how do you live so happily while i am sad and broken down?

Ok, so I want to preface this with the fact that I understand the seriousness of the situation, truly, and I am not trying to lessen the importance of political unrest and rioting in a country with growing nuclear capabilities. But as I watch reports and see photos coming out of Iran, I just have to say one thing...


There are a lot of really, really good-looking Iranian guys out there.

Just sayin'.

/shallow

And I'm still so tired. I didn't go to bed when I should have last night and I've been dragging all day. I actually managed to injure myself SLEEPING. I was having really weird dreams - like, at one point, I had locked myself into a bathroom to eat lasagna and then my family was knocking on the door telling me it was time for dinner. WTF?? But anyway, I somehow managed to sprain my wrist. I guess I was flailing around, or something? The most impressive part was that I was wearing a wrist brace at the time. /o\

Bed soon!

Hey, you know what can cause your OCD to flare up? Yard work. Know what's impossible to get clean? THE OUTDOORS.

My Horoscope today: Your normally sharp perceptions lack focus now and critical analysis seems out of the question.

OMFG, so true. *curls up in fetal position*

So my mom went home yesterday, after spending just over two weeks here. We got a lot done - all the photos scanned in, plus the 1970s, 80s, and 90s put into photo albums. I'm glad we did it, and it was fun. It's also nice to be home alone :D

Today, though, I have no motivation, and don't feel all that great. I don't know if I'm coming down with something or just tired. I need to clean my entire house, and I have no motivation. I finish work in twenty minutes, and I'm determined that I will start doing some stuff. My goals for the evening:

Do laundry.
Clean up bedroom.
Clean off kitchen countertops.
Pull all dishes out of cabinets, including the one that's stuck because my mom put stuff in in the wrong order.
Reorganize all dishes in cabinets.
Practice drums.

So let's see. Today I went to the dentist. It was ok - I need to floss more, but the lady said I did better than last time, so I'm counting it as a win.

Then I went to the optometrist, because I have a few hundred dollars left in my flex spend plan from last year and I needed to use it so it didn't get taken away. I picked out a pair of sort of gunmetal-gray, sparkly frames. The guy who checked me out was sort of weird. I think maybe he was flirting with me? He kept staring at me kind of creepily, which is disconcerting when someone is in your personal space anyway. Yes, two feet away on the other side of a desk is my personal space. I'm strange about these things. He took way too long to get me checked out, and I kind of wish he didn't have my address now, although I'm sure nothing will come of it. Hopefully I'll manage to pick them up when he isn't there or something.

And that's about it. I've spent the evening cleaning my house. My life, so not exciting.

So it's 10 pm and my house is just as ginormous a mess as it was yesterday. Well, I did put away the giant pile of dirty clothes into the hamper, but other than that... I seem to only want to work on my blanket and listen to the Counting Crows and read.

Back online after an almost nine day absence. This may be the longest I've been away when I wasn't actually out of the country. It was kind of nice. I had to think for a minute to remember my password.

So far I have 152 emails on AOL, 32 for work, and I can't even get gmail to load. It's possible that the free wi-fi at Panera is a bit crappy. My sister dropped me off, so this is also the first time in 9 days that I am not around any of my family. Also kind of nice :) Not that it isn't great to be home, but it's good to take a break sometimes too.

My vacation so far:

Saturday: Got up at ass o'clock to go to the airport. Landed in NW Arkansas at 9:30 am. Met up with family to kill time until my brother and his wife got there, much delayed. They live in Boston, and were flying through Chicago. Of course, there was a giant snowstorm, of course. While at the airport they ran into my best friend's dad, who was trying to pick her up on her flight in from Maine. She was supposed to be there by 1pm, finally made it in at almost 10.

Sunday: Went to Rogers AR to go to an open house at the gallery my sister works at. Went to see my dad sing at the Christmas cantata. Accidentally said "OH MY GOD" in church. In my defense, they were having birthday cake for Jesus. I think anyone would have been surprised.

Monday: Day out of shopping with my two best friends. Met Deb's baby boy, very cute.

Tuesday: Rainy day trip to Eureka Springs, AR to show my cousin Christen's new boyfriend around to such sights as the haunted Crescent Hotel, and the creepy Christ of the Ozarks. Good times.

Wednesday: Annual panicked Christmas Eve shopping with my sister. Then we cemented the new family tradition of going bowling at the Christian bowling alley I accidentally took everyone to last year. Dinner at Olive Garden, got locked out when I went out to get something out of the car for my brother. FYI, Olive Garden has fucked up policies. Sat in car to wait for my family to be done (only ten minutes or so, we were leaving anyway. Mom got the flu, had to go to the emergency room. She was fine, just a 24 hour bug.

Thursday: Christmas! :D Also, went to see Marley & Me, cried buckets. Am not a dog person, but that puppy running down the beach for all he's worth with four grown people chasing after him was awesome.

Friday: My sister-in-law made Boxing Day dinner, had 30 people over. Then had high school reunion-y type dinner. Saw some people I hadn't seen in a good 15 years, mostly my brother's friends. Was fun, though.

Saturday: Slept in. Dad now has flu. I drown myself in Airborne. Took my brother and his wife to the airport, where they had just as much trouble leaving as they had getting in. Chicago is a great city, but not a good destination from November to March. We were going to go to a movie, but since we weren't sure if their flight was going to be cancelled, we just shopped instead.

And then today I had lunch with my college roommate and her family. She has two little girls, super cute. Another family shindig tonight, to celebrate birthdays (my mom, my brother, my aunt) and anniversaries (my parents, my brother and his wife, my aunt and uncle) in January. Tomorrow's plan? Sit and do nothing! For serious, y'all.

So it's less than a week before the family descends on me for Thanksgiving, so of course I am now starting to panic about the state of my house. Not that it's going to be spotless by any means, but I've been putting some stuff off. So expect to endure several incarnations of this list over the next few days, sorry!

Today's focus: Upstairs
Change sheets on guest bed
Put away laundry
Pick up bedroom
Unpack and put away suitcase from last trip
Put spare pillows for Joann in my room
Vacuum
Clean bathroom: clean tub, clean sink, re-caulk sink & tub

Ugh, I'm having one of those nights when I can't make my brain shut down. I'm feeling rushed with everything I need to do before I leave on my work trip on Sunday, since I won't get home til the following Saturday night and I'm having a Halloween party on that Sunday. So I'm lying in bed wondering about things like, if I took the bags with me to Mexico, maybe I could make those cool tea light bag things I saw in Better Homes and Gardens? And how much do cupcake cakes cost? And I need to invite a few more people that I missed out on (if you are in ATL and want to come, let me know!)... and the list goes on. Plus I need to re-seed my lawn this weekend, and redo the caulking in my bathroom for the tub and sink, and put the filters in my A/C vents. And and and... *hyperventilates*

So yeah, I'm putting writing and reading and practicing my drums on hold - I can take all that with me on my work trip - and focusing on the house.

On the bright side, I got a lot done today - 3 hours of lawn work! I had today off from work; they give us flex holidays, so we can choose when to take them. I took today off in celebration of Random Thursday. I hauled the rest of the debris from taking my shed down to the curb, and picked up the loose branches out of the back yard, and then bagged up 6 bags of pine straw (I think that's what the needles are called when they dry out) and pine cones! If anyone ever needs that stuff, I have a factory. Note to anyone doing any landscaping ever: do not plant pine trees! They are messy and they kill your grass, and there's a special season where you have to take great care walking from your car to your house so as not to be boinked on the head by a pine cone missile.

Then I cleaned up my rec room (this is what I am officially calling my 'garage'/craft room/game&DVD storage/workout room) for the party - I bought all my lawn care stuff at Lowe's last weekend and I'd just thrown it all in there, so now it's either put away, or tucked into the office until after the party. And I got my duvet cover that I washed this week put back on the bed. So I have accomplished quite a bit today!