I just drive him around and let him bark

1. I spent the last two days weeding the garden and I have the dirt under my fingernails to prove it. So far, I have eaten 2 salads containing items grown right in my own yard. I admit I am a tiny bit impressed with myself.

2. It’s officially summer. I know this because the lightning bugs are out in full force. I noticed them while walking the dogs around the neighborhood this evening. Watching them makes me smile. The bugs,not the dogs.

3. Ever since I lost my job 21 days ago, I’ve been trying to exercise more. I actually have more energy and am a lot calmer than I was when I was working. I wish I didn’t have the nagging worry about money, though.

4. I made fish tacos for dinner that were quite delicious, so delicious in fact that I ate way too much. I’ve been cooking more lately (see number 3) and I am not hating it nearly as much as I used to.

5. While on our walk, Kaylee, Prue and I noticed a truck driving around the neighborhood with a dog in the back. The dog was barking barking barking and the driver was driving really slow. I admit I was slightly curious and may have stared a bit, so as the truck was passing us, the driver stopped and told me: “I should do it like you, but I’ve gotten lazy. I just drive him around and let him bark.” I still get a chuckle thinking of that man driving his dog around.

6. My life is at a crossroads right now. I have so many options available to me and I really don’t know what to choose. I am hoping that fate will soon take the decision out of my hands. Though my thinking that I am in charge of my life is probably a little naive. I just hate limbo; I need to be pointed in a direction soon. Do you hear me, Fate?

7. All of a sudden, I am craving sangria. It’s a good thing I picked up a bottle at the store today.

On Fall, bathing suits and home improvement

Today is the first day of fall and this morning's chilliness definitely announced the end of summer, like a punch in the gut. It's also officially the second half of my work day and I am so tired and hungry. Maybe I should eat something?

I am hoping that a cold front is not scheduled for the first weekend of October. I have my last hurrah of summer beach trip planned and I want to be able to wear my new swimsuit. I made the mistake of trying on swimsuits late last night, since I couldn't sleep anyway, and discovered that most of mine are either too small or make me look like I am trying to be 21 years old all over again. So I got online when I first got to work this morning and bought this one. If it fits. (Please fit.) My size is fluctuating so much lately, that I am having a hard time figuring out what size to buy. I spent all day Saturday going through my clothes and now have 3 big black trash bags full to give to Goodwill. I don't know why I have been hanging on to stuff I used to wear in high school (hello, 10 year reunion that is coming up next year!). I do not think I will ever be that size again, so I was cut throat this weekend and got rid of a lot of things that I used to love. When they still fit.

This weekend was also spent cleaning out our hallway closet and finishing up our master bedroom. Dave installed the baseboards and I applied two coats of polyurethane to them. I painted the closet in that room, too. Now all we need to do is apply one light coat of paint to the entire room and closet and we'll be able to move back in. I can hardly wait until I get to sleep in my king sized bed again. If I get up in the middle of the night for any reason at all, Dave immediately rolls over and claims the entire full-sized guest bed for himself and I have to fight my way back in.

Two Important Updates:

1. My grandma is doing so much better. She's been staying with my mom since she got out of the hospital last week and I know that must be frustrating for both of them. I think she will be moving back into her little cottage very soon and she'll be back to her old tricks, as long as she takes her medication like a good girl.

2. I have kept to my exercising-during-my-lunch-break plan and it is going well. When it is too hot to walk, we have been doing yoga in an empty office using this site. I highly recommend it for people who do not have the time or inclination to go to a yoga studio (like me!) and would prefer to practice on their own time and at their own pace. At $10 a month, it's a very reasonable way to exercise.

In Which I Explain How to Avoid Being Arrested on Your Lunch Break

I've got this new plan where I exercise everyday during my lunch break and my marketing assistant and new lunch buddy at work has decided to join me. It's been about a week now and we have faithfully walked or gone to the little gym here at work every day. I didn't dare go into detail about this plan until I was sure it would not crash and burn like so many of my other attempts at exercising regularly.

Yesterday, we decided to walk down to a new subdivision that they are building near the office and L had the great idea that we should try and peek inside the half-a-million-dollar houses that were for sale. We were successfully able to enter three out of the four we tried since the back doors (and one window) had been conveniently left unlocked. We were on our third Unofficial Parade of Homes tour when I asked L, who is not a novice at this kind of thing, if she had ever been caught inside one of the houses she was exploring. Of course she had not, so we continued our perusal of the over-priced home. No more than 10 minutes later, I happened to glance out of one of the upper story windows to see a car parked on the driveway. I turned to L and said something like, "Shit There's Someone Here" as I pushed her out of my way in my desperate haste to Get The Hell Out Of There. And of course this was the house in which we had entered through a window.

We got out of the house without getting caught and were in the backyard trying to decide the best place to enter the woods so we could make our Great Escape, when a woman came out onto the second-story deck and asked, in a somewhat huffy voice, "Can I help you?" And I cheerfully answered, "Well, we were trying to decide where we would put a pool back here." Right...like she totally bought that. She just stood there, looking at us like we were a couple of derelicts, so we casually walked through the backyard to the driveway and down to the street. And would you believe the woman got into her car and followed us?! We just continued our walk, but I was a little disappointed to have to cut our tour short. Climbing all of those stairs is great exercise. As is climbing through windows.

I'm not sure what she would have done had she caught us in the house. And I don't think I want to know, since I have never been arrested and definitely don't want to be handcuffed and thrown into the back of a squad car on my lunch break. Though what a story THAT would make.

* * * * * * * * * *

Completely unrelated, I am a little worried about Kaylee. She has been fine for months, until this morning. She had another seizure as she was eating breakfast. I woke up to Dave shouting my name and I immediately knew what was wrong. We knew exactly what to do this time and we stayed calm, so I think that helped her a little bit. Dave had acted quickly to pull her into the middle of the floor, away from any objects she might have knocked into and hurt herself. And I petted her and calmly talked to her until she came out of it. Poor broken little dog. How I wish I knew what to do to keep your brain from having to reset itself.

If it makes you happy, it can't be that baaa-aaa-ad

I am excited about the next few days and I cannot wait to get out of work so that I may share my great mood with the world. Well, with my world, anyway. Which consists of Dave, three cats and two dogs. Oh, puppies, I have so much to tell you!

Here are 5 things that I am excited about:

1) February is almost over. And you know what that means...it's almost spring, baby!
2) I have two new (used) cds on order and should be holding them in my actual hands early next week. Also, they are shipping to me at work, so Dave does not even have to know! (Unless he reads this...then I'm busted. But still happy!)
3) I am cooking up a plan that is good for me and may even increase my productivity at work. Stay tuned for details.
4) I have discovered Bookmooch. And I have just requested my first two books. (Thanks, Craige, for introducing me to this!)
5) I am planning to get my permit to drive a motorcycle. And I will be negotiating the use of a scooter similar to this bad boy with my Dad, who owns two like this and has mentioned teaching me how to drive one. My commute to work is pretty easy for Atlanta, (I don't have to get on the interstate) but it is still 30 minutes one-way and if gas prices continue to increase the way they are increasing right now, then a scooter or smaller motorcycle may be just the thing.

This weekend, is going to be fun, I just know it. I have a mission from Baby Catie to do something really fun before the week is out and I get bonus points for not spending any money. Catie, mission accepted. I think it's time to go exploring around Atlanta. I may even talk Dave into giving geocaching a try.

The benefits of exercise

I'm starting a new exercise regime and I desperately want to stick to it, but as it is my own self as the lone motivator, I'm not sure how successful I will be. Nevertheless, I am planning on either running or walking for at least one hour every other night. I started on Sunday by running/walking on my clothes stand treadmill for five miles!! See, I distract myself by the television that is cleverly mounted right at eye-level above the treadmill. I watched over an hour of Along Came Polly, walking during the movie and running during commercials.

Have you ever noticed that there are A LOT of commercials on TV anymore? Like an average of TEN per commercial break? I literally thought I was going to die as I was running my ass off, waiting for the damn movie to come back on. I'm sure it made for a good workout, but I realized the reason why I do not watch much television. TOO MANY DAMN COMMERCIALS!!

Anyway, back to my exercise ambitions!

I skipped Monday and Tuesday (oops, already screwing up the program). On Wednesday, I went to hot yoga. I love me some hot yoga, but I really hate the fact that I have to drive way out of my way to the yoga studio because there is not a yoga studio near me that does the hot yoga. If you've never tried hot yoga, YOU SHOULD! It is the best workout you can have while standing / laying on a little mat. It's a major workout, not too mention that you sweat your ass off (literally) in a room that is 105° and nearing 100% humidity. It sounds like it would be Hell-on-Earth, but I assure you, it feels blissful when you are done. Like you have been cleansed of all of your stress.

Since yoga was yesterday, that means that today is a day off from exercise (yea!) and tomorrow I will have to run / walk again. Just not during the commercials this time :)