laura705

Today’s payday, so that’s good.  Another gorgeous day.  Yesterday it was sort of difficult to focus while working at home, but I managed.  Not very productive early on because my network connection kept quitting on me.  I don’t know if it’s our wireless at home or something at the other end.  Very annoying.  However, once I got into working on some reports using software I didn’t have to access via our network, I kept busy and worked until 6:30.  Guess that makes up for earlier.  

I didn’t even think about watching a bit of the US Open finals while it was on live or DVR’ing it, so I was surprised to learn this morning that del Potro took out Federer.  Wow! I thought Federer would be unstoppable. 

Didn’t do much of anything last night except a load of laundry, some reading, and some tv.  I also did some pushups in the basement while dealing w/ the laundry.  I used some hand weights for one set - grasped the weights instead of putting my hands directly on the the floor.  When I went to put them away, I grabbed one with one hand and then reached over with the same hand to get the other one and that’s when I mashed my right hand ring finger between the two weights.  Ouch.  Major ouch.  I now have a bruise on the fingernail - faint, but painful.  BF assures me it’s not one of those that turns dark and ugly and cause the nail to fall off. 

The boss is here all day and then goes out of town tonight for the rest of the week.  I have one meeting this afternoon.  Lunch will probably be Subway.  Tonight is the movies - The Time Traveler’s Wife.  It’ll be a good size group because several off the book club members are also going to see it.

That’s about it, so I’ll get back to work.

Another gorgeous day.  I’m back from my off-site meeting and am sitting with my laptop in the 3-season room with windows on 3 sides looking out at the yard.  Very nice seeing something other than the cube panels and files. 

Not easy to work from home.  After lunch, I think I’m going to work on a couple easy things - the monthly report input and a required compliance program.  E-mail’s been quiet today.  If I finish those two items and nothing urgent comes up I’ll work on organizing and archiving e-mail. 

I didn’t end up cycling yesterday.  I put in the eye drops, but the right eye wanted to keep watering.  I put my contacts back in and the right one was goofy, so off they came and on came the glasses.  I went to the library (I did read Fearless Fourteen, but I picked up another Evanovich novel, not a Stephanie Plum one) and then lunch (bowl of soup), then bought a milkshake after that.  I need to remember that a lot of dairy at once does not agree with me and if I want a shake, I need to share it with someone!  I really dont’ need to be drinking shakes anyway.  I bought my retractable lanyard ID badge holder - hope it’s heavier duty than the ones supplied by my employer -  and stopped at home depot, but they didn’t have anymore  yellowjacket traps.  

In the evening, dinner was salmon and a wild rice mix.  We watched the football game and the women’s US Open tennis finals.  Wow, an unseeded unranked player won it!  That Serena Williams thing earlier in the weekend was interesting.  From the behavior I saw, it seems she should have more than just a fine…  The men’s US Open finals are on this afternoon.  It will be tempting to tune in on that match…

Nothing going on tonight.  Probably will take a dog walk.  I need to institute my morning exercise routine pronto.  Everything’s going soft and jello-like and it’s not pretty!  Need to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. 

It’s mid-day Sunday.  I thought I’d take doggy for a walk and then go bicycling somewhere.  I did take doggy for his walk, along the creek.  He enjoyed it, and I also used the time to also give my mom a call.  Not easy hanging onto the dog, the phone, and picking up dog doody or giving the dog water all at once, LOL. 

Anyway, the allergies are bugging my eyes now, so I think cycling is out.  I could put my prescription eye drops in and then put my contacts back in and then go.  Hmmm.  I might put the drops in regardless of whether I cycle or not.  Yup, fall allergy season is here.  It’s just that it’s so gorgeous outside I don’t want to stay indoors, but then again I don’t want to toil in the yard either…

Friday’s book club was alright.  Everyone pretty much liked or loved the book, but there was much discussion of some of the confusing time travel sequences (in the book The Time Traveler’s Wife).  There was also a lot of kid talk - since everyone there is a mom but me.  So that gets old after a bit for me.  But what do I expect - the club was a spin-off of a 5th grade girls book club by the moms.  If anything, I’m the odd person out and need to accept the “kid talk” or find another book club.  There was a table full of food, so it wasn’t a light eating evening, even if you took small portions of everything.  I also discovered a new drink I like - Absolut Mandarin Orange vodka w/ pineapple juice - yum!  Doesn’t it even sound healthy?  :lol: 

Saturday was uneventful.  I actually slept late (10 am) and puttered quite a bit, so the day flew by.  I managed to scrub the tub, sink, and tile, do a load of laundry, and wash the bathroom floor.  Lunch was a sandwich.  Bf mowed the overly long grass.  I forget what I did during that time.  Bf sprang a bbq on me at the last moment, which he fully expected me to reject, and I did.  He showered and left and I stayed home and relaxed after taking doggy for a walk.  Dinner was popcorn, followed by crackers and dip.  I watched the movie Practical Magic (nothing spectacular) and some shows I’d dvr’d.  Went to bed late.

Well, I think I might just go to Bed Bath and Beyond and shop for accessories to match the new shower curtain we bought a few weeks ago.  Truth is that I’m having second thoughts about the curtain and I’m so now I’m not so keen on buying a bunch of stuff to match it.  Sigh.  What else?  I might eat lunch out by myself.  And after going through more old mail, I found the newsletter put out by author Janet Evanovich circa May or June for her latest book, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.  After putting it on hold at the library (online), I discovered that I might NOT have read Fearless Fourteen.  Huh.  Usually I’m on top of her new books and read them as soon as the library has them available.  Not sure what happened there.  So I might hit the library to pick that up.  I might also go to Home Depot and pick up a couple yellowjacket traps.  I know they can be a DIY thing, but I think that requires plastic soda containers, etc. and we don’t buy soda that way, so I’ll just buy the ready made. 

Okay, well that’s sort of a plan.  Nice day for a drive too, especially w/ the sun roof open.  Toodles. 

Friday, ahhhh.  Busy day so far, but it’ll soon be over.

Last night - came home from work and joined bf in sorting our neglected mail.   Not sure why we don’t just go through it all each day, but we don’t.  I sort through, pick out the important stuff (bills) and deal with that and leave the junk and less important stuff sitting until later.  Or until the stack starts to topple, lol.  Anyway, bf finished a pile of his mail.  I have a big pile left, but it’s the stuff I set aside to read later, like the newsletters from the library, 401k people, hospital, auto club, etc.  Eventually it gets old and then I toss it. 

After that was a 15 min. dog walk, grocery store, and then dinner (soup and salad).  Not fish.  I came home and made some “cookies” for book club tonight - graham crackers topped w/ a pecan/butter/sugar mixture (then baked).  Yum.  Got a good night’s sleep. 

This morning I was back up a pound.  Boo.  The morning flew by.  Boss is missing from a meeting supposed to be happening now.  We decided to wait for her.  I’m taking home my laptop this weekend because I have an off-site meeting Monday morning and I’m working from home the rest of the day. 

So tonight’s book club.  No plans rest of weekend.  Plenty to do, as always.  I feel bad I abandoned my garden project - the dreaded rock removal from a garden bed behind the house.  The good part is that when it rained throughout the summer, more stones seemed to rise from the surface (or the dirt drained away from them) and they are more visible now, so there are a lot of rocks I can just rake away.  I also think we’ll dig out our 3 dead shrubs in front and return them to the nursery for our 50% refund (credit?).  It’s a good time to plant now - cooler - so we’ll get something inexpensive and plant it.  Bf is grousing about having to replant, but it wasn’t that long ago we planted those things, so it should be easy because the shrubs obviously didn’t grow and establish good root systems, and the ground shouldn’t be too compacted and difficult to dig. 

Still have to make the decision on my new shoes - keep or return. 

Okay, boss is back.  Time for meeting.  Might or might not return to finish this up. 

I have a weird headachey feeling right now.  I guess that’s expected - I usually get a headache of some sort during TOM week. 

Not much to report.  I didn’t exercise last night.  Bf and I walked the dog.  That walk was about 15 min.  I will usually walk the dog anywhere from 15 - 40 minutes.  When I’m alone I tend to always walk a bit longer, but bf has surprised me at times, walking longer than I thought he would (he hates walking unless it’s sightseeing or hiking).  When we walk the dog by the creek, that’s usually at least 30 min.   

Last night we watched some more of the US Open Tourney.  Dinner was Trader Joe’s mini chicken tacos.  I will ask bf to thaw some fish today and we’ll have that tonight for dinner.  I think we have salmon and tilapia in the freezer.  His choice. 

I’ve been wearing my new shoes indoors for short periods of time the past couple mornings to see if I want to keep them.  They feel a bit roomy, but are okay.  It’s hard to tell if they’ll be okay for walking to/from the train just by walking around the house doing my usual morning stuff, but I can’t wear them outdoors.  And I need to decide soon, as I only have 10 days to decide (driven by the return policy), and I actually have less time than that because I need to get back there this weekend if I do intend to return them.  I think the store closes early during the week, and it would be a pain to get over there during the week anyway. 

Okay, I’m rambling.  I’ll just finish up and publish. 

No meetings today.  Yay.  My desk is a mess.  I’ll try to focus on that this afternoon.  Brought my lunch and snacks to work today.  Third day this week for the lunch - on target.  Been filling my water bottle and eating lunch outdoors.  Today it’s rf salami w/ cheese sandwich and, yes, more cherry tomatoes, lol.  Snacks are yogurt, a nectarine and a cheese stick.  That’s a lot of food, but better than the candy.  That’s gone, by the way.  Unfortunately, gone the wrong way - I ate it.  The scale was, however, kind this morning, down a pound since last Thursday.  During TOM to boot.  Wonders never cease.  Maybe it’s all the water I’ve been guzzling the past couple days. 

No plans tonight except the fish for dinner.  I like taking the dog walks in the evening.  I might try getting up early and doing my Body Electric shows or other Margaret Richard workouts in the morning before work.  For the time being.  Once it gets dark and cold, the evening dog walks will lessen.  Then I’ll go back to the gym, along with the masses. 

Planning a trip to visit bf’s niece in October.  Then we’ll stop on the way back and visit some friends and maybe wineries in the area.  Need to book lodging soon as I just read an article that there are special doings in that area at that time that make it a popular destination. 

Okay, back to work. 

Alright, hump day already! 

Yesterday was an awful food day for me.  I ended up buying a bag of candy and made a good dent in it, and it’s tempting me again today. 

I wasn’t very productive at work yesterday.  Some days I should probably pay my employer instead of them paying me.  I also slacked off on exercising last night.  Instead, we took doggy for a walk.  Dinner was the last of the pulled pork.  I watched a rerun of Drop Dead Diva that I’d recorded the other night and that was about it. 

Today, the new admin has started school and one of her classes is in the morning.  I don’t know when she’ll be in, but it’s nice to have no one across from me for a change. 

At lunch last week w/ a work buddy, we started talking about how much we disliked our new office space as compared to the former space.  We’re on a floor w/ a total of about 20 people, not including those in our data center and mailroom areas on the same floor but in totally separate secured spaces.  Out of the 20, about 5-6 are employees who travel a lot and are there infrequently.  We now share the floor w/ another company that just moved in, and we need to use key codes to get into the bathrooms, and then a keycard to return to our space.  The rest of the floors of our space are fully built out and have probably 90 people per floor.  Unless others have a specific reason to visit any of the departments on our floor, no one comes to this floor, so unless we have reason to see others on another floor, we don’t interact much with others.  We miss the casual interactions.  We feel like the ugly stepchildren of the company.  My buddy has a storage area she needs to access regularly and it’s on another floor.  Duh.  On top of that, I lost my office, I now walk about 4 blocks further from the train station, and the ventilation in this space is sucky, as I’ve complained in past entries.  On the bright side, we generally have no problems getting a conference room on our floor, and the fridge in the coffee room doesn’t get too full.  And I’m not worried about one of the big shots seeing my paper-filled cubicle, lol.  I should be very thankful for a good job in a safe, decent workplace, so I’ll stop now. 

The boss is out today and tomorrow, but she’ll return on Friday.  Good enough.  I brought another turkey sandwich for lunch.  Unfortunately, bf didn’t leave quite enough turkey for me, so I supplemented that with an extra slice of cheese.  He did that with the ham last week.  We’re going to have to talk about this. 

Nothing planned for tonight.  I need to get to the gym or exercise at home.  There’s a yoga class at 7:30 I might go to.  I feel very out of shape and yoga is probably a good thing for me at this point. 

Okay, boss phoned with a project, so I better get to it. 

So it’s Tuesday.  Short work week, yay.  Otherwise, it feels like a Monday.  Ugh.  This is TOM week for me.  Double ugh.  Weight is up and I feel fat due to bloating. 

Yesterday was fine.  Lazy morning with the newspapers, then a dog walk.  At noon-ish, bf and I left the house to attend a pageant in which his niece was competing in the talent piece.  She participated in the other parts, and did well (within top 25), but she won the talent portion!  It was her first one, and I have no idea if she’ll travel to the national competition or do any other competitions/pageants in the future, but we’re very proud of her.  And to think a couple years ago she was a major brat!  It was interesting seeing the pageant.  I suppose I had a negative feeling going in, but these are not 3 year old tots dressed like hookers at the behest of their mothers, but teens who choose to compete, and I do see how it could benefit them in raising their self-esteem/confidence, poise, and communication skills. 

Dinner was grilled burgers.  Post-dinner was another dog walk and then watching the US Open tourney on tv. 

Overall, the weekend was nice.  Highlights - took dog to vet, canoed for an hour, picked up my new shoes, donated blood, went to a festival, went to the aforementioned pageant.  After it’s over, I always have regrets about all the stuff I didn’t get done, but everything will be there waiting next weekend.  I did buy a remnant of fabric that will be the back of the pillow covers I’m making.  I also dug up the receipt for the shrubs that died.  There’s a one-year guarantee on them, so bf will phone today to learn the particulars about getting replacements. 

No meetings scheduled today.  I spent a little bit of time on Friday purging some files from my desk top and need to do more.  Boss will be out of the office the rest of the week after today, so that will be perfectly lovely.  I’m actually looking forward to continuing my desk clean up, and I feel like I can spend more time on it while the boss is gone. 

Breakfast was cereal and a banana.  I avoided stopping on my way to the office for any morning snacks.  I brought a turkey and cheese sandwich on multi-grain and cherry tomatoes for lunch today.  Snacks are a granola bar and an ounce of almonds.  I’m skipping the movie tonight and will go to the gym. 

Nothing else to report, so I’ll get this published.

Yes, me posting on a Saturday. 

BF just left for a party.  The friends he’ll be with  -I know he’ll want to stay out late and I don’t like to stay out late.   Midnight, 1 - 1:30 am, okay, every once in a while.  2 am and later, nope.  A few hours is enough for me, and I hate wasting the next day sleeping late and sometimes not feeling so good due to too much liquor and/or not enough sleep.

Yesterday I got home early from work and bf and I sat in the backyard reading for a while, then went inside and heated leftovers for dinner.  I had meal 3 of a baked mostaccioli restaurant meal I had last weekend, and there’s still some leftover!!  Yes, the restaurant serves giant portions, lol.  We didn’t take doggy for a walk.  We watched tv, and eventually we both fell asleep on the reclining ends of the sofa.  I awoke at 12:30 am and brushed my teeth and went to bed.

This morning I had to do some banking, then I put the pet hammock in the back seat of the car.  I took doggy for a short walk, and then bf and I took him to the vet to have his anal glands expressed.  We told the vet we didn’t drug doggy and that we wanted to be there with him while she did the procedure.  The vet warned us if the dog was too nervous and got out of hand, she couldn’t work on him, but doggy was just fine, and it was all over in less than two minutes.  When we take him for nail trims, that’s when he behaves badly because he’s very scared (ever since he once split a nail all the way up, and the vet had to trim it very short).  Bf and I have decided to trim doggy’s nails at home.  We just hate doping him up for vet visits.  After the vet, my hair salon is a couple doors down, so we walked over and I had my stylist (who wasn’t with a client at the time) come outside and meet our dog.  (She has two dogs, a rabbit and 3 birds, so we’re always talking about our pets, lol.)

 Bf and I left the house a short time later and had lunch - middle eastern food.  Yum.  I had a chicken shawarma sandwich and bf had a lamb kebob sandwich and we also had baba ganoush.  I bought two baklava to go.  I love baklava!  After that, we spontaneously decided that it was a good day to canoe.  We went to the rental place by the bike path that I’d seen a couple months ago.  We rented a canoe and paddled around the island in the one lagoon for an hour.  We really enjoyed it.  We saw a couple ducks and even maybe a heron (not sure about that, but it was a big bird).  I’m sure our paddling technique isn’t perfect, but it was a lovely day to finall do it.  I hope to go back during the fall color season because that would be gorgeous.  The rental place is open daily for the rest of the month and then only on weekends in October. 

After that, we went to our bagel bakery to buy a couple dozen of the mini bialys we like, and then to pick up the shoes I’d ordered.  Finally, we stopped at the Eddie Bauer outlet store (everything was in the vicinity of each other).  I bought a v-neck long sleeve t-shirt and a v-neck cardigan sweater.  Bf bought two thermal henley shirts. Our shirts were all 70% off and the sweater was 10% off, so we did okay.  Especially compared to the steep price of my shoes.  I’m half hoping they don’t fit so I can return them.  My right foot has been hurting in the bunion area lately and I don’t know if any shoe is going to feel good to me, no matter how expensive and good fitting, well -  except my Birkenstocks.  Sigh.  I’ll give them a test drive indoors to give them a chance.   

The plan for tonight is to feed the dog and myself dinner.  I also need to sort my laundry and get a load going.   I’ve set several tv shows and the movie Wall-E to record on the dvr tonight, so I can watch some of that, and/or watch another episode of the Dead Zone DVD we have through Netflix.  Bf bought some cheese popcorn and I made him put it away so I don’t munch away on it.  I’m craving junk food.  This morning I skipped breakfast, but was considering stopping for a donut after I’d done my banking.  Thankfully, time didn’t allow.  I might make some regular popcorn tonight and try to go easy on the oil and butter.  I might air pop the popcorn and just add butter. 

I didn’t get a chance to shop for the pillow back fabric.  I’ll probably do that tomorrow.  Oh, I’ll post my pillow cover before and after photos.  Whoopee! 

I know, the before pillow was prettier, but I don’t have anything that really “goes” with that in the house now, so the plain fabric matches better. 

Another nice day and I’m inside.  But at least it’s Friday and the workday ends a couple hours early. 

Yesterday at work was alright, the usual.  I had lunch with a work buddy.  We went to a buffet, but not an all-you-can-eat type.  You pay by the pound, so I didn’t overdo it.  Not the healthiest stuff (a couple chicken wings in there), but portions were okay. 

At home, bf was very cranky because he’d lost his eyeglasses (very expensive, of course – aren’t they always?) sometime in the wee hours of the morning and had spent a good chunk of the day looking for them.  I started helping him look when I got home and he was getting annoyed with me asking him questions about what he was doing and where he was when they’d gone missing.  (One of the possibilities was that his glasses had fallen off into the garbage or recycling totes when he was emptying stuff into them.  The bad part was that the village had already emptied them earlier in the day.)  Anyway, he was irate and had enough of fruitless search, so we both stopped looking. 

After I changed clothes, I went to the kitchen to rustle up a snack and water.  Something caught my eye, and there were bf’s glasses, sitting in the tote on the bottom shelf of our kitchen cart, nestled among doggy’s leash, brush and other paraphernalia.  Bf has no idea how they got in there.  The funny part is that about a month ago, I found bf’s friend’s sunglass clip in there.  What a coincidence.  The next time something is lost, that’ll be the first place we look. 

I was debating going to the gym, when bf asked me if I would join him and doggy for a walk, so I did that instead.  Dinner was grilled brats and corn on the cob. 

Nothing special today.  I had cereal at home for breakfast and just had a small fruit and yogurt parfait (McD’s, saving the container for seed starting!).  The boss is working from home.  My desk is a shambles, so I need to carve out an hour and work on that.  I brought a ham and cheese sandwich and cherry tomatoes for lunch.  Snacks are a granola bar and an ounce of almonds. 

For the weekend, nothing planned except going to a festival, and I’m not sure what day we’ll do that.  Otherwise, I want to clean up the home office a bit.  I also want to get my photo files arranged and clear my camera’s memory card and the Picasa albums.  I also want to buy towels, rugs, and other bathroom accessories to match our new shower curtain.  Also want to buy a piece of fabric to match the patterned napkin that I’ll make into a throw pillow so I have a patterned front and a solid back.  Instead of a regular square throw pillow, I’m thinking of making two half size rectangular pillows – small lumbar pillows.

That’s about it, so I’ll publish and get back to work. 

Wishing it were Friday.  It sort of feels like a Friday.  The boss will be working at home tomorrow, I think that’s why it feels that way.  That’ll be nice.  The office is closing at 3 pm tomorrow - I think.  Our policy: “… will continue the practice of closing at 3:00 pm on the business day prior to each of the …recognized holidays.”  Well, now that I think about it, that’s clear enough.  Friday is the business day prior to the holiday, so we close at 3.  Doesn’t say “only if the business day immediately precedes (preceeds?) the holiday”, like the Wed. before Thanksgiving.   

Nothing special to report.  Last night we took doggy for a walk, then went out to eat (Chili’s - salad), bought a new computer mouse, and stopped at Trader Joe’s for a few things.  I almost finished my book, The Time Traveler’s Wife.  I finished the last few pages this morning.  When I saw how it would end, I started dragging on it th past few days.  But overall I really liked it.  Book club is a week from tomorrow, and then we’re going to see the movie the following Tuesday. 

Nothing planned for tonight, but I should exercise.   Today’s weigh-in was not good.  I’ve put on weight this year, and I attribute it at least partially to doing less exercise and less strenuous exercise.  I need to get back to doing regular consistent vigorous exercise.  I know that food is the bigger part of the equation, so I [so annoying my computer wigged out and I had to close everything and shut down and then get back in, but I'm back now to finish my thought] know I need to change my eating habits. 

I suppose I better publish this and get back to work.  I had to move lunch w/ a friend to a later time so I could have a phone call w/ someone I need to talk to, and hopefully that won’t go too long.  Otherwise, no other meetings for today.  I have plenty to work on though, so I’ll get to it.