Going back to work next year

I don't know if you've realized this, but tomorrow is the last day of the year. It will be December 31. And then, the new year begins. On Friday, it's January. Another January. I don't have to work tomorrow or Friday, giving me a delightful four-day weekend to celebrate the beginning of 2016, which is awesome.
I've got that wonderful new-year feeling though, when I just want to clean out my house and get rid of all the old-year stuff. That task begins in the morning, friends, when I can finally take the time to put away all the Christmas presents, and unclutter all the clutter piles in the living room. And since Brian will be at work, and Sydney will only want to sit in front of the computer, I should be able to accomplish that project. With the job, my timetable to do all this cleaning out will be truncated and abbreviated. So that's a new wrinkle. This will be a busy weekend to start off the year.

My heart is heavy today, for the women

I’m having an issue. There’s so much rape in the news lately. It’s a heavy subject, and a painful one, and a scary one, and one that no woman ever wants to think about. We don’t want to think about it, but inevitably, we’re drawn into the conversation or consideration. And then we’re stuck with it rolling through our heads. It’s rolling through my head today for two reasons.

First, the news about the Japanese and Korean negotiations and absolutions about the Korean “comfort women” kidnapped and made to serve Japanese soldiers in military-ran brothels during World War II. The news itself was good, in that the Japanese government has finally taken responsibility for the atrocities committed against those women. What messed with me was the article about the women’s experiences, in their own words, and how horribly they were treated. It was disturbing, to say the very, very least.

Second, a friend of mine posted an article to Facebook about the ISIS “rape handbook,” essentially, and commented on how upsetting it was. Indeed, it must have been upsetting to read. I did not read it. I don’t need to know how a terrorist organization is terrorizing women under their umbrella. One woman commented on the link by saying that she couldn’t even bring herself to read it. I say, candidly, that I don’t know what kind of “news” he thought he was sharing by linking to the article. I feel safe in saying that probably no women did want to read that article. In my opinion, he propagated the horror by sharing the link. I know, for a fact, that his intention was not to do that, but probably to begin conversation. But here’s the thing, women don’t really want to talk about rape. We do because we shouldn’t have to be afraid, because we need to strengthen each other, and because we need to be educated. Not because it’s a news piece sent out by a terrorist group designed to do nothing but strike fear in the hearts of women around the world. They’re all, “Look what we can do. You better hope we don’t find you, too!” It’s disgusting.

And with these two bits of rape “news” in mind, I’m having a hard time focusing on being a strong woman. My heart is hurting for all those women and girls for what they went through, and what they continue to endure. All I want in this world is for women to be treated fairly, and kindly. Men who wage war by raping women are among the worst of mankind. And that weighs heavy on me today.

Because, Sydney

So this is interesting. I've blogged from work for two days in a row, and on those evenings, I've been sitting here, with no inspiration about what to write. At work, I'm all quick to type out something, but tonight, I'm all ... "duh, I don't know..." This feels like it might be giving credence to my wonderment about not blogging and being more creative in other ways. But really, all of a sudden, I'm remembering that when I worked before, and blogged from work, I never opened my computer at night. And it was awesome.
But I guess tonight, I managed to come up with something to post, right?

I like my greetings bland, you guys

I read an article the other day about someone who unapologetically and proudly says “Merry Christmas” to people as she goes through her holiday activities. To her, it’s an enthusiastic and joyful expression of her holiday, and she wants everyone to know and experience her happiness. Several times this season, I was the recipient of “Merry Christmas,” rather than the other, more “inclusive” expressions, like “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings.” At the grocery store, at Starbucks (refuting the Starbucks is anti-Christmas claims of the crazies out there), and at restaurants. It didn’t bother me, certainly, because I imagine everyone is able to say what they want to celebrate the holidays.

Me, personally? I have always preferred a solid “Happy Holidays.” I don’t know why, and I could never explain the origin of it, but to say “Merry Christmas,” feels kinda weird to me. And “Happy Holidays” is a perfect, generic, and easy expression for me.

But here’s the thing. When someone says “Merry Christmas” to me, am I compelled to say it back? Do they feel like I’m sending a gentle rebuke when I reply with “Happy Holidays” instead? I hope not. This world has gotten so crazy, that now, I fear for offending someone because I prefer an ambiguous and generic greeting, rather than the overtly religious greeting. So bizarre.

At work, with a cute haircut

ITEM!: Mom’s out shopping right now, and I’m stuck at work doing work things. Definitely not shopping with Mom. And Sydney’s with her, and doesn’t even appreciate that she’s out and about, on a Monday, shopping with my mom. Punk kid.

It’s pretty amazing how quickly the sparkle is gone from a job once it starts to seriously interfere with the fun you could be having. No doubt, next week, when Sydney’s at school, and Mom is back in California, all will be well with me being here. But today, no dice. I’m not impressed at all with my current place or predicament. We met for lunch, and that was great, but then I had to leave and come back to work.

ITEM!: I got my hair cut over the weekend, and I’m super happy with it. I had forgotten how much I enjoy this particular length of my hair. I chopped about six or seven inches off, and it’s all bouncy and cute now. I can still pull it back into a hair tie, which is awesome, but it also can be down, and not stringy-looking or blah. All I need now is to color it, and all will be well. I think the tube of color in my bathroom cabinet is brown, so that may be one of Mom’s tasks for her last night here. It’s a sad day when hair needs to be colored, rather than can be colored, you know?

ITEM!: It’s almost 2:30 p.m. Only two and a half hours until release. It doesn’t seem right to be bemoaning the three days that I have to work this week, especially when I only worked two days last week. But here it is: the last hurrah before the beginning of a new year. When we can slack off, knowing that in a few short days, we’ll have to kick it into high gear to get the new year rolling along at a smart and steady clip. And I’m super excited about 2016. All the last several years, and their corresponding EXPECTATIONs, were great and all, but I feel like this coming year, this 2016, is giving us an opportunity to really grab the bullshit by the horns and take charge of our destiny a bit.

ITEM!: I’m eager to dig into the EXPECTATIONs for 2016, for certain.

Night nights, Christmas; see you next year!

Hey guys, Christmas is over. It was a delightfully awesome several days surrounding the holiday. In fact, Mom is still here, and I still have piles of presents downstairs under and around the tree. Mom's here because she isn't leaving until Tuesday, but all the presents are still downstairs because I've been too lazy and unmotivated to put them away. Also, because I haven't had the energy to make Sydney and Brian do their own cleaning up, either.
But finally, the dishwasher is empty of random big-meal dishes, and the laundry is moving along as normal. But I have to say, I think I'm still feeling the effects of Sydney's 5:50 a.m. wake-up on Friday. I can't sleep enough the last few nights, and I am not eager to go back to work tomorrow morning. I'd rather stay home, sleep, and mosey through the house putting stuff away.
I count down the days now until I get to take down the Christmas tree and get it out of my house.
And also, counting down the rest of the days of 2015.

I don't have to work tomorrow! Yay!

So, my new boss decided that we, as a company, should have tomorrow and Thursday off, as well as Friday, so I'm a very happy camper right now. I had known definitely Friday, but then last week we heard that Thursday, too. And then this afternoon, she said that unless we felt like we had to come in tomorrow, we could not. And me being me, I am a huge fan of not going in to work if I don't have to. So now I've got the whole day to hang out with my mom and my kid, and to figure out what all needs to be done before the big day on Friday.
And come to find out, I'm in much better shape than I thought I was. I finally unloaded all the presents out of the trunk of the car, and organized them, too, and I've done pretty well for being as unorganized as I feared I was. Tomorrow, still some randoms to get done, though. And Thursday, too, but I don't feel as much a sense of urgency and/or panic as I did last night.

Christmas is almost here!

Well, it looks like I may have Christmas Eve off from the job, which is totally awesome. I was initially told that I'd have a half day, but the word came down peripherally that our entire Thursday may be at our leisure. And in conversation today, the publisher only referred to working on Tuesday and Wednesday. So that's fantastic!
Mom arrives here tomorrow, after a fashion, since she's driving here with Clyde, but she'll be in my house when I get home from work tomorrow. That makes me very happy.
The entirety of my Christmas shopping is in the trunk of my car to keep prying eyes away, so I'm at a bit of a loss right now. I don't have a single bit organized, so I'm kinda flying blind with what I've bought and what I haven't. And I don't like working that way. But I don't think I've forgotten anything. I just have a few things that I haven't done yet.
Brian and I are going shopping together on Christmas eve morning to get something for Sydney. It's going to sound weird when I say this, but that'll be the first time we've ever gone shopping together to pick something for her. We have an idea for what we want for her, so it'll be a quick and efficient trip, but I'm sure we'll have fun.
I did some "baking" tonight, in that I prepared the sugar cookie dough for Mom and Sydney to bake cookies tomorrow. We also bought the required ingredients for fudge, and pumpkin spice cake. All the Christmas dinner shopping will be done Christmas Eve morning, after my paycheck hits the bank. As it stands right now, I think Christmas will be a nice experience this year. Oh, I still haven't decided where we're having dinner Christmas Eve. I need to do that, or my mom will get mad.

I'm totally awakened to that good movie

Well, that was a totally awesome movie.
Our screening started at 9:10 a.m. We arrived at the theater at 8:40 a.m.
We had to sit in the fourth row of the huge screen.
We were so close that I had to move my head side to side to read the prologue crawl on the screen. We were so close that I spent the entire time pushing my skull into the seat back so I could make the film less blurry on my old eyes. We were so close that I'm positive we missed some of the big picture stuff because it just took over my field of vision and I couldn't concentrate on the whole.
The people in the row behind us brought their two large dogs, who were not service animals, into the theater. One of the men in that little group kept making "jokes" during the previews and into the very beginning of the movie. I was ready to beat them all up, because I was in no mood for anyone's foolishness. Including my kid's, and she gave me plenty of it. I was ready to toss her into the lobby so many times.
Brian and I have to, must, go see it again. I want to experience the entire movie again. And then, I'm going to buy the Blu-Ray. And then, we'll watch it again. ...
But I do want to see it in the theater a second time. It was really good.

May the Force be with us tomorrow

It's so late, you guys. I've been up watching the last two episodes of DaVinci's Demons, after we all watched Return of the Jedi. So, lots of stuff on the television screens tonight. Tomorrow morning, we head over to the movie theater early, because we've got tickets to the first showing of The Force Awakens. It's so early, in fact, that I'm concerned that it may be too early for buying and eating popcorn. I think I may soldier through it and eat some anyway, but at least you should know that I have concerns about it.
Brian and I are super excited to see the movie tomorrow, but our kid is not, so I think she may not actually be of our loins. We're trying to explain to her why this movie is such a huge deal, but she doesn't really care. In fact, she'd be totally happy if we left her home and went to see it without her, but I really feel like this is one of those movies she has to see, because everyone at school will be talking about it when she gets back. And she'll maybe enjoy it. I've heard it's good, though I've stayed far away from the Internet to avoid anything spoilery.

It's finally warm in my bedroom

My house gets super cold at night. We have the worst insulation in and around our windows, so cold air just seeps through them, chilling every room. We have space heaters in Sydney's room (always, since she was a baby), and in the living room downstairs. But lately, the evenings have been especially cool in my bedroom. Even with the two dogs sleeping on, and as close to, me as possible, it's been quite uncomfortable in my room.
Brian's task for today: get a space heater for the bedroom. And did he ever. I have the most beautiful, and effective, space heater in the world, and my room is deliciously comfortable. I have it on a low setting, because it simply doesn't need to be toasty in here, but I am much happier right now than I have been in this room for several days.
It's a good size, too, my heater is, and I'm happy to be living with it for the next couple months.

We don't need no stinking football

Am I the only person who enjoys the fact that Los Angeles does not have a football team? I mean, here it is, the second largest city on the country, and there’s no home-town football team for the people to cheer on. I think that’s fantastic. At the end of the day, when the city had two teams, very few people attended all the games, and the biggest claim to fame was that the Raiders stuff got all gang-related and everything.

The National Football League is pushing its agenda to get a team in L.A., and I am soundly against it. And worst of all, the organization wants to pull another team from another city and move it there. I mean, unoriginal much? We’ve already had the Rams. We’ve already had the Raiders. If they’re going to do this, they really need to start a new team, an “official” Los Angeles team, and let the surrounding community embrace it. Like, the L.A. Palm Trees or something. The L.A. Beaches, as a play on words that could almost be bad.

But on the whole, I’m still against a football team in Los Angeles. The area has the Lakers, and the Clippers, and the Kings, and the Ducks, and the Dodgers. So they really need a football team?

I enjoy that it’s a sign of the area’s individuality that there’s no football team. I enjoy that, really, the people of L.A. are more apathetic than anything about having a team in their backyard. I think that’s what makes the people there more interesting than anything. There is a serious love for football, certainly, but they’re all, “not really in my backyard, thanks so much.”

Cards are nice to get in the mail, you know

ITEM!: I got all ready to complain about the amount of Christmas cards I sent out compared to the number of cards that I received, but then I remembered that I was similarly irritated about that last year, and sure enough, I had blogged about it in December last year. Once again, I have a pile of cards to send out, and I fear that, once again, I will only get a handful back. You know the worst part? I can't conceivably cut my list to the 20 or less that I need to halve my card order. So here I am, ordering 40 cards AGAIN, and preparing to send them all out, even though I'll be disappointed in the returns AGAIN.
ITEM!: I can finally start my Christmas shopping tomorrow, and I'm super, super excited to dig in. This weekend will be amazing with the Christmas-ness that I'll get done. I have the highest hopes to get as close to being done as possible. I'm going to irritate my kid with all the stops we'll be making. A pretzel in the mall will settle her down, though.
ITEM!: I'm obsessing over the holiday because I feel drastically unprepared for it, and I sense my time slipping away like crazy. I've got so much to do and so little time for it.

"The Voice" made me see Justin Bieber. Not. Cool.

I've never seen Justin Bieber perform before, and I would like to express my profound disappointment to The Voice, for giving me that "life experience." I was fine in my life having never really even heard him sing. And I was certainly fine with never seeing him under a spotlight.
Good god, he's dancing now. Surrounded by mostly naked girls, natch. I think he just grabbed at his groin area. He's touching the hands of the girls in the audience. I hope they have sanitizer. I'm pretty sure he's got lifts in his tennies. Now, he's done. Oh Gwen, I hope you didn't hug him. He's surely crawling in weird pee-in-a-bucket diseases of some kind. Thank goodness that's over.
As for the winner of The Voice, they're just now going to tell me, but I think it'll be Barret, or Jordan, or Emily Ann. Jeffery is too cool for the "people" to have voted for him to win.
And, I was right. Jeffery was fourth. Third is Jordan.
And, I was wrong. Huh. Barret Baber was third. Second is Jordan.
And, I was wrong! Emily Anne came in second, which is awesome, because she seems like a super sweet, genuine girl. But hey you guys, Jordan won The Voice! And then they made him sing the show to its conclusion. That's rude. They're like, "Hey, show pony! Entertain us as if you have no emotions right now!" Totally not cool, The Voice. You're like making the Dancing with the Stars winner dance for their victory, which doesn't happen.
So, The Voice is over, and Gwen and Blake can go on dating in relative quietude.

I need my thumb to feel better, STAT

You know how sometimes you'll get weird little injuries that make no sense?
One of my once-a-winter issues has reappeared, and I'm not at all impressed. My hands get dry, as do everyone's, during the winter. I bulk up and use hand lotion like no one's business. But no matter what, once a winter, I get this bizarre little skin break that can be directly attributed to the dryness of my hands and fingers. It develops right at the corner where my thumb fingernail grows away from the nail bed, and cuts across to the corner of my thumb. It's not big, only about a millimeter or two, but it's a painful little punk. Every time I touch something, it splits open. Every time I move or grab at something, it splits.
It's a stupid injury, but there it is.
My solution, over the last few years, has been to slather it in Neosporin and wrap it in a bandage for a couple nights. I will do that this evening. Because even more than being stupid, the injury is annoying. And the weirdest thing is that it's here, and it'll go away, but then I won't get it again until next year. It's like a bizarre reminder of how dry my hands can get, and it's my body telling me to be more vigilant with my hand lotion. So, message received, irritating injury.

Getting a new doctor for an old dog

Brian and I took Oliver to see a new veterinarian this morning, and it turned out great, because all his old-man issues were addressed, and solutions have been implemented. My laundry list of little things were tackled, but on the whole, he's still in really good shape physically.
Having said that:
Come to find out that Ollie has been in real knee pain for the last few weeks, which is why he's been sitting weird with his left, rear leg sticking out under him. Apparently, that's a classic sign of knee pain, because it hurts him to bend the knee, so he sticks it out straight to be more comfortable. Obviously, this is distressing, so he's now on pain medication that will be given to him, most likely, all his life. And we're fine with that, because the only important thing is that he's not in pain.
He also has a skin infection, which is why he's been licking at his tummy and groin area. He's been developing little red pustules that break open and peel back. They don't hurt, but they do annoy and maybe itch. The fix for that is a medicated skin shampoo for every day. But the vet understands life, and on days that I can't do the shampooing, I have a mousse that we can apply instead. I would say that it's already started working, but I did catch him licking tonight. Though it's the fist time I found him licking since I shampooed him this morning, so that's encouraging.
He didn't present with any eye infection, but we did replace the ointment I have for treating his flair-ups when they happen. The doctor wonders if the increase in eye infections may have something to do with his cataracts. She gave us a referral to an animal opthamologist. I'll keep an eye on the eyes though, and after the next issue, and after I treat it completely and better, we'll see how it goes, and then maybe see the eye doctor.
I need to keep walking him because it'll keep and increase his leg strength, which is no problem. He walked around the whole block with Brian, Cooper and I yesterday, which I thought was too far for him, but he didn't care what I thought and did just fine.
Everything we had on our Problem List was/is manageable, though, which is the best news. He's a healthy, little dude, which is the bestest news.

Proactive cookie hoarding for the year

I just read an article online about Girl Scout cookies going digital! And I can't begin to tell you how exciting that is. Brian and I were despondent about not finding any Girl Scouts from whom we can buy some cookies this year. It's weird how they're at every store when you don't have cash, but when you're looking for them, they're like ghosts. We had to live without this year, and it was not pretty. No Samoas for Brian, no Do-S-Dos for me. I can think of nothing better than ordering our cookies online, and using a debit card, and having them land at my front door in a matter of days.
Question: can you order them all year long, or only during cookie season? I imagine it's probably just during the season, otherwise there won't be much of a rush during the few weeks that people can buy them.
There's going to be, like, a ton of cookies in my freezer. There's no better way to be sure we've got enough cookies to last the year.

A Wednesday night ITEM! list

ITEM!: Oliver sees a new vet on Saturday morning, and I'm super excited. We've been shopping around for a new dog doctor for a while, and I finally decided that I would try the place we went to for a silly emergency a couple years ago that I liked. I'm giddy to sit him down with the new doctor and go through the list of issues I'm seeing, wondering about, and dealing with. I look forward to leaving there with at least one antibiotic, a vaccine, and no doubt, a hefty bill. But no matter, it's all about Oliver. And if we like the place, it'll be Cooper's new doctor, too.
ITEM!: I just gave up on half of my magazines, and chucked them into the recycling bin. I have gone through the catalogs, as well, and found them lacking, so they're all in the recycling, too. I kept the InStyles for Mom though, since she needs stuff to read over Christmas. But even in shrinking my pile, it still is too big for my taste. I pledge to read them this weekend.
ITEM!: I need to rewrite our expenses worksheet this weekend, too. With my working, our expenses have increased, if you can believe that. Of course, it's all about the before- and after-school care. That's added $250 to our bottom line. My paycheck covers it, certainly, but I need to adjust the numbers, and my thinking, as to how much needs to go out with every paycheck. Not the best thing to do right before Christmas, but the knowingly skewed numbers, and my forgetfulness, are bugging me.
ITEM!: HBO has been replaying their broadcast of U2's Innocence and Experience Tour show from Paris, and it's been a pretty awesome thing to listen to and watch over the last few nights. It's super soothing, because I love them, and it's relaxing and motivating, because the music is lovely. I have a copy of it on the DVR, so it'll be there forever, if I want. Which I may just want. But it's on right now, and I'm enjoying it.

With practice, the violin can sound nice

Apparently, the only way I can enjoy a lovely concert of classical music is to attend one orchestrated by a group of elementary and middle school students. It wasn't terrible, but I think that was mainly because, as a group of musicians, they couldn't help but sound okay. Individually, that's a different story. But when they're all together, they rocked pretty well. I didn't recognize any of the music. I'm not sure if that's a reflection of their playing, or on me, to tell you the truth.
But as the concert rolled on the instrument playing got better, and by the end, after the choir performances, the 7th and 8th graders were pretty good. Good enough to make me hope that they might have inspired my kid to keep going with the violin and practice, if you can believe it. Time will tell if that actually happened, but I'm hoping. I think she was most impressed with their rendition of the Indiana Jones theme, which she dug.
After the concert, we went to Starbucks for drinks.

Please don't hide in the bathroom

This morning, when Sydney woke up, her Elf on the Shelf, Buddy, had a most peculiar hiding spot. He was sitting astride a wooden dinosaur skeleton ... in her bathroom. I thought it was clever, and really funny. It seemed like a perfect place for Buddy to hang out all day.
She, however, was creeped out, she told me tonight. "I don't want him in there while I'm going to the bathroom," she said to me.
I suggested to her before she went to bed that maybe she should ask Buddy to not hide in her bathroom again. She said that she already had. It made me laugh because now all I can do is wonder at the private conversations she has with that elf.

"I don't really want anything..."

Well, you guys. It's happened.
Sydney doesn't really want anything from Santa Claus for Christmas. She's got most everything that she wants, she tells me, because we spoil her, and she's happy. So now Santa gets to be "creative." I really don't know what to do with that. It's exhilarating. And it's terrifying. But I already have a pretty good idea, so there's that. Though, in the long run, my idea may end up costing more than anything she would have asked for by name.
But I'm super proud of her for saying that she doesn't want anything in particular. She's a good kid.

I'm all girl power tonight, you guys

All the articles that I've been reading lately about how women are basically raised and intimidated into being fearful of making a male stranger or acquaintance mad or think that she's a bitch just by standing up for herself have really been affecting me. I hate that it is indeed a thing where we women sometimes are "afraid" of being perceived as difficult or horrible, and that we let ourselves get pushed around because of it. I admit to that being the case with me every once in a while.
In line at Michaels today, such a situation arose. A guy moved from one line into the line I was in, but behind me. I looked at him, and then looked at the woman behind me. She was the first of three ladies who were standing behind me, waiting their turn. I made eye contact with her, and you know what she did? She just shrugged and made a face like, "Whatever, he moved there, I'm not saying anything." I have to tell you, that made me so mad. All I could think was that the guy wouldn't even try doing that in front of any other guy, or if the lady's husband was with her. It made me so mad. I was so mad that he thought he could just do that, and that no one would say anything, and then, I was furious that the lady behind me actually wasn't going to say anything. So I did.
Me: "There's a line behind me."
Dude with no regard for women in line: "Yeah, but this one was moving faster, so I thought I'd..."
Me: "You thought you'd skirt in front of all the people in this line?"
Douchebag line cutter: "Well, I was in that line, in this place, so I..."
Me: "The line is back there."
At this point, he got embarrassed at being called out for his line cutting douchebaggery. I was ignoring his attempts at justification. He moved back to his line though, saying, "I guess I'll just go back to my line, with my one item."
I ignored, again, but in my head, I'm all, 'dude, you get your one item to the other line, and shut up.' I don't give a f*ck how many items you have, you don't get to just cut in line.
The lady behind me didn't say anything to me, but I could just feel ... FEEL ... the appreciation for girl power going on behind me. And I felt super proud of myself. I stood up to the guy for the girls who wouldn't, and the outcome was favorable to all of us, except the guy, of course. Not that I care how he feels about it. He should know better than to think he can cut in line in front of anyone, whoever they are. And if he thought he could get away with it because all the people in line were women, then he should be ashamed of himself. And maybe he won't do that again.

Seriously, give us our treats back

Let's talk first-world problems tonight, shall we? Actually, it's a first-world DOG problem.
It seems as though my favorite dog treat bakery, from which I've been buying treats for Oliver (and Daisy and Cooper) for years and years, is no longer selling the nifty little treat bits, and small biscuits, anymore. I noticed a couple weeks ago that my local pet store was not carrying the full flavor selection of the little bits. I asked about the cheese flavor, and was told that they could order some for me, but that he didn't know when the store would replenish in general. I bought the oatmeal/apple treats, and the boys have been eating them. I went to the store again a couple days ago, and again, there were no cheese treats. So I hopped onto the bakery's web site, where I usually and have always ordered the treats before I found them a couple months ago in a shop around the corner from my house, and did some investigating. On that site, all the bits, except for the special holiday ones, are missing from the menu lists. Even the little bone-shaped biscuits are missing.
I'm all, "What the hell? Where are my dog treats, bitches?"
But the computer didn't answer. So I did what the women in my family always do: I wrote a letter. Imagine my irritation in not having gotten a response yet! I'm so annoyed!
I love this bakery. I always have. I am, quite literally, having anxiety about finding new treats for my kids. This is the uncoolest dog thing to happen in a super long time.

Married people conversations, part 385

Brian: "You seem tired tonight; how was your day?"
Kimmie: "Oh, it was okay. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday."
B: "Is it hard?"
K: "What? Working five days a week?"
B: "Yeah."
K: "You should try it."
That was a real conversation, friends. A real conversation.

Little light, go off and leave me alone

I'm having moderate to severe paranoia right now, based on the fact that the little green light indicating that my computer's web cam is broadcasting, is on, and I can't figure out what it's up to. I've been through the entire computer, performed two disk utility cleanses and a disk verify, and even checked out the activity monitor. I can't see where the computer is having any issues (nor can the computer itself), and there's no excess power going towards any programs that shouldn't be. I do not want to go to the Genius Bar over this, but I can't have some weird thing going on. Currently, there is a sticky note attached to the camera atop the screen. It looks classy.
Anyway, that pushed me down a wormhole of figuring out what all I have on the computer, and I managed to clear another 4 GBs of space on my hard drive. Why are photo files so flippin' large? And why do I have more than one copy of them? But really, I'd still like to know what "Other" is in regards to the nifty storage bar on in the About this Mac window, but I fear that I never will.

Happy December, people! The year's almost over

It's time for the obligatory "I can't believe it's December" post, you guys. Because this year has flown by, but you know what? I'm pretty pleased with the state of the year right now. My EXPECTATIONs for the year are in a healthy place, and while some are totally off the mark, I'm looking forward to coming up with a new list of EXPECTATIONs in a month. But that's in a month's time.
Right now, I'm feeling chilly.