Sunday, March 12, 2000

Changes in Plan

Well, I tried-- I really did.  I got back to the apartment around 2:30 yesterday afternoon; Brian had cleaned and buffed and polished and laundered his little heart out and it showed-- the apartment glowed!  But, I got sidetracked by my cross-stitch and that's about all she wrote-- well, what I wrote in the morning was all I wrote!

Plans for today, which as we all know are subject to change, are a run to Costco and then Safeway and finally, I'll probably end up at Orchard Supply-- I didn't get there yesterday and I do want to see what they've got for plants.  So even though this seems even shorter than yesterday's post, its only because I've got to get started on my day . . . too much time has passed already!

See what I mean?

I figured that because Brian's working on a new project, I'd be the one to make the Costco, Safeway and Orchard Supply runs but, Brian wanted to help and, in fact, as I write this, he is on the patio planting the tomatoes and trying to pre-Earlize the pots.  We also bought some bush beans (which end up being a vine) and a couple of tomato varieties along with a lone broccoli plant.  Groceries have been bought for the next few days and there are now enough Coca-Colas and bagels to hold Brian over a few days.

I'd forgotten that I have a few birthday presents to wrap for a certain young lady in Sacramento . . . I'm pretty sure that we've hit the nail on the head for her again.  The "her" that I'm referring to is Alexandra Leigh who will be turning four years old this week!  Once I wrap up the packages, then we'll either need to find a box here to ship everything in or leave it to find one when we get to the point of shipping it. Either way, it'll get to her on time and that's the important part!

Thanks!

To everyone who has written to congratulate me on Brian and I quitting smoking-- his official first year anniversary is tomorrow but, since we've survived this long, we figure we'll celebrate ALL of the time that's allowed!

Agenda

On the agenda for today:  I've got my nail fill, pedicure and hair to do today so I'll be exhausted by about 2pm! ;>)  Of course, that means that Brian'll be busy, too-- laundry and cleaning, hopefully.  In between he'll be "playing" at setting up the new 15 gig drive in grinch (which now contains a total of almost 30 gigs) and waiting on a FedEx shipment for everything else he needs to upgrade his systems' space.  I may stop by Orchard Supply today to see what they have for plants-- we need to start thinking about our tomato crop for the year and if there's anything else we can grow in our "garden".

More later as time permits (and I'm sure it will) . . .

Good Morning all . . .

And how is everyone this fine slept-in-and-just-gotten-up morning?  I hope everyone is fine-- if anyone from my office is reading this: THHHHHHH!! (How does one type a raspberrry??)

Anyway, we slept in cuz even though it stopped raining yesterday afternoon, we won't be able to go fishing.  So we've had a couple of ideas about where to go and what to do:  Gilroy (go to the outlets), movies (can we or do we want to sit through more than one movie), go to Sacramento (to see Brian's sister) but, so far, we haven't decided firmly on anything . . . more as the day progresses on this one, I suppose . . .

Not Good

From Michigan, my brother-in-law writes that my nephew has been in an accident-- his car is totalled but other than abdominal and neck pain, he's okay.  Aaron was rear-ended so it must've been a pretty-hard smack to total the car and cause that much pain!

**********

More later, I'm sure, as time and events unfold . . .

Waffles

I am about to make waffles for breakfast-- the way I make them is VERY low in fat-- and it reminded me of a little story that I should relay to you.

My parents were married on October 16, 1941, weeks before Pearl Harbor almost immediately followed by my father enlisting in the Navy.  One of their wedding presents was a waffle iron.  It survived all of the years of their marriage up until 1986, when my mother passed away and the waffle iron was passed on to me.  It survived all of the years that I had it until Brian came into my life, or so I thought.

One Saturday or Sunday morning soon after we moved in together, I felt the need to make waffles for us for breakfast and, afterwards as is our tradition, Brian did the clean up.  I went off to take my shower and when I came out, he was just dipping the waffle iron into the water!  My hands flew to my mouth to stifle a scream and I tried my best to simply say "No, don't do that!"  He looked at me and asked me why (while continuing to hold the iron under water) and I tried to quickly explain the age-thang to him: "Its over 50 years old-- they didn't make submersible appliances then!" "Oh," he said and quickly withdrew it from the water, he shrugged his shoulders and said "It'll be okay-- I know how to fix it."  And with that, he dunked it back down under and after rinsing it and letting it dry on the counter for the day, put it in the oven at 100degrees.

For the next few weeks, I cussed him out (in my best not really using cuss words form of cussing) telling everyone that would lend an ear about how he ruined my mother and father's waffle iron wedding gift.  Of course, a few more weeks went by and he finally insisted on having waffles for breakfast one morning.  I didn't dare plug it in for fear that it would blow up on me but, after he plugged it in, it worked just fine.  Of course, he made a point of telling everyone that I had cussed him out to that there was something I needed to correct for him-- in other words, everyone that thought he'd destroyed that waffle iron had to be corrected-- and well, they had a right to know the truth.  (That truth being that Brian doesn't understand old appliances.)

This waffle iron makes the most wonderful waffles-- not too thick and not to thin . . . just right-- to this day!

Something's Amiss

The last couple of days, I've noticed that if I save a file and publish it, it doesn't necessarily save or publish correctly.  I've had this problem on the Hearst pages as well as here in my Musings.  If you should happen to experience this cut-off, please let me know-- its just a matter of re-publishing but, it doesn't appear in all browsers all of the time!  In fact, once you view it, it'll all be there and, if you close and reopen a browser, the next time it won't be there.  I don't know what that is but maybe some of the web page gurus out there could tell me-- Brian's in the shower or I'd ask him!

And "Later" It Is!

Our adventure today consisted of driving to Gilroy, California, without using the highway system.  Quite an adventure and an interesting drive, to be sure.  Once in Gilroy, the "Garlic Capital of the World" (which I've always questioned due to the fact that I would've expected that to be somewhere at least near to Italy), we went to the outlets-- there are actually four "blocks" of outlets but we only saw two of them.  We saw Christmas gifts-to-be in the Royal Doulton store and visited the pieces of our Pfaltzgraf that are waiting to be ransomed so that they can come home.  What fun we had!!

As I moments ago pointed out to Brian, its been more than 24 hours since it rained.  I don't think for me that it would've matter what we did, as long as wherever we went or whatever we did, it wasn't raining on us at the time!  It has been raining for over a month with very few breaks in it so I'm just glad it has finally stopped, at least for one day!

I'm off to make dinner . . . rosemary chicken, I believe, with fresh broccoli flowerettes and herb-n-butter rice . . . sounds nummy, eh?

Yee-HAW!!!

Okay, so tomorrow morning when YOU get up for work, we will NOT be getting up!!  Yippee!!  I think I just need to know that, for one day, the rest of the world is working and I'm not . . . ah, yes, its the simple pleasures in life, eh?

And with that . . .

There's got to be something that has to give, right?  Well, I gave three contracts away for execution today-- that's quite a give-away!  I sent out a letter of assignment and a couple of other things that got finished fairly early on in the month for an end of quarter month.  Everything that I have left is stuff that is out for signature or review by someone else so, I have, indeed, picked an opportune time to take a 3-day weekend.  And, on top of it, Cindy, Nina, Joyce,
and Jana will be getting up to go to work tomorrow but I will NOT!! <weg>

Priceline & Shatner-- Why?

Okay, now it makes sense . . . I've been trying to figure out why William Shatner has been doing this horrible set of commercials for Priceline.com.  Believe me, I am a long-time fan of William Shatner's-- as far as I'm concerned, he doesn't have to say anything, he just has to stand there looking like he's going to say something important and I will wait to listen to it-- but I have been trying to figure out why he would stoop to do the Priceline.com ads and I now have the answer: Secret Recipe

Now, in its entirety . . .

One of the Hearst articles that I'd posted got saved in its entirety but not published in its entirety-- in fact, it stopped mid-sentence!  I've fixed it now so if you want to read "The rest of the story", its there now!  (Let me know when that happens, willya?  It has obviously taken me weeks to figure out that it was like that-- you can tell me, really!!)

Last night . . .

 . . . didn't turn out like I expected cuz How To night wasn't on, afterall.  I'd forgotten that its pledge-time on that station so, I didn't get to watch that but watched a very interesting documentary called "Hearts of Glass" which is about the Blenko Glass Company.  It really surprised me that it was as interesting as it turned out to be plus, I found a couple of art pieces that I have got to get for myself!!

Raining

Yes, its raining again today-- I'm beginning to believe that it doesn't have anything to do with washing cars.  No one would be out washing their car on a day when it is already raining so, that can't be why its raining.  The website for the lake where we go fishing says that it has started to run clear but I've got a feeling that if they updated more frequently, it would show that it is started to get cloudy again.  The run-off from the rains cause problems with that sort of thing, don'tcha know.  They're also saying that the fishing hasn't been that great but, I wouldn't care as long as we could go . . . its just been tooooooo long!

One more day!

It doesn't matter if we can't go fishing (see above)-- Brian and I are going to be NOT working when the rest of the world IS working on Friday!  The good news about that is that I'm about to close two agreements which is particularly nice because then I won't feel an obligation to check email on Friday.

Maybe we'll have to find an adventure to go on . . . I've heard Paso Robles is pretty . . .

Miscellaneous

Not much to post about today-- this is a two-edged sword, don't forget!  Anyway, its "How To" night on PBS and, there's a cross-stitch pattern with my name on it . . . have a good one.

On the Eve of . . .

This is the eve of the first anniversary of my not smoking anymore!!  This has probably been the hardest year of my life-- I desperately needed to quit smoking for a multitude of reasons and thought I would never be able to do so.  FINALLY, however, I did so!!

Just a few hints for those of you who may be contemplating starting to smoke

1.  DON'T DO IT!!!

2.  If you're going through a stressful period of your life, learn to love chocolate-- you can really quit eating chocolate a whole lot easier than you can quit smoking.

3.  DON'T DO IT!!!

4.  If you're going through a boring time in your life, join a club, buy a Harley-- do whatever it takes to NOT be bored anymore.

and this is my last hint:

5.  DON'T DO IT!!!

My motivating force to keep "quit"?  I love my husband more than ANYTHING else in this world and want to
spend a very long time with him.  My husband's family has major longevity going for it which my family does not have going for it.  I figured if I quit smoking 20 years earlier than my father did, maybe I'd be able to add 20 years onto the age that he was when he died, for myself.

It hasn't been easy-- every day, 20 times a day, I want a cigarette YET.  According to some, I will probably want a cigarette every day for the rest of my life.  I can live without that cigarette tho because I know that I am healthier now than I was a year ago and I have a lot more years ahead of me NOW that I have quit.

I try not to "sermonize" about not smoking-- I'm still in the "I don't mind smelling cigarette smoke" stage as long as its "live" cigarette smoke-- but stale? Ooh, YECK!!  I hate it! And I hate the smell of smoke (old or new) mixed with cheap perfume and people trying to mask the smell with whatever they think is covering up the smell (its not working so please stop choking the rest of us with the crappy cheap stuff and buy "Beautiful" [by Estee Lauder]).

One of the things that I'd promised myself a year ago was that I could, on every anniversary of my not smoking, have a cigarette. (Oh, the promises that one makes to oneself are weird when trying to bargain with the devil's advocate contained in one's own brain, eh?) No, I won't be having a cigarette tomorrow or any other year.  I really couldn't smoke one with a clear conscience-- for me, it'd be the equivalent of cheating on my husband and that is NOT me!!

The End Result of Quitting Smoking?

The end result is that I am no longer smoking-- its not easy-- every day I want a cigarette but there are things that are associated with that that I have to learn to control and re-learn the bad behaviors that the cigarettes replaced for me.

A week ago, I started Weight Watchers because, no matter what anyone tells you, when you quit smoking YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT because, for most smokers, you no longer have the finished-eating-so-I-need-a-cigarette cigarette to tell you when to stop eating.  That's something you have to re-learn.  I've lost 4.2 pounds in one week, thank you very much, but I don't plan to stop there!  (So now you know where I go on Monday nights and why I post early but not usually later.)  With you, my readership, knowing and, now, being a part of my Weight Watchers program vicariously, you'll add the pressure for me to stay in the program.

BTW, Brian's First Anniversary is five days after mine-- we thought it deadly for us both to quit the same day.  ;>)

Tonight's Agenda

I've got some research to do and some outlining and then, maybe some cross-stitch (I'm actually almost finished with the border at one end of the cloth!) . . . maybe more here, too.  In any event, have a good night!

**********

I forgot to mention that I voted today-- Brian's mentioned it on his site today and that's what reminded me to tell you about it.  I swore that I would vote against Tom Campbell when he ran for office-- any office and I got my chance!  He chose to run against Dianne Feinstein for the US Senate seat.  I really do hope she wins-- I've voted for her every time she's come up for re-election on it.  Being able to get rid of Tom Campbell, because he had to give up his Congressional seat, I believe, to run for the Senate, is truly a wonderfuljoyful feeling-- that'll teach those conservatives!

Brian told a humorous story about his family-- I learned early on in our marriage not to discuss politics around his family.  The funny part though is that last year, when my sister, Karen, and her husband wre visiting, we somehow ended up in a discussion about politics.  We were eating dinner and Brian was next to me when I elbowed him gently and said, "Look, Honey, that's what those Republicans we're going to cancel out look like-- aren't they cute?"   I don't know if its true that my sister and her husband vote Republican but they are from Michigan and they are conservative but most people from that area of the country are certainly more conservative than people living here-- or at least it seems that way.  (Have I dug myself out of this yet?)

Anyway, I hope that if you were supposed to vote, you did 'cuz you can't complain about the system if you don't try to change the system from the inside first.

Happy Birthday, Nancy!!

Yes, once again, that age old "holiday" has decided to descend upon yet another person in my family-- this time, my sister that is just older than me.  Nancy lives in Maine and has for about 25 years-- loves life there!  At any rate, HB, Nancy-- many more returns!

Somebody . . .

 . . . is washing their car in Northern California!!  Knock it OFF!!!!  Oh, well, it doesn't matter . . . Brian and I just decided that irrespective of whether or not we can go fishing on Friday, we're taking the day off anyway!

Despite the rain here in Northern California . . .
 

Mark K. Smith <mksmith@aroundthelake.com> from Missouri reminds me:

If you are going fishing for the first time
this year, please change all your OLD fishing
line before going!

Besides appreciating his caution (cuz I wouldn't have thought to check without it), I couldn't help responding to Mark's email simply because of his email address-- I thought it was really cool!!  And the explanation is:

The ISP is at the Lake of the Ozarks, in Mo.
They have a total of four different names to
use, but the around the lake is neat, if long.

**********

And on that note, although short, I've gotta get moving . . . more later, if time permits.

Current "Musings"

HOME

All Content Copyright © 2000  Marcia L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.