1. The spot where my cat poked me in the foot a few days kind of hurts. I think it is because I went running anyway yesterday (that half-marathon is lurking in the distance.)

2. Heading to Austin, TX tomorrow. Never been there before.

3. Starting Japanese class tonight! I'm usually not this busy, I swear.

1. The Mets won last night! I bought a 'Farewell Shea,' t-shirt that I am now wearing from a sidewalk vendor. (two obnoxious Yankee fans sat in front of us, they came just to root against us. A few times during the game I thought they'd get clobbered. Sorry about your season, losers! The Cubs fans in attendance were much better behaved)

2. Enjoying vacation. sipping some Kahlua-laced java on the porch.

3. Pips bought me a thermos.

1. I have a new fridge! So today I bought some ice cream, just because I can! And I have salad, and yoghurt, and cottage cheese, and chicken, and pork tenderloin and ... and ... and ... I am very lucky, I know, to have only 'high-class' problems today such as having to live without a fridge for ten days. I am grateful for the life I have.

2. Yay for charity collections. A ton of old stuff has now gone to charity, including paperbacks I will never read again, clothes I will never wear again and wine and beer glasses I will never drink out of again. Everything I gave away was of good quality, so hopefully it will earn some money for Age Concern.

3. We had a few days of Indian summer, but it's cold today, and the sky is grey and overcast, with intermittent showers. *indicates cold front on map like weathergirl* The cats are bored because they have to sleep indoors when it's cold instead of finding some hot concrete to bake/sleep on outside. Lucy just knocked a box of cat treats onto the floor and is cross with me because I put them back in the box instead of letting her eat them all. She managed to stuff plenty down her fat little face though before I stopped her.

1. I left my house 3 minutes earlier than normal today because I decided to take the interstate way to get to work (avoiding the clusterfuck that was yesterday morning's commute) and I got to work 10 minutes earlier than I normally do. Seriously wtfery.

2. Due to getting to work early, I was able to start doing real work sooner and ended up having an awesomeness moment of getting 11/12 ILL requests out the door with the morning courier. #12 was from 1898 and too fragile to copy. :(

3. I don't feel rested at all, but I'm about to go in the back and start cleaning/organizing it. (I've tidied up everywhere else in the office, but this is the worst part of it because I'll need to get the boys to help me lift things, which could be problematic, because well, we're lazy.)

1. I have the day off! Yayayayayay! On the schedule- a matinee, gym + sauna, evening show at Feinsteins.
2. Go see [tos] if you want to see it again, TrishaLynn, but the Broadway run is ending October 12th, and I highly doubt that will change. There's lot of cheap tickets floating around, don't pay full price!!!
3. I made Apple Dapple last night! It turned out pretty well- I didn't put the topping on it, I figured a cake with a cup and a half of oil didn't need another extra stick of butter on top.

4. Let me also say that I have started watching "Gossip Girl" on DVD and I am LOVING it. It is, as the ads say, a "parent's worst nightmare" and "mindblowingly inappropriate". Yesssss!

Oh and Maison is a wonderful restaurant, TrishaLynn. I so enjoyed our meal there (gosh, it's almost a year ago!)

1. I wish that Simon Baker would stop appearing in mediocre TV shows. The pleasure I get from watching him is hampered by the awful, predictable writing.

2. Canker sore finally gone, but back pain still here. Old mattress not helping the situation.

3. I've been meaning to read "The Way We Never Were" for a while now, and I've finally started it. So far, excellent.

1. I know that eating too many sesame rice crackers will make my stomach hurt.
2. I am devouring them anyway
3. With New York Sharp cheddar cheese, chased with a cold glass of orange juice.
Yum, and ouch.

1. Hallway toilet: still broke.
2. Mogwai show: canceled
3. Maybe found a tenant for the unoccupied condo.

@TPS: But... but...! Even if their run doesn't get extended, I do want to let the [tos]angels and [tos]backers know that it was totally worth their money to put it on and the only way to really do that is to pay full price for tickets. Because I truly believe in the message of the show, I wanna throw my money into it and show my appreciation. Ya dig?

@essexjan: Next time you're in town again, we should make plans to go again. I haven't fully explored their menu yet!

1. So was complaining about a "dead thing" smell in our bedroom. I couldn't smell it, but after she left I caught wind of it in our living room. Dragged the puppy all around the house, but he wasn't able to find the source. Hopefully I can figure out where it's coming from and take care of it before SO comes home from class. Any ideas on how best to track it down?

2. SpiffyEmployer might s the bed on a few critical things before tomorrow. Doing my best to make sure this doesn't happen (though it's ultimately out of my control.)

3. Looking forward to my first (and hopefully stink-free) relaxed evening this week.

(also, I just bought store-brand ranch flavored cashews at CVS, of all places. they're delicious but what a weird marketing idea)

1. A computer program just got fixed, which is good but means that I now have to fill out a month's worth of timecards... Barf.
2. I am hungry even though I had yoghurt and granola at 10. I brought good leftovers that I made (tofu and red peppers and carrots and rice noodles with spicy peanut sauce) but I don't think I have enough for a complete lunch.
3. I went on a disappointing date last night-- he was nice enough but boring-- and now I am trying to schedule other things to look forward to. Debate on Friday night I guess.

My father had told me seven months ago that the photo of my grandmother and great-aunt with Maurice Chevalier was turned over to my brother to scan on DVD. When I emailed Daddy asking for it (given what a shit my brother was to me on Monday), he said no because the estate was in probate. Show some fucking consistency.

One of the doormen who works the night shift is a complete incompetent who has left the door unlocked/wide open. When I told the super (who lives onsite), he claimed this was okay. The only person on the condo board who I'm willing to speak to has made it clear that he is not willing to be an ombudsman(which I though was one of his duties).

My train leaves in a few hours for Albany and I still need to pack.

1. I discovered yesterday that a really cool Sesame Street bit ("I'm A Little Airplane Now" with kids running around with their arms out like airplane wings) which I haven't seen for years but always loved, was performed by Jonathan Richman. That's all kinds of cool and I've been singing the song all day.
2. I went to a local Arts Council shmooz-fest last night and got there late, just as they were about to draw tickets for a 50/50 raffle. They stopped and asked me if I wanted to buy a ticket, which I did. Of course I won a tidy $76.
3. I'm a litlle airplane now, now!

1) the Micro$uck shitbox I use at work apparently has some terminal ailment related to BigPharmaCo's craptastic automated installer thingie.

2) Surly IT boy is upstairs attempting to fix it, which means that...

3) I'm downstairs in my old cube by the labs using the share terminal that I know has my email & profile still loaded on it. This makes me inordinantly happy because:

3a) that office I've been using for the past six months is actually a rather cold, dark, boring, lonely hole where nobody ever comes and visits. Strangely enough I get a lot more work done here, what with the constant passerby, the comings and goings thru the labs, and the interns' filing and printing busynesses here in the share terminal cube.

1. heading to the Upper Peninsula today for some library/computer talks
2. hungry, need to find a way to feed myself before getting to airport
3. leaves are changing, yay!

1. Still at work.
2. Still at work.
3. Still at work.

1. It's a lovely day, sunny and breezy and cool. Just stepped in to put on a sweater & socks and switch over to hot coffee (as opposed to iced), then go back outside with my book.

2. Am so close to finishing monkey #2 of the toys I'm knitting for my friend's twins. Yay! Soon monkey will have all four limbs! And then a face! The excitement here is almost palpable.

3. Attempting financial transactions across a continent and a border with a tiny island with no goddamned banking facilities (not even a Western Union) sucks great big donkey balls. I hate feeling this helpless, and hope my roommate doesn't just give up and put all my possessions out in the rain. I hate you Canada Post! Yes, I do! Too bad that doesn't make a blind bit of difference. I'm really wishing I'd just put everything in storage in goddamned Victoria, though that would've cost stoopid money.

3a. Stressing out about 3 (prompted by an email from Up North) has now given me a tic in my eyelid. At least I think that's what's causing it. Whatever it is, it's annoying as crap. I'm going to try picturing myself lurching around with my disturbing, twitchy eyelid and see if that makes me laugh instead.

1. The AC really needs to be turned off at my office.
2. The parental and brother/sister-in-law units are arriving tomorrow afternoon which means, of course, that it is going to rain their entire stay in NYC. ah well.
3. I'm totally dreaming about chicken and waffles before the debate on friday. mmmm.

1. Laughing unmercifully at elizard's twitchiness. My lack of empathy, let me show you it.
2. Plowed through a pile of bills and paperwork after bitching and moaning about it for days. Yay!
3. Going to treat elizard to a nice lunch out to assuage her twitchiness, or else to hold her up to public ridicule, whatevs.
3a. Is Fallout 3 out yet? No? How about now? No? Now?

@elizard: Monkey knitting? Is there a pattern online somewhere? I must put this on my knitting to-do list.

1. Not going to spend tonight in my own bed. No, not that, I'm going to get a Sleep Test at a local hospital. This will require me to assemble a 'sleeping outfit' that I do not usually wear, ifyougetmydrift.

2. Filling out the questionnaire I'm to hand in before the Sleep Test. At what times do I tend to doze off? While filling out questionnaires.

3. Trying to take care of all my minor personal business for the week, just in case they review my vital signs during the test and decide they need to keep me there. Of course the hospital where the Sleep Test is done is NOT the same hospital with the shiny new Heart Care ward where I'd expect to be taken care of if my CHF officially returns.

(on the 7 train on the ride home from the game, I watched a very drunk Latin guy almost get into a brawl with a very drunk bearded white guy. The latin guy threatened to 'kick your Amish ass.'

That was pretty damned funny.)

Hump day payment option?

1. I've been having headaches for the last few weeks. I don't know if they're tension headaches or what.

2. I have so much to do. I have a modest house. I hardly work. I should be super productive. I'm not. I have so much to do around here in the way of chores and garden work. It's stressing. I had a chinch bug problem in my front yard. My windows are dirty. My dark brown area rug is a wonderful backdrop for gold dog hair. The ticky-tacky pottery I have on top of my cabinets has a layer of dust and grease. This kind of stuff drives me nuts and makes me feel like an unproductive slug that I am.

3. My kids are driving me crazy. I tell them not to roll around with the dog after showers. I tell them not to roll around with the dog after they are dressed. They do it anyway. Eery time. What am I doing wrong? I try to pick my battles. I really do. There are times that I don't want them covered in dog hair. I feel out of control. I feel like I'm always barking orders. I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I don't brush the dog enough or vacuum every day and I have to yell at them about rolling in dog hair. The guilt is crushing. Guilt is part of my everyday parenting life. Am I doing the right thing? I never know. The other day my eldest son did something annoying and I smacked him on top of the head with a book. It was a low moment. He had a wounded expression. I apologized immediately. I apologized that evening. It's no biggie you may think. My dad smacked me on the head many of time. I don't want to be the kind of person that smacks their kids because I can't cope. Parenting is very hard. I'm afraid I'm not doing a good job. I wonder how badly I will screw them up. I wonder what kind of role model I am for them. It produces so much anxiety. I wish I had an outline of what I should be doing and saying, behaving.

1. Have discovered America's Next Top Model episodes on YouTube. These are addictive. Tyra Mail!

2. I gotz my car! Made a post about it! Yay!

3. As soon as I get offline will be going over to hubby's office to show him it. (The car! The car!)

1. Enjoying proper bed after 5 months of sleeping on an air mattress.

2. Fedexed green card to Mr. Psho in Kent, who flies back home Sunday after 3 weeks away - ra!

3. Watched "House" last night, will watch "Mythbusters" tonight, and then I think "Survivor" starts on Thursday.

1. Cheesy bacon burger day in the galley
2. Test tomorrow that I´m mostly prepared for
3. My roommate´s on leave, so I am enjoying the blessing of privacy

1. Trishalynn!
2. Psho!!!!!!
3. Elizard!

1. LT!!!
2. LT!!!!
3. LT!!!!!!!!!!!!

:-p

LTTTTTTTTT!!!!11!!!

1. I am heading to LoriFla's house to grab her hands, say how much I TOTALLY understand her feelings on parenting and kids, and give her a big hug. I have the same worries about my parenting skills. I hope I'm not screwing them up too badly.

2. Prodigal stepdaughter arrived home today from Texas. Still holding my breath to see if there were any real changes in attitude.

3. Waiting for the new episode of "Ghosthunters".

ELLLLLLLTEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

divka: The pattern is from the book MonkeyButter recommended here. I love them--they even have their own knitted bananas to hold on to (in this case, stitched very firmly into the paw). It's a good book, with lots of cool projects. (Octopus! Clownfish! Rhi-friggin-noceroseses!) There are lots of other great knitting project suggestions in that thread, too, which I'm going to work my way through. I've lost some momentum on the munkys, but that's okay because even if it takes me another six months to finish them (which it won't), they'll still be bigger than their intended recipients (for whom the preemie clothes I sent back then are still too big).

1. A parent without guilt scares me.
Show us the Austin celly!
i agree about Simon Baker.
Am i a little airplane?
2. Have come up with an idea so crazy it just might work. i blame television for thinking like that, and thinking like that for another fine mess i took a wrong turn to on the way to Albequirky. A slightly related topic:
3. Some options for costumery for Bee and me:
Disease (me) and cure (her)
National costumes
Scientist and monster
? ?

1. Boyfriend's grandmother died yesterday. I think he's really broken up about it, but he flew from Berkeley to Missouri yesterday and doesn't seem to want to talk on the phone with me, so I'm worried. Did send me a nice text thanking me for the flowers I sent. I'm used to being the wife when this stuff happens, and so I was always part of the family and knew what to do. Now I'm just the long distance girlfriend, and I don't know how to make it any better for him.

2. Have been sleeping in all week and driving to work instead of taking the bus, which I really shouldn't do because I'm broke and gas is expensive. Payday is tomorrow, and I'll still be broke even after that. I hate worrying about money.

3. It's supposed to be 107 here tomorrow. This hellish summer heat is never going to end.