Celticangel.org

Hello all.

Me again.

It looks like my Mother-in-Law may actually be coming home on Sunday. (As in later today after my latest attempt at that sleep thing.) This is our third theoretical release date for her, so here’s hoping that the third time is a charm. And as you may imagine, we have been in a flurry of cleaning here in my “not normally that tidy” but considering recent events grown into “more along the lines of chaos incarnate” place.

Here is a quick list of some actual housework that has occurred here recently: (the following list is based on true events. please remain seated while reading said list to prevent fainting from shock.)

* The sheets on her bed are new and clean.
* The second floor has been vacuumed (except in my messy room.)
* We have a new towel rack (to replace the one in bits lurking about the bathroom.)
* A new shower curtain liner was purchased and hung up.
* The bathtub was cleaned and now sports non-slip duckies.
* The stairs are clean of the usual debris (a.k.a. stuff found downstairs that belongs upstairs.)
* The infamous entryway where I have slipped and fallen twice now has a new rubber-backed rug.
* A new rubber-backed rug lurks at the back door.
* Much kitchen/dining area stuff have been moved about.
* and lots of laundry has been done…and put away!

*whew!* So…yeah. I’m hoping that at the very least she’ll be able to move around the place with the walker I’m told is coming home with her.

In other news, did I mention that I am not taking any fertility drugs this month? Nope. I have managed to develop not one, not two, but three cysts. Bleh. But really, it’s great timing. I just don’t have the time this month. I declare it to be divine intervention, and will now move on to my next newsbyte….

My interview for the job-possibility-I’m-not-saying-much-about is on February 10. Please send any/all prayers and good thoughts my way.

And finally…I have a new cell phone. Why do I have a new phone? Well…it was free. Relatively-speaking, of course. You see, Koshvader needed a new phone as his had started to come over all wonky. And after much debate, he chose a Motorola Droid. Well, said Droid came with a free Droid Eris. So, I ended up upgrading too, though I had not planned to yet.

Let’s pause for a minute to discuss this phone:

1) It’s way more modern that anything phone-like I’ve ever had. I mean, come on, I’ve never even downloaded a ringtone before. I keep discovering new things and hurting my brain.
2) It vibrates when you push its little virtual buttons. Let it be here noted that I hate things that vibrate, as they make my bones ache. Yes. That includes those coaster things they give you at restaurants while you are waiting. (And nope. Apparently you can turn that off in the other Droid, but not in mine.)
3) It’s named Eris. I mean…come on. Who named the phone after the goddess of discord?
“Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife. She is Ares’ constant companion and follows him everywhere. Eris is sinister and mean, and her greatest joy is to make trouble.” – Encyclopedia Mythica

But honestly, I can get used to all of this cell phone…usefulness. It’s turning out that I’m using Eris to tame a bunch of the chaos in which I find myself in the new year.

And in the meantime? I’m giving lots of folks their own ringtones. Be afraid.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I got this link from a friend the other day, and all I can say is…wow.

I may have mentioned that I’m madly cleaning my place during my special-shiny-extended-weekend. For the record, it’s a control thing for me. When I’m really stressed out, I clean and by controlling my environment, I feel a bit more in control in general. Yay coping mechanism!

One of the things I’m doing is moving a few things around (like my mail station) and clearing off my cork boards.

From the Cork Board:

From the Forgotten English day by day calendar – Friday May 21 (year ?):

Cockade: A ribbon or knot of ribbon, or something similar, worn on the hat, usually by officers of the army or navy, sometimes by others. – John Ogilvie’s Comprehensive English Dictionary, 1865

Why I saved it:

Well, I expect that it was in reference to the pub I used to love called The White Cockade. I miss that place. You drove along the 9 for a bit longer than you expected and kept a close eye on the right. It was a great place to be on a dreich day. Sigh.

Def:
(WordNet) adj. pertaining to or having finely developed buttocks.

(Merriam-Webster) adj. having shapely buttocks.

Okay. Why do I love this word so much? Well…because my nickname is Calliope. (Yes. And my new girly jeans are very flattering to the posterior. giggle)

Okay. Been a bit busy of late, but here is the as-short-as-I-can-make-it version:

The other day (Friday?) was a day of one bad and two shiny things. Bearing in mind recent events, I think that this balances out things pretty nicely.

The new bad is: my darn Check Engine light is on. Argh. And? I have, as yet, been unable to get the darn thing looked at. The Subaru dealership couldn’t even fit it in until Friday. Uh…no. So, I guess I’ll take the car to Big O tomorrow. They can check out the sporadic ABS light, too.

The good: 1) Free Pants! Someone left a pair of pants on the free stuff counter at work. (Do your places of work have a similar thing? Koshvader wants to know if this is fairly common.) The note on said pants had the size and a statement of their freeness. After passing by them a couple of times, I gave in and tried them on. To my surprise, this pair of girly jeans fit! Huzzah! I proceeded to get a bit silly about the free pants and spent the rest of the day telling people about them. 2) I received a job req for the job I want. I shouldn’t say much here, but it’s located in the same system for which I currently work…and I really really want it. I’ve applied. Here’s hoping. *fingers crossed*

In other news, I have a four day weekend. Two of my best friends were out visiting last week. My MIL is steadily healing up from the initial major surgery. And I have been cleaning my house, darn it. Today, I went over for the usual blood draw, but before that I gained two man points. How? Well, I took Koshvader’s car over to Big O to get it looked at for an oil leak, etc. (Yes. Both cars are having issues right now. Yay, fun.) While I was waiting in the lounge area, The Price is Right ended, and a soap opera came on. I really didn’t want to watch it, and a glance at the three men sitting next to me led me to believe that they didn’t want to see it either. So…I went over the the counter to inquire after the remote, figuring that there had to be a sporting event that I could change the channel to. In possession of said remote, I flipped through the channels until I found skiing. Close enough. When I told Koshvader the story, he awarded me two man points. I feel so manly, now.

There you go. The story so far. Free pants, job reqs, and man points.

I couldn’t resist sharing this little bit of Silliness with you all. “At Last the 1948 Show” is one of the pre-cursors to Monty Python. Three of the troupe worked together here before forming said troupe. This library sketch gives me the giggles…quietly, of course.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve had this motto before…about ten years ago or so, but I thought that would be particularly helpful to me this year. I’ve noticed that I have a huge tendency to stick with the comfortable and the familiar in life. This guides things like where I eat, driving patterns, game playing, book reading, movie watching, parking preferences, etc. And I am led to wonder how I will find anything new and cool if I stay with the same things all of the time. Admittedly, I will also encounter things that are…less salubrious, if you will, along the way. Hey, but in that case I’ll have things to warn you all about here on the blog, right?

In this spirit, here are some things I’ve tried this year so far:

* Apples to Apples – An incredibly silly and fun game to play in a group.

* Blockus – Sort of like tetris on a playing board for up to four people. Quite cerebral and also fun. (I bought a copy of this one.)

* San Mateo Prime – A very tasty (and expensive) steak place in San Mateo. I really enjoyed it. A nice place for a date involving meat-eaters. Their Chocolate Mousse is divine.

* Mad Fish in Fremont – This Japanese restaurant just opened in Fremont down the street from my work. I went there for dinner the other night…and wasn’t overly impressed, actually. The food was okay, but will be expensive once the grand opening coupon thingy goes away. The service needs more training time. My tea cup was frequently empty and I had to go up to the register to get my bill printed as I had to leave and could no longer wait for the darn thing to show up at my table. I figure I’ll try back in six months one time when Koshvader comes to join me for dinner.

* The Sonoma Panini from Raley’s – Normally I get the Yosemite (not as nice and spicy as it used to be) or the Sierra (which has started to be too dry lately). I thought I’d try a non-beef-based sandwich this time. Not such a good idea as it turned out. The best word I can come up with to describe this sandwich is: squidgy. True, it wasn’t too dry, but it was a bit…strangely leaky. Also? I get the weird feeling that the turkey they used had something in it that I can’t eat. It certainly made my stomach mrgly enough.

And there you are. A few new things I’ve tried already. Let’s see if I can keep this up.

(So, my friends have a shoulder cat. That’s me that she’s resting on.)

So, remember my hope that 2010 would be better than 2009?

Yeah. Not so much.

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Ah Ha! I knew that I knew that Muppet song. It’s Habenera from Carmen, and I’m more familiar with it in the form of the Operatic Orange from Sesame Street, as seen below. (Da dun dun dun…)