Arboretum 2011

Stefanie and I took a visit to the Arboretum on Saturday with the rest of the metroplex. It was absolutely terrific. I have never been, but I know I will go again. God don't make junk, so purty pictures were easy pickin's (not that I picked the .... anyway). Here are my favorites. I thought the old ladies getting up-close and personal with the tulips was cute. Also cute was this guy, who let us walk right up to him. And there were fishies, too... I especially like the little girl sitting on the armadillo. Stefanie: Want me to climb that tree? Me: Yeah.

Gray Post for a Gray Day

I am not hungry. But still, I eat. My excuse has a name, a label I give myself: stress eater. It reminds me a bit of the Death Eaters from the Harry Potter movies, flying in silently and stealthily from who-knows-where, taking your very breath away and leaving you with nothing but sadness. Nothing especially provokes the onslaught, but you are overwhelmed and forced to surrender anyway. I must make myself more like Harry, summoning my inner strength and perhaps some supernatural beings to help me face the Death Eaters. My magic wand is but a symbol of the enormous power I have inside and just need to harness in order to secure the victory. I got this.

A Couple of Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

Started off the day with "additional tests." Here's the lovely waiting room (and don't think I didn't want to eat that entire basketful of chocolate):



By the grace of God, I was able to avoid really fattening food after that experience. The tech kept prodding me, saying "I know IT is there, I can see IT." Until this moment, I had been under the impression that IT was nothing. Now IT practically has a name, rank, and serial number, and IT was residing INSIDE ME.

Anway, after two techs and a bona fide doctor prodded me for a while and took only one picture, the doc looks at me and goes, "Oh, it's probably not cancer. It's just a lymph node or a cyst."

OK, family practitioner who ordered the further tests ... please begin telling me the truth NOW.

Anyway. Had a productive day. Great meeting with the Youth Protection folks. Lots of stuff done. Great meeting with some other folks. And a nice conversation with my friend Kim. Here I am, in a self-portrait, showing Kim my new haircut.



She'd kill me if I posted the one she sent back to show me her bad-hair day. She was concerned about her "roots for miles," but was going to "get that straightened out" tonight.

Made myself a great dinner (salmon and zucchini with onions and romas) and am now snuggled up on the couch with Macy Lou, working on Altrusa.

It was a good day.

I Got This

One of the "big projects" I've been referring to lately is one of those constant naggers that always gets pushed to the back burner for one reason or another.

"I've got too much to do to think about it right now," I'll say to myself. "When I get really ready, I'll know."

Oh yeah. And when pigs get ready, they'll fly. There is no "right time." The time is now, whether you think you're ready or not.

Fortunately, I have help. I have a cheerleader, who told me quite succinctly one day when I was struggling: You got this.

And, it seems, I do.

Now, on to today's photo. This is NOT a Chargrilled & Fruit Salad. It's a Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad (or what's left of it).

I ordered the Chargrilled & Fruit, and I was quite disappointed when this lame veggie box came out of the bag. Sheesh.

So, just for reference, here are the glamour shots of the two salads. Which looks better to you?

Stupid salad:

Or awesome salad:

Anyway, About Alice

I was searching the internet for a literary Alice character that would describe my friend, and I found this interesting site: http://www.contrariwise.org/. The site showcases "literary tattoos." Seriously, check it out.

My work friend Alice is moving to St. Louis next week. So today, Kim and I took her to lunch as a fond farewell. The bad part is Alice is leaving. She's a lot of fun. The good part is that I was able to stay on my food plan for the day by having a salad. Yummy grilled chicken, light balsamic vinaigrette, a little blue cheese, and sunflowers, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries. Seriously yummy. Sampled the sweet potato fries and fried pickles, too; I hope not enough to blow it.

I needed to get a photo of the day, so I thought Alice would be a perfect subject. Here she is.

Update from yesterday: Both big projects going well.

Today's Photo Will Be ... Conspicuously Missing

I got a haircut. I don't like it. There.

In my quest to be more professional, I got what I hoped was a cute cut. Meh. Not so much. We'll see what I can do with it tomorrow.

Still nursing the ankle. It's about as big as a grapefruit right now, and let me tell you that getting up the stairs is a huge ordeal. I'm sure Scott is tired to listening to the groaning metronome. Step ... groan ... step ... groan ... step ... groan .... Our staircase has 14 steps, and I bet it takes me a full two minutes to get to our room. Sometimes I groan extra loud just to see if he says anything.

Got some of what I hope is promising news today. And that's all I will say about that.

And I took a HUGE step on a project I am working on. That's right. I got this!

Sunday Nights Are All Right!

This will be a busy week! Tomorrow, I'm meeting our Conference chair to go over some plans, then I have a 7:30 meeting that I've been looking forward to. I plan on doing some research for a work-related project early in the week, and I'll try to fit the real work in somewhere.

I love Sunday nights. Today was a long day. Tonight I cooked dinner, started a crock-pot roast for tomorrow night (yum), and went to check on my four-legged charges. Why is it, I wonder, that animals make us so happy? When I returned, my own animals were so jealous that they wouldn't leave me alone!

After tidying the kitchen, I got some Altrusa stuff together for my meeting tomorrow, then I just decided that blogging would be the thing. As you can tell, it's all over the place tonight. Nothing really to say except Sundays are nice for relaxing. My brain isn't in overdrive and I have no deadlines looming. The laundry is in the dryer, the kid is home from spring break, and the dog is lying on the couch right next to me. Contented sigh ... with a smile.

I've decided to take a page out of my friend Kathleen's book of blogging and post a photo every day. She's much better at remembering, and she's way more interesting than I am, so many of my posts might look like this one:

This is the view from my computer tonight. Took some effort to jump through hoops to get it here, but hey, I'm a problem-solver!

I Have This Friend...

I have this friend

Who's been there to the end

Of a lot of big things in my life.

I've known her for years

And she saw all my tears

When I became this dumb dude's ex-wife.

When we disagree

It's usually on me

And it takes us a while to let go.

But then it's all right

So until the next fight

We will laugh 'til our dimples all show!

My friend has this laugh;

If you cut it in half

You could still hear it way across the room.

But her ha's make me smile

'Cause her laugh's like a pile

Of spring flowers all starting to bloom.

What's Your Yellow Brick Road Like?

While chatting with a coworker this morning, I learned of an extraordinary place in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas: the Oz Museum. And I nearly lost my marbles, right there at my desk.

I fancy myself a true Wizard of Oz fanatic. What started the conversation in the first place was a recounting of my plans for a spare room (if it is ever vacated). I own all kinds of Oz memorabilia, both movie and literary, and recently started collecting volumes of the original series. I can run the category in Jeopardy!, much to the amazement of my husband. I even played the tin man in a high school play. And God bless Jim Shore, whose series of figures based on the original characters is beginning to populate my china cabinet. People will have Christmas present ideas for me for years.

What makes Oz so special to so many people? Oh yes, there are folks who love to find allegory. Take my American History professor in college, who walked us through the symbolism of the story that mirrors the events surrounding the Industrial Revolution. OK, I can see that. And everybody knows about the whole Pink Floyd soundtrack thing, right? The point is, folks from all walks of life are fascinated by yellow bricks and ruby (or silver) slippers, flying houses and talking lions, and a whole city of little people who blindly follow a well-meaning buffoon. Hmm, getting a little closer to home on that one, huh?

Anyway, Oz is timeless. It appeals to all ages, shapes, colors, and creeds. It’s part of the American experience and the history of Hollywood. And it’s a lesson for life. The story gives us all hope to find what we’re looking for—not somewhere over the rainbow but right here in our own backyard. It reminds us that rough patches are part the journey, and that “a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”

And perhaps the best advice of all? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Catching Up

The calendar says it's been 12 days since I last posted (and even then, it wasn't my finest work). For almost two weeks I have abandoned the release that comes with forming individual word images into really long, run-on sentences that have meaning. To me, anyway. And fragments. That have impact. To me, anyway.

Sometimes I just open a new blog post and start that stream of consciousness writing that allows me to put thoughts on paper and exercise my brain. Sometimes some current event has set me off. And sometimes I just want to relate what Sybil did this week (she got a haircut!) or the latest stupid thing the boys in my house are doing. I don't care if you read. It's not about you.

Anyway, my last post was a lament, trying not to whine, about how behind I am in my life. I am happy to report that, after taking two days off this week, I have caught back up a little. My mother got groceries, the aforementioned haircut, and even a shopping trip to Walmart. Altrusa got Leadership Luncheon invitations, workshop scheduling, a master conference schedule, and even about a third of the conference program completed (by the way, that is a TON of work). And I got to sleep in for two extra days, have lunch with my husband, and leisurely shop wherever I wanted. Not that I bought much.

I am so happy with my progress that I am considering taking another day or two in the next week or so. There's still lots more Altrusa to be done in preparation for Conference, and I need to get my mom's taxes finished. I think that qualifies as personal time, don't you?

Getting Behind

I've always prided myself on being able to keep up with my deadlines and responsibilities. Somehow, I've fallen. Right now, I am behind at work and with Altrusa, and let's not even mention the housework. I need to get my mom's house ready to put on the market, and the flowerbeds at my own house need attention.

I know the problem: I have waaaay too much going on in my life. I need to simplify, and I need to rest. With my newfound health kick, I've had more energy, but that can be deceiving. I'm still not 100 percent healthy yet, so I might be smack in the middle of something and just run out of steam. That happened today. I'd gotten up early, bowled three games, grocery shopped for my mom, grocery shopped for myself, put away groceries and cleaned out the fridge, eaten a salad (!) while Scott gorged on Pizza Inn, hooked up the DirecTV receiver upstairs (let's hope this one works), cleaned the kitchen, and selected a movie, which turned out to be a dud. While walking to the theater from the parking lot, I realized I was pooped!

Sunday evenings are my quiet time. I'm vegging in front of the TV with my sweet husband, getting ready to watch a show we've been looking forward to. And, obviously, I'm online. I'd like to find an art class. I want to do something relaxing.

Does it seem strange that I want to rest, yet I want to do something else? If I had the energy, I would be working on Conference. I literally had to take two days off work (week after this coming week) to devote to it. I hope to catch up, and I hope everyone's not too mad that I waited this long to disseminate information.

OK, I'm rambling. Got to schedule a postal pickup for tomorrow and wash the supper dishes...

See you tomorrow. :)

M is for ... MANbug

This is not a real installment in Alphabet Critters. But it had to be done.

Monte Manbug was out for some lunch
When all of a sudden he had this hunch
He’d better turn around and not look like a hick,
Because some cute girl was taking his pic!

You had to be there.