Friday, March 26, 2004

"You want it all, but you can't have it ..."

Every time I hear that song, I remember a certain summer at the beach house when all I wanted in the world was a "conversion van". God. To me, it was heaven on earth to imagine the four of us, traveling in style down the highway, in our cushy seats ... watching a VHS tape. Whoo hoo! Anyway, sister Laura (fortified by our usual breakfast cocktail of vodka & whatever else we could find) started singing that song, only she changed the words ... and now when I hear this oldie-but-goodie, I hear Laura singing, "You want a conversion van, but you can't have ittttt". We thought it was hilarious, and it went on for months ... as did all our drunken humor. (Boooots!)

I bet you're wondering what I'm dying to have these days, aren't you? I thought so. You'll probably be shocked to find out that the object of my desire is none other than a VACUUM CLEANER. Go ahead ... laugh. Everybody knows I rarely clean anymore. But I've got such a hankering for a Dyson vacuum, I can hardly stand it. Problem is, I have a hunch that I'd buy it, use it a few times ... and the thrill would be gone. Ain't that the way it always goes?

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My birthday was nice ... thank you for the Happy Birthdays. :-) I heard from everyone near and dear to my heart, and Brandy even took me out to dinner. I had crab dip, and flounder stuffed with crab and shrimp. And then I was stuffed. Literally.

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Hope everybody enjoys the upcoming weekend. Do something to pamper yourself ... because you mean the world to me!

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

"It's my birthday too, yeah ..."

I know the date is burned onto your brain, written on all your calendars ... but I just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is my birthday. Yup. 45-freakin' years old. Halfway to 90. How did this happen??? *sob*

Because I've seen others with online journals do the same, I'd like to suggest ways YOU can celebrate my big day. :-)

How To Celebrate Dawn's Birthday(which is tomorrow, so get busy)

1. Promise to de-clutter every room in your house ... tomorrow.

2. Call your pet "Hayley" for the day. Follow your pet around and croon "Hayley-pooooo" until it gets annoyed and runs away with its ears laid back.

3. During a semi-important meeting or phone call say "I don't know. We should ask Dawn what she thinks of that."

4. Wear Birkenstocks.

5. Watch "All My Children", and talk back to the characters. Cry when Erica realizes what a bad mother she's been.

6. Change your computer wallpaper to a picture of me.

7. Call your significant other "Ya freakin' goof" for no particular reason.

8. Postpone cleaning the house for another week.

9. Eat a piece of bakery cake with yummy lard icing.

10. Take a really hot shower ... so hot that you come out all red and wrinkly.

11. Perform a random act of kindness.

12. Out of the blue, tell someone "It's Dawn's birthday today. She's 45, but she doesn't look a day over 24!" (A harmless little birthday lie never hurt a soul.)

Don't you dare forget to leave a comment telling me what you did!

Monday, March 22, 2004

There's somethin' about the southland in the springtime ..."

Well good grief. Two weeks went by without a journal entry here. I honestly don't know why time insists on flying the way it does.

I'm on the "big computer" now, as the laptop acquired some sort of spyware/wormy/virus thing last week. I'm too skeered to use it until it's rebuilt, so I'm back at the desk, using a real keyboard and mouse again.

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Last week was Spring Break at Clemson ... Emilie and I planned a little trip to Charleston. And I'm sooo glad we did. We left on Tuesday and returned on Friday, which was a nice amount of time to see some sights, shop a little, and even walk on the shore of Sullivan's Island. I enjoyed all of it ... but mostly I enjoyed the time with my baby girl. And now I know the secret of how to spook the hell out of Emilie: put on a pair of old-fashioned black granny boots and stand outside the bathroom stall when she's in it. ;-)

Getting around downtown Charleston involves finding a parking garage and then using the feet God gave you. We walked ... a lot. It had to be good for me. Of course, the secret would be to KEEP WALKING now that I'm home again. Uh huh.

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Sunday was the first day of spring. And Sunday night, the wind blew and the temps were in the 20's! But the leaves are peeking out, the jonquils are blooming, and the days are getting longer. I'll be sweatin' in no time.

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Back to work tomorrow. And that's enough said about that.

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Thought For Today:

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." (Buddha)

Monday, March 08, 2004

"Some people call me Maurice ..."

Well, we had another weekend in South Carolina. Jimmy and Adam set up a working computer at the desk, so I can finally work on the taxes. I don't trust this laptop to keep me online long enough to post this journal entry, much less to file the taxes. So now I have no excuse. This week will be "Tax Week". And after that, "FAFSA Week". Yippee!

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Soon after I got back home today from taking Jimmy to the airport, the noise started. Never a good sign. Seems our across-the-street neighbors finally got tired of their exhausting leaf-disposal routine every fall. And I'll be damned if they didn't have FOUR huge trees in their front yard murdered. Bastards. Walking out to get the mail this afternoon, I noticed their house felt a lot closer to the street ... and it's not as pretty as it was yesterday.

Chainsaws and woodchippers ... that was my excitement for today.

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Outside My House Today:

High: 59

Low: 37

Sunny

Friday, March 05, 2004

"All I know is you're my favorite mistake ..."

I've been sleeping with the bedroom windows open this week ... and I'm here to announce that I will not be sleeping under my new down comforter year-round. HOT. There's not much worse than waking up with a "glow".

The weather should be a little cooler next week, and I'm in the minority of folks who are all for that!

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Got my hair cut today. Much better.

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Jimmy called from the office 2 hours ago to tell me he was on his way home. Uhhhh. Yeah.

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Survivor:

I have to say that I felt sorry for Sue. It was obvious that what happened with Richard really bothered her on a deep level. I felt bad for her ... it looked like real emotional pain.

But I had to laugh when I saw Jeff's face after Sue yelled at him. He was NOT expecting that.

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Friday Five:

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?

Mrs. Spiegal, and I remember NOTHING about her. If she's still around, I guess she'd be in her 70's now. Weird. Oh my God, my MOTHER is in her 70's now. I feel way too old.

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

The only cartoon I actually liked was The Roadrunner ... and Daddy had a lot to do with that. He loved that show, and would usually watch along with us, laughing louder than anyone.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend?

We fought almost as often as we got along, but my first best friend was Sabrina Webb. We still talk on the phone every few years. And I ashamed to say that the reason I don't go to visit her (she lives 2 hours away) is that I don't want her to see how fat I've become.

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?

Quisp! I don't remember eating a lot of cereal before 1972 or so ... before that, we ate a lot of oatmeal.

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?

We'd always have to change to "play clothes" after school ... what we did after that, I have no idea. Play? When I was a little older, I used to CRAVE the time when I could lay on my stomach across my bed and read. Yeah, I was a wild child.

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Outside My House Today:

High: 71

Low: 61

Cloudy

Thursday, March 04, 2004

"Where have all the cowboys gone? ..."

Lately it's a really big effort to get groceries bought around here. When it's just me at home, I can scrimp by on what's been in the pantry and freezer for years. But every other weekend, the man comes home ... and I try to cook something fresh. That's just the way I am. Anyway, I am just so very tired of the whole grocery store experience. 25 years ago, when I first got married, I shopped once a week, like clockwork. With my $30 per week budget, I made a list and stuck to it. Even when the kids were home, I was pretty regular about it. Although the budget was a bit (ahem) higher.

So I said all that to say this: When I finally do drag my fat ass out to BiLo to shop for food and supplies, it pisses me OFF to find out they don't carry canned Iams cat food. That means I have to make a special trip to Publix later. And no, the crazy cat won't eat Whiskas.

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Speaking of the cat, this morning I caught her in her newest warped behavior. After biting off a huge chunk of canned food (Iams, you know), she ran with it into the den, where she dropped it on the CARPET and proceeded to nibble daintily. After I yelled "CAT!" and grabbed it from her, and told her in no uncertain terms, that her nasty smellin' cat food belongs in her dish ... she did it again. Only this time she ran upstairs with it. Apparently the atmosphere in the breakfast room is just all wrong. Damn cat.

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Survivor night! I can't wait to see Sue scream and yell at Jeff Probst. I hope Jeff can calm her down though ... she's quite scary.

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Hoping to see at least one of my kids this weekend ... BOTH would be better. :-)

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Outside My House Today:

High: 76

Low: 54

Mostly cloudy

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

"Can you hear the drums, Fernando? ..."

Oh yeah, I'm hating me some LiveJournal right now. I typed a whole entry offline ... and OH! It was funny stuff. (It was!) So you probably already guessed the rest.

I signed online, clicked the "update journal" button.

*poof*

Grrr. GONE.

And yeah, usually I "copy" it when I finish, just in case. I remembered that I hadn't done it today the same split second that the "error" page appeared.

And now I don't feel like telling it all over again. Bah.

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Brief recap:

Cleaned the upstairs.

Gonna clean the downstairs.

Called the phone company about the damn static-filled phone line.

Paid bills.

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GRRRRR again.

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Outside My House Today:

High: 71

Low: 54

Mostly sunny

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

"I'm alright, don't nobody worry 'bout me ..."

Today was a workday for me. (1 or 2 out of every 7 seems to be my routine ... don't hate me, I'm not making any money like this!) I arrived at "Miss Daisy's" house and was met by her creepy daughter, who informed me that, from now on, "Miss Daisy" wouldn't be joining us on our days out. (Sigh.) The daughter is a cheerless, grumpy soul, and I was sad to hear that I won't get to hear her Mom's stories any more. Also that's the end of eating lunch out, since the daughter never mentioned a lunch break ... we started at 10 AM, and I dropped her off when it was almost 6 PM. So now I have the "hunger headache" that I always get when I skip a meal. Not that my ass can't take a few skipped meals. I just always get a headache that won't go away until I sleep.

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Tonight's Entertainment:
American Idol
Real World

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Outside My House Today:
High: 68
Low: 55
Light rain