Random thoughts

No takers yet on the Nutmeg. C'mon, someone has to be running low.

I admit that I am addicted to Celebrity Rehab and am powerless to control it. Isn't that the first step?

One Step Ahead didn't send my Bi-Fold Door Finger Guard 2-pack with my order, even though they said they had. They are now shipping me a replacement, but with no apology or anything. There had better be a letter in the package when it arrives.

I'm getting the Christmas decorations put away. It's not even March yet!!

Random thoughts

I appear to have purchased 2 jars of nutmeg. Anyone want a new, never-opened Nutmeg?

Meimei has decided she likes strawberries and ate all of them out of Pants' helping of fruit tart.

I have physical therapy on Tuesday for them to teach me how to do my knee exercises. The doctor and another women (who apparently appeared for this reason only) made sure to tell me that the first week or so of the exercises will HURT. You know, while the kneecap gets realigned. Just keep going, right through the pain. And eventually you will notice your knee doesn't hurt. Good to know.

Oh, and do you have access to fitness equipment? Because keeping active would help. Yeah, thanks, I needed an orthopedic surgeon to tell me that. (P.S. - do I look like I have access to fitness equipment? Ok, I do, but clearly I am not using it. Thanks, my name is Syl.)

I woke up last night to hear the cat puking, only to find out this morning that at least one episode took place about 2 inches from my head. Ew.


I have 7 rows of an afghan crocheted. Only 65 more to go!

I'm working on another project that I must have crocheted at least 3 times already because I've had to unravel it each time. And now I just figured out what they meant by one of the instructions and was considering unraveling again, but have decided I can just try to continue and see what happens. Now, the finished sleeves that are different widths are another story...

I'm making soup tonight to freeze for lunches. Mmmm. Double corn chowder, turkey vegetable, and hopefully potato cheddar too. I'll post on Recipeeps if they're any good.

Which bodies are you stepping over?

For my "personal development" at work this year, I checked out a couple of books from the AT&T Lending Library. The first has been about creating and presenting change and showing the need for change. Their main point is that numbers and data alone won't sway anyone, that you have to appeal to their emotions and sense of urgency. You have to show them why, not tell them.

One of the stories in the book was about effecting your changes quickly and getting it done while the energy level was up. The guy said his realtor told him that he had to get everything done on his house in the first 6 months or it wouldn't get done at all. "You'll just start stepping over the dead body in the living room. You will learn to ignore it."

Hmmm. How true.

My dead bodies so far:

• The room with the door that goes into another room before exiting into the main room.
• The barn door contraption in the basement.
  
• The uninsulated hall closet.
  
• The shed that is falling down.
  
• The non-functional kitchen.
  
• The bathroom that is accessible only through the laundry/furnace room.

I could go on.

Where are your bodies?

Nubbin

Pants spent the evening out last night, so it's just me and the girlies this morning. I feel slightly bad that the house is a mess, but really, we're doing well that they aren't roaming around naked, covered in syrup, on a plastic drop cloth.

Shoes

So, I started reading on the internet about patellofemoral pain syndrome and the treatments and preventions. One of the things it mentioned was good shoes, and the fact that any decent shoe will do and will be quite a bit cheaper than orthotics. So I bought a good pair of Naturalizer dress shoes on Tuesday at Macy's huge sale and my knee felt so much better by Wednesday evening.

So I'm going through my shoes and throwing out a bunch, putting some on Craig's List that I don't wear or that don't fit (4-5 pairs of nicer shoes, barely worn, email if you are size 7-8), and putting the rest away. I figure I will need one more pair of good shoes until summer, but most of my summer shoes have to go.

So, yay for shoe shopping, but boo for spending the money.

Lessons Learned

#1. Dye Lots - I found out why they say you should buy enough yarn to make your full project all at once, and to make sure the dye lot numbers match. If you're thinking, "How different could the colors be?" it's a lot. Trust me.

#2. The expiration date on, say, a package of hot dogs, is the date until which they will remain edible if you don't open them. If they are opened, you have less than a week. Trust me.

#3. When your height and weight falls just a titch outside the recommended "fits almost everyone" height and weight on the packaging of the knee brace you are considering purchasing, don't. Trust me.

Buzzkill

I'm so jazzed about the new budget. It seems for the first time like it will make life so much easier instead of being something I fear and want to remain in denial about.

But we can't use it yet. We got a bit behind, what with Christmas and medical expenses. For once, we're not spending much money, but we have almost none anyway because we're scrambling to pay things off. So I don't get to play with the new budget. I don't get to revel in financial security just yet.

But we got our tax refund today (I know Kashka, at least it was closer to right this year instead of the $7000 we got last year). So I paid off the BFTV and paid a couple of things down. A couple of steps closer!!

News around el Casa del Pants

Meimei has two new teeth - the bottom teeth that are the matches to the eye teeth. And she now has the funniest facial expressions - she opens her eyes huge at everything, like it's dark chocolate or British nudity.

If I take my belt off, I can totally pull these jeans off without unbuttoning them.

My house is actually clean. Hm.

The devastating end to my illustrious career in marathon running

Today is the fourth day of the third flare-up of my knee. And by flare-up, I mean swollen at least 50%, zombie-like walking, and horrifying pain when I attempted to bend my legs in any fashion.

So I went to the doctor today to find out what's going on and it's patellofemoral pain syndrome. Or, my knee cap is wrestling with my thigh bone. But it's really just a symptom of TFF - Too Fucking Fat. Lose some weight, chick, or keep getting the knee pain.

On the bright side, I'm down 8 pounds. Maybe I am subconsciously injuring myself for the gratification of being weighed on the doctor's scale and having it recorded in my chart.

Oh no!

So, we're watching the Super Bowl, and the Audi R8 commercial comes on. It's a redo of the classic "horse in the bed" scene from The Godfather, except there's a car front in the guy's bed. His hands are dripping with oil.

Kitten: Oh no! Off! Off!
Pants: What honey?
K: Off! Off!
P: What do you mean? What needs to be off?
K: Off! Wipe! Wipe!
P: You need a wipe?
Syl: No, the man on TV is sticky and he needs a wipe.
K: YEAH!

The lightbulb went on

I was creating a budget in Excel the other day. Now, I have done this quite often and it's an exercise in futility. It looks great on paper - it all works out. But it never works in real life.

So I was creating this spreadsheet and it occurred to me that, to make this work, one would need to record what they spent, deduct it from that category, and then only spend what was there to spend. Or take it from another category if needed.

I'm sure this all sounds really elementary to everyone, but for the first time it actually made sense to me. It made sense how it would all work. And it all seemed possible.

Weird.