Today!

was 31 cent scoop day at Baskin Robbins! and there was a line! i can't understand that....

Huh?

So, I don't really want to go back to work, but i have monster.com email me if there are any job postings in Houston with the word "writer" in them, just to see. And apparently, the jobs that fit into that parameter encompass a broad range.
Here is today's list of jobs:

Retail Store Manager
Bankruptcy Paralegal
Pre-Flight Technician
Houston Financial Services Tax Manager-Hedge Fund
RESEARCHER Invensys IPS
Strategic Acct. Executive
Senior Software Design Engineer
IT Technical Analyst
Journalism, Design and Photography Opportunities
Principal Systems Engineer

Wow, I can't decide if I want to be a bankruptcy paralegal or a principal systems engineer!

Still Coughing Up Hair Balls

My head cold is now a chest cold. Buy stock in Kleenex, 'cause I'm sure using enough of them to sink a boat.

Just Got Back

Went on a scrapbooking retreat this weekend. And I have a head cold! So, while I forgot to pack my pajamas, I did remember to bring a full box of kleenex....

My Day

The automated We Need A Substitute system called me at 6:30 a.m. Asked me to enter my PIN, which I tried to do. No go. I hang up. It calls back at 7, I try a different PIN. Nope. Calls back THREE MORE TIMES. Finally, I call the school and say, "Do you still need a sub for today?" The receptionist was almost sobbing with relief as she replied in the affirmative. So I taught 1st grade today. They were very helpful to tell me what we were supposed to be doing at each part of the day. "You're supposed to be calling the reading groups over to you now so they can read out loud."
Hoo doggies, tho, I am tired. I don't know how all you working moms do it.

Of Intelligence

I have been getting grief from my children lately because I don't know what a thorax is. DD2 had to make an insect for show and tell today, and it had to have a head, an abdomen and a thorax. I said, "Well, that might be kind of hard because I don't know what a thorax is." They turned to me, this second grader and kindergartener, and said disbelievingly in unison, "You don't know what a THORAX is?!"
I continually have to assure them that I am As Smart As Daddy. The problem is, Daddy knows lots of stuff about animals. Which is what they are interested in. Were they interested in French or English literature, or the Regency era of English history, I'd be their girl. But no. They are interested in ANIMALS. And Daddy can read a fact one time about an animal and remember it years later. So, DD2 wanted to make a praying mantis, and DH is playing a computer game, and telling her all these facts about praying mantises at the same time.

Bluebonnet Pics

The Latest Bon Mot from DD2

We drove by a goat farm the other day, and I said, "I wonder why they're raising goats. Is it for the meat, or the milk, or the skin?"
"Or for the rides," DD2 said.

Goat rides, anyone?

Today

DD1 has apparently complained of a upset stomach off and on today at school, but she isn't running a fever. Probably due to the antibiotic she's on. I dropped her off some Tums, and she wanted to come home with me, because she "wanted to spend time with you." Notice she didn't say anything about not feeling good.

Did I Tell You?

lbbc.org (stands for Living Beyond Breast Cancer) has asked me to write a guest column for their newsletter. It'll be directed toward women who have just been dx'd with early stage BC. So, i've submitted my rough draft, entitled Finding the Funny In Breast Cancer Treatment or I Was Diagnosed With Breast Cancer and All I Got Was This Lousy Bald Head.

House of Sickness, Day 2

Neither of the girls felt well enough to go to school today. They are both on antibiotics. The dr didn't say, but I'm assuming DD1 has an ear infection, and DD2 an upper respiratory infection. They love sick days, as they get to watch TV all day.
The bad thing is, DD2's show and tell for today was to be a live insect (ew). So, we have a cricket, a moth, and some fleas which Winston gladly donated to the cause, all in their little receptacles. The cricket and moth have celery leaves to chew on. I'm not feeding the fleas anything.
Plus, yesterday was the 30th anniversary of DD2's school, and they had cake and a school picture and everything. And she missed it.

Today

The kids are both sick. DD2 more than DD1, but DD1 is going to pick up whatever DD2 has -- she always does -- so I am taking them both to the doctor.
I am tired, as I stayed up late working on our taxes. This year, I get to add up all our medical expenses to see if they add up to enough to claim.

Whew!

I don't know what possessed me, but I volunteered to have DD2's Daisy troop over tonight for their meeting. So I basically spent all day doing laundry and tidying. DH was home sick today, so I did take a couple of breaks to eat lunch with him and watch one of our fave TV shows, but other than that, working all day.
The leader complimented me on my house when she walked in. I thought, "You should have seen it ten hours ago!"
The leader asked what I'd like to to have the girls do, and since I'm not a craft girl, I decided we should make oatmeal cookies, so everyone took turns putting in the ingredients and using the mixer, and then we got to eat the cookies for our snack! And there were leftovers! Yay!
But I am tired. Going to go to bed early tonight.

Just Once

I would like to accomplish everything on my to-do list.

A Sad Bit of News

I talked to an old friend today. She is divorcing, and I'm sad. Turns out her marriage was not what it appeared, and she'd been subject to years of lying, unfaithfulness, and other horrible behaviour.
I'm sad that she's endured that for so long. And, it teaches me not to compare. I'd been a bit envious of her for years because she and her husband did so much together.

The Hair

You may have noticed the new photo. And yes, my hair is brown again. I grew weary of the chinchilla color, especially as DD1 turned to me the other day and said, "You're 55, right?"
So, now I feel more myself.

DH and I went on a date tonight! The Y had Kids' Night Out, so we dropped them off at 5, and went shopping a bit, and then had dinner and a movie at Willowbrook Movie Tavern. The only problem was, our table didn't have a light, so I had to turn the menu toward the screen so I could read it.
We saw "21", which was meh. Predictable and draggy.

My New BFF

I have decided: HEB, the new grocery store that opened near my house, is my new BFF. You know I have to avoid sugar in my new Keep Cancer Away lifestyle, and I was at HEB the other night, picking up a few things, and! I saw sugar-free drumsticks! You know, those ice cream cone things with the nuts and chocolate? I was so excited that I immediately opened the package and ate one then and there. Yummy.DH tried one, and said they were just ok, which is FINE with me. Heh. More for me!

I substitute taught yesterday at DD2's school -- middle school. Everything went pretty well till the last hour, and those kids were antsy. I spent most of my time saying things like "Sit down. Less talking, more working. Put your bottom on the chair." I had to put two names on the board -- the teacher had warned me this was a troublesome class. So, that was a challenge. I don't know how working moms do it. I got home and was just wiped out -- went to bed to rest for a while.

We went to Lupe Tortilla's last night to see our old next door neighbors who moved fall of 06 to Canada. They were back in town for a few days, and a bunch of us got together to see them. It was nice to see them -- Linda hadn't seen me since my dx, so she had to feel the hair. The food was fajitas, to make it simple on everyone. I looked at the menu to see if there was some roasted vegetable kind of a thing I could order, and no. It was all meat, with maybe chopped tomatoes and onions on top. So, I had pico, guacamole, and the roasted peppers that came with the meat. Linda invited me over to Nicki's house afterward to talk, and I apologized and said I was about ready to fall asleep. I was asleep by 9:15.
Which meant I woke up at 5:15 a.m. Are you KIDDING me? The one day of the week I can sleep in, and I wake up at 5:15?

Yesterday

I haven't posted much lately, because nothing much particularly interesting or funny has happened. I went to the gym 2x yesterday, because when I went in the morning, I forgot that the girls have swim lessons in the afternoon, and I usually work out then. So I did the treadmill for a bit, resistance training in the morning, and then hit the racquetball around while the girls were swimming.
I saw my pastor's wife while I was in the gym. It took me a second to recognize her, because I'm used to seeing her at church, and it was like two worlds colliding.
Did I tell you I've been watching that "I Can Make You Thin" show? This guy's golden rules are:
1. Eat when you're hungry.
2. Eat what you want.
3. Eat consciously -- no distractions at all, no reading, watching TV. And eat slowly.
4. When you're full, stop eating.

He also had some things to do when you're craving something, or dealing with emotional eating. It's interesting. I've been trying to slow down when I eat, but the no reading when you eat kills me. I adore reading. The gals at the book club were amazed that they'd picked a book I hadn't read yet. "The Good Earth," by Pearl S. Buck. That's one of those "some day" books, like reading Cervantes or Proust.