*tap*tap*tap*... is this thing on?!

dang, it's been a long time since I've been here. lots of changes have taken place around rancho mcbirdie in the past year -some of them difficult, some of them fun... all of them deliciously liberating. I've been busy looking for the good in things and inching my way back to the 'me' I had fun being way back in the day... let's just say 'work in progress' describes a lot of what's going on with and around me these days -good stuff. not really ready to get into it too much yet, but just wanted to poke my head in and say hey to the dedicated handful of peeps to stop by to check in on me and tell you all that I appreciate the encouragement you've offered and the smiles you've sent my way. I'ma lucky chick. <3

...ain't it the truth?!

Foundation for a Better Life -daily quote April 13, 2009:

“Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
—Joshua J. Marine

...although, right at this moment, I think I could go for a little less 'interesting' and a lot more 'meaningful'. I'm just sayin'.

advice from my sister

my sister sent me this gem in an e-mail today... (she say's she thinks she's already reached that status! heh heh heh... LOOK OUT!)

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

Real Simple Daily Thought Wednesday | April 8, 2009

from the Real Simple website:

To be happy, it first takes being comfortable in your own shoes. The rest can work up from there.
―Sophia Bush

whoa... pretty much dead on

my horoscope for today:

March 22, 2009
Taurus (4/20-5/20)
Today is a good day to evaluate some recent developments in your life -- your mind is clear and your attitude is positive. More than ever before, you are ready to learn from past mistakes! So take stock of the wins and the losses you've had and get perspective on where you really are in life -- you are a lot further along than you had thought. You can sense the momentum building, can't you? Some exciting transformations are going to start happening soon.


kinda freaks me out how these things can parallel with what's going on in "real" life ...just a fluke??

a few things...

jeez, talk about a klepto! I found all NINE of these in my purse today when I cleaned it out. seriously wouldn't surprise me if these businesses start frisking me at the door!

cuties (and I'm not talking about Dermot Mulroney... although he's definitely a hottie) are my addiction right now ...they're super sweet, easy to peel and no seeds! quite possibly the perfect food!

my fuzzy Woolrich jackets have become my adult equivalent of a security blanket. they're so soft and warm -so, so, soooo cozy...I'm almost always wearing either my red or my black one. I need more!

my name is Leafa McBirdie and I'm a Wii-tard. we don't have many games yet but I'm totally diggin on the bowling (my high score is 242... so far.) tennis, golf... omg, I can't believe what a workout these *virtual* sports are... my body aches in places you don't even want to know about.

my entire adult life, I've resisted naps. napping left me cranky rather than refreshed so it wasn't worth the trade off -tired is better than cranky any day! recently though, I've been hitting a wall in the afternoons, can't focus on what I'm doing ...I'm just a zombie. one day last week I decided I'd just lay down and rest... not nap... rest. well, I fell asleep and the coolest thing happened... I didn't wake up in a pissy mood! naturally, the next day, I had to test it out and I was fine, so the day after that I figured I should try it again, you know, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke ...you see where this is going, right? I've discovered that it wasn't the nap that was the problem it was the length of time I was sleeping... heaven help me, I have become a napper!

one little word: MANAGE

With the arrival of another new year, inevitably, comes a rush of resolutions; ideas involving things I want to accomplish/change/aspire to within my life... and so, in my quest for change and instant gratification I (also inevitably) end up setting unrealistic goals for myself, biting off more than I can chew and, before I know it, those resoloutions are nothing but a teeeny tiny dot in the rear view of my daily grind. That said, I've decided that all that resolution crap is for the birds. I've adopted a new approach to making changes in my life and it's all based on a shockingly simple concept by uber creative scrapbooker Ali Edwards.

Within her *One Little Word* project AE explains how, by examining and identifying what we really want, we can enrich many aspects of our lives; about simplifying the thought process and finding a single word that sums up our ultimate goal, and then using that word to reflect upon and use as a guide to help us tackle our challenges.

My word for 2009 is: Manage.

• I want to learn how to manage all the different aspects of my life so that I don't always feel so overwhelmed and scattered.

• I want to manage my family life better and make a concentrated effort for each of them to know how important they are to me and how much I value my time with them. I hope to encourage stronger bonds between them and nurture their sense of family.

• I want to manage my finances better so I can get rid of the stress of wondering if there's enough in my checking account to cover our expenses on a month to month basis. I don't want to pay overdraft charges or late fees any more.

• I want to manage my home better so that my family feels proud of what they come home to and we can welcome friends graciously and without trepidation.

• I want to manage my time better so that I don't always feel like I'm playing catch up. I need to learn how to pace myself and plan accordingly. With better time management, I'm hoping to be able to dedicate some of the *bonus* time I'm left with, to doing things to enrich myself.

My ultimate goal at this point is to manage from day to day with a sense of accomplishment and to look forward to the future without feeling like I'm lacking in so many areas of my life. Granted, we're only a couple of weeks into the new year but I can definitely say that the changes I've made so far have made a big difference and I feel a much better sense of balance... I'm managing. :)

...so, what's your one little word??

booklist: 2008

I didn't fall into love with reading until I was in my late teens but, since then, it's been a genuine love affair. Settling in with a good book relaxes me and helps me unwind; lets me get away from the demands of reality -there's nothing like escaping into a good story. Somewhere, over the course of the past several years I got away from my reading habit -3 kiddos and family life can do that to ya I guess -lol... Anywho, I missed my books so during 2008 I decided to really give my library card a workout. I finally got back on the reading bandwagon and, once I got started, it was just like old times, one book right after another...

~The Story of Edgar Sawtelle -David Wroblewski
~The Front -Patricia Cornwell
~No Time for Goodbye -Linwood Barclay
~Sundays at Tiffany's -James Patterson
~Marley & Me -John Grogan
~Memoirs of a Geisha -Arthur Golden
~love walked in -Marisa De Los Santos
~ Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea -Chelsea Handler
~Shoot the Moon -Billie Letts
~hello, darkness -Sandra Brown
~The Secret Life of Bees -Sue Monk Kidd
~Before the Storm - Diane Chamberlain
~The Faraday Girls -Monica McInerney
~The Last Coyote -Michael Connelly
~The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes -Diane Chamberlain
~Driving Sideways -Jess Riley
~Strip Tease -Carl Hiaasen
~Savannah Breeze -Mary Kay Andrews
~Good in Bed -Jennifer Weiner
~You've Been Warned -James Patterson & Howard Roughan
~Lifeguard -James Patterson & Andrew Gross
~The Friday Night Knitting Club -Kate Jacobs
~Bitter Is the New Black -Jen Lancaster
~the bright side of disaster -Katherine Center
~The Last Lecture -Randy Pausch, Professor, Carnegie Mellon w/Jeffrey Zaslow
~The Next Thing on My List -Jill Smolinski
~The Sweet Potato Queens' 1st Big-Ass Novel -Jill Conner Browne w/Karin Gillespie
~there's a (slight) chance i might be going to hell -Laurie Notaro
~Book of the Dead -Patricia Cornwell
~Beach Road -James Patterson/Richard DeJonge
~Double Cross -James Patterson

takin the day off

No school today, so the boys are out hunting (goose and duck), and the girl and I are veggin' out here at home. It's cold, wet and gray outside and we've both been fighting colds the past few days so we decided to take it easy (I know, nothing new for me, right?) and lay low -in fact, we're still in our jams -I love days like this! Kendall baked a dozen lemon/blueberry muffins earlier today and she's been having a blast playing Webkinz with her bff, Carson -it's so funny, Kendall has him on speaker-phone and they're hootin' and hollerin' at each other -pretty much the same as when they're together in person -little goobers! They're pretty dang cute! Poor Jack had to work. No rest for the weary -even if it is a federal holiday.

{UPDATE}

so much for our big storm. nothing more than a few sprinkles so far tonight so Kendall got to go trick or treating. for my troubles, I earned a 'fun size' butterfinger and a 'fun size' almond joy... pfffft. fun size??! puh-leeze! there's nothing 'fun' about having to open 16 dozen leeetle tiiiiny candy bars just so I can get my sugar grove on. gaaah, my laziness is probably the only thing saving me from slipping into a diabetic coma! lol dangit, I just realized I didn't bring the camera upstairs -I'll post a pic of K in her witch get-up, tomorry.

*update on my update*

okay, it's not exactly tomorry, but here's my dot, witched out for h'ween. after starting the eye make-up she decided she didn't want to be an "ugly witch" and put the kibosh on the creepy, full face make-up. *gaaah* impatient little party pooper! lol

hoppy hollow weiners

hmmmph -woke up this morning with a bad case of the uglies and the mood to match. good news is I don't have to come up with a costume because nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, would be any scarier than what was looking back at me from my mirror this morning -yikes. bad news? I have to live in my skin all day and try to keep from doing or saying anything that makes peeps want to slip me arsenic laced candy bars. ggrrrr

go figger... we've had gorgeous fall weather here the past couple of weeks and last night, a storm rolls in. not a good, snuggle up inside by the fire, kick ass rain storm -no. it's a freakin windy, drizzly pain in the ass. I already told Kendall, in the event that it's pouring outside, mama's not hauling her bewitched booty from door to door -even if it means no overflowing candy bucket for me to raid. I know, bah humbug and all that crap. however, to make it up to my grill, I've agreed to endure torture worse than any ghosts or goblins could dish out... we're going to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. *sigh* glutton for punishment? yeah, that would be me. obviously, my love knows no bounds.

**also, just want to pass on a quick little PSA that a friend of mine shared recently:

Sherwood's Milk Chocolate Pirate's Gold Coins
The little foil-covered chocolate coins are not safe for kids to eat this Halloween. They are made in China and contain the Melamine that children's deaths were related to recently!!!!! With Halloween coming soon, pass this on to your family and friends. It is true, Read the full story at the following link from Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/coins.asp

rockin and a'rollin

whoa nelly! we've been having earthquakes since really early this morning. Pop called me at about 9:00am to see if I'd felt the one at around 2:30am -I didn't feel anything and usually earthquakes in the middle of the night wake me up, so I figured it must have just been Heidi (Pop's Rottweiler) moving around in the trailer- she's a big girl.

I got on the USGS site and sure enough we had a shaker at 2:27am and it was a 4.9, centered about 41 miles SW of Eureka -I can't believe I didn't feel that! Poor Pop musta been kinda freaked because he just kept saying that it was the biggest one he's felt since he's been here, how it just kept shaking, it must have lasted over a minute and on and on... lol. I feel bad because he's living in a trailer and even though we've anchored it down tight, with big chains and all, he's worried it's going to pull loose and go careening down the hillside and land in our pond. I tell him not to worry, in the event he did go over the hillside (which isn't gonna happen) he'd have to turn a couple of pretty sharp turns in order to make it into either of the ponds... somehow that didn't have the comforting effect that I'd hoped -lol!

we just had another quake a few minutes ago. this one was a 3.5 but was centered 27 miles N of Eureka. looks like that's about the 5th one in our area since early this morning. it'll be interesting to see what happens throughout the day.

still here

been having freaking internet problems. hopefully things should be fixed soon (fingers crossed) -that, or I may end up doing 25 to life in the big house... technical difficulties make me a leeetle cRaZy!!

where the hell have I been?

I mean, seriously.

Last Friday, I met up with my niece Katie -and about 15 other crazy chicks- for a "spa day". Now, honestly, I'm not really a 'spend the day at the spa' kinda girl but we'd all been invited to spend the afternoon together as part of Katie's pre-wedding festivities (in lieu of a bridal shower/bachelorette party), so how could I refuse? Having never gone to a spa (oh yeah, I was a spa virgin), I didn't really know what to expect... in fact, about 5 months ago, when we were given a list of different services we could try, I more or less closed my eyes and pointed to one -I mean, I don't know a Vichy Shower from a Seaweed Pack so, what the hell... eenie-meeny-miney-mo... I ended up getting a shoulder/back/neck massage along with a spa pedicure. oookay, fine, sounds safe enough, doesnt' it?

not so much.

please talk amongst yourselves whilst I make a valium cocktail with a chaser of prozac.

I gotta tell you that, while I love being hugged by my peeps and love snuggling with my kids, I'm not a thuper-dooper touchy feely person by nature and the idea of peeps I don't know touching me, weirds me out -I mean, it's not like I freak if I happen to bump into someone, but I'm just very concious of the whole 'personal space' concept that we learned way back in preschool, so, when I realized a perfect stranger was going to: a.) be touching me in a more intimate manner than oh, lets say, a handshake and 2.) I'd be nekkid from the waist up while they were doing that, not to mention c.) someone else would later be touching my FEET -eeeew, feeeet! I was a tad put off so, needless to say, I spent the next four and a half months trying to catch a cold, pneumonia, malaria ...anything, so I could gracefully skip out on spa-day. sigh... no dice.

fast forward to "spa day". I seriously consider taking a couple of beers... possibly an entire 6 pack, with me to shotgun in the parking lot before I join the girls, but I worry that stumbling in, slurring at 10am, I might draw even more attention to myself than I will with my sweaty palms and the huge sweat stains that are showing up under my pits.

I arrive (un-inebriated, damn it) and we all go thru the introductions, hugs and niceties and suddenly, I'm thinking to myself, hey, there are so many people in here, maybe I can just hang out and chat and no one will notice if I don't actually get anything done, I can just plaster the same mellowed-out smile on my face that all the other girls seem to have, and no one will be the wiser, right? -okay, good plan. a few minutes later, I was completely caught off guard when my name was called out by a gal, who apparently takes her fashion cues from the late, great Johnny Cash, because she's dressed in black from her head to her toes... hmmm, I don't remember meeting her -and then my eyes drift down to the little design just above her left breast where I see the words: The Spa at Personal Choice. DAMN IT, again -I'd forgotten all about that friggen sign up sheet, and my number was up!

Head hung low, I follow Johnny Cash, Jr. thru the catacombs where we finally arrive at a candle-lit room with soft Celtic music playing, there's even a little waterfall to add to the ambiance -I mean, they really go all out to create a calm, relaxing atmosphere. I kid you not, I had to choke back a nervous laugh because my first thought was, dayum, I hope Jr's not gonna put the moves on me back here -which I realize was completely random but eh, that's pretty much how I roll ...and as I'm kinda cracking myself up, it dawns on me that the Celtic music reminds me an awful lot of the pan flute CD that I used to tease my homegrill about after finding it in her collection. Zamfir, anyone. ...anyone? ah, but I digress... I'm on the verge of nervous hysteria when Jr tells me to take my shirt and bra off and get comfortable up on the table (SEE?! I knew she was gonna put the moves on me -I KNEW it!) -then, as if sensing that I was a spa newb, she added, "face-down". pfffft. yeah, ok, I knew that -and then she excused herself so I could disrobe.

I got myself undressed, carefully hiding my boulder holder in the folds of my discarded shirt -don't ask me why, but I've always folded my clothes, being sure to tuck my underoos out of sight anytime I have to undress (I'm talkin like undressing at the dr's office etc... NOT whilst in the throws of passion... wait, passion? pfffft... nevermind.). I turned to get on the table but it was too high to just back up and sit down on, so I looked around, but there was no stepstool. So, I start to panic that Jr is gonna walk back in any second now, and not only see me standing there half nekkid but witness me trying to hike my fat ass up on the table that is too high... ugh, I finally make it up there and as I'm trying to get myself turned around and flipped onto my belly, I reach out and grab something, which turns out to be the face stirrup thing, for a little leverage and the freakin thing completely falls off! O. M. G.! so, now I'm on my belly, trying to hold my head up so I can see what I'm doing, while keeping my bewbs plastered down on the table, as I try and reattach the face thing without getting up off the table... I sure hope the spa doesn't have any hidden cameras in those rooms, because I'm tellin you, if they do, I'm sure you'll be seeing me and my boingly-doinglies on one of those shows where you send in video clips for cash. I was seriously thankful I hadn't forgotten my deodorant because I was starting to work up a sweat -and that's the moment Jr chose to come back in. now, completely mortified, I tell her that I've broken the face stirrup (what the hell do you call that thing anyway?) and she calmly tells me "oh, ...don't worry, it's not broken, it. just. has to. go in liiike... uhm..." and then she procedes to fight with the stoopit thing for what seems like several minutes, until, thankfully, it *finally* clicks back into place. by this time, I'm so busy concentrating on not spontaniously combusting, I just bury my face in the newly repaired face holder and pray I don't do anything else embarassing... like fart.

heeere we go... Jr splashes some oil on my back but before she actually begins the massage, I hear her take a series of what sounds like deep cleansing breaths like they teach in Lamaze class -I'm guessing that was to fortify her for the work ahead because once she got started she really worked my muscles, to the point of it being almost painful. I kept hearing her taking these deep breaths in and slow breaths out and I wondered if maybe she was doing that to cue me to breathe that way in order to relax... meanwhile, I was busy praying I wouldn't become so relaxed that I'd let one fly -gaah, talk about the coup de grâce, eh? by the time it was over, I felt like a lump of clay after it's been smooshed and kneeded until it's smooth and pliable -I was completely relaxed, and I realized as I was getting dressed, that I had survived, and so had Jr., who's name it turns out, was Alisha... and I had in fact really, really enjoyed my first massage.

fully relaxed, I floated out to the pedicure bench to sit with my feet in water that was so warm, I instantly regretted not having relieved my bladder beforehand -especially in my newly relaxed state. after a nice soak, I had my feet scrubbed, and then got exfoliated all the way up to my knees (thank goodness I had thought to shave that morning... I would have been mortified if she'd seen the Yeti legs I had been sporting!), feet and legs lotioned, nails and cuticles trimmed... and then had my toenails painted Stilleto red... and finished off with a spritz of yummy smelling almond oil -B.E.A.-youuu-tiful! I was so distracted by talking with all the girls durring this process, I didn't even have time to think about how weirded out I am by people touching my feet... long (boring) story there, but it has to do with some surgeries I had 20+ years ago.

so now, that I've experienced (and survived) "spa-day" I'm thinking I may indeed be a "spa-day" type of girl after all... and Jack may have to work some extra hours, do some side jobs, maybe even sell a kidney to keep me in the style to which I'm quickly becoming accustomed.

ahhh... life's good.

Happy Monday

whoa! did this weekend fly by or what?! we went to our annual family reunion out in Bear River, soaked up the sunshine, ate waaaay too much good food... ahhh, good times!

I managed to read another book, too; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I bought it over a year ago and just couldn't get into it so I set it aside and went on to other things, but I came across it again while I was prowling around looking for something to read this weekend, so I decided to give it another shot. I can't for the life of me imagine why I had trouble with it before, or why it took me so long to pick it up again, but I devoured it this time-SMK is a great story teller!

other than that, not much going on around Rancho McBirdie... I'm still slooooowwly working on my office/scraproom... finally got enough crap moved and got one wall painted (whoop-dee-fricken do, right?! LOL!) just need to get some shelves taken down now, so I can tackle the next wall... it's a slow process but I'm diggin the fact that I'm doing it all myself, and so far, I haven't screwed anything up -d'oh!, hope I didn't just jinx myself!

nothing too exciting

Just thought I'd let ya'll know, I'm still going strong with my little projects. I'm in the process of attacking my office and some other little things upstairs. Other than that we've been having a great summer so far, even if the weather hasn't been so great. We've had lots of dreary gray days lately, but I guess that's par for the course up here on the north coast, *sigh* -I suppose it just serves to make us more grateful for the nice days we do get.
I've been doing lots of reading lately, as you can see by my growing book list over on the left. I really need to get back into my routine of going to the library because I've been spending a small fortune, but I've been loving the bookmarked books at Target -seriously, some good stuff there! I'm reading The Faraday Girls right now and after a bit of a slow start, I'm finding myself picking it up every chance I get. It's been years since I've been such a voracious reader and I gotta say it's a nice change from having me arse planted in front of my 'puter for hours on end.
Oh well, duty calls... I'm off to town with Pop for an exciting afternoon of grocery shopping and probably a stop at the Mexican restraunt for lunch. :)

the cat, the visit and some much needed down time

In addition to all the hustle and bustle that was already going on around here, we had a bit of trauma last Monday night with Pop's cat, Tom. First, a little background info: In a nut shell (so to speak), Tom is... 'special' -the last vet we took him to told us he thought Tom was psychotic (after said vet was forced to don elbow length leather gloves and a long handled net in order to capture Tom, who was in hyper freak-out mode, darting around an exam room that was roughly the size of a bedroom closet, hissing, growling and ready to eat the face off of anyone who got too close) anyhow, he's always been a bit neurotic, constantly licking and scratching himself (fleas and flea allergies have been ruled out) but Monday night we noticed that his scratching had gotten so severe, his head and shoulders were virtually one giant scab, he also had open sores that were bleeding -the poor dude was a mess.
Obviously Tom needed to go to the vet but considering that the last vet had said it "might be more humane to euthanize Tom than put him thru another visit to the vet", I was worried about trying to take him back there. I decided to stop by the vet's office the next morning and explain the situation and asked if they'd see him, the receptionist remembered Tom from the last visit (I'm telling you, it was AWFUL!) but said they had an extra doc on duty and they could see him that afternoon. The receptionist mentioned that they might need to tranquilize him and would that be okay?! Uhm... yes, by all means, and while you're at it how about a little sumpin'-sumpin' for me too?! Ugh, great -my aunt and uncle were coming that afternoon... and I need to pick Matt up from summer school... oh well, we'd make it work.
Came home to get ready to load up the psycho cat but could only find 1/2 of the cat carrier... wth!? I'm already a nervous wreck and now I have to figure out how I'm going to get our feline Cujo from point A to point B without being confined?! ...I don't think so. After a few frantic calls to my hubs, where I may have threatened to set his boat on fire, the rest of the carrier was found and Andrew was able to drop Tom into the carrier. Okay, the mere fact that Tom was able to be dropped into the carrier rather than stuffed, crammed or otherwise violently inserted was proof that he wasn't feeling well.
Arriving at the vet's office, I learned that the doc we'd be seeing was new there... in fact, it was her first day. I couldn't help thinking that after this experience, it might very well be her last day as well... I sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be traumatized forever. When she came into the exam room, I nervously explained Tom's history of going ape-shit once being released and I warned her that once the genie was out of the bottle, so to speak, it might not be so easy to put him back (without the help of a tranqilizer dart).
I have to hand it to this chick, she might have been a little leery at first but she was always in control. She opened that carrier and calmly grabbed Tom and then with the help of a tech she was able to take his temprature (which earned her some well deserved growls and hisses) then she looked at his teef and examined his owies... and then gave him a couple of shots -a steroid to stop the itching and an antibiotic to stop any infections and she applied a topical treatment for parasites. Amazingly, when it was all said and done, there was no bloodshed and she still had all ten fingers! Hmmm... can you guess who we're going to ask for should the need arise for another visit to the vet?! Doc Renner is my hero! :)

Whew! Tom was all fixed up and loaded back into the car, I remembered to gather up Matt from summer school and just as we were racing home, Andrew called to let me know that Aunt Ruby and Uncle Bob had arrived... the day hadn't gone as I'd planned but in the end it all worked out just fine, although I'm not sure Tom would agree.

I thoroughly enjoyed the time with my aunt and uncle -they were here Tuesday thru Friday and we had a nice, relaxing visit. We did some sightseeing in Ferndale and around old town Eureka and of course, lots of chatting and catching up. I hadn't seen them since my mom died last year... hard to believe it was a year July 5th... *sigh* Anyway, it was great to see them and I'm already looking forward to them coming back next summer -they're good peeps.

Jack took the kids up to the lake on Thursday for the long holiday weekend, and I was going to drive up late Friday or early Saturday but I was exhausted. I ended up staying home which gave me a couple of days to regroup and get things back to 'normal' around here. The peace and quiet was just what I needed. I read an awesome book (Driving Sideways by Jess Riley... omg, I laughed out loud so many times... LOVE her style!) and *insert happy dance here* I got to sleep in for the first time in a loooong time... and it was grrrreat! Pop and I went out to lunch on Saturday and spent part of the afternoon playing with his new power chair -now he's literally 'hell on wheels'! :) Today I dragged him with me to Costco just to get him out of the house for a bit -I'm so glad to have him here, we really do have fun together.

The family got home late this evening and it sounds like they had a great time too. Tomorrow it's back to the grindstone for some of us -back to work for Jack, summer school for Matt, which means I'll be draggin me arse out of bed early too... but it's all good! :) I'm happy to report that Tom is doing 100% better which has done wonders for his disposition -he really is a great kitty... as long as you don't piss him off!

Been a busy bee these past few weeks...

Nothing like finding out company is on their way, to get me offa my ass and kicked into high gear -lol! I found out my aunt and uncle are making the long trek from East Tennessee, driving all the way out here to Cali to attend a wedding, visiting friends and family along the way, and they're going to be in my neck o' the woods early next week. I'm completely stoked but when I realized they'd be staying with us for a few days, I freaked a little (okay, a lot) because we've never really had house guests -well, aside from my mom or Shayna and her brood -but that doesn't really count because they already knew we were slobs and chose to come anyway, my aunt and uncle on the other hand, don't really know what they're getting into...

Anyway, I've had several projects in the works over the past few months, many of which were close to completion but not quite to the point where I could cross them off my to-do list... my tendancy to get distracted and move on to other things has been out of control lately... SO, I've been rushing around like a crazy chick (don't be alarmed, I've had plenty of practice with this) dotting my t's and crossing my i's... tending to odds and ends and trying to make the house look like a family lives here instead of a pack of transient college kids. I've been a whirling dervish, RE-re-painting my front door (the red just wasn't workin for me, so it's back to green!), finishing up my interior painting, re-arranging and re-hanging pictures and artwork, doing a mini make over in my downstairs bathroom -installing one of those curved shower curtain rods and hanging my new shower curtain (it's WAY cute!), cleaning out kitchen cupboards to accomodate my new dishes (loooove them!), re-organizing kitchen drawers so I can convert 3 drawers into one slide out cabinet that will contain my trash and recycle bins so I can finally (after 13 years) get rid of the trash can that's been parked in front of my kitchen sink.... oh, and I've been doing LOTS of gardening.

Like I said ...a whirling dervish, but I have to say, that as busy and tired as I've been lately, I'm SO pleased with the changes around here. So many things I've said I'd get to "someday" have finally been done. I can't believe how rewarding it is at the end of the day, to fall into a heap on the couch and look around at all the changes taking place and realize that our house has fianlly gone from homely to homey. LOL!

go speed racer! go speed racer! go speed racer, go-o-o-o-o-o-o!

...to traffic violaters school. *sigh*

cripes, I've always sorta toyed with the idea of going back to school to further my edjumacayshun but I never thought I'd be going so I could keep a stinkin speeding ticket off my otherwise spotless driving record. GAAAAH! Well, that's not really true, way back at the end of February, I actually had a premonition that something like this might happen. Sure enough, about a month later, I got pulled over on a curvy, mountainous road when Smokey clocked me going 72 mph in a, uhm, ...55 mph zone. {what can I say, the car has a mind of it's own, lol!}.



Anyway, the po-po was pretty cool (aside from the fact that he actually issued me the freaking ticket) -he only wrote me up for doing 65 mph so I'd be eligible for traffic school and could keep the ticket off my record and, most importantly, it won't jack up my insurance.

...so bright and early (8 o'stinkin clock) tomorrow morning I will be sitting in traffic violator's class, listening to the instructor expound the virtues of being a safe, courteous, law abiding driver, and counting the minutes untill the bell rings and I am free once again to hit the open road -paying close attention to the speed limit, of course.

pretty feet are happy feet...

Please, please, please ladies if you're going to wear sandals or flip-flops out in public do us all a favor: treat yourself to a pedi or invest in some decent foot care products and take care of that bidniz at home... there's almost (notice I say almost) nothing nastier than looking at someones dried out crackly feet or nasty unkempt toenails.

I'm completely grossed out by yucky feet, and I'm hyper-conscious about showing my feet in public, so while shopping for goodies to keep my feet in tip top shape, I caved and bought one of those PedEgg gizmo's that are being advertised like crazy -you've probably seen the infomercials (look how it works on this orange yet won't pop this balloon ...yaddayaddayadda). I usually refuse to buy anything that's featured in an infomercial just on principal, because they're annoying as hell. But, my need for pretty, callous-free feet got the better of me and I am now the owner of a 'professional' PedEgg.

My first thought when I looked at this thing was "dayum, this baby looks like a cheese grater" (and really, who would want to drag one of those across their tootsies?!) so I started out cautiously (I actually even read the instructions for fear of ending up with bloody stumps where my feet used to be -lol) but it's really user friendly and I got great results -plus, I got the job done much faster than when I've used a pumice stone. I'm tellin you, the PedEgg's awesome -well, except when you have to dump out the shavings {gag} -that kinda grossed me out.

but wait there's more (you knew that was coming right?)...

-it also comes with emery pads you can attach to the bottom of the egg to smooth out any little rough spots that are left over. All this for just $9.99 (don't get me started about how pissed I was when I realized that if I had ordered it off of the stinkin infomercial I could have got not one, but TWO PedEggs AND a tube of Miracle Foot Repair all for the low, low price of only $10 *gaaah* -that'll teach me!).
Serially, it's a great little gadget that lives up to the late night spiel.

But back to me and my pretty feet... whilst strolling the aisles of the Walgreen's (and tossing things willy-nilly into my cart) I also got some of the new Sally Hansen JUST FEET Spa Foot Cream... ooooh ahhh, this stuff is heaven, it feels great and has a luuuurvely lavender scent -my favorite! Now, I don't expect that peeps are going to be trying to smell my feet, but if they did, they would be in for a treat! I also bought some sassy new nail polish- which I painted on my dot's toes last night and she deemed the color to be 'stunning'- so I guess we're set for sandal season here -how about you?