Currently Cold

Like I always do on work mornings, I am feeling the effects of staying up too late the previous night. That happens, now that I work one or two days per week, unfortunately. Each time, I swear I am going to get more sleep the night before, but it just never works out. Last night I spent most of the night lying in bed awake, reading. It beat trying to tire myself out by watching late-night tv, which is pretty limited to infomercials and those mesothelioma class action lawsuit and other lawyer commercials! Anyway, despite reading, I was still only able to get to sleep a few hours ago.

I can’t complain too much, though. It’s warm, windy, and rainy outside, thanks to TD Fay. This negated me washing my hair this morning, since it was only going to get windblown and rained on anyway. I dread getting soaked to the bone on the way in from the parking lot to the building, but an umbrella would only help protect my head. I’ll just wear my hoodie to keep from freezing. The rain may be warm, but the AC inside the building isn’t, and I’ll barely dry off before it’s time to go back out into it to come home! I’ve also gotten a few chores done and breakfast cooked since I woke up thirty minutes ago.

I bought a Sunday paper deciding I was going to start coupon-clipping again. I clipped out many, thinking I might eventually use them before they expire, but then I looked at the sale fliers for the stores I shop, and wonder what the point was when it’s still usually cheaper for me to just buy the store brand? Still, Publix and Kroger will double the coupons up to 50 cents, and if I am diligent, maybe I can catch some of this stuff on sale at some point, too. I want to learn to be more frugal!

I guess I’d better quit procrastinating and finish getting ready for work. We need to leave in twenty minutes, and it’s going to be one of those ‘late’ days anyway, since the weather is so bad.

Currently | Nervous |

Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do for good luck? Anyway, I feel like crossing myself, throwing salt over my shoulder, knocking on wood, and whatever else I can to keep my household safe. First off, we have pretty much nonstop rain through Wednesday thanks to Fay. While I love rain and storms, that much of it probably isn’t going to be good.

And….Joe got sick and threw up last night. Danny got sick this morning. I’ve got both kids home with me today. This is obviously a virus, and they both started out with headaches. I’ve had a headache. I hope I’m not next. Joe had a headache Saturday night, then got sick last night. Danny woke up with a headache a few hours ago and got sick this morning. So he got sick quicker. I had a headache last night. I hope that doesn’t mean I’m next! I feel bad that the boys are sick and miserable, but they’ll miss school. If I get sick, I guess it needs to happen today. Because if I get sick tomorrow, I miss work, and tomorrow is the only day I work.

The rest of the week isn’t any better for getting sick, either. Kickoff Dinner is tomorrow night, derby Wednesday and Thursday, and then taking the kids to their Dad on Friday. And that’s just the stuff I know right off the top of my head that we have going on.

Currently | Syncing the Chocolate |

What a day it’s been! I am so glad I chose to sleep in this morning, because it has been one aggravating mess right after the other to deal with ever since I got going.

First off, I had to check Danny out of school to take him to our local library. Seems he needed to complete a sportsmanship test and print the results out for his coach, or he won’t be able to play in tomorrow night’s jamboree. We have no printer here at home. He tried over the weekend at his dad’s, to no avail. He tried in the school library, but all non-educational sites were blocked. So, that brings us up to speed to today’s jaunt to the local library, which closed at 1PM (that’s why I had to check him out). He took the test. He got to the page to print his certificate, and the page wouldn’t load. The library tried to help us, but it was a website issue.

We got home, and even though we don’t have a printer, I tried to at least pull the page up so we could get a screen cap of the certificate. No dice. It never loaded here, either.

In desperation, I called the school and asked to be transferred to the coach. They asked me to hold, and I heard what sounded like a phone ringing and ringing and RINGING. No one ever picked up, and I never got a voice mail. Danny was in the next room, and I yelled “do these people at your school not have voice mail? I’ve been on hold FOR-EVAH!” Well, it’s not like my kid would know about voicemail, and I really hadn’t been on hold all that long. It just seemed like it.

Then, I heard a young man, one of the student aides, no doubt, say, “Uhhh….ma’am, Coach so-and-so doesn’t have voicemail yet. You can call him directly, though….” and gave me a number. Ooops. I hope none of those kids remember my voice! I know they must already think I am crazy!

So, I called the number, and guess what? I got a VOICEMAIL! Left a message detailing our little problem, and waited for the coach to call me back.

In the meantime, some music player accessories I ordered for my new phone had come in. I opened the packages, got my MicroSD card inserted, and proceeded to load the music manager software onto my computer. I started syncing my music to my phone, when the coach called back and I had to interrupt the sync to answer the call and be told that even though there was no way humanly possible to get that certificate to print out, my son still must have it or he can’t play. The coach finally told me to have Danny see one of the other coaches at school tomorrow to use his computer. Geez Louise. I hope it works tomorrow! I have had to rearrange my own schedule in order to be able to attend this jamboree with him tomorrow, and I do not like for my plans to suddenly change!

I had to reset an entire kitchen’s worth of breakers tonight, which I disabled trying to use too much stuff at once while cooking supper. By the time I checked the clock to see if I needed to start getting ready for practice, it was already too close to time for me to be able to.

I also forgot about middle school orientation last night.

And….I also have to start getting back in that dreadfully long car line at the high school every morning instead of driving through the parking lot and dropping Danny off. It didn’t hurt anyone for me to stop my car and drop him off there, but I guess that’s just too easy on my old car, and not time-consuming enough to make me late for work. Whatever. I’ll just start driving him through, around the cars sitting in line, and drop him off. They’d better not say anything to me for doing that; I absolutely have to have him there at a certain time in order to get my other son to school on time, and me to work on time.

Oh…at least I remembered to pay my insurance…otherwise I’d surely be scrambling around for affordable online car insurance!

So. Tired.

Currently | Tired |

Why is it that whenever life kicks into overdrive, and there are any number of things which could be written about, my brain shuts down? Because it does. I guess maybe it’s all just MORE stuff that others would consider boring. I’ve been tearing myself up with workouts here lately, trying to build my core and endurance. And I won’t even get into some of the crap that has caused, other than to say that I am in a lot of pain and all I really ever want to do is sleep.

Still, there hasn’t really been a dull moment around here for me.

I’ve bought some new makeup, and…….I think we have a winner! Bare Minerals it ain’t. Yet, Revlon is cruelty-free, I love mineral makeup, and I love their ColorStay line. And this stuff smells so nice and clean! The only thing is, I don’t know how this makeup will fare once I run out of my Bare Minerals Revver-Upper. I also still have to set this with a mineral veil (using my leftover Physician’s Formula for that, since Revlon does not have one that I am aware of), but overall? This is the BEST mineral makeup I’ve bought for $10-ish.

I have much planned in the way of football. The season kicks off with the jamboree Thursday. Then we have a kickoff dinner next Tuesday. I am sure volunteer concession-stand work is in order at some point in the near future. YES! Between my skating and Danny’s football, I will be out of the house most nights in the coming weeks. And in addition to that, there is orientation for Joe, book fair, and a baseball party for him. So? I am busy, and back to posting general drudgeries about my day-to-day life, but that’s okay.

In non-day-to-day life happenings, I’ve been delving more and more into my writing. I’ve had to. It’s been such an escape and therapy, and I am pretty sure it’s kept me from murder…..something I definitely don’t need on my plate.

And last, I think it’s pretty lame that a tropical storm moved over the coastal area and all we got out of it was a few hours of rain. LAME, I tell you. It’s been a nice summer, now I’m definitely ready for some more volatile weather.

Oh, and I’ve really been diggin’ Disturbed’s “Inside the Fire” here lately. Hate that I didn’t get to go see them on the Rockstar Mayhem tour

Currently | Busy, busy, busy! |

And that’s really not an accurate description of how hectic life has been here lately….not at all. I am just now getting home from a long, productive day: helping paint the field house with the touchdown club early this morning, practice, then a derby fundraiser car wash. It’s a good thing I hadn’t planned on doing any studying (I’m very interested in learning more about investments, futures trading, savings tips, and basically ANYTHING to do with getting the most out of my money in the long-term) because? Well, there just hasn’t been time lately. However, the boys are back in school. We’re getting used to our new schedule and working the kinks out. I do plan on getting back into more of the things I love as soon as time allows, and I think I am even going in the right direction, finally, when it comes to my priorities.

There is a new version of WP out, and after the fiasco of last time, I am TERRIFIED to try it!

I finally finished Outlander and am now just a chapter or two into Dragonfly in Amber. I am so confused by the storyline right now! I mean, I know who people are and what is going on, I just am not sure how they got to the point we’re at now. But I guess that is what the rest of the book is about. Speaking of….I need advil, a hot bath, and quite probably a nap.

Edit: I DID make the upgrade to WP 2.6.1, and it wasn’t nearly as painful as last time. I just hope, for the next time, that I remember the steps I took which made this one go a good bit better than the upgrade to 2.6. I still followed the directions to a t this time, and it still didn’t work for me the first few times I ftp’ed everything in. So…I just deleted everything, then added 2.6.1. And my customizations and plugins, which I had very smartly saved to my hard drive. I hope I’m ready for 2.7 in a few weeks, or whenever they release it. Seems like WP releases an upgrade, or at least a bug fix, every few weeks.

Currently | Sore |

I consider myself very lucky that I normally don’t deal with many age-associated aches and pains, but today is one of those days where I feel AT LEAST my age. Actually….I feel about 100 years old. I’m not sure how any of this happened, but last night’s practice nearly did me in. Until then, I had never had what I felt was a ‘bad’ practice on Wednesday. Thursday? Sure. But Wednesday? Usually my better night. Okay. I was somehow way off. Several unplanned falls and icky rink burn have left me feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck. Very sore. Not sore as in, worked out sore. But sore as in, I-think-I-may-have-slightly-injured-myself sore. However, the practice was productive, and I hope I am able to have a better night tonight.

The other night a rather large wolf spider found its way into my utility room. Danny captured him, and I carried him back outside. Poor guy. He didn’t want to leave the container we’d scooped him into. I don’t guess I blame him; it was rainy and cool outside! But he’d probably have eventually gotten killed inside here.

I was looking at our calendar for the next two or so months. We are going to be one BUSY family! Between me and Danny, I will be out of the house at least three, but occasionally four, nights per week! I am looking forward to it, though. I love having stuff to do! And our brush with fall-like temps this week has made me look forward to it all even more.

I’ve been budget-wrangling, and I actually did quite good this week. Guess I shouldn’t talk, since the week’s not over yet! But so far, so good.

Wow, I thought I actually had things to say. But I guess not!

Currently | Calm |

Despite yesterday’s bad start, it ended on a good note. I got productive and got some furniture moved and stuff thrown out. I got a good bit of laundry and cleaning done, and have started forming a mental shopping list (hope I don’t forget anything between now and this evening when I can shop!). Made doctor’s appointments for everyone for the next month, at least. Got something notarized for Danny to play football. And, on the short-term planning list? Get week’s shopping done this evening and tomorrow. Get tire fixed tomoroww when I’m off work. Derby car wash and Touchdown Club workday this weekend.

I also have plans with a friend for next week, and am really looking forward to it. And this past week was a very lucky week for me, as I got a fab PayU2Blog t-shirt in the mail, an ebay item I’d ordered came in, and I won a copy of Karen Erickson’s Shadow. I loved every minute of devouring Susanna and Declan’s very hot story! Thanks, Karen! That made my week

I took my supper out on the back deck yesterday evening, in the midst of our newly-mown lawn. I tried getting the boys to come with me, but no one wanted to. It was a real treat, too. The temperature was VERY pleasant, the skies were overcast to the south, yet the pinks, oranges, and purples could be seen where the clouds broke to the northwest. We are getting some fall weather early: today’s high is supposed to be in the LOWER 80s. In August, in the south. Can you believe it? We won’t break 90 all week. I love summer, but I do look forward to the more manageable temperatures.

I have work today, so I guess I’d best step away from the computer and get ready….much as I don’t want to.

Currently | Pissed. the. fuck. off! |

Because I had a flat this morning on the way home from dropping the boys off! I used to not worry about getting out of my jammies to drop the boys off, because I never had to get out of the car. These days? Too much car trouble to trust it. Anyway, thank God I got the boys dropped off, and it wasn’t in one of the car lines when it happened. Thank God I stopped at the convenience store on the way home, or else my tire would likely have fallen right off the rim before I got home. Thank God there were some off-duty firemen to help, because I had gotten my stuff out of the trunk of my car, and was totally going to attempt it myself. Who knows if that would have been successful or not?

Car trouble. I am SO over it. Unfortunately, it’s not over me. Like a stalker-ish, clueless ex-boyfriend, it follows me everywhere and decides to pop back up the minute I feel like life might finally be starting to get back to normal.

And…I tried to install a plugin last night which didn’t work. And so I removed all traces from it. Now some part of it, which isn’t in my files, is still fucking with ANOTHER plugin. I followed the directions, so I am not sure why it didn’t work to begin with, nor why it’s causing trouble now that it’s off my server. And it somehow got 5 stars!

To hell with being productive today! I am going to eat, veg in front of the tv, read, and sleep. I’m tired of this day, and I’m ready for a new one.

Currently | Contemplating Monday |

I have the day off. I desperately NEED to work, but I will enjoy having the day off, nonetheless. I imagine I will spend some time watching HGTV and debating whether to outfit my dining room with antique/thrift furniture, modern furniture, or modern furniture that will work with antique and thrift store finds. Of course, I really need to worry about replacing the fridge first. Who knows how long it will keep working this time?

I’ll also indulge in a bit of Lifetime Movie Network, do some more reading in Outlander, and hopefully make some more leeway on the housework.

So exciting!

Currently | Somewhat less frustrated with the iPod |

Mine was pretty good. Me and the iPod? We’re getting along slightly better now. But only slightly! I am sore from having what I considered to be good, productive practices on both Wednesday AND Thursday. I never feel good about practice on Thursdays, so this is huge!

Friday, Saturday, and today were spent with the boys and I mowing the lawn. It takes me forever to do the front yard and the sides of the house because of having to go around trees and bushes and such, but once we get to the back, it’s just a matter of pushing the mower around. I also pulled weeds, did nonstop dishes and laundry, and briefly wondered if I shouldn’t just call a New York Moving Company and get us out of here. They would come down all the way from New York, right?

I kid, I kid. This weekend was great! Getting up 15 minutes earlier Friday was just what we needed for everyone to get to school on time. That will definitely work. And everyone got along, and we got a lot accomplished. I can’t ask for more than that!