once more unto the breach

Oh, blog. Dear blog, how I've missed thee.

It's been over a year of no writing outlet thanks to lack of time, lack of privacy, lack of...material? Eh. But here I am with a free moment and some ambition, so I'll try to do a Reader's Digest version of the past year. No pressure.

2018 was a good year. (If you don't count politics)

I went to see Hamilton in Chicago. It was awesome!

My son finally made it through his required years of education and started college. That was awesome. 

I went to a Foo Fighters concert at Wrigley Field. First time there, first concert in over 15 years. It was f*ing awesome.

Took graduated son to the Art Institute for the first time where he got to look at priceless works of art. He thought it was awesome.

Went to a smallish Comic Con - our first one - just to see what it was like. It was...interesting.

So...we have a theme. In the midst of it all, I visited my happy place a few times, saw some old friends, gained weight, quit drinking, lost weight, started doing more for myself, and have remained an all-around happy, healthy and (hopefully) wise person. I'll try to make more time for this lovely little escape in the coming year. I make no promises, but we shall see where this year takes me.

frogger

We had a little storm come through last week. It was just enough to blow a transformer in the neighborhood, leaving us without power for three hours. No wi-fi, no air conditioner, no street lights. We finally got sick of sitting in upstairs apartment that was just getting warmer and warmer, so we decided to make the most of it and go out to get ice cream. We pulled out of the darkened garage onto the extremely dark road and noticed that the road seemed to be strewn with leaves. This was somewhat odd because the leaves around here are perfectly green and are hanging on to the trees quite heartily. They're not going anywhere.

That's when we noticed...well...they weren't leaves.  It went something like this:

Pardon my lack of ink drawing skills.

Yeah. Frogs.

You see, there's a retaining pond across the street from us, where the frogs serenade us with a lovely tune every night. When the weather gets wet (which doesn't happen much these days), they venture out and about the neighborhood. It's not usually in these numbers though...

My son and I were screaming and there was nothing we could do about it.We drive forward - we run over frogs. We drive backwards to go back where we came from - we run over frogs. We stop in the middle of the road, we'd still have to move when another car came along to run over even more frogs.  There were too many to try to dodge. It was horrible. I did the only thing I could do - put my foot on the gas and get it over with, while saying mantras for and apologizing to the poor little froggies that were about to meet their demise. We finally got past the block of hopping amphibians and made our way to McDonalds, but we had no appetite. How many frogs had we possibly killed? It was like the world's worst game of Frogger.

When we went home, still in the dark as the power hadn't been restored yet, we made the decision to bypass that road and go in the back way, but once we got to the driveway, the frogs appeared again. I stopped dead in my tracks. The kid got out and started herding the cute little guys off the asphalt. When all was clear, I finally pulled into the frog-free safety of the garage.

I won't even mention the horror of the sight of many, many frog corpses strewn all over the road the next morning when I went out for my run.

A moment of silence for our green friends, please.

extro-introvert?

I'd say this sums me up pretty well...

asking for too much

There have been a few charity walks (since I can't run yet) that I've wanted to do this fall, including the Walk to End Alzheimer's of which I've been a part of for the past 3 years.  The problem with doing charity walks is that I'd have to go around ad ask for people to donate money again.  I have to say, I'm pretty sure people are sick of me (or actually people around me) asking for donations.  Maybe next year I'll be able to do it without feeling like I'm imposing.

If you're interested in making any contributions to the charities I was going to walk for, you can find the info here.

Walk to End Alzheimer's This walk was actually yesterday, but you can still donate.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer  This seems to be a newish event and is for the American Cancer Society.  It has nothing to do with the Komen Foundation, so at least you know the money will be well spent.

Heart Walk  This is for the American Heart Association.  Heart disease runs rampant on both sides of my family and before the whole cancer thing hit, I figured it was going to be the way I'd end up going.

Like I said, I'll be walking these next year (hopefully) and will be pestering everyone for money for these fine charities as opposed to my own bills.  Cheers!

things i haven't written about

I've had so many ideas for posts, posts started and never finished, thoughts that were so wonderful when they first popped into my head, but then were forgotten as soon as I got to a computer, and ideas that were just too big, that I haven't posted anything for a while.  I'll just bullet point some of the potential topics and see if anything piques your interest.

• The death of Robin Williams.  This one hit me hard.  Really hard.  We were in the generation that knew him as children as Mork, then when we were in junior high and needed a boost of inspiration, he taught us to seize the day in Dead Poets Society.  We all had the soundtrack to Good Morning Vietnam and can still to this day recite the lines of the movie along with it.  (It just hit Netflix - go for it.)  He was the genie we never had a friend like, a robot in cha-cha heels, a loony bat.  We laughed our asses off watching The Birdcage and he creeped us out in One Hour Photo.  He was one of those forces of nature that you never expected to die out.  Never - especially the way he did.
• The great spider invasion.  For some reason in the span of two days, there were three stories in the news involving spiders: Giant lake spiders in Milwaukee, Wrigley Field's press boxes being overrun by spiders, and well, now I don't remember the other one.  But anyway, it was creepy and the arachnids seemed to be invading - just like in the movies.  Where's William Shatner?

• The interesting experience of having minor surgery while completely awake.  You know, when you know they're cutting into you, pulling your skin this way and that.  You can feel it, but you can't really feel it.  It's just creepy.

Anyway, those are just a few of the things that I remember.  Just letting you know I'm still here, still have ideas from time to time.  I just suck at posting things these days.

yikes!

You know, it's intimidating enough to be calling the White House for something, but when the phone is answered by a guy who sounds like this:

It doesn't make things better.

can't do it. not today.

I had such lofty ambitions for today.  I was going to get a head start on all of my month-end reports, get some witty blogging done, write a couple of deep, lengthy emails.  It was going to be an awesome Monday.

My plans were foiled when we had storms come through in the middle of the night that woke me up and I had an awful time trying to get back to sleep.  So, I came into work missing those extra couple of hours and I've found myself sitting here not wanting to do anything, barely getting my work done, not wanting to chat with anyone, starting emails and then discarding them because the sentences usually consist of about 5 short words each.  I guess it just wasn't in the stars today.


Seriously, if you've never seen The Road to El Dorado, you need to find a copy of it right now and watch it.   It was one of two animated movies that the hubby and I didn't mind watching over and over when our kid was a toddler.  We still quote it to this day.

don't you think i look cute in this hat?

I haven't really heard from anyone since my departure from Facebook, so I just thought I'd say...

Except I'm not gay.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

Okay, I need to stop now.  This is what happens when I try to create a blog post on only four hours of sleep.

Have a loverly weekend!

oh, hello!

People seem to reading my blog again.  I guess that means I'd better start posting a little more frequently.  Ready yourselves for some more random nonsense!

morning music

The three of us like to listen to music in the mornings as we're getting ready for our day.  There's usually one point in the mornings where we're all in separate rooms listening to our own music.  I had to laugh when I realized what different playlists we were listening to.

Bathroom 1:  The hubby.  90's "alternative"

Bathroom 2: The son.  An odd mix of video game soundtracks, eminem, and current rock

Kitchen:  Me. Gypsy jazz manouche with a little Edith Piaf thrown in

 

Now, play all three of these at the same time, and you have a morning in the life of us.  (Our neighbors must love us.)

eight legs o' love - addendum

The only time I ever hit the "Subscribe" button on YouTube was when I found this guy: Ze Frank.  He's just posted his latest True Facts video, and guess what it's about this time?  Yay!

If you've never checked out these videos before, I highly recommend them...just not around your kids.

eight legs o' love

No, I'm not talking about those nasty arachnids from Hades that are out to kill us all.  I'm talking about those awesome cephalopods from the sea.

Take a bow, Tiny Gentleman Octopus

Somehow over the past couple of years, I've built up an affection for these things.  They're just so cool!  I mean, they can swim...

...they can run on two legs...

...they can blend in to almost anything...

...they are resourceful....

...they're extremely intelligent...

...and some of them are even explorers.

How could you not love them?

Okay, I'm strange.  I realize it.  You still like me anyway though, right?

apparently you don't know who i am

Lately at work I've been called "earthy" and "Bohemian"  I've been trying to figure out how they're coming up with this.  They think I know natural remedies and have a garden, and knowing the categories that my co-workers put people in, they probably think I don't shave my armpits or shower regularly or something.

Is it the fact that I don't go clothes shopping every weekend?  That I don't care about shoes?  That I know what's going on in the world?  Perhaps it's the fact that I meditate or the fact that I feel more comfortable not wearing a wig through my chemo.  I have no clue.

One person was amazed that I don't eat avocados or guacamole. "But you're so earthy - how can you not like them?"  Hate to burst your bubble, babe, but guess what else I don't like - mushrooms.  You can't get much "earthier" than fungus.  Another person asked me if I knew of any good herbs to take for some menstrual issue they had.  Ummm..no?  Call your doctor?  I will use a natural remedy here and there if I've learned one, but I certainly won't use it in place of doctor-recommended scientifically-proven medicines.

I also can't grow plants.  Not even an herb garden.  I've tried.  I don't smoke weed - never have.  I do love nature, but I don't like sleeping in it.  Nope, no tents for me.  Give me a nice cabin with plumbing, thanks.  I enjoy dressing up and wearing heels - I've done that since I was in middle school.  I take a shower every day, applying store-bought deodorant, and I certainly can't go out of the house without a bra and makeup on.

I think they'd probably run in fear from some people I know who are oh so much more "Bohemian" than I am.  Sometimes I wonder if they have any idea about real people in the great big world out there.

huh

Looking back at my previous posts, I see that I'm coming off somewhat cranky and fed up with winter.  Huh.  Go figure.

Come on, Spring!  Make me happy again!!

tired

I just can't stay awake these days.  

Yawn

I don't know if it's the season, the broken up sleep patterns I've had, stress, lack of exercise,

or a combination of all of the above. 

But as soon as I have lunch, I head back to my desk and I'm ready for a nap.

Zonk

It's a struggle to make it through the rest of the workday.

Ugh - I know things are only going to get worse, so I need to nip this in the bud.  Any suggestions?  

Coffee IV drip?

Energy shots?

Vitamins?

UV lamp?

Curl up under my desk and snooze?

I'm so tired.

how i roll

Today was kind of a crap day.  Bad news first thing in the morning that I was already expecting, but didn't want to hear the words.  Eh.  I guess every day can't be a total winner.  I did shake it off as the day went on, but I'm feeling the need to say farewell to this day in style.

With a little happiness

A little booty shaking

And a nice cold beverage

Maybe a little...

Just kidding.

Goodnight and better days!

miss ya mitt!

I went to see a plastic surgeon yesterday for reasons that I'll get into a little later and the surgeon brought out a three ring binder of before and after pictures.

We got to look through Binders Full of Women!!

Bring on the old presidential campaign memes....

Ah, fun.  Okay...carry on.

friday dance party

There are some Fridays where you just have to turn on the disco station on Pandora and shake your booty along with the music.  Join me, won't you?

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

the horror of filing

I have had this stack of files in front of me for two hours.

There are many things that are listed in that "and other tasks as assigned by your supervisor" line of my job description that I don't enjoy, but this has to be my least favorite task of them all. 

Because nobody else wants to touch these things, they pile up on top of a file cabinet that is located just outside my office window and as the pile grows, I find myself glaring at them.  I'll walk past them, thinking I should really do something about them, and then decide against it.

It's a lot like that scene in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure when the pet store is on fire and Pee-Wee runs in to save all of the animals.  They keep showing him going past the aquarium full of snakes and he looks at it like this:

He frees the monkeys, the dogs, the rats, takes the time to put the goldfish in bowls and runs them out...and then eventually those snakes are the only thing left and there's nothing he can do but take care of them.

 

 

Yep.  That's me and filing.

 

 

reason #5431 as to why i love my husband

This morning I got a message from my dear hubby with a link along with the intriguing wording:

With this you can get Matthews :) or Hemsworth for that matter.

And when I clicked the link, this headline popped up:



You need to see this hoodie. Via Topless Robot - no, it's not porn.

Back off ladies, he's all mine.

P.S. If you don't know He-Man, you won't get this at all...