Weekend Happenings

The lizard has not been seen since it’s original appearance. I am hoping it found it’s way out of my house…or at the very least out of my bedroom. I don’t know if this is true or not, but the roommate told me lizards are timid and it probably won’t come anywhere near me…awake or asleep. This tidbit of information is the only thing that is allowing me to get sleep at night (which I didn’t for 3 days.) If this is just a story she was telling me, please don’t tell me any differently.

The plus side is that this inspired me to clean my room…finally. I had Relay piles, I had camp piles, I had “I don’t know what to do with this” piles. The latter is still there, but the rest has been taken care of. I still need to clean off my desk, but I’m in no hurry to do that. Though, it’s amazing what I find when I clean off my desk.

Another area that needed some attention is my “to be shredded” pile. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate that needs to be disposed of properly to avoid identity theft. What happened to the good old days when you could just throw away your junk mail and other stuff? Anyway, the “to be shredded” pile had gotten out of control and I really didn’t want to spend an entire day shredding stuff, so I got this BRIGHT idea. Since I was grilling dinner that night on my charcoal grill, I thought I would just go ahead and burn my bills instead of shredding them – thinking it would be faster. It might have been if I hadn’t put ALL of them in there at one time.

Before you say it, yes I know that it was probably illegal, but since I don’t personally know any fire fighters (sadly enough) I figure I’m safe telling this story. I was being VERY careful in my endeavor. I hosed down the yard, kept the hose on as I stood right by the grill. I even closed the lid on the grill at first to keep the ash from flying out (even though it was not windy). Closing the grill just made it smoke really bad. A few minutes into it, I started to hear fire trucks and feared that one of my neighbors called the fire department because they could smell the smoke. But when the fire department didn’t show up at my house, I figured I was safe.

Really, there was no major incident – but it was still smoking on Sunday afternoon and it didn’t cool off enough till last night for me to clean up the mess. I don’t recommend doing it, but I did manage to destroy all of my old bills and what not, so I guess I accomplished my mission.

Lizard - Day 2

Well, I never caught the lizard yesterday, so it is still somewhere loose in my house (hopefully not my bedroom...but chances are good it's still in there). There are definitely too many places for my newest, non-rent paying, resident to hide.

Last night I decided to bite the bullet and actually sleep in my bedroom. It took me for ever to get the courage to actually get in bed (after much investigation of my bed area). Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. I kept waking up thinking something was crawling on me. At around 2 a.m. when I awoke for about the 3rd or 4th time, there was a HUGE spider in the middle of my bedroom floor. I debated whether or not to sit and wait and see if the lizard would be baited by the spider, but then decided that could take hours and I didn't want that spider loose in my room too.

I have come up with a potential game plan to catch it, I just have to find something to bait it with that won't run loose in my home as well. I'll keep you posted.

Stow-Away

I ran home at lunch, went up to my bedroom and low and behold, there is a LIZARD in my bedroom! I will not be sleeping in that room until I catch it...then again it could move throughout the house. Anyone know how to catch a lizard? I don't want to kill it, but if I'm going to wake up to something on the pillow beside me in the morning, it WILL NOT be a lizard! I'll keep you posted.

Update: I was advised by our resident nature man to Google it. This wasn't much help...it was already my game plan!

Reflections on the Week:

Good Moments:
The book I had been waiting on from Amazon finally came in. Might just have to take it to camp.

Coupon came in the mail today for something I needed to buy before I left for camp.

Found a runner for my entry way on Pottery Barn clearance – very cheap. Just hope it’s the colors it appears to be. Not that I couldn’t sell it on eBay, but I really like this one, so I want it to be the right colors.

Murphy’s Law Moments:
Gas tank was on empty last night so I went to get gas. Since gas prices had been rising and it was predicted they would be $3.50 by next week, I opted to fill up completely then instead of waiting before I left town. Today, gas prices were down 10 cents!

Inevitably it will start pouring down rain the second I get ready to go outside and stop as soon as I am in some sort of shelter (office, car, or home)

Ugh! Moment:
My brakes have squealed ever since I got them replaced a couple of years ago. Recently it had gotten worse. Monday, I had them worked on…new pads. Tuesday, still squealing (though not as bad). Wednesday they worked on them again…replaced the pads (under warranty), turned rotors, and oiled “stuff”. Today, still squealing. After $200, I’m just going to learn to deal with the squeal (ooh, that rhymed).

“Are You Kidding Me?” Moment:
Followed a girl in a car on my way to the post office yesterday that seemed to be quite “impressed” with herself. She had her rear-view mirror turned in such a way that she could always see herself. No baby in the back seat. Not trying to put on make-up while she was driving (thankfully). Mirror didn’t seem to be broken. She did though appear to take every opportunity to admire herself in the mirror. Vain much? It made me laugh.

What Goes Around Comes Around

I got the results back on my MRI and everything looked “relatively normal,” so the doctor thinks it’s probably stress. But that’s not exactly what this post is about. The following are some excerpts from and email exchange with a friend today. For reasons not important, I decided it would be kind of funny to try to catch this person off guard. It sort of came back to bite me in the butt…in a funny way. Names have been omitted to protect the "not so innocent."

Me: I got the results back from my MRI. I have a tumor in my frontal lobe. Not really, and this probably would have been funnier if I could see your face. Actually, everything is fine.

Friend: Did they find anything in your frontal lobe??? =o)

Me: Well, they told me everything looked normal, so obviously they didn’t read it well enough. =o) Then again, the chiropractor told me it looked “relatively normal.” His account might be more accurate. =o) My “news” didn’t faze you at all, did it?

Friend: Well, I saw the “not really” part below the first sentence when I was reading it, so when I got to that part I already knew you were going to say “not really.” Other wise, I would have freaked out. I promise.

I forgot to tell you about [roommate] almost killing me. The ceiling in the kitchen has been leaking every time it rains. I have been to the maintenance people about it three different times already. They are getting tired of me. Anyhow, the kitchen floor was all wet yesterday morning when I got up. Why [roommate] didn’t dry it up, I don’t know. [Roommate] was in there ironing his pants. He keeps setting up the ironing board wrong and it falls down when he is ironing. I went in there to make some toast and while I was standing there putting some peanut butter on it, the ironing board fell down again. The iron landed in the water on the floor and shocked the you-know-what out of me. I let out an involuntary yelp that was kind of embarrassing while I was jumping up in the air. Every time I landed I got shocked again. Eventually I got up on the cabinet and saved myself. It was quite an experience. If you believe any of this story, you need to get a second opinion on that frontal lobe! =o)

I totally bought his story. I’m not talking to this person anymore (even if I did deserve it just a little)! =o)

In Search Of

I mentioned a while back that Hot Tamales are my new chocolate now that I have to watch my cholesterol intake. Well, I have sense found a problem with this new found addiction and it’s not weight gain. Seems if you eat too many Hot Tamales in one sitting or in one day, the ingredient that makes them hot, causes a negative side affect in the “mouthal” region. At first I couldn’t figure out why my lips were sore (especially since I hadn’t been doing anything “fun”) and I had what seemed to be cold sores in the creases of both sides of my mouth. I found myself doing a process of elimination…only to discover it was the Hot Tamales.

This doesn’t mean that I have to cut them out of my diet completely, but I did decide that I needed something new to snack on. Sweet Pickles were coming in a close second, but I knew too many of those would not be a good thing. So after much pondering, I decided that Starburst Jelly Beans would be a good replacement. Only problem…couldn’t find them anywhere anymore.

So today I got online to see if they still make Starburst Jelly Beans, and they do. Their website even had this great little Product Locator. I put in my zip code and would you know that no where within an 75 mile radius of my zip code carries Starburst Jelly Beans. I even tried putting in my mom’s zip code…no such luck. So, now I’m in search of Starburst Jelly Beans. Then again, do I really want to feed an addiction that requires so much effort? Hmmm…

It's Pretty Much Confirmed

I haven't gotten the results of today's MRI of my head yet, but I think it is safe to say that they won't be finding a thing. Twice as people were leaving work and said "good-bye" I responded with "hello". Hmmm...

My Vacation

Of course, after you read this, you’re going to think I have a warped way of “vacationing,” but when you don’t have much money, you got to do the best with what you got.

My First MRI
On Thursday, I went to the doctor because of some pains I had been having in my arms, shoulder blades and chest. Considering the blood pressure issues I had earlier, I thought it would be wise to FINALLY have this checked out (it’s had been going on for weeks). She said it wasn’t my heart, but thought that I had a pinched or damaged nerve in my neck, so she scheduled me for my first MRI ever! I’ve heard horror stories and was given some advice from previous MRI survivors. Much to my relief, it wasn’t the tube kind, but the open kind. This is where I have to tell on myself. The place was called Edmond Open MRI. This should have clued me in to the type of MRI machine they used, but I just thought that meant that anyone could come in to get an MRI. I didn’t clue in till last night when Suzy said “oh, so you had an open MRI.” I’m a little slow sometimes. As for results, well they didn’t find anything in the neck, so I get to go back in and have another one done of my head (and yes, I’ve already been told by several people that they won’t find anything.)

Painting Project
It has been a few months since I’ve taken on any major home improvement projects. On Friday/Saturday, I finally finished painting the downstairs hallway. I started the paneling last fall, and finally got to the walls. I even painted the door (thanks goes out to the roommate for prompting me to paint the door red.) Actually, this project isn’t completely done because I didn’t have anyway to paint the entire stairwell, so that will have to wait till I can hire someone to come finish it (hopefully by the end of the year). I have this great mirror I plan to hang on the wall, but I didn’t know how heavy it was and I needed to get drywall support screws that would handle the weight (since of course the studs don’t line up where I need them to.) I hope to have that hung this week. There is still some touch up work that needs to be done, but the major part is over. All I have left downstairs is to tile the hallway, kitchen, guest bath and laundry room (sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t). I also want to paint the downstairs bathroom eventually, but I don’t want to move the toilet twice, so that will get done when the tiling does (whenever that is).

White Tops
I spent some of my time off shopping for a white top to go with a pair of shorts that I bought. If I had paid close enough attention to the style of the shorts, I probably would have just returned them, but I didn’t and washed them…hence the need for the RIGHT shirt to go with them. My thought was that a baby doll top that was longer would probably work, but all the tops I bought made me look pregnant. I know the argument – those tops make most women look pregnant – but something about me seems to scream “soccer mom” (we’ll get to that in a minute) and people are always asking me how many children I have, so I would just prefer not to add to that line of questioning. Anyway, after buying (and returning) three different tops, I ended up settling on a combination that was totally unexpected, but works (and doesn’t make me look like I have a “bun in the oven”).

Haircut
So I got my hair cut again on Thursday. I liked the lady that cut it, but not thrilled about the cut. I don’t know why 1) almost every hair stylist I’ve gone to in the last two years insists on cutting my top layers too short and 2) cut my hair in such a way that I look like a soccer mom (I told you we’d get back to this discussion). It’s not bad really, just hard to style. I keep trying to find pictures of cuts I like, but everything is so weird or so ancient looking. I constantly see people that have cute hair, but I can’t seem to end up with that on my head. Maybe I just need a camera phone and start taking pictures of people I see on the street. Hopefully they won’t think I’m some stalker.

So, that was my vacation. I only got to sleep in twice, but I guess that’s better than not at all.