for a cab to pick us up, I still needed to pick up some prescription refills, the dogs have to get to the kennel, I needed to pick up an adapter from Best Buy, I haven’t FINISHED PACKING YET, and oh yeah, I have to go to work and actually WORK.  (Sorry about the caps.  It’s been that kind of day.)  To make matters worse (as pointed out by Corey, Brother of the Year), I went to Starbucks.  Sure, let’s fuel the crazy with espresso.  Makes all kinds of sense.  So I rocketed into the office and my work day, made three or four more lists (mostly work, some trip), crossed everything off in record time, and all I have to do now is set my automatic out-of-office message and go home so I can cross the last four things off my trip list (one of them – finish packing – has a list of its own).  Surprisingly, the tension ebbed as the day went on.  I got enough of a head start this morning (maybe thanks to the coffee?) that I feel pretty normal now.  My vacation is about to begin.

*The author reserves the right to exaggerate for effect.  No brown paper bags were harmed in the making of this post.

They say money can’t buy happiness.  I say they’re liars.  I can think of a number of ways a nice BIG cash windfall could make me very happy.  For starters, if it meant I didn’t have to work, I’d have all the time in the world to do all the things I want to do.  As it is, our weekends get over-scheduled in the blink of an eye, and then when we want to squeeze something else in, there’s no time.  And it’s not like we don’t want to do the stuff we’ve already planned.  For various reasons (seeing friends, doing homework for classes we chose to take, visiting family, hosting family), we really do.  I just want MORE TIME.  I know – everyone does.  I’ll shut up.