Neglect

I know… I know… my plants are dying too.

But really – I’ve got nothing. I haven’t done anything for the last 2 months. You probably think I am exaggerating. I wish. I get up, go to work and sit at my desk, go home and sit in my chair, and then go to bed. It’s really not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it is down right depressing. On the weekends I just sit in my chair all day. It sucks.
And I think about posting but I assume you don’t want to hear me whine about how I don’t feel good and none of my clothes fit.

So, what can I tell you? Well, I learned that it talks 20 minutes for the water you just drank to reach your bladder. Yep, your life is more complete now.

I’ve been reading another book about Russia. This one is about Vladimir Putin and it is doing a very nice job of pissing me off! Jerk. I also read Lamb: The Gospel Aaccording to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. And that book I enjoyed mightily. Laugh out loud funny until the end. I won’t spoil it for you.

And I’m not feeling good right now so I’m off to eat lunch #1.

I want to verse you

It's a classis battle - the brothers Gibb vs. those mop-topped Beatles.























And the winner is:


And two thumbs up to the Sain't for the beautiful flowers!

No – you da ho!

This is our house in Idaho. Nice ain't it?! We've never actually seen the house we just have a couple pictures. Trusting aren’t we? ‘Sure we built your house – here’s a picture. No, you don’t need to come all the way to Idaho; we’ll take care of everything.’ Ok then.
But we make a mortgage payment each month and we receive a rent check from some Property Mgmt Group so yeah, we are Idahoan slumlords. Cool.

I have more to post but I need to upload a couple pictures from my camera first. Hopefully I can maintain this almost human feeling for awhile longer. In the meantime, check out the latest post from the Sain’t on the Heidleberg Project. Very cool. And Paris Hilton is educational – I will now rule at donkey trivia.

.hot dogs.

.hot dogs.
Originally uploaded by tEdGuY49.

Not just 'hot dogs' people - Genie's Wienies!

This is a photo taken by one of my flickr contacts tEdGuY49, who I'm pretty sure was put on this earth to drive around Michigan and take pictures for my enjoyment. Which sounds like as good a reason as any to exist right?

Anyways, yesterday he posted this photo of Genie's Wienies in Detroit and my heart was filled with happiness (which looks like rainbows, unicorns and matches in the shape of hotdogs). But my happiness was short lived. Someone made a comment that there was an article on Genie’s Wieners (it’s just fun to say isn’t it?!) in the Detroit Free Press that day so I looked it up. And now I curse the internet. Genie’s Wienies is closing at 6pm on September 3rd! Sadness fills my heart (see: deserted wasteland with no coneys, chili-fries or matchbooks full of happy hotdogs in sight!). I sent an email to Sain’t to get us some plane tickets right away but I think he is ignoring me.

I had to buy a six-pack of Vernor’s to cheer myself up.

It's a boy!

My old roommate Clem (named changed because it’s funny) and his beautiful wife had a baby boy on Aug 10th, Max. I am so happy for them.
Here he is in the arms of his lovely Aunt Julie.


I met Clem in a painting class at the local college a million years ago. He had a Kurt Vonnegut book sticking out of a Guatemalan bag and I knew he would have to be my friend. Little did I know that Clem was a package deal. I got his whole family! I’ve vacationed with his brother, worked for his father and claimed his sister as my own.

Julie rocks. Look at her! She is the best right-hand man a girl could have. And she wants to cook for you! But she can’t right now because she is moving at the end of the month. Moving sucks. You should send her food. Better yet – send her brownies! Wait. Send me brownies!

What other news have I got? Let’s see…
Sain’t kissed a girl. But he doesn’t want to talk about it, so don’t ask.
Kyle started 4th grade today. He is in desperate need of another haircut. Hippy.
I’m pregnant. I can say that cause nobody is out there.
Chris has 2 boats for sale. You should buy one.

So, not too much going on around here. I could really use some brownies.

How did I get here?

As Sain’t Christopher posted last week – he’s lived in San Francisco for 16 years now. That means that I’ve been in California almost 15 years. Ouch. Remind me sometime to tell you why I hate math.

I got the idea to move to California in 1990 while my aunt from Sacramento was visiting my folks. Hmm…California... Nothing was going on in Detroit so why stay? What cool city is near Sacramento? Hey, I’ll go to San Francisco! Why not?! Sounds like fun.
Surprisingly, the Sain’t didn’t tell me I was nuts for wanting to move across the country on a whim. (At least not to my face) In fact he was going to drive out with me and then fly home – a vacation of sorts. But it didn’t take long for him to decide to move to San Francisco too!
Now you might be inclined to say I am the reason we are both here in CA – but that would be wrong! I didn’t have a plan. I’m not sure what I would have done if left to my own devices. But the Sain’t is an industrious sort and once his decision was made he immediately started doing research - and this was before you could just Google ‘I want to move to San Francisco!’ He did all the leg work. He went out there first and found us a place to live and got a job. 2 weeks after he left, I packed my stuff, said my good-byes and got the hell out of Detroit.

That first move didn’t stick. I was back in Michigan within the month. And for a guy. When I finally left Detroit again in the fall of 1991, we (me and the guy) moved to southern California. Of course me and the guy didn’t last. And I’m not going to list all my moves up and down the state, but I somehow ended up in Sacramento. Imagine that. And the Sain’t has remained right were I left him. So, who can you blame?

Happy Anniversary Christopher. And thanks!

But you are worth the effort

I have been trying to cut back on my caffeine intake this week. I’m sure there was a perfectly good reason for doing this but I’m too tired to remember what it was. I'm too tired to do much of anything.

I’ve wanted to post a new entry all week, but eh, typing. It’s such an effort. Actually I don’t have to worry about the typing; I can’t even organize my scattered thoughts into cohesive sentences.
Hmm, I was able to pull out “cohesive” so maybe all is not lost.

Last Wednesday I took Kyle to the dentist because he cracked a tooth while on vacation. It was a rather pointless trip as the cracked tooth is a baby-tooth that was already loose, but I am one of those concerned and caring mothers so off we went. And it was worth the trip across town just to see the look of newfound respect on the dentist’s face when Kyle told him he cracked his tooth surfing in Malibu. That’s right, Kyle is that cool. So then the dentist gets all excited and asks him what kind of board he was riding etc. Funny.

Of course I volunteered to pop Kyle in the jaw to ‘help’ knock the tooth out. Remember my ‘smack down’ reputation! But I’m afraid I might have light-heartedly offered my services one to many times; I think I saw a CPS van circling the neighborhood last night.

Some people have no sense of humor at all.

Fort Bragg revisited

Aahhh. Another lovely weekend camping in Fort Bragg. This time we stayed in Pomo Campground at the south end of town. And this is good for you because it means we were nowhere near McKerricher State Park – so no repeat ocean shots. In fact, I think I only took one picture of the ocean.
Hmm, what are those 254 photos of anyways?

On Saturday, while Chris was diving, Kyle and I went down to Noyo Harbor and roamed around with the cameras. Kyle was quite pleased to find a bunch of seagulls eating fish heads. Gee, can’t wait to download his photos.


And Sunday morning Kyle and I went to Jug Handle State Reserve. But instead of hitting the beach, we hiked back into the woods in search of the Pygmy Forest. Well, we didn’t make it the 2.5 miles inland to the tiny trees – we should have packed provisions. Maybe I'll sign Kyle up for the Boy Scouts. That boy likes to hike. And one of us should know how to recognize poison oak. It’s just not a skill I learned on the streets of Detroit. The best I can do is to tell him not to touch anything green - ha!


The rest of the weekend was spent at the campground just kickin’ back.


Perfect. And now we are home and no one is itchy so I guess my ‘Don’t touch anything’ strategy worked. Although it could have been the thick layer of dirt that protected Kyle. I’m afraid to look in the bathtub after last night’s bath. I’m sure it will take a big strong man to scrub that ring away. Hi Chris!
Thanks for taking us camping.

The eagle has landed

Kyle is home. He’s very tan and at least 5 inches taller.

Uh...

Well. I’m so tired I can’t think of anything else. Apparently what they say about the elderly is true – you sleep less as you age. And now I officially feel old. After a late night of fun fun fun birthday revelry*, my plan was to sleep in nice and late Sunday morning. Only I couldn’t do it. I tried. But it was not working and I finally admitted defeat and got up with less than the minimum 8 hours of sleep. And then I spent the rest of the day on the verge of a nap. And I don’t do naps. At least young me never did. You’ve seen those old people – the ones who get up at 4:30 in the morning and then nap all day in their rocking chairs? That is going to be me. And I will have officially become my dad when I start falling asleep on the toilet!

Last night I couldn’t sleep at all. I tossed. I turned. I got up at 4:20 and did some yoga. I must have finally fallen asleep because when Chris woke me up to kiss me goodbye - as he does every morning at 6:10am - he’s lucky I didn’t pop him in the nose!

So. I’m tired. And the coffee seems to be broken. And I’m feeling snug from the extended forward folds done in the dark. This must be why a number of old people are so irritable. “Hey! Keep the racket down you whipper-snappers!”

And I mean it!

Cranky Old Lady (formerly elfini)



* I had a lovely birthday dinner on Saturday night. Even the legendary Sain’t was there! Chris and Cynthia prepared the food and it was fabulous. The wine was flowing, the conversation lively and I couldn’t have been happier! And I managed to get one great shot with my new lens


Of course there are more on Flickr. But be kind, it’s going to take some practice to get the hang of the 50mm f/1.8. And I’ll tell you about the experiments with the new Lensbaby after I take a nap under my desk.

What to talk about

I would hate for you to think that I have been reduced to talking about the weather - as if nothing else is going on in my life.
Unfortunately that’s an accurate assessment. It's been too damn hot to do much of anything except sit indoors with the air-conditioning draining your bank account. But I’ve managed to keep busy. The laundry is done. And there is this:



Go there. And when you have finished viewing the last essay, the air will be crisp again and the leaves will be falling...

Sweet Relief

I left the house this morning expecting to walk out into a furnace on pre-heat but instead was hit by a cool delta breeze. Oh my god. I swear I almost wept with joy!

If you didn’t know already, Sacramento and the Central Valley have been in the midst of a hellish heat wave. I think there have been at least 10 heat-related deaths in the last week. And there is nothing funny about that. To make matters worse it's not just hot during the day; it’s been a 24/7 kind of hot. When we got home from Santa Cruz last Sunday it was 93 degrees at 9:30 at night! So wrong.

Ya’ know what else is wrong? Barring this heat wave with it’s round the clock misery; during a typical Sacramento summer, 5pm is the hottest part of the day. Not noon. Not even 2pm. 5pm. Right when you are leaving work and have to pick up the kids, or go grocery shopping, or breath…

But today’s high is only 96! Saturday 93 and Sunday 92!!!

No one should be this excited about 92 degrees.

But it’s older than I’ve ever been!

And it keeps happening to me!

That’s right – it’s going to be my birthday and I’m giving dirt a run for its money. I’m turning 40 on the 30th. That’s this Sunday if you don’t have a calendar handy. You should come by and help me celebrate. To accommodate everyone’s schedules, I have been forced to have a party on both Saturday and Sunday. How I suffer for the people I love. Pick an evening or show up for both celebrations – there will be food, wine, cake (or Bananas Foster if Cynthia really cares) and of course me! What more could you ask for?! Oh don’t worry, the extreme Leo vibes will settle back down to acceptable levels next week.

And to make sure I come back down to terra firma sufficiently, Kyle will be home next week! He’s been visiting relatives in Malibu since the 17th. Yeah, he suffers even more that I do. And please don’t make the erroneous assumption that I miss the little bugger. Cause I don’t. Twitch. I haven’t had to get up early and drive him across town to Summer Camp. Twitch. Haven’t had to stand over him with a stick to get him to brush his teeth. Ok, Chris hasn’t had to do that. But still. Twitch. No Kyle popping up 20 minutes after his bed-time to get another hug. Twitch twitch twitch.

Ahem. Well. Yes. Back to me. I’m having a birthday!
And then Kyle will come home.* And then we’ll go camping again in Fort Bragg. Sounds good.

*Shall we take bets on how many days before I’m annoyed as hell with him again? Hours??

Losing my happy place

Blogger is pissing me off. Again I have a post all ready to go and can't upload any pictures. Ugh.

Can…almost…reach…my…toes….

In most areas of my life I am quite flexible and adaptable. It even says so on my performance review. But every now and then I hit a speed bump in my ‘go with the flow’ attitude. This usually involves someone else rearranging things in a room. And sure, I might end up really liking it the new way – but the initial change causes me great distress. Weird.

I also seem to react out of character when plans are suddenly changed. For example when we decided mere hours ago to go to Santa Cruz this weekend. If you had heard me hesitating you would have thought I was being shipped off to Beirut. Yeah, my husband is so evil, making me spend the weekend at the beach where the high will be 83 degrees instead of staying home indoors all weekend trying to avoid another case of heat stroke because it going to hit 108!

“But you’ll go diving with Trent on Saturday and be gone the whole day! And then you’ll have to clean gear. And you’ll be tired and want to take a nap”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to convince my mom to go shopping. Or you could come with me, take the car, and then cruise around all the galleries in Carmel.”

“Alone?”

Do you want to smack me yet?! I don’t blame you. It’s some form of temporary insanity caused by the sudden switching of gears in my head. My brain tightens up and says 'but you had plans! Only dead fish go with the flow!'
Um, right.
Thankfully with a little time I loosen up and start to think clearly again. I can postpone my hair appointment. And would I really have gotten any painting done this weekend? Perhaps. But I wouldn’t have taken any pictures if we stayed at home. But in Santa Cruz… Oh come on. Now you’re the one whining!!

The Scenic Route Down Mexico Way

“Well, that was a superb meal. I’m so glad you could join us this evening. Would you care for an after-dinner drink? Wonderful. Shall we move to the den?

Oh look, someone left the projector and screen out… Hey! Would you like to see the slides from out vacation?

What?! You have an early meeting? You need to take the babysitter home? Your 12 hour antihistamine just wore off? Well, sure. I understand. Some other time maybe…”

But while you’re putting on your coats, let me show you the highlights. Really, it will only take a minute. ”


We flew to San Diego and then spent the day at the San Diego Zoo.
I didn’t take many photos because Chris and I went last year and I took a picture of every animal in the place! I could pull out that album if you want to take a look – no? Ok. Back to the trip.

Around 5pm we drove to the border and entered Mexico. Kyle, always the drama queen, bemoaned the fact that he was now a ‘foreigner’. My that boy can carry on. We headed west with the border fence on our right and Tijuana on the left. The first thing we learned in Mexico was this handy home security technique: to keep people off your property, cement shards of glass to the top of the wall like this:


I’m thinking of doing this to our back wall at home. They are building a Jr. High right behind our house! But I will keep it classy and only use Merlot and expensive micro-brew beer bottles. I don’t think the city would have a problem with that do you?

Our vacation destination was Chris’s partner’s condo 6 miles south of Rosarito. On the south end of town we were greeted by Jesus Muy Grande:


That Dude was huge! He was lit from below at night and had a blinking light on his head that we could see from our balcony. Very comforting.
And speaking of our balcony, here is the view from my side of the bed:


Not a bad way to start the day eh?!
Here is the view to the south:


And the north:


And here is Chris doing his impersonation of Michael Jackson and trying to dangle Kyle over the balcony:


Funny.
And what about this- There was a circus in town and as we drove through Rosarito one morning we saw the animals walking down the street.


Was it an actual parade? Were they just exercising the animals? Is so, the lions in the cage-on-wheels didn’t seem to be benefiting much. They were the carnivore caboose.
In contrast was this lazy herd of cows


We found this door in a building that had a café and half a dozen artist studios. Here is the top of the door:

Postus Interuptus

Sorry about the interuption. Here is the rest of the door.


And here is one of my favorite signs!


Sounds like my kind of place (wink wink nudge nudge)

And while I fawned over all the Frida Kahlo items I saw in the shops, I'm not clear about her affiliation with this dental office.


And since I am a fount of interesting information, I can tell you that the hand earring she is wearing in that painting was a gift from Pablo Picasso. Neat huh?!

So... when we weren’t going into all the funky little shops and art galleries


or riding ATV’s on the beach


or visiting Ensenada for a day


We slept in, ate great food, played many games of Life, and of course there was a lot of this:


Some things never change. And Cartoon Network would be one of them.

One Year Anniversary

Pointing to a yellow t-shirt at the bottom of the drawer, a t-shirt so bright it out-shines the sun.

Chris: “Should I wear this? I would be safe in intersections.”

Me: “Sure. Because I’ll be pushing you into intersections!”

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?

I’m back! And after 6 days on non-stop Kyle, I can’t even begin to express how pleased I am to be back at work. Who would guess that this is my happy place?! And you would probably assume that after missing 4 days of work I would be spending several more days just playing catch-up. But you would be wrong. It’s 10:30 and I’m done. And that includes entering the expense report data, talking to the Saint, and catching up on all the snark at Go Fug Yourself. This means I’ll have the rest of the week to compose my epic Mexico post. ¡Con fotografias!

Hasta luego.

A picture is worth a thousand words

We had a lovely time in Santa Cruz this past weekend. Not only did we get to see Chris’s folks, but also his aunt and uncle, cousin and her family and then some. We spent both afternoons at the beach. Kyle got a new skim board and Chris’ dad was the last to get out of the water on Saturday. And of course we ate too much. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was the fact that both Chris and I had to work on Monday. Oh well, I can’t complain – we are leaving tomorrow for 5 days south of the border.

¿Dónde está el baño? Ok, I’m ready.

I’ve been spending most of my time on Flickr this past week. In addition to adding photos; I started to explore. Wow. You better have a jumbo bag of breadcrumbs and a hydration system because you could get lost out there. I’ve added favorites, made contacts and joined a few groups. I found this guy in Detroit and somehow has access to abandoned buildings! Oh the beauty of urban sprawl. I told Chris that these were the pictures I wanted to be taking. I think I mentioned that I was getting a bit burned out on taking ocean shots. My surrounding weren’t inspiring me and I was feeling frustrated. And then I found the Utata group. They have projects and I am so excited about them. In addition to weekend projects there are the Iron Photographer Projects. They give you 3 elements that you need to include in the shot. The latest elements for IP-06 are 1- round object, 2 – shot through a window, and 3- the color red. So, while walking around the block I found this.
I am quite pleased with the photos I took this weekend. Santa Cruz sprawl will just have to do. Before we left on Sunday afternoon, Kyle and I went for a walk and let him use my old camera. He took some great shots. I’ll try to post some when we get back.

And the 4th was a blast - HA! No pictures, but a wonderful dinner with Cynthia - thanks again chickie! Let's climb next weekend. And then have abalone. And more Bananas Foster!! Damn, that girl can cook.

Have a great week. I’ll be taking more pictures, nursing Coronas and trying not to get burned.

Stick it to the man

Or – The beginning of the end…

Last night I bought Kyle his first stick of deodorant.
We stood there blocking the aisle while he sniff-tested a dozen different scents after I had narrowed the choices down to a couple brands. He was so pleased. He won’t even let them bag it with the rest of the groceries; he carried it all the way home.

So, there on the bathroom sink, next to his toothbrush and his retainer, sits a stick of Right Guard Fresh.

How did this happen? Where did my baby go?
Now it’s all pre-teenage attitude, eye-rolling, and deodorant. What’s next? Pimple-cream? Gah.

This morning he was telling me how the majority of people mispronounce Johann Sebastian Bach’s last name. He even has opinions about the president and the war in Iraq. WTF? I probably didn’t even know who the president was when I was 9.

At least I can still give him a hug and peck on the check every morning - in front of everyone!

For now.



I was going to post a baby picture, but then I found this one of Kyle and his kindergarten teacher. Ha! Do you still doubt that he has three sixes on his head?

It's all for you Damien!