Happy Days!!

I found my library book! No fines for me, thank you very much!!!

And now that the biscuits aren't burned, it's time to go back. But you don't realize until you tan that your stretch marks don't and the white will be forever singed in my memory...tan leg, shockingly white stretch marks. At least when I had absolutely no color, they blended in. You win some, you lose some.

At Last.

Got my friend from the airport. Went to the storage unit and got my towel, a bin, a can of mandarin oranges, and a ziploc baggie for the smelly cat poop, and now the bed is calling. Wiley has had a bit of a rougher night. They got started late today, and so at 11:30 or so, finally got to their hotel, only their hotel wasn't pet-friendly. So an hour later, they finally found a hotel where they could keep the dog. Hotels.com screwed up, as they thought the original hotel was pet-friendly. Oops. So Wiley has a little over two hours of driving tomorrow, while I work at my other job and then try to figure out where my library book is that's due on Sunday. I hate having overdue books, and originally it was on the desk before we moved. Now it has sprouted legs, and who knows which bin it fell into.

Biscuits Are Burning.

In more ways than one. 37 days to go until the wedding. 37, Dear Reader. And for those of you who haven't sent in your RSVPs, GET MOVING!

In honor of looking even more fabulous, I've decided to do a little bit of the fake baking. After going three times at 5, 8 and 11 minutes each, I finally got a little color. And then yesterday, I think I got a bed with new bulbs because I went for 12 minutes and managed to burn my back, my biscuits and even the twins. This morning the red had left the back, but not the front so much. And after contorting myself this way and that to make sure I'm getting evenly colored (can't really call it a tan right now, after all - less-than-pasty-white is as far as I can go), I noticed last night that along my spine was a nice bright white mark. WTF?! This morning it was less noticeable, but seriously, WTF???

Tomorrow Wiley goes to Princeton for two days while I move for hopefully the last time in the next ten months. Unfortunately, all of the cleaning I was going to do this weekend has to be aborted because the mom and baby changed their plans and will still be there. It's difficult to clean someone's house while they're present. Even if everything is cleaned, it's still not done by me, and I prefer to do it myself. So the weekend will instead be working at my friend's office and staying out of their way as much as possible, although since they will be without a car, I will be "on-call" just in case. Joy.

And my friend returns from India tomorrow night at 11 p.m. I will be greeting her at the airport. What was I thinking?

And Then Life Bites You in the Ass.

So yesterday's post seemed a bit trivial when I got wored that a former coworker of mine has been diagnosed with cancer. You go in for surgery to help your bowel become unobstructed, and the next you know, you have cancer instead. What a doozy of a surprise.

Feeling completely helpless, I have been able to mobilize a friend into being my legs in KC. I've found a DVD of KU basketball online that I'm going to order (because she is a huge KU fan and I suspect already has this DVD), and my friend is going to drop off a portable DVD player, as the rooms are not equipped with these. She's groggy and heavily medicated right now, but hopefully by the time the DVD arrives, she will be awake and able to somewhat watch it if she chooses.

And then after that, nobody seems to know. Seems trivial, getting her a DVD when she's facing a battle for her life, but I don't know what else to do. As my friend Cara says, if you're a praying fool, then do it, and if not, root for the Jayhawks.

Annoyances.

I'm not one to really diet. I've done so in the past, to my detriment. My mother was a dieter all the years that I knew her. And I never wanted to be like that.

However, upon returning to the U.S., there were lots of things I ate that I probably shouldn't have, and now my belly bulge is back, and it brought its cousins with it.

So today I decided to follow the South Beach Diet plan, which I've had moderate success with in the past. And of course, today we had a staff meeting with pizza. Four different kinds. And breadsticks.

Not to mention that my office is a veritable hell for people with weak willpower, such as myself. Candy dishes abound with Starbursts, Hershey's kisses and Miniatures, butterscotch discs, and Sweet Tarts.

But I screwed up my willpower, and ate my vegetables while everyone around me gorged on some mighty fine looking pizza.

So what do I find when I get off work?

Wiley ate a bagel.

Now, perhaps this wouldn't be a big deal to you, Dear Reader, but I was furious. First, we decided to do this together. Second, my willpower is really quite low. So I need the support. But I felt betrayed. How can I get support from someone who says, "I was hungry, and it was offered to me, and I wanted to eat?" I'm still mad about it. Yeah yeah, humans aren't perfect, and all that jazz, but it's not even the end of the first day.

Meh. You hear me, Wiley? Meh.

The Ring.

This weekend was a big blur. We went to Kansas City to order Wiley's ring
and to check up on mine, and here is the finished product:

Isn't she beautiful?

Yes, yes, she is. And yes, I realize it's not a diamond. What it is, is a simple platinum band with a sapphire in a half-bezel setting (those are reflections on the side of the sapphire, no diamonds or anything like that). It couldn't be more perfect for me. Wiley's ring is hopefully going to be coming in a couple of weeks...it will be tungsten carbide, so a little darker grey than what you normally see in a guy's wedding band.

I would write more, but I have to get to work.

There's No Hole in My Bucket...

You know, I didn't mind Wal Mart in KC. But here in Bloomington, I despise it. I needed to take a friend's car out for a spin to make sure the battery isn't dead, so we decided to go to Wal Mart in search of a 5 gallon bucket. We are going to make our own laundry detergent courtesy of The Simple Dollar. But do you think we could find a bucket at Wal Mart? It took quite awhile, and when we found it, we found the last one. And the lids are sold separately. So tonight, after getting home rather late from a friend's house, we will attempt to make the detergent. The start-up costs are a bit much - $5.30 for the bucket and lid, $3 for borax, $2 for soap, and $13 or so for some Arm and Hammer washing soap. I think it will be great fun, so long as a hole does not appear in my bucket, dear Liza.

The End?

It could be a startling revelation: I may no longer be able to eat cake. We had a going away party for our friend Kyrgee, and perhaps mixing hard cider with cake was the wrong way to go. I tried eating a leftover piece yesterday and it tasted awful. I may have screwed up my love of vanilla cake, which is a pity because I love loving cake. Must try chocolate cake to see if I still love it. If not, I hope Angel B's doesn't close since they won't be getting my business anymore.

I hope it doesn't come to that. But perhaps this is a good thing, 53 days from the wedding....

We are Deer Whisperers

Last night, Wiley and I went for a walk. I took him on the Clear Creek Trail, a place he'd never been in his 5 years here! While we were walking, Wiley asked me what else there was to see besides the sidewalk, trees and grass, and I told him that sometimes you can see geese, and just at that moment, he stopped me because he saw a fawn. He was about 30 feet away, and we stopped, and he looked like he was going to run, but I tugged on Wiley's arm and we turned away and started walking. So what did he do? He bounded after us. But we kept walking, and looked over our shoulder, and he kept bounding a little at a time, swishing his little tail up and down. I've never been followed by a deer, and had he been bigger, I might've been a bit alarmed. He kinda reminded me of my dog, Cricket, because he had such big ears and they were tuned on us. A biker was coming from the other direction, and his tires on the pavement made a noise that scared the fawn back into the brush, but then farther down our walk, we saw another one cross to the other side of the trail. No, we don't have much to look at on the trail, but sometimes you glance around and notice that nature is also observing you.

Catching Up.

Lots has happened here in Bloomington in the past week. We have moved the cats from Temp House 1 to Temp House 2, and the transition apparently has not gone smoothly. Rewind and Dixie have been placed in a lovely room with a window, but there's another cat in the house, who is rather possessive of her digs. Rewind, being the little aggressive shit that he is, makes guttural growls that could replace the demon in The Exorcist, and has frightened the somewhat-aggressive residing cat into the basement. I'm tempted to pull him out just to make sure his health doesn't deteriorate. Into the storage unit for him.

We got Wiley's suit, and it looks smashing. I waited and waited for the sale to grab his shirt - who wants to pay $45 for a shirt? Anyone? Sorry, if you do, I don't get you. I don't want to pay $45 for a shirt. So I didn't. And I got it on sale! And two ties too. Today he took the pants in to be hemmed. I still have to take my dress and slip in. He's ahead of me.

Still waiting on the sample bouquet from the florist. Apparently her dealers don't have the goods in stock to make a silk bouquet. Aren't fake flowers around all the time? Especially to replace the ones in the pots that are dying because it's so damn hot??

Invitation responses are flowing, and more people so far are coming than are not. None of my family members have sent in their cards. Don't you know that you're coming? Hello?? Auntie Em?

Wiley got shorn today. He won't need a haircut again until after the wedding. His head almost looks normal-sized right after he gets it cut. For those of you who don't know him, he has a ginormous head. I used to joke with him that I felt sorry for his wife.

We'll be in KC on the 16th to see some friends and order Wiley's ring. Think I'm looking forward to the 8 hour car ride? Think again. Oh, yes, I look forward to some Oklahoma Joe's and Corner Cafe and Abuelo's, not to mention those friends, but man, do you know what's between Indiana and Missouri? That's right - Illinois. Slow driving. And more of the same that's in Indiana and Missouri: cows, tall grass, and road kill. Mm mm good.

We found the TV show Weeds. Love it. I'm going to miss cable. Having it for this month has been nice. There are these channels that play nothing but music. Have you ever?! Yeah, I know, get in the 21st century already. No! I'll not be a slave to my belongings! I chuckle as I sit at my laptop and Wiley sits at his. Sigh.

Can't win them all. Oh, but I did finally beat Wiley twice at racquetball. Fairly. And finally. I rule.

Can't Wait For Sunday.

Sunday is a day where I have absolutely nothing that I have to do for anyone else. No work. No going anywhere except to feed the cats. Nothing.

I wish it was Sunday.

Aside from that, yesterday was the last day I ever have to deal with that shitty duplex. Funny how in only 4 months opinions can change. I went from being so ecstatic that I'd found a relatively inexpensive place to live to not being able to wait to move out (crappy landlord and flooding certainly helped darken the mood about my living conditions - and let's not forget to give Cornhole Joe an honorable mention, though he moved out of his duplex about a month ago).

So now we have exploded in true Wiley fashion at our temp digs, which we will try to put away this weekend. (Spices spices everywhere!) And the cats have been moved to their temp digs, and so far have done ok, but Dixie didn't eat much last night, and I'm sure she's hungry this morning.

And now that we have a bit more time for other things, we have started playing racquetball on a fairly regular basis, which is fun and sorely needed to make sure I fit into that dress. Wiley beats me every.single.time. And I missed the day in school when being a good sport was taught. So I use every tactic I can in order to distract him. Recently it's been singing "When the moon hits your eye like a big (and then I put in some odd word here), that's amore." I was able to keep ahead of him for most of the game, but when he decides he's had enough he hits these super power shots - low and fast that I have no hope of returning. But I'm working on it. I study him while he's playing and try to pick up what I can. Someday, I will beat him!!