Wednesday, May 31, 2006

OUCH!

Well, last Friday at the herp meeting in Palo Alto, I fell on my ass.
HARD.

Foot went right out from under me, and splat! I went.
We were all so startled that I fell--both my friends who I
was talking with froze and stared at me, speechless.
I was stunned for a second, then started cracking up
as they both asked me "are you all right?"

For some reason, since the brain surgery, when I fall or lose
my balance badly, it makes me giddy and I start laughing.
It's kind of like I get dizzy from the fall--I am my own
amusement park ride.

I haven't fallen in years, though, and no one expects it nowadays--
least of all, me.

Of course, I migrained the next day, which usually happens when
I jar my skull.

The Ciar Finishing School

We have a visitor for the summer.
She's tiny, and cute, and has a fuzzy black butt.

Her name is Fancy, and she's Willow's cousin...
she's here for some self-esteem and confidence lessons,
as well as leash/recall/command training.
Oh, and some exercise/fun for Willow, who has gotten lazy
in her old (4 years) age.

So far she has learned "Fancy, COME" and a variation
of "Leave it!" which is a kind of a sharp scolding noise
(she's a chicken chaser, and our sedate roosters aren't
stopping it at all!).

She'll be walking on a leash soon, I think.

Willow is having a few jealousy issues, but mostly
she's happy to have someone to chew on and romp
in the grass with.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Sleep at Last!

We bought a be-ed, we bought a be-ed!

Okay, we bought a mattress-and-founda-ation, a mattress-and-founda-ation!

(doesn't scan quite as well, does it?)

I slept for the first time without pain last night!

For the detail-obsessed, it's a Simmon's Beautyrest Cunningham Plush Pillowtop.

When you go buy a bed, there's a few things to remember:

-lay on the mattress in question for at least 5 minutes, better is 15, to see if you like it (they expect this!)

-be aware bed salesman are like car salesman, and prepare accordingly. (if that's even possible)

-ask for a discount...we made noises about going elsewhere, I said I was tired and just wanted to buy now, and TTK said we should check for a deal elsewhere, then asked me if I could deal with spending more by just buying now...I turned to the salesguy and said, "Can you do better on the price?" (or some such thing)...he said "Yeah, lemme see what I can work out for you..." a bit of typing on the computer, and he offered us a 400 dollar discount.
!
So, with a $1500 price tag, and a $100 mattress protector, the total came to $1230.
And that was with delivery AND removal of 2 boxsprings and our mattress...

Still, that's the most money we've ever paid for a bed--but we budgeted it so I'm not all worried or in debt or anything.

Consumer Reports recommends that you shop around for deals because the discounts are "steep" but we just don't have a lot of good days for shopping around where we're both functioning and able to deal with salesmen, so we just bought on the spot.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Tealess no longer, but...

Yay! My tea arrived!
I ordered from Peets Coffee and Tea...it arrived the day after I ordered it. (!)

I had a free shipping code, so the price for the tea was as if I had gone to their coffee shop and
purchased it on the spot...I've become a bit of a recluse, not really wanting to drive anywhere
for days. I hate it, but most days I just can't get myself up and out...instead I clean, or tend
critters, or geek for hours, or do all the household things that have to be done.
Problem is, I don;t have the strength or stamina to get everything done that needs to be done,
so the chores start piling up. I've failed "stay-at-home-wife," I think.
Anyway, back to the tea:
So my tea arrived, and guess what--it's looseleaf!
Um, I forgot to order an infuser...

Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Tealess

Arrgh! I've run out of my favorite tea! It's called Lapsang Souchong...
It's definitely a "love it or hate it" kinda tea--ttk says it smells like burning tires. It's very piney and smoky and roasted tasting.
And I'm out!

[crave, crave, crave]

You know how when you want something but you can't have it, it makes you want it even more?
I know it's getting too hot to drink tea in the morning/afternoon, but I still want some.

Twinings makes an okay Lapsang, but none of the grocery stores carry it.
The other place I can find it, Cost Plus, has pulled all of their teas and are redesigning the labels. ! I don't care what the label looks like, just gimmee!

Okay, so I'm being a little over the top on this...but I've been without for 5 days now!


----NEWS FLASH!----

Peet's Coffee carries it, and there's one in downtown Santa Rosa!
Tomorrow is definitely a "shower and go out" day (as opposed to a "muck out the chicken coop" or "feed dead things to the reptiles" day)...!

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Ick

The dog just jumped up next to me, all cute and snuggly...then proceeded to puke.

Lovely.

And I'm in the midst of doing bills and business paperwork, so it's not like I can leap up and get away, plus even if I could I would still have to return eventually. Those of you who know me know how -sensitive- I am to puke: it makes ME puke.

TTK is Puke Patrol.

If I were PP, I'd be cleaning up my own puke alongside the cat's, every time.

Now, I've had the stomach flu for about a week now...

I think my body is just done throwing up, though--I did quite well with the dog chunks just now. I simply got up, picked up the papers she conveniently puked on, carried them into the bathroom without looking down, and dumped it into the toilet. No, not papers and all--these were important Merrill Lynch papers, so I couldn't, as much as I wanted to (I DID run them under the faucet to get the last little bits off, though).