Sunday Grays

In keeping with my promise to you (and me), today's post is just a link to a post of yesteryear - My First Time. Why repost this particular entry? Because a post by my not-at-all-old pal Snarky A (I'm Officially Old) made me think of it.

So read my old post, read her new post, and I'll be back with something newer tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday!

Six Word Saturday

Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does each week with their entries.

Please visit "Seven Days Seven Answers"

Seven Days Seven Answers is a bit of a daily meme/writing cues/game that I started back in October. I've been a little frustrated lately that the site sees a lot of traffic but not as many participants as I'd like. And really, the more participants, the more fun! So please, check it out and see if it's your kind of thing. Or if it's not, pass it along to someone you know who might enjoy it. Thanks!

All that's necessary to participate is to post your own six words. You can post an explanation if you wish but it's certainly not required. If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating). I do eventually make it around to all entries. Some weeks it takes longer than others but I will get there eventually. Please be patient with me!

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"Seedless" Orange

Yesterday, I demanded to know WHY there was a seed in my seedless orange.

Just ONE seed. It's not like the orange was maliciously misfiled under seedless when it was truly a tangerine or something. (Note: I was going to say naval but then I wasn't sure if it was a navel orange or a naval orange and one of them is military and one is belly buttons and neither one made any sense when it came to oranges.)

I'm not sure what that stupid seed was doing in my orange but it definitely had something to do with wrecking my day.

Also, I wish I could embed this video but this chick found my "seedless" orange's cousin, "Trail Mix". Check it out.

Reason #185663 To Love My Husband

The man gives me a 3 minute warning.

Tuesday night, we had invited two of his co-workers (they're married, to each other, and Canadian even) over for dinner at our home. I had never met them before and these situations tend to make me feel insanely a teensy bit anxious.

Knowing that I would be a smidge nervous about their arrival, he actually sent me the following text:

incoming: 3 min away

Three entire minutes to down some vodka take a chill pill powder my nose. Maybe it's not so much that he sent the warning that is to be loved, but rather the fact that he knew I would be in a frame of mind that would make such a warning helpful.

Either way, I think I'll keep him around.

World Peace at the Olympics

The Olympics are a big International event. A gathering of nations for a few friendly games.

And a wasted opportunity.

Imagine how much different the games would be if instead of competing against each other, countries played along-side each other?

I'm not saying the act of pairing athletes from North and South Korea on a curling team would bring peace between the countries. And I don't think the situation in the Middle East is going to be repaired by putting a couple of guys in a bobsled together.

But why not let them play games and have fun instead of all of the one-up-manship? And how about instead of speed skating, they do something like have a snowman-making competition. Or they could create forts! Snow angels? I'd suggest a snowball fight but that might turn ugly.

Any other suggestions for making the Olympics focus more on working together instead of competing against each other?

P.S. In the spirit of the games, I hosted the enemy neighbors from the North for dinner last night. Two Canadians. And I totally resisted the temptation to have "Go Team USA Hockey" written on a cake.
P.P.S. Or "Canada: Champion of Hockey Curling".
P.P.P.S. They were actually pretty nice. For Canadians. Even if they DO say "aboot".

How the Olympics Fail

In case you haven't noticed, the Olympics have been happening for the last week or so. In general, I enjoy the a lot of the events that are shown. Speed skating, downhill skiing, bobsledding. I've even been known to watch the two extremes of hockey and figure skating. But not that stupid ice dancing - that's for wusses who can't jump.

This time around, however, I'm finding myself not watching much of the games. After several nights of trying, I've come to the conclusion that the following things are hampering my enjoyment:

I will start with Bob Costas, just to get it out of the way. It needs no explanation. His existence is not necessary.

I'm also tired of Ohno? Ohyes! headlines. Oh barf!

The time difference also screws East coasters (no idea how this plays for Westies). Just because NBC has time to edit events doesn't necessarily mean that they should. Sure, I'm all for cutting out some of the boring wait time between competitors but not every commercial break needs to be accompanied with some slick package. (Haha, that's what she said). I'm tired of big tear-jerking videos about all of the hopes and dreams and dedication. Dude, they're at the Olympics. We get it.

And of course since NBC has the time to edit coverage, they aren't just going to edit out the time required to reset the course. They also edit out anyone who:

a) is not favored to win
b) is not American
c) doesn't fall down
d) doesn't pull off a surprise victory

Seriously, watch an event. Out of the dozens of competitors, you won't see a single one that doesn't fit into one of those four categories. If you don't recognize the name and they aren't Team USA, they will either crash or win a medal.

This is handy when it comes to fitting the entire games into a nice neat evening broadcast though. Hours of competition edited down into one convenient little highlight presentation. No need to be bothered with those inferior athletes who qualified but not worthy of broadcast time.

And those are some of the reasons I think I'm not enjoying the Olympics a whole lot this time.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for another Olympics post - about how I would change the games to promote World Peace.

Accomplishments

It's Monday and I didn't write a post last night like I usually do. In fact, I didn't accomplish much of anything yesterday. This was in part due to the headache that's been following me around like a lost ugly smelly puppy for the past few days. After tripping over a curb and falling on my face, Joe took me home and ordered me to bed with some medication. I felt much improved after the nap but too zoned out to cross anything off my list.

But one thing I did accomplish was a good talk with a friend. We're both struggling with a lot of similar battles right now and I felt so much better after I talked to her. We managed to remind each other that focusing on the things we didn't do shouldn't overshadow the things we did finish.

And, really, I had a kickass week last week in many ways.

So now it's Monday and I didn't accomplish a great post for you but I did manage a little progress in my head. Maybe that will mean a great post for you tomorrow. And another week of kicking ass for me.

Sunday Siesta

Remember how last Sunday I said I was taking a break and not posting on Sundays anymore? I totally lied thought I could do it but I just can't let it go. In fact, I had thought of an "out" less than 24 hours after writing that post.

As a compromise, I'm going to make super-short Sunday posts, probably just linking back to something I've written before that maybe some of you haven't read. Or maybe something somebody else has written. Or a picture of a monkey.

Here's your first flashback: Why Pandas Suck

Enjoy!

Six Word Saturday

Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does each week with their entries.

Setting priorities: harder than it looks

All that's necessary to participate is to post your own six words. You can post an explanation if you wish but it's certainly not required. If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!). Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

Please be sure to link either to your main page or (preferably) directly to the 6WS post. Links to blogs that do not contain a 6WS entry will be removed (sorry, just the button in the sidebar doesn't count as participating). I do eventually make it around to all entries. Some weeks it takes longer than others but I will get there eventually. Please be patient with me!

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Lent

Yeah, it's Friday, and Lent. Which means it's time for the annual argument in our house about whether or not fish is meat. (For the record, yes, duh, it is. If you don't agree or your name is Joe get your own blog!)

So I will have to remind him that I already won this battle last year. Like I have won all battles in the past and will continue to win them in the future. Because I am woman, hear me rawr!

Not being at an overly religious place in my life right now, I did wonder briefly about giving something up for Lent. And I finally decided I was giving up the idea of giving up something for Lent. But then yesterday, I realized that maybe I'd just use the next 40 days to take on something instead.

The thing I'm taking on? Me. Work has been hellish this week. Horrible, demanding, insulting, and demoralizing. And it's not as simple as just finding a new job because (Reader's Digest condensed version) Joe's job is currently a bit up in the air. Not as in he's in danger of being fired or "resourced" but more that some decisions are being made that he doesn't agree with and he may be choosing to move on in about six months.

So while I'm sitting tight and Lenting, I'm going to focus on redoing my professional website to strengthen my position for moving in a direction I like.

That seems much more productive than arguing about fish. Especially since fish is so unquestionably meat.

Running, like the wind

Yesterday, I finished day 2 of week 3 in the c25k running program. For those of you not keeping track at home, it means running 90 seconds, walking 90 seconds, running 3 minutes, walking 3 minutes, wash, repeat.

Anyways.

Here's how fast I run - Joe ran earlier in the day while I was at work but in his recent efforts to be supportive, he went to run along with me at 5pm. After the run, he made it a point to tell me that he would shower after dinner because he wasn't sweaty, just he was wearing his sweaty clothes from earlier and they made him smell. Yes, thank you for pointing out that while I am DYING and the sweat is pouring off me, you did not sweat at all from our efforts.

Also, the reason he made it a point to go with me is because when we ran on Saturday, I felt really miserable and threatened to jump into oncoming traffic we had an experience that freaked me out. When we run at home, there's this kinda rough neighborhood right behind our subdivision. It only consists of a few houses and then we're back into a nice apartment complex, office buildings, etc. So last time we ran, this dude ran out of his house and followed us. All the while yelling behind us:

Don't eff with me you white ass crackas! You going home to your rich white house? CRACKAS!!!

See, I'm very much a believer in "live and let live". Also, I must point that my white cracka ass was nowhere near his house. But when the crazy dude who dances around in front of traffic and refuses to move is chasing me down calling me a white ass cracka? I tend to feel a little uncomfortable.

Other than that, running is pretty boring. I hate it. I'm totally on a mission to beat it into submission because I just hate it that much. Some people think inspirational thoughts as their feet hit the pavement. Right, left, right, left, keep, going, keep, going, you can, do it, you can, do it. I tried boo,yah, boo, yah but I keep coming back to a chant of hate, this, hate, this, kill, me, kill, me, stu-,pid.

But in theory, six weeks from now I'll be able to run a 5k. We'll see how that works out for me.

Furry Follow-Up

At the risk of becoming "that chick who always blogs about her cats", I decided to go ahead and post a follow-up on Tonya today. So many of you are Team Tonya, it seemed appropriate.

The vet called around noon to tell me that Tonya had done well with the sedation and dental work. No additional extractions were necessary. "She's feisty, that one. I had quite the time getting my hands on her so we could even attempt the sedative."

When I picked her up around 4pm, she was already in her cage. With her back to me. Refusing to look me in the eye. I don't blame her - I probably wouldn't speak to me either. We made the quick trip home in an awkward silence and finally I was able to open her cage in the living room.

It wasn't long before I determined that my cat was clearly drunk. Her back legs seemed to have no notion of where the front legs were going, resulting in a lot of zigging and zagging. Before I could slow her down, she took her fluffy booty up the stairs, falling several times along the way.

Since she wasn't allowed to eat the night before, I hooked her up with some wet food, thinking it would be easier on her sore mouth. The little piggy snarfed down the whole can in ten minutes! At this point, I realized my cat was not drunk. She was high and had a horrible case of the munchies. Also, while I was nervous for her, she wasn't feeling any pain. The only pain was that inflicted on my Visa.

As I watched her wobble around, I suddenly realized that this must be exactly how it was for Joe when he's brought me home after anesthesia or when I've taken migraine meds. He's totally alarmed that I might throw myself down the stairs and I'm just having the time of my life. Sit down? Why should I sit down? Weeeee!!! I want to go make a quesadilla!!!! RIGHT NOW!!! If she knew what one was, I'm pretty sure Tonya would be wanting a quesadilla right now. Or at the very least a cuppycake.

Instead, she spent the evening happily drooling away, hoping it was all a very bad dream. I, however, know that the nightmare is not over yet - the vet sent us home with 3 syringes of liquid painkillers and 14 pills of antibiotics. The charge for the meds, by the way, was $O*.

So there you are, a furry follow-up. All kitties and humans are (so far) just fine. And hopefully she doesn't need to go anywhere near the vet again until her annual exam in July.

* You have received our (unnamed) discount. Probably because Tonya is an (unnamed) amount of Satan but it would seem that might carry an upcharge.

P.S. Two of the worst smells in the world are cat urine and canned cat food.

Dental Appointment

Today, I request that you think some good thoughts.

You see, Tonya is going in for her dental cleaning this morning. They will sedate her, clean her remaining teeth, and then send her home.

This, after not being allowed to eat or drink after 9pm last night. Yeah, she was a happy kitty this morning. Totally going to eat someone's face.

Last time I left her at their office for the "entire day", they called me at 11am begging me to please retrieve my cat because she was hissing and speaking in tongues and her head was spinning like in Exorcist. Was I wrong in thinking "you're charging me a gazillion dollars, can't you DO something about that?"

So let's think good thoughts. For me, as I tend to feel very upset when my fur freaks are not well or are visiting the vet for any reason. For the vet staff, that they will retain all of their limbs and no blood will be drawn.

And for Tonya, who I hope awakes with cleaner teeth, fresher breath, and just as much spunk as she went in with. Because that's my girl.

President's Day

For some reason, despite the fact that I work for a local government, I do not have today off. If the post office, with all their wind and sleet and snow and yappy dogs don't have to work, why do I?

This is unfair. Inhumane. UNAMERICAN!!!

Plus, it's also a Monday and I really think Mondays should just be banned anyways.

Elect me next time around, I'll give us all Mondays off. Or at the very least, I'll give ME Mondays off. President Cate, ruler of the free world and the interwebz. This would make me a happier person, which means less punching people in the face, which means the world will be a more peaceful place.

Yes, a vote for Cate is a vote for world peace!

Eh, who am I kidding? I can't even convince the voices in my head to vote me President of Catedonia.

This time, I mean it!

I think I tried once before to establish Sunday as my "day of rest" from posting. And failed.

Time to give it another try, I think. Things have been busy and I don't see that changing in the near future.

So if I post anything next Sunday, I would ask that you please stage some sort of intervention.

Also, Happy Valentine's Day. For those of you without others (significant or otherwise) or who do not celebrate, I will think of you fondly today just the same. You really can't stop me so you might as well learn to deal with it.

Six Word Saturday

Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does each week with their entries.

Much can change in a week

Like your entire outlook on so many things... No worries, largely positive. Just largely large.

All that's necessary to participate is to post your own six words. You can post an explanation if you wish but it's certainly not required. If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!) but I'm not going to delete your entry or punch you in the face if you don't. Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

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Note: Thanks for everyone for continuing to be careful to make sure you've linked to the right post. This has improved greatly! If you want to link directly to the 6WS post, that's super-helpful as well. Thanks!

I guess...

...you can't miss me if I don't go away. As promised.

Today, I'm catching up on last week's Six Word Saturday, in preparation for tomorrow.

And other stuff.

*smooches* Because I still can't just NOT post. I need a blogging intervention. Seriously.

Big Squirrel On Campus

While chatting with a friend recently, the conversation came around to squirrels on campus, like it always does.

Wait, it always doesn't? Must be we're doing it wrong.

Anyways.

At her school, seeing an albino squirrel on the way to an exam was a harbinger of an A.

At my university, we didn't have albino squirrels that I can remember. However, we did have squirrels aplenty. And one day, I came across the priest-president of the university. You would think this would be an intimidating superior kind of person but instead, as I came upon him, he reached over and handed something to the squirrel.

"Look," he said to me. "They like the green ones!"

And that's the day I fed Lifesavers to a squirrel with the president of our university.

What's that got to do with anything? Nothing at all. But it came to mind and I figured I'd just post it up for you because even though I said I would be MIA for a bit, I guess I meant more from reading/commenting and not so much from blogging here. Because I have a blogging sickness I'm just too committed to providing quality squirrel-related entertainment.

You're welcome.

Disconnected

I feel over-medicated this morning. Like the grogginess that comes from cold medication. More accurately, I feel emotionally disconnected, mentally detached.

It's the opposite of how I usually feel when I'm overwhelmed. I have a million things to do in the next few days and no idea where to start.

I'm behind. I haven't touched Six Word Saturday. I'm not writing my posts the night before. I haven't helped people with things I promised to look at for them.

Work moved up a major deadline. Instead of having ample time to research and make my recommendations on a project, I now have to submit it by COB on Friday. This project is massive - and the direction it takes will essentially decide how much longer I decide to remain employed here.

A personal project is also on the cusp of launching. This one has been months, maybe even years in the making. And the idea of sending that baby out into the wild finally is exciting and terrifying all at once.

I haven't yet processed events from this past weekend. In addition to the strange family goodness, Joe and I seem to be making some progress on some issues that have been hanging over us for years.

So there's a lot on my mind, a lot on my to-do list, a lot a lot a lot. And all while in some foggy removed state of brain that seems to nullify any sense of urgency I might use to propel myself onward.

Something just has to give this week and it looks like it's going to have to be blogging activities. Wish me luck and please excuse my absence.

Baby Parts

Saturday evening, my sister and BIL took advantage of all the free babysitters to go run a quick errand sans children. No sooner had they left than Caley needed a diaper change. And of course she picked that occasion for her belly button to fall off. Or the umbilical cord. Whatever.

No big deal and once she was all changed and happy, my mother offered her up for holding again. Since my SIL and I had both held her a bit, we offered once again to my brother Rob. Rob has not held the baby and nobody has pushed him but still, we offer in case he changes his mind.

His response?

"This is totally the wrong time to ask - parts are falling off!"

Haha, I love my brother.

P.S. We're home safe and sound now. Thanks for all the good thoughts.

Random Monday Bits

I'm traveling back home to my undisclosed location today. Hoping we have no weather-related (or other) issues. I'll start playing catch-up once we return to the house. In the meantime, just a few bits to share.

Congrats to the Saints. Some lovely plays. However... I never need to hear or see who dat ever again. It grates against my admittedly questionable impeccable grammatical skills. Also? Geaux Saints. No. Just no. Not neaux. No. If I ever see geaux ever again, someone may get punched in the face.

I hit it out of the park with my gifties for the nephew and niece. We bought Collin a little key ring that makes noises and lights up. Best $7 ever spent. And upon opening outfits on Saturday, my sister immediately discarded the dress she had planned for Caley's church dedication in favor of what I bought. I mean, seriously, look at that dress? How could you NOT just adore it?

Sunday, I logged in to check the cat cam and what did I see? Not only a kitty (Rusty), but also the cat-sitter. She was taking a picture of Rusty to send to us. I kinda wanted to take a screenshot of her taking a picture of the cat and send it back to her. How creepy would THAT be? Except we like her and trust her and she puts up with Tonya so probably best not to make her angry.

Guess that's all I've got. I'm hoping once I return home I'll be able to share a few trip stories in a more coherent way.

Big Day

Ever have one of those days that just seems will be significant somewhere down the line? I feel like I had one of those days. I haven't been able to process it all yet but our trip is going amazingly well and it makes me almost uneasy.

- We managed to catch the last flight out of Philly to our podunk destination on Friday morning - all later flights to podunk were canceled due to snow.

- Friday night, we had an amazing dinner with fantastic friends. Is there anything better?

- My brother and SIL made the trip despite expecting over 2 feet of snow they'll have to drive back through to reach home.

- Saturday morning, we had breakfast with my FIL who traditionally runs extremely late and isn't always well in many ways. However, he was ready promptly at 9am and we had a really nice time together.

- I spent 9 hours at my parents' home with my mother, father, brother, SIL, sister, BIL, nephew and new niece. And Joe, of course. We all got along well; there were minimal eye-rolling occasions or awkward moments.

- Babies are cute, y'all. I held her a lot and she's made of sugar and spice and everything awesome. The nephew is adorkable despite some teething grumpiness.

- We spent a few hours in the evening with my 80 yr old grandmother who is always bitter and morose but not this time. We had good conversation, stayed away from the touchy topics, and left without her having a crying breakdown.

A really unexpectedly great day. Lots of family exposure, no need for xanax. I can't wrap my mind around it. I'm not sure if I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop or what exactly. I just feel like it was a 'big' day in a way I haven't yet identified.

Anyways, sorry for the babbles with no conclusion or point. As I write this late Saturday night, I'm just kind of tapping out whatever's in my head. I suppose that's easier than trying to think it through.

P.S. My husband is a swell guy. I'm not sure what I'd do without him. That's not about anything specific, I just felt the need to share.

Six Word Saturday

Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words. For more information, try clicking here. Feel free to explain or not explain. Add an image, a video, a song, nothing. I love seeing what everyone does each week with their entries.

Reached destination safely in one piece

Responses and visits will be later than usual because I'm traveling to NY to meet my new niece.

All that's necessary to participate is to post your own six words. You can post an explanation if you wish but it's certainly not required. If you play along in your blog, please add a link to the Mr. Linky. I appreciate a link back (shiny code below if you like!) but I'm not going to delete your entry or punch you in the face if you don't. Otherwise, you're welcome to leave your six words in this post as a comment.

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Note: Thanks for everyone for continuing to be careful to make sure you've linked to the right post. This has improved greatly! If you want to link directly to the 6WS post, that's super-helpful as well. Thanks!

New York, New York!

When I booked our trip to visit the family, I sent the following to a friend that lives in New York.

I'm coming to see you!
and by "you" i mean "new york"
and by "new york" i don't mean any of the good parts

Unfortunately, she lives several hours away from where I'll be in Podunk, NY. But it's still technically the same state.

Anyways, today's the day. Depending on when you read this post, I'll either be leaving on a jet plane, arriving in Podunk, perhaps visiting my MIL and then having dinner with friends. Hopefully all of this without feeling sick with anxiety. So good luck to me!

As for my blog, email responses may be a bit delayed. Six Word Saturday will happen as usual tomorrow. Something will probably even be posted Sunday and Monday. But forgive me if it's a bit sparse. Or, you know, thank me for some rare brevity! I've got enough to worry about so I'm giving myself permission to let things slip a bit around here. I know you'll understand.

And for kicks, you can probably watch me freak out realtime on Twitter (also on my sidebar), assuming I have data coverage.

First Fursday: Fighting For My Life

It's time for First Fursday and this month's edition is provided by Tonya.

Last Tuesday, I was watching my humans eat their rations when I noticed a strange feeling on the side of my mouth. I licked and tossed my head long enough that the long-haired one came over to take a look. As soon as she looked in my mouth, she started yelling and pinned me to the floor. Something about a tooth? Anyways, the short-haired human sorta plucked at my tooth and then I didn't feel bad anymore so I went upstairs for a nap.

I didn't sleep long though when the long-haired human came up and was all snuggling and crying and apologizing for being a bad kitty-owner. Whatever, woman, do you think you could at least make yourself useful and give me a tuna treat?

A few days went by with nothing out of the ordinary. No more of that whining and crying. Maybe she took a happy pill. Then one afternoon, I was napping on the bed when suddenly the short-haired human came in and swooped me off the bed. We were already in my cage and in the car before I even woke up enough to protest. Before long, we were at the doctor's office and my other human was there waiting for us.

Things started out well enough. Some yapping by the people, blah blah whatever. Then a stranger picked me up and carried me out a back door. My humans didn't even come with us! She placed me on a cold table and tried to hold me down while some other person came at me with a pointy owie thing!!! I'm not stupid, I remember those things and they HURT!

So I might've hissed a little. The wimpy chick let go and I managed to corner her at one end of the room while a third person came in grabbed me from behind. I hissed and tried to bite her but since I'm down a fang, it wasn't very effective.

Despite my best efforts, the three of them managed to somehow get a muzzle on me. Then the doctor came in and stabbed me with the owie thing. I screamed super loud. Like a mountain lion or a ferocious tiger! My humans said they heard me from three rooms away. Well, good for them. Because they didn't have to endure the horror of these strangers tying them down and stabbing them!

Finally the torture-techs let me go back in my cage and took me back to my humans. I wasn't real thrilled with anyone at that point but I figured I had a better chance with the humans than I would staying there.

Bet they're all glad they don't have to see me again for awhile! Ha! The last laugh is mine!

P.S. The last laugh isn't Tonya's. Assuming her bloodwork came back fine, she'll be going next week for a dental cleaning. Please don't tell her.

Going Home

This weekend, Joe and I are flying to hell "home" to visit our families. Primarily, to visit my sister Tina and her kids. Collin is now about 21 months and Caley is about 3 weeks old. If nothing else, I figure the experience will be good for at least one blog post.

I haven't been "home" since Collin was a month old and that trip didn't go well. I was so anxious that I spent the entire trip being miserably sick. But that was before my friend Lexapro. And before Xanax. And beyond the medication, I think I've made great progress with my other coping mechanisms.

Still, I find myself very on edge. It usually starts to hit me when we're packing. It's an early morning flight and I'm not an early morning girl. Travel makes me more nervous than it should but between security, layovers, and possible weather, I can't seem to put away all of those antsy feelings.

Assuming we arrive in one piece, I'm hopeful the weather will cooperate. I'll have enough to keep calm about without weather worries. I've identified two major stress areas for the trip so that I can compartmentalize them and get past them.

The first is visiting my grandmother. She never misses an opportunity to rehash all of the family history and her bitterness at my parents. She's totally entitled to her feelings and I won't disagree with them. I share many of them myself. But it serves no purpose to talk about them again. It only freaks me out. Gramma is also getting quite old (she'll be 80 in April) and always tells me that it's good to see me because she thought she might die before we visited again. Stuff like that. Very pleasant.

The second big stress event will be Sunday morning. My sister is having the kids dedicated (think Protestant for baby baptism) at the family church that day. It's a pretty big deal and I'm excited that she's planning it for a time when we can be there. But the idea of going to my parents' church makes me want to vomit. They are a tiny rural church, totally judgmental and totally in everyones' business. They hate gays, they hate dancing, they miss the days of Prohibition, they hate Catholics (I'm still going to hell for marrying "one of those heathens" as my mother's friend told me on my wedding day). And since they're all my mother's friends, she has badmouthed me to them for years. That's not paranoia; that's a fact. My brother's and sister's weddings were both extremely uncomfy for me as a result.

On top of it all, I weigh 70 lbs more than I did last time I was there. But no way do I say to any of them "it's called depression and medication". Instead, family and "friends" can just think "wow, Cate's really a fatass!" Believe me, I know I'm overweight. It's hard to not let the depression get the best of me so I can do something about it.

But despite all of that, I'm really looking forward to seeing my brother, SIL, sister, and niece & nephew. I'm trying to work out the possibility of doing a bit of spoiling. I'm also trying to work out a plan to abscond with my sister alone for a bit because I think that time would serve us both well.

And the best thing you can all do for me is hope that Gwen will have coverage in Northeast Nowhere. Because Gwen is my lifeline. If the plane lands and I can't find the little Verizon guy, it's not going to be pretty.

Robotic Groundhogs

Due to my affinity for robot armadillos (remember the Great Robot Armadillo Incident of 2009?), this news story caught my attention.

PETA proposes robotic groundhog for Pa. festival

Yeah, PETA is standing up for the groundhog, claiming the crowds and noise and lights are indecent so the little rodent should be replaced with a robot.

Seriously? A robot. Wow. Like in Caddyshack I suppose (wait, sources tell me that's a gopher, nevermind).

I kinda love William Deeley's response. Mr. Deeley, by the way, is the president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Isn't that the best title ever to put on your resume? Also, is there an Outer Circle as well?

Anyways, after describing the posh living conditions enjoyed by one Mr. Phil D. Groundhog, Mr. Deeley said "PETA isn't interested in Phil from Feb. 2 on, and is looking for publicity."

Exactly right, Mr. Deeley. I hate that crap. You really care about the Punxutawney Phil, you make a movie calling out his holiday that has almost nothing to do with him and then you cast the funny but un-hot Bill Murray as a romantic lead don't just freak out about it in time to have Google index some fresh news about you in time for the groundhog searches. You would care all year long.

PETA is one of those organizations that makes me crazy. I think at heart I share their cause. Who wouldn't be in favor of the humane treatment of animals? But when your organization is reduced to conveniently-timed publicity stunts, extreme measures and ridiculous causes (like robotic groundhogs), you lose some credibility.

Next thing you know they'll be coming after me, accusing me of punching Tonya in the face, causing her to lose a fang. Know who else only has one fang? This guy:

Now that I look closer, I see a really strong family resemblance.

Also, since I have your attention, Phil, let's see what we can do about Spring coming sooner rather than later, okay? I wouldn't want to have to serve you with a side of mashed potatoes punch you in the face. Because that would be a legitimate offense and I don't have time to deal with PETA.

Stay Off the Roads

Maybe I'm a wimp, but when the governor, Dept of Transportation, and weather folks all tell me to stay off the roads because the conditions are dangerous, I tend to think that means I should, oh, I dunno, stay off the roads.

This means not running out because I'm bored. Not heading out to the gym just because I can't run in the snow (assuming the gym is even open). Not attending a play or sports event. And not going to work since I'm not emergency staff and can do my job completely from home thanks to the wonders of technology.

It really infuriates me to see people out on the roads in these conditions when they don't need to be. I don't care if you're on a moped or in your big stupid truck. There's no reason to be out, especially when it's icy.

And that goes double for the places still holding events, thus prompting people to be out on the roads. We lost $50 in tickets because there was no way we were going out Saturday night and the venue chose to hold the event and offer no refund/exchange options. Our church (I use the term our loosely here) held services this morning for anyone who was able to attend. As a result, some chick bitched out one of our priests on Facebook this morning because her husband was running the sound system and felt obligated to go out even though he felt it unsafe since services hadn't been canceled. I blame that partly on the church and partly on the guy for not using his own judgment to opt out.

Anyways, I guess what this all boils down to is that I enjoyed my weekend of being snowed in. I accomplished a lot but I also put some things off, figuring I'd also have all day Monday to clean the house and prepare some things for work. And now it's after 5pm Sunday as I write this and rather than continue to work on things, I'm now spazzing about the fact that I have to be on the road for work tomorrow when all of the powers that be except the boss who controls the City budget say travel will be unsafe.

Unless I opt out. Because unlike the church guy, I have the ability to make my own decisions. And while my bosses all think they're more powerful than Jesus the Savior Jesus the lawn guy God, they're sadly mistaken.