teachers and vets

dropped 
anxious kids at school and went on an adrenalin-driven 10 mile uphill-all-the-way walk :|  i haven't done that walk for 3 months and it was really really really exhausting and headachey... but completely awesome to be FREE with music in my ears and a slight drizzle in the air!!

found
that the extra nice mom i met by chance at the park last week has a kid in Danny's class too!  isn't that cool??!  
relieved
that both boys returned home positive and full of excitement about the first day... Sam's teacher is Scottish (her name is Miss Moffet - sooooo cute!!) and he seems pretty fond of her already :)  and Danny loves his new teacher and that she doesn't ever shout and she plays an instrument to get the kids' attention (i am dying to know what ;) and she's generous with the cougar cards :)  and so...... i can exhale

went 
to Petsmart with the hubbie at lunchtime to get a pawdicure for Romeo (he has the neatest, unclickiest nails now!) and a cone of shame for Blackjack.  of course we forgot to measure Blackjack before his surgery so we had to try on all the cones and pick one that fit us :)  and take goofy pictures naturally :)

picked up
Blackjack from the nice vets and got covered in blood from his drains.  ewwwwwwwwwwwww, i don't think our car will ever feel clean and lovely again :|

watched
Dr Phil.  sexual addiction is such a crock ;) 

back later with pictures, maybe even one of the bloodfest in our car :|

it's monday morning technically and i hate it

it's the first day back at school and i already miss the morning snuggles, coffee in bed watching Beverly Hills Nannies (and thinking Kristin is the devil, not nice at all) and having absolutely no plans for the day except where to go for lunch :(

Sam is 5 feet 9 (7th grade) and Danny (2nd grade) is 4 feet 6 - how is that even possible???? 

is it Saturday yet....?  i am dying to go apple picking and feel like i'm thousands of miles (3000 to be exact) away from here....  

though i do worry that the houses 'back East' (can you say that if you're not technically going back East...?) might be too cluttered and pokey and i might feel smothered and suffocated by things like those ugly wall heaters and, well, i guess walls in general.... i wonder if the houses have walls to keep the warmth in...?  hmmm, there's got to be a reason they aren't very open plan and flowy and even the brand new homes look a little bit formal and uncontemporary-ish... hmmm, indeed

i am fasting today and i mean it.  i can have coffee because that's technically just water and powder but no food.  at all.  and i'm serious!

Blackjack needs an operation which stresses me out and makes me toss and turn at night.  my tummy refuses to unknot from being knotted so much... i wish there was an empathy-reducing pill, because i surely need it right about now - poor old pup. 

back later with pictures and hypoglycemic ramblings ;)



 

pictures...

.... no words.  it's just been one of those days

 

flipping out

shopping
for stupid dumbass bras at Victoria's Secret (thumbs down).  everything is desperate divorcee looking (and also so expensive) and i would rather not call 911 than have my clothes cut off by a fireman to reveal a hideous zebra print bra with trashy pink straps :| also Target is pissing me off - every single bra in there is a nursing bra (except those huge ugly 18 hour ones in nude polyester) exactly what percentage of the population do they think is nursing....?  because when i had babies, that number was zero :|

wondering
if people realize what total jackoffs they sound like when they talk about hunting like it's perfectly acceptable and necessary.  i expect no better from men, since they are nearly all trying to look macho and caveman-ish.  but from women, it's just gross and ugly :|  animals deserve the same protection from evil predators as children.

hoping 
Flipping Out is as awesome and bitchy and mean as ever tonight and Jeff dumps Zoila.  and Gage too because i think he has shifty, untrustworthy eyes...

worrying
about Blackjack.  he is going to the vet's office today :(  and i can't go too :( 

wishing
those insipid NYC housewives would be cancelled already.  is anyone even still watching....? 

listening
to Lifes Rich Pageant and googling Johnny Reb.... you learn something new everyday ;)

off to the science center which always feels like rolling earthquakes to me - back later xoxo

Target, Ruby's and Dansko

wishing
i was imaginative and creative enough to ever think up an awesome design for an iphone case :|  i just need someone cool to copy be inspired by... (Amy, how did you design your case?  all by yourself or with a template? or the instagram thing?)

wishing also
i was bold enough at Target to hold up the line to just get a red card already. but  there's always a big line of foot tappers and i don't want anyone to roll their mean starey eyes at me :(

listening
to S songs again.  namely "Santa Monica" by everclear which makes me homesick for a place i didn't even leave yet.  which makes me soooooooooo stressed out and twitchy and every single finger has bite marks on it.....

drinking
diet coke with 3 chunks of ice that made a cute little sailboat in my glass :)

going
to the Science Center tomorrow on the very last, somewhat sad, day of the Summer holidays.... between you and me, i'm actually secretly a little bit excited for Wednesday - i'm going to walk 10 miles with no-one dragging behind me complaining about sore legs or being hungry, and then luxuriate in an uninterrupted bath and watch trash TV till 2:30pm :) 

needing
more tall shoes.  i admit i love them, they make me look at least 5 feet 5 :)

noticing
that the exfoliation thingie is kind of working... not that i'm obsessive and heavy handed about it or nothing but sheets of skin are indeed being sloughed away revealing brighter, more youthful skin (not that i pored over the bold promises it made ;)

wanting
to pick apples in Julian on Saturday (apple picking/apple pie-baking/apple pie-giving-away = favorite thing ever) 



i want these Dansko shoes.  but they're $55 which is oprah money :(

he shared his french fries with me, like he always does



lunch at Ruby's - much nicer than breakfast at Tiffany's (and no cats thrown out in a rainstorm at Ruby's - ever!)

my beautiful boy




i froze whipped cream into little ice cube trays to make the whippiest richest coffee



 pumpkin bread - i admit i love cream cheese frosting a dangerous amount :)



both boys got red gumballs!  and red gumballs equal free five dollar milkshakes ;)



my sandwich picks made devil horns :)

sweetness follows

listening
to every single song ever by R.E.M. because it's been one of those aching, hurting kind of days.  R.E.M. undoubtedly existed solely to write the soundtrack of my life.  there are so many highs and lows and occasional downpours of emotion, but it's all so gorgeous, breathtaking and magical... someday i want to bump into Michael Stipe in some pretentious little cafe and thank him for really really getting me (and also i will smell him.  and report back :)

wondering
how on earth it can be twenty years since Automatic for the People....?  listening to it today was heartbreaking and beautiful in a whole different way than in 1992 because there are so many stories and images that go with the songs 

wanting
pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting for dinner.  and a handful of gummivites to make it OK ;)

needing
to shower... i've had coconut milk in my hair all day and i am sure it goes bad...

wishing
things would just move faster already.  then the next minute i want everything to slow way down because i feel unsure and like i'm making big unfixable mistakes...i want to skip ahead to next year's episodes, this season is just too difficult

 

 

 

drugs, anniversaries and mean notes

hoping
poor Starsky is able to convince those country bumpkins in Kentucky that marijuana really is available as readily as chocolate covered bananas and cheap sunglasses in Venice, "for medicinal purposes".  sheesh, haven't they ever walked down that sleazy boardwalk???

(ps he was my very first American crush for o-b-v-i-o-u-s reasons ;)  i loved his cardigan too)

remembering

the worst Labor Day weekend ever and feeling slightly sickish today :(  i wish i didn't have such a good memory

listening 

to Automatic for the People.  which is really some kind of magical soothing calming salve for a bruised-up, sensitive soul

thinking
a trip to Target might just fix it :)

not buying
new backpacks for the first day of school because i think it's wasteful and spendy.  or school supplies either, the teachers always send them all back with an ungrateful note saying they don't want them, so why waste the time and energy ;)

wondering
if you have to take a driving test when you move to a new state....  because that just won't work for me - at all!!  i just can't retake that test again... the man with the clipboard had to help me on both my tests (the UK and US one) but i still passed, which really makes no sense whatsoever

wondering 
if there is such a thing as a snickerdoodle/strawberry/vanilla cream trifle.  because that's all i can think to make for today's party....

off to Target with Michael in my pocket and a fistful of gift cards

taxes, bridges and earthquakes

wondering
how to file taxes in two different states.... i am hoping turbo tax will guide me because it sounds really hard (and boring)

hoping
the income tax rate in MA really is 4% lower than it is here.... we pay the same tax rate as people who earn a million dollars a year because that's totally fair, right? :)

donating
every single thing in my closet because it's way easier than packing :)

loving
the donuttery's blueberry donuts.... definitely not 510-awesome-reviews good but it was definitely better than OK :)

hating
that amazon.com is going to start charging sales tax starting 15 September - they are such party pooping spoilsports :( 

wishing
i had not put superglue and nail polish remover all over my iPhone. because that was reaaaaaally reaaaaally dumb :|  also: the camera kind of sucks now

wearing
Chanel Coco today, because it reminds me of my Mum

thinking
that banging your head on the George Washington bridge at 60MPH has GOT to hurt.... also: terrified to ever let my kids ride a bus again without me, to make sure they don't open the sunroof and stick their head out at the most inopportune moment :|

wondering
how in the hell Jon Stewart can possibly think Paul Ryan is attractive...?  i can see the beauty in just about everyone.... but Paul Ryan?  i just can't see it :|

worrying
that i may have over-exfoliated my face.... i did go a little to town with the new whitening lotion and scrubby buff puff thing today.... maybe neosporin will grow the skin back??!

feeling
lots of little earthquakes... which is definitely better than one big earthquake, but so confusing - they feel like dogs jumping on the bed or someone dropping a heavy box or the UPS truck hurtling through the neighborhood, and i have to check facebook/my earthquake app to make sure it was an earthquake (how all the people around me can tell is beyond me.....)

dog beach

five four things

last night i did a bad bad BAD BAD thing... i made the Trader Joe's pumpkin bread with the (double) cinnamon cream cheese frosting (and it wasn't even September yet......)

it's official - i need to start using my new skin lightening cream immediately to counteract the unsightly side effects of (unavoidable) pumpkin overdose.... no amount of BB cream can mask orange skin :|

also: try not to eat ALL the pumpkin bread in one day.  i have therefore frozen it into 16ths (seriously... 16ths?  all that's left is air....) so hopefully one slice per day will not kill the diet... because if it does, Obama will not win the election and then not only will i be fat and unhappy but also there will be a republican president (and therefore doubly unhappy which equals doubly fat) and i will have to move to Canada :|  where i bet it's really cold and you can't possibly work out and also i bet they have tons of cute French bakeries.  oh gosh, i should NOT have fallen prey to the pumpkin bread :(

anyway i just cannot fail - my 'i-must-weigh-125-pounds-on-election-day-or-we're-all-doomed' diet is back in full force, and no questions asked and definitely no lame excuses about big bones and it being that water retaining time of the month.  (i didn't even eat all my ginger cats for breakfast: it's that serious!)  and also i need to run a 5K before election day or he won't win, i just know it.  i have to do something positive with all the overflowing nervous energy that day ;)  gosh, i shouldn't even say that out loud, we all know what happens on day 3-ish of the Couch-To-5K ;)  every single time!  but i will try.  once it cools down ;)  if it ever cools down :|  i will at least try to try ;)

off to the beach with the pups xoxo