Turns out I’m not all that good at keeping up with this writing a post everyday thing.

Yesterday, I had a post all ready to write about Danica Patrick’s PEAK commercial, but I couldn’t find the commercial online. I couldn’t remember exactly what she said so I couldn’t write the post.

I’m using Windows Live Writer, part of the new Windows Essentials Pack to update today. It appears to be a very efficient update method, but we’ll see how it handles images.

Today I….

Dyed my hair. My roots were showing. Ew.

Inserting pictures seems to be simple and I’ve noticed that in addition to calling out possible misspelled words with a red line, the application bolds them. There does not seem to be an autocorrect in place, but that may just be a lack of proper settings on my part.

I just reviewed the proofing settings and there does not appear to be an autocorrect feature. I’m surprised at the lack of a simple autocorrect such as i to I.

After dying my hair, cleaning up the mess and myself; I got dressed and headed out meet some friends to help them look at houses.

I stopped at the Quiktrip to grab a cup of coffee as I usually do in the morning. I have a routine for coffee getting.

1) Get cup

2) Put approximately 1/4 cup of crushed ice in cup

3) Add 2 teaspoons of sugar

4) Add two presses of the Non Dairy Creamer button (each press equals one of those little plastic things) from the machine second from the right.

5) Swirl cup

6) While swirling cup, add Original coffee; decreasing the swirl motion as the cup fills to 1” of the top of the cup. (This is important. Any more than that and it spills out of the little hole in the lid. Any less than that and I feel like I’m not getting what I am paying for.

7) Take cup to first coffee finalizing station, stir to ensure the removal of all hotspots.

Take lid from 3rd row and close cup.

9) Walk to the right, around the coffee finalizing station and through the center aisle to pay for coffee.

I know it seems like I should be on medication (don’t worry, I totally am!) but I am a person who craves structure. I need to do the same thing every morning. If I don’t, my entire day is off just a little.

This morning as I was standing at the counter paying for my obsessive compulsive cup of coffee, I heard the strains of “Welcome to the Jungle” wafting through the air. I briefly thought that it was the radio/music system in the mini-mart but dismissed that due to the less than stellar quality of the sound.

To my absolute delight, it was a cell phone ring tone belonging to the guy who was buying lottery tickets and cigarettes at the next register. Normally; this would not have elicited such a tickled reaction, but the cell phone belonged to an 60ish year old man who looked like a farmer of some sort.

He wore a plaid red/black flannel jacket, a hat that looked to be 20 years old if it was a day and jeans that had spent many a long hour doing the dirty details of farm work. He spoke in short clipped sentences; not using anymore words than were necessary to convey his point. His face bore the tale of a man who worked hard to care of his family, land and animals. The deep creases laid across his cheeks no doubt held the tension of years of stoic resolve and unwavering dependability.

The stark contrast of the strong yet unassuming farmer and the loud, unmistakable screeching of Axl Rose brought a smile to my face.  I don’t know this man and I doubt I will every see him again but I think that I was in the company of one of the good ones. I’m pretty sure of it.

Coffee in hand, I got back in the car. I had woken with a tinge of migraine so I took some Excedrin Migraine with the rest of my morning pills. I learned long ago that it was always wise to keep some Imitrex and painkillers with me when I went out. I have been caught without them on occasion and suffered the consequences. I took an Imitrex and started to make my way to meet my friends.

I was looking forward to not only seeing them but also to seeing my Realtor Josh:

Josh was extremely helpful when I was buying my home so I was quick to recommend him to my friends. If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and looking to buy, look up Josh Van Meter.

I was also looking forward to meeting the kitties that I had heard so much about!

I of course got a little lost in the apartment complex, but it was brief and painless. A parking spot was easily found and up the stairs I went (I hate stairs).

This is Butch. He’s…..butchy.

A very affectionate, carefree kitty; Butch did not bat a whisker at my presence. He recognized me as a lap and potential source of food.

Fancypants (Fancy is her real name but I like Fancypants)

This little darling initially hopped up on the coffee table and walked toward me as if she were calm. Mid-stride she realized that she didn’t know me and this meant I was there to kill her. She took off like a cat with a bottle rocket up it’s ass and remained hidden for some time. Eventually she got brave enough to poke out from under the couch and cuddle with her humans. She sniffed around me a few times and nosed my fingers but pulled away at my attempt to scritch her chin.

I left my hand stretched out and soon enough, she was rubbing against it and allowing me to pet her head.

Josh soon arrived and off we went to the first house. It was a charming place, but had obvious foundation issues and was pretty much an immediate no go. It did however have the most awesome paint job in one of the bedrooms.

After 10 minutes of internal debate (and facebookery) I’ve decided that the paint job warrants me getting up to get the camera so I can transfer the pictures in order to post it here.

Just sat down after getting camera and finding USB transferry thing. All of a sudden have to pee like a picked up toad. Gah.

The photos are being batch resized/renamed. I can’t just pull one picture out; they all have to get organized.

Ok, back to the paint job…

I lol’d.

The next house was good, save the fist hole and body shaped dent in the wall.

Back to the apartment where we bid Josh farewell. Lunch plans were made and I headed onto my most important errand of the day.

On Friday this:

left this:

here:

which resulted in something reminiscent of this:

I’m kidding; he just told me that he he forgot it and looked upset.

He asked me to go back to the office on Friday to get it, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t shrivel up and waste away if he missed one night of gaming. He watched some age-inappropriate comedy special on Comedy Central and fell asleep by 1030. Hah!

After retrieving the memory card, I headed back home. I asked another friend for his address so that I could send some Happy 40th Anniversary flowers to him. I’m sure he has no idea that I’m going to do that because my “What is your address and no I won’t tell you why I need it”? was super subtle.

Arriving at home, I told Luke that we were going to lunch with the aforementioned friends.

He got dressed while I hemorrhaged over the cost of flowers (I decided not to have them arrive today, opting for a local shop and a Thursday delivery instead). It occurs to me that this friend may very well read this post prior to said flower arriving but I’ve already typed it and I’m not deleting it.

Luke and I headed to Johnny Carino’s for lunch. I had a delectable Shrimp Scampi while Luke wolfed down a 10” pizza.

After lunch we parted ways with our friends and headed to Ross to pick up a poster frame. I want to frame the faceplates we drew at work because their current location is not optimal.

We left Ross without a frame but with a mirror for the half-bath downstairs. Target had the frame I was looking for so we grabbed it and headed home.

I had grand plans to finish taping off and starting to paint the bathroom but i was weak and my back and shoulder were complaining.

So here I sit, on the couch; watching various documentaries and food shows.

Wild Saturday night. Woooo.

Inserting and putting a border around the pictures seems pretty easy. The preview shows well, with no changes in formatting. Here’s hoping that it stays that way when I publish it.

I am tired. This is all you get.

the boy was annoyingly slapping his shoes on the floor like he was goosestepping through walmart. i warned him that if he did it again i would make him take them off.

he did it again.

Oh yes. I follow through.

He was so embarassed.

i put some paint swatches on the wall to see what the colors looked like. I did take some pictures with my point and shoot camera but I don’t know where my card reader thing is and I don’t want to look for it.

Dark Brown for the kitchen...

Light Green for the bathrooms

I did a swatch of grey in Luke’s room too and it looks pretty good. I just didn’t take a picture of it because it is upstairs and I am not.

oh. saw a limo at walmart. was so hoping it was BritBrit, but some stereotypical jogging suit with gold chain wearing mobster wannabe got out instead. I wasn’t fast enough to get a pic of him but you can see him to the right there.

It was an older limo…but still…a limo at walmart is funneh.

Don’t talk to me about how awful walmart is. I know how awful walmart is. I know that my dollars condone their actions and that my patronage allows them to operate in the manner they do.

I don’t care right now. I care about me and my own right now and walmart is cheap. If I didn’t have to worry about prices growing and packages shrinking maybe it would be different.

This animation is old but oh god we laughed sooooo hard.

He tried to go over the fence and caught his shirt…

this made me happy. yes i have a long way to go but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that number

slowly but surely

this is where I worked from all week, when I was able to be at work

The comfy chair and my makeshift desk.

worky worky. you can’t see the heating pad bursting into flames behind me

the shirt says “meat is murder. tasty tasty murder”

I am still hurting a lot and as of right now i am still running a low grade fever. I’m not concerned about the fever unless it consistently hits 101 or higher. it hasn’t gone above 100 so ok for now.

I have a love/hate relationship with hydrocodone. i am grateful for the modicum of relief it provides me but I am frustrated with how it affects my sleep. i’m frustrated that I even had to take it at all.

someday...these will be out of my life.

I should’t have to. i shouldn’t have to be in pain or worry about if i’m going to be able to do the things i need to.

if you don’t have chronic back pain you do not understand. this is not a “weekend warrior strained my back” kind of pain or a “over did it at the gym” pain. this is a constant overbearing pain. it is a pain that won’t go away with a couple tylenol and some stretching. i can’t look to next week and know that my pain will be gone.

it is both physically and emotionally painful and it is all. the. time.

it does not stop. ever.

it gets better sometimes but it never goes away.

so don’t look at me like that when I say that my back hurts. don’t patronize me when i tell you that i can’t do whatever it is that i want/need to do.

meh.

To end. 2 Cats, 1 Cup.

If you need to ask why this is funny beyond the cuteness of 2 kitties trying to get in the same cup; don't. I don't want to explain it to you.

Oh what a night….late December back in ‘63; what a very special time for me….

I was not so ok when I woke up this morning. In addition to still being very much in pain in the back area I had a vicious migraine.

I woke up at 6:30 and then apparently hit the snooze button until it was 7:40 or so. Luke has to be at school at 8 or he is considered tardy. I raced (hah!) upstairs and shouted him out of bed. 

I went downstairs to put on my shoes and take some Imitrex. He got dressed and ready in record time and we bolted out the door, all while I was tripping all over myself apologizing to him for oversleeping.

We managed to make it on time and I drove home, head throbbing intent on showering and going to work.

As I shuffled into my bedroom, Eli was curled up on the bed. This was where I made my fatal mistake and laid down on the bed “just for a minute”.

2 hours later I awoke, headache free but guilt laden. I got ready to head to Walgreens to pick up some perscriptions.

On my way out I looked at this:

I wanted to go back here.

or here....

I resisted the urge to crawl onto one of those deliciously comfy things I can sleep on and went to Walgreens.

This guy was ticking me off. He was a loud cellphone talker and pretentious to boot. He gave off that “I think I am very important” vibe that only people who are not important give off.

Obnoxious yellow shirt man.

Father and son...

It was clear that the father didn’t speak much English and initially I thought the son was helping him get his perscriptions sorted out. The son carried a plastic bag filled with prescription bottles and was serving as a translator between his father and the pharmacist.

As they carried out their business I learned that they were actually there for the mother/wife and not for the father. This may not seem super unusual, but it was the manner in which they interacted that brought a lump to my throat.

Since it was the mother and not the father that needed assistance; it would have been easier for the son to come on his own. For some reason, it was so touching to see that not only did the father who had the hurdle of not speaking English still wanted to be the one to help his wife. In addition to that; the son, who could have done this much more quickly on his own, patiently translated for both his father and the pharmacist all so his father could help his mother himself.

He did it without impatience and with a a very clear “because I want to, not because I have to” compassion.

It was very endearing.

After about 20 minutes, I was able to get my prescriptions and I toddled off to work.

At work, there was a heating pad waiting for me courtesy of Charles. I sat in my comfy chair again, heating pad on high and settled into my day.

I had a soda on the table and I wanted it a bit closer and well….the mirror that was also on the table decided it no longer wanted to be on the table. It didn’t break, but it did make Charles come into my office to see what I had done to myself.

The mirror. Also, that is the teddy bear that Amy gave me when her contract ended.

The day itself was fairly innocuous, save for having to talk to one customer who had been calling incessantly. I don’t think he’ll be calling anymore.

I am grateful for the assistance of folks at work:

Charles is fixing my console for me.

While I haven't quite burned a hole through my body, I do have quite the nice collection of discolored skin on my back. By discolored, I mean burned.

There was an event at Luke’s school tonight that I wanted to attend but he didn’t want to. Given the status of my back we decided not to go.

He had done his homework and was fully engaged in this:

Luke playing Halo

I had a mad craving for Subway so I shuffled to the car and went to Subway. I got out of the car and the deafening sound of 16.8 billion birds the trees of the parking lot.

There were about 10-15 trees spread out in the parking lot and they were all full of birds. All the birds were screaming at the top of their lungs.

Odin snuggling with meMore snugglyand more...More snugglyMore snuggly

More Snugglies

and more...

I love this little snuggly boy so much. He just plops down and sleeps on me. He is so soft and cuddly.

Part of the gameroom

This is where the fridge will go. It

This is a lot of DVDs. They are not mine though; they just reside in my house courtesy of Eric.

(Yes, I do plan on replacing those curtains.)

The one thing that irritates me about the gameroom is this fan:

I actually really like the fan itself...

It is the remote that goes with the fan that is a thorn in my side. The battery cover is missing; and so was the battery. I wasn’t to upset about that because eh, who really cares about the cover. I picked up a new battery and when I went to put it in I noticed that there was a really small relay board that connects to what I’m assuming is a really small connection on the battery cover.

The remote.

I went to the website thinking that I could just order a new remote, but I could not find one anywhere. I send them an email w/ the part number so I hope that it will be just a simple fix.

I think it’s about time to try to get some sleep. I am looking forward to the weekend and not having to get up or not feeling guilty about not getting up.

Goodnight world.