Inane Chatter » John

Am I right or am I right?

Zannah — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:12:28 +0000

I’ve read in lots of places (I can’t name a single one, but at this point, it’s probably in the public consciousness so I don’t have to) that to be successful at losing weight (or at anything), it helps to set up little rewards at certain milestones. I found my first little reward. But I can’t have it yet. I had the afternoon off work today (left early to take my data modeling exam (got an A), and had a couple of hours left over), so what did I do? I went to the mall. Horror of horrors. I wasn’t in a shopping mood, but John needs new brown work shoes and he has enormous feet so no one ever has his size in stock. I went to Nordstrom because I know they’ll order or transfer shoes from other stores so he can try them on before buying. Nice people there. And while I was at the mall, I decided to shop for skinny jeans. Not because I’m particularly skinny, but because it’s time. Sadly, I’m between sizes. So my reward for losing the next few pounds will be a pair of skinny jeans. Mostly so I can wear my boots over them. My shopping mood didn’t last long (it never does), and I escaped from the mall before it could ruin my day. Malls have a way of doing that.

Figuring out what’s important in a relationship

Zannah — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:24:39 +0000

John, to me: “You talk a lot, but then again, you laugh at all my stupid jokes.”

I am loved.

Strike up the band

Zannah — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:42:45 +0000

Stand back, people, history is happening. This post, this very special (not all that special) post, is my 1000th post. That’s a lot of zeroes. That’s a lot of inanity. I always miss little milestone like this. It’s only dumb luck that I happened to look at the number of posts this morning. I missed my car’s odometer passing 100,000 miles when we drove to Long Island to visit John’s grandmother on Christmas Eve, even though I knew it was coming because I noticed how close it was the day before. I remember birthdays (usually) and anniversaries (sometimes), but even though I try every year, I blow right by the smaller things (like the anniversary of our first kiss, or the anniversary of adopting Roxy and Riley). I remember it a few days early, think to myself “don’t forget this year”, and then I remember again a day or two after it’s passed.

My point is that the fact I noticed this and am doing something about it (however little) is as momentous as the fact that this is post #1000. Where’s my musical episode? I should have had ten of them by now. I guess I’ll have to settle for these. The last one isn’t from a sitcom, but you’ll have to forgive me because 1) it’s awesome, and 2) it’s my special blog day!

Musing on nothing in particular

Zannah — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:27:44 +0000

John caught Riley drinking my coffee this morning. Later, he (Riley, not John) knocked the trash can down the basement steps and possibly ate some of the coffee grounds that spilled out. Is my dog a caffeine junkie? How did this happen? How did I not notice? It would certainly explain the high-strung behavior…

John made a pot roast (roast beef? Is there a difference? I don’t really care – delicious either way) for dinner tonight. The house smells fantastic – like red wine and onions. Warm red wine and onions.

I got a 96% on my fourth homework assignment in my data modeling class. I was debating whether or not to argue with the professor because I think (and John agrees) that she’s wrong about that one answer. I decided not to. I got a 96%. Arguing for a 100% isn’t necessary. I’m letting it go.

I’m drinking white wine instead of red even though we’re having pot roast (or roast beef) for dinner tonight. Ask me if I care. (Hint: I don’t.)

I love three-day weekends

Zannah — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:33:27 +0000

I was looking over my list for the weekend and I realized I left off something important.

Do my homework (I have an assignment due for Data Modeling and Design)
Finish Faithful Place
Start The Hunger Games
Exercise
Grocery store
Blah blah other boring things
Oh, also SLEEP

Aren’t I forgetting something? Oh, yeah.

GET MY NAILS DONE

How could I forget about that? Something of such global importance? Silly me. I also don’t remember what the other boring things were (#6), so I’m considering them done. But look how productive I was! Homework, reading, and sleeping. Good for me. And the gym. Better for me. Poor John is still miserable (and he has to go to work today – poor John, indeed). He spent most of the weekend resting.

I am going to finish The Hunger Games before I tackle the rest of my busy day. OR…I could go to the store now and get my one chore out of the way early… Decisions, decisions.

Watch out for falling cliches

Zannah — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:36:57 +0000

Happy New Year! It’s a brand new year, not too cold (I’m convinced we’re going to be paying for this in February), sunny and shiny and fresh, and I have the cliché-est of all resolution clichés: I want to lose weight. Eat right. Be healthy. Find the exercise routine I lost a couple of months ago. I’m reluctant to even call it a resolution. It’s a thing that is always true and that I’m always making some effort to do. How much of an effort is what varies. Let’s just say I’ll start paying attention again. Making better choices. I also think I want to be a database administrator. Maybe. I’m still trying to find out what it would take.

Something almost unheard of happened last night. Or didn’t happen, actually. I didn’t knock over any champagne glasses. ! You’re shocked, I can tell. No one knocked anything over, as far as I know. Jess had a close call, but she saved it with her catlike reflexes. A little champagne dripped here and there while it was being poured, but that doesn’t count.

John and I have done very little today, and it has been wonderful. The best thing about right now, right this very second, is that there’s no work tomorrow.

The best thing about last night is that there were too many good things to pick one. I LOVE having our friends at the house, New Year’s Eve or any eve. Thanks for coming, guys! Man, we should have taken pictures.

We go to eleven

Zannah — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 04:10:15 +0000

11 years ago, we made everyone fly to Kentucky in the snow (I think there was snow – I could be wrong) to watch us get married and then get hammered. (Sounds like we were the only ones who got hammered. Far from it, my friends.)

Happy anniversary to us!

Baby, it’s not that cold outside

Zannah — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:15:17 +0000

It’s not cold enough. I should be happy about that (I hate being cold), but it’s hard to feel Christmas-y (or Hanukkah-y – yes, I’ve been lighting candles this year. Please pick your jaw up off the floor. That’s not sanitary.) when you barely need a coat to go outside. I’ll get over it. Just as soon as we hit the road. Which can’t be soon enough for me. What I’m really looking forward to is the time off. I need a long, long break. Or maybe…yeah, we don’t talk about that on the internet.

I also didn’t mean to publish that yet. The Publish button looked a lot like the Save Draft button just then. Whoops. (For those of you coming late to the party, first of all, shame on you. Get it together and be on time. Secondly, it’s kind of obvious what just happened, so this explanation is unnecessary.)

I regret my choice of post title now. Not just because it’s dumb, although that should be enough. No, I regret it because that song is stuck in my head now. I like it fine, but I’ve been having this problem all day, and I can’t settle on a song I’d be happy to have looping through my brain all day. I woke up this morning to the theme from The Price is Right (thanks to the episode of How I Met Your Mother we watched last night), but I started to tell John about it and immediately switched to “You Were On My Mind” by We Five. (John, you were right. It’s We Five.) Maybe I can get that one back. I’ve always liked that song. Wish me luck!

Nice things

Zannah — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:10:48 +0000

Nice thing #1: Manicures. I had one the other day. Tuesday. I feel much better now that my nails aren’t in danger of tearing/breaking or hurting someone (myself included). Also, they’re pretty. And neat. Toes are next on the agenda (maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday). I didn’t have time to do both on Tuesday.

Nice thing #2: Yoga. I like it. I’m all relaxed. Hungry, but that’s what strawberries are for. My yoga instructor says we shouldn’t drink anything for 15-20 minutes after we’re done because our bodies are detoxifying. I’m not exactly sure what it means, but I’m always really thirsty when class is over. Waiting 20 minutes is like torture. But I was talking about nice things. Like strawberries.

Nice thing #3: Strawberries. I bought some when I went shopping on Friday, and oh crap. It’s been almost a week. I hope they’re still good. If they are, that’s dessert. Dinner was nice thing #4.

Nice thing#4: Whole grain English muffins with cream cheese and strawberry jam. Why whole grain? (That’s what John wants to know. Why would I ruin a perfectly good idea by buying whole grain English muffins?) Because that’s what I saw when I was at the store. I have no ulterior motive. It’s nice that they’re better for me and they taste essentially the same (especially when covered with cream cheese and strawberry jam), so why fight it?

Okay, people, you can relax now. The strawberries are fine. I’m going to eat them. Right now. Good night.

Death by brisket or barking pug – your choice

Zannah — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:30:24 +0000

We have had an eventful couple of days. I tried to poison us, and then we got attacked by a pug. Not on the same day, thank the whatever from high atop the thing (because I am a DORK), because I don’t know if I could have handled that.

First things first: I made brisket for dinner on Sunday. It cooked all day long, smelled fantastic. Last time I made it, I didn’t cook it quite long enough, so I added time this weekend. I kept an eye on it, added water, and kept it tightly covered, but I guess I didn’t add enough water at the end. Maybe. I’m not sure, but the bottom was not edible. Very tough. The rest of it tasted fine, so we ate it anyway and put away the leftovers. Within a couple of hours, by bedtime, I was not feeling so hot. Like so not good that I was contemplating sleeping on the floor next to the toilet. The smell of the brisket was SO strong we had to open the windows, and when I did crawl back into bed (bathroom trashcan nearby), I tried to sleep sitting up, knees up, head tilted forward and toward the fresh air coming in from outside. I didn’t have a good night. By about 3am, John wasn’t having a good night either. Neither of us could sleep facing the hallway (even after John closed the door) because the overpower smell of brisket was nauseating to us both. That’s a tragedy. Brisket is one of the best smells in the world. We were a little woozy the next morning, but we got over it. John even made a brisket sandwich out of the leftovers for lunch today. He’s braver than me. We’ll see how he feels tonight.

This morning, after a light dinner last night and a normal night’s sleep (I’m feeling much better, thank you), I took the dogs for a jog around the neighborhood. We turned down this one street, and every dog on the block started barking at us. Making a HUGE racket. Roxy and Riley were really good, though. They stayed on the sidewalk with me, didn’t bark, didn’t lunge. About halfway down the block, a woman across the street from us was admonishing her barking ankle-biters and eventually scooped one of them into her arms. We got past them, but all that little-dog barking was getting louder and louder…I looked back and I saw a pug charging across the street toward us. I grabbed Riley’s collar to keep the crazy down, and the pug stopped short right in front of Roxy, who didn’t even flinch. That pug was inches from her face, barking his head off, and Roxy stood her ground and looked at him, head cocked to one side like she was confused. Maybe she intimidated him (’cause Roxy’s SO scary). He ran back home a few seconds later.

For those of you who were wondering, John feels fine. Maybe it wasn’t the brisket.