30 October 2013

Prepper

My sister called me tonight asking about my Tornado Plan.
See, we're experiencing a bit of inclement weather that may turn severe. Severe weather, in Texas. Generally produces a yawn as we gather supplies and make a mental plan, you know, just in case.


So, she called me in her own state of prepared-ness, probably expecting me not to have one. Surprisingly (or not, depending on how you look at it), I did indeed have one. At some random point in the past, I had already mentally picked out the inner-most room in my house- the linen closet. The master closet is a close second, followed by the front closet.

Yes, in the event of a tornado, you'll find me holed up in one of my closets. With the flashlight that I've got tucked in my nightstand.

In addition, the city is under a flash flood watch. There is a phone number we can call at work to see if the area is flooding before we head to work. I think that's pretty nifty. In the event of high winds, I have no doubt that the power here will go out. This area is one of the flickery-est when it comes to power outages.

I've got an extra jug of water, plenty of wine, and some canned goods. The only thing I don't have is a method to cook any food. Just another reason why I wish I had a gas stove. That shit works in a power outage, and it really came in handy during Ike's aftermath.

Anyway, since life is as normal as usual, I'm going to drink wine and watch Desperate Housewives.

28 October 2013

craves

I really, really, really, REALLY wanted to eat ice cream and chips for dinner. Like no joke.

But, instead I made creamy pesto shrimp with peas over noodles. Tomorrow-at-lunch me will thank crazy-tonight me, because I have leftovers to take. Much better than the bland, overpriced cafeteria fare I'd be forced to eat if I didn't have dinner leftovers.

Still, I had ice cream for dessert. :o)

27 October 2013

quick dip

Yesterday I felt ambitious. It was gorgeous and sunny. When I got back home after a visit from mom's, I fully intended to clean my car. After all, I've never shampooed the seats and they were starting to look dingy, especially after our trip a few weeks ago that involved leaky nipples on a bottle and baby formula splats. Not to mention the years of coffee & the occasional snack.

So, when I arrived home, I left the windows down. However, when I got inside, I started watching Desperate Housewives and drinking wine. At about 2 am, I went to bed. Sometime between 2am and 930am, I woke up to hear a big storm blowing in. The windows briefly crossed my mind, but in the same instant I dismissed it, convinced I rolled them up.

930 am. I'm woken up out of a dead sleep by someone knocking on the door. I intended to ignore it and go back to sleep. By the second round of knocking and doorbell ringing, I was fully awake and knew exactly why someone was knocking on the door. The freaking windows.

Sure enough, I donned a robe and when I opened the door, it was my neighbor giving me the peachy news. That sure was nice of him, although we both admitted the damage was probably already done.

Once I brewed some coffee and put on some pants, I pulled the car into the garage (Good thinking leaving space, toot!) and assessed the damage. At first glance it wasn't so bad, but upon further inspection some spots are really, really wet. Like soaked through.

I got a lot of water out with my Bissell Little Green (seriously it sucked up a lot of water), and toweled down what I could, and now I have 5 fans pointed at different spots in my car.

Some of the wettest spots are in tight spots that are hard to dry, like the undersides of the front seats, and I'm praying that I don't end up with a mildew-smelling car. It doesn't help that it's cool & humid. Not exactly the best conditions for drying something out. Like the nooks & crannies of your car.

On the plus side, I don't think there is any electrical damage. The panel that contains the window and door lock buttons was soaked, but the windows all rolled up.

So anyway. That happened. I wish I could say this is the first time, but it certainly isn't. It probably won't be the last, either. It definitely is the worst though. I just have bad luck with rolled down car windows and rain!

26 October 2013

DIY Mermaid Costume

It started when I received a text message from Akhtar telling me he got tickets to this costume party. So, naturally I needed a Halloween costume, which started the great debate about how we should all dress.

We debated a few popular culture ideas, but ultimately no one could commit.
I took a few laps around a couple of costume stores, but nothing jumped out at me, especially not for $50.

Then honestly, I'm not exactly sure how I decided on a mermaid, but I decided it should be done- 2 days before the party. The best part? It only cost $15.

So, how did I do it?

A quick trip to Walmart's clearance clothing yielded a bathing suit top and a skirt. Each was $5.
Then to Hobby Lobby for sequins and shells.

Hand-sewing sequins is not something I would recommend when you have 2
days evenings to make a costume.



Drill holes in the shells and sew those on as well.


For the top, drill one hole each in the top & bottom of a shell and sew them to the top.


I hot-glued starfish to hair clips to complete the look.



I topped it off with tons of glitter and shimmery teal & blue eye makeup.

If I had more time to plan and execute the costume, I would have sewn scales on the skirt, much like this:
But, for what it was, it was a hit!

19 October 2013

cat party

Scene: Early morning. Still dark with a slight cold rain. The camera zooms in through the window, focusing on a sleeping form, warm in bed.

The sleeper awakens, unsure of what woke her up. Then she hears it again. The unmistakable howls of a meow-off.


...
A 3-way meow-off, to be exact. On the roof of my house, to be exact-er.

So I got up and poked my head out the back door and yelled, which will usually result in a scrambling of cats and an apologetic Pumpkin running in the door. It's usually an effective end to the meow-off.

Not this time. They kept going. So I put on a robe and flip flops, and spotted Gary on the fence. Yelling did no good, so I tromped out into the wet grass and he retreated to a safe distance.
Still hearing meows, I see Pumpkin's head poke out of the shadows on the roof. There is another cat a few feet away, echoing her song.

It now seems that although the meow-off is done, Pumpkin is loudly expressing her displeasure at being stuck on the roof. The other cat has disappeared. I go inside and grab a chair, and stand on it, hoping that my wet flip flops will not end up being the death of me. Of course, Pumpkin stays just out of reach of my grasp, so I take the chair back inside and pull out the bench on the back porch. Again. prayers for wet flip flops happen. Again, Pumpkin stays out of my reach.

So I go back inside, keep the door cracked, and go back to bed. If she wants to get down bad enough, she'll find a way.

From my bed, I hear more meows, and more than one set of kitty pitter patters back and forth on the roof overhead. After a few minutes, I hear a meow from a closer distance. Pumpkin finally made it off the roof and is in the living room.

So I get up, knowing she will be wet, and I towel her off. There are muddy kitty prints on the carpet now.

I don't know what kind of cat party I interrupted, but I went back to sleep, glad it was over.

17 October 2013

exercise & stuff

Today I got rock star parking. Which was awesome.

Too bad at the end of the day I had forgotten, and walked allll the way to the back of the lot before I remembered. Balls.

I jogged yesterday. I did yoga earlier in the week.

Yoga was clumsy and sweaty. After only 20 minutes, the workout was over and I was sore the next day.

Yesterday I really wanted a nice sweat and I really wanted to get my heart beating fast, so I jogged around the block. I was doing really well- I jogged for about a block and a half before I had to stop. Although it felt like forever, it was a total of 15 minutes, half walking.

Today, I'm SO SORE. There's a reason I usually do baby steps when I start working out again.
After hobbling around all day, and staying late to train some night shift nurses, I'm pretty ready for a hot bath.

That's all I have for now.

14 October 2013

anything

Go ahead, get your jam on for a minute. I'll wait.



Other things I'm digging:




1. Lingering evidence of small human bathtime.
2. Pretty sunset. Before you get on my about taking a photo while driving, observe I was clearly stopped at a red light
3. Grilled cheese.

13 October 2013

don't you ever say

It's been difficult to feel enthusiastic about anything lately. Enthusiasm is an inherently difficult thing to force.
I'm still determined to flip this state of mind.
At any rate, it's never been a word that others would use to describe me. At least I don't think.

I'm very, very weary of bitching about my wonderful life.

Yes, it's missing something, but it's still mostly wonderful.
I'm disconnected. I'm living it, but I'm just dryly going through the motions and I don't really care much.

I find it difficult to feel enthusiasm for the wonderfulness that surrounds me and it disgusts me.


On the bright side, I've gotten to see much more of my sister and nephew lately.
This weekend we all took a trip to see Suze.
I found that I'm much more aware of the fact that I'm driving when there's a tiny human on board. No autopilot allowed. I wish the visit could have lasted longer. Even though it was exhausting it was happy. But, ultimately everyone's gotta get back to their lives.

As for me, I'm going to Skype with my husband, then sit on the couch with some wine and watch Desperate housewives and pet the attention deprived Pumpykins.

05 October 2013

the one with the prettiest of views

Last week was not one of those weeks I'd classify as "good."

I swear, they fit an extra day in there somewhere when I wasn't looking.



The current state of my living room is a massive hodpodge of colors. There are just too many. I think it's because the rug is so busy. I love the rug but I don't think I love the colors all over the room.

I figured the easiest way to get a good flow is to streamline the pillow colors & pick only 1 or 2 accents. It's way easy to make new pillow covers when I feel like a change.
--especially with this tutorial. It's beautifully easy. I can pop one out in 10 minutes, tops.

I started with the cat's cushion. For the fabric, I chose the least offensive fabric shower curtain at Walmart. Why a shower curtain? It's water (read: puke) resistant, yet washable and still fabric-y.
I got the idea from, of course, this pin.

Haven't decided if I'm going to get a move on, or go take a mid-morning nap.

*makes me want biscuits. with bacon. and eggs.

*except I just ate pancakes.

02 October 2013

cookies = good

Tonight I found half a package of frozen cookie dough that Ash got me a few weeks ago. Saweeeet.