Spring is here (at least it feels like it today). I saw the woman that lives in the house behind me today. She was outside for the first time I've seen her all winter. You remember her. The dog hater. The mean woman.

She's still mean. She was standing on her deck this afternoon talking to someone in a neighbor's yard (loudly) about the fence and the property line and having a surveyor come out. I couldn't catch if she was taking about our fence or hers, or if she was talking about getting a survey now or when we put up our fence. But it doesn't matter. If she is still upset about the fence after all these months, or if she still thinks we encroached on her property, I'm not sure what she hopes to gain by it.

At first I started to get really upset, but then I just realized there is absolutely nothing I can do to change her opinion of me or make her be nice. I have never in my life had to struggle so hard against negative feelings toward someone. I betcha my blood pressure goes up every time I see her. I have no desire to be nice in any way to her, which, really, is not in my nature. I'm normally not hateful toward anyone. So, once again, I need to put it aside and not let her have this power over me. Who knows. Maybe some day I'll be able to see her without such a strong rush of emotion. But like Joe says, "She's old, honey. You'll outlive her." Then, I win. =)

The Beautiful People

I'm watching CSI Miami. The opening segment is showing a busy upscale hotel, and there are only beautiful women wearing mini-skirts and high heels, and well dressed handsome men hurrying through; everyone obviously has M-O-N-E-Y. Is Miami REALLY like that? Where are the old people? The fat people? The ugly people? If I move to Miami, maybe I too, will morph into one of the Beautiful People. Ha!

Another year has exited into history

Man. I cannot BELIEVE how fast 2008 slipped by.

New Year's Resolution? Perfection, of course. Perfect wife, weight, work ethic, house cleaner, budget master, etc etc. I've already failed and it's only January 3rd. =)

The REAL goals are:

1. Lose 5 pounds a month.
2. Don't say anything critical about others.

Both will be a challenge. I'm not sure which will be harder.

Wish me luck, self control and persistence!

Happy New Year.

Karaoke!

Oh my gosh! My cable company has an "On Demand" feature, and one of the options is a Free Spot with different shows that are free. Tonight I was perusing the Free Spot and I saw KARAOKE! Who can resist? So I pulled it up and found a song I thought I knew, "Survive" and loaded it up. I was a little surprised because there are no background singers or anything like that. You are the ONLY one singing. So I jump in and start singing and the first thing I notice is I can't really sing at all. It was in a key that doesn't work well with my voice. I KID YOU NOT, the dogs went nuts. They both started barking and running around like the house was coming down upon them. It was a little embarrassing and I'm glad no other humans were here. I did try another one, and it was a bit better, but both the dogs still wanted to go outside. In the pouring rain. Deep down inside I am confident that I will never do karaoke in public.

Cooking

Today, I'm cooking lasagna & goulash for meals later in the week. It smells like Italian! Lovely! Tonight I'm trying a new recipe using round steak.

It's a a dreary, rainy day which is perfect for cooking. I wonder if the weather is an effect of Ike?

Labor Day

I know Labor Day is supposed to be a day of rest from labor, but that is far from what my day was like.



Laundry

Changing sheets

Grocery store

Helping Sarah clean the house she's shacked up in

Making homemade ice cream and supper

Working on the budget

Working on work stuff



I didn't even get a nap. Oh woe is me!



Sarah called while I was making the ice cream base. She was sneezing and snuffing. She said she was trying to clean, and it was so dusty her allergies were acting up. Before I really had time to think about it, I asked her if she wanted me to come help her clean. Even as I was saying it, I was thinking, "What am I doing???" And, she gratefully accepted. I've never been there. So, I loaded up cleaning supplies and trotted over. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It looked about like her room. Eric is a "saver". The number of glass jars, plastic containers, egg cartons, bits and pieces of this and that was remarkable. So, I'm remarking on it. Reminds me of Jon's Grandma Force. Nothing was EVER EVER thrown away if something could be done with it "someday". But at least you can say, "They lived through the Great Depression" and sort of understand it. Eric is just a pack rat. Period. A couple of hours later, the furniture was vacuumed, the floors were vacuumed and everything was dusted. Hopefully Sarah won't be so miserable. Just in case, I gave her some Alavert.

Hope your day was more relaxing....

Good News

I got a letter in the mail yesterday. My blood is free of Babiosis, so it wasn't me that caused the man with the liver transplant to die. What a relief.