Lazy Friday

It's cliche, but thank God it's Friday. What a long week! P. finally comes home today. It's a good thing I have so many pictures of him, or I'd forget what he looks like! Of course, he's fishing this weekend, and I'm continuing the quest to get to the floor in my room (I am getting there...don't know why I can't get rid of my Beanie Babies cllection or Austin Powers Action figures, I am strangely attached to them - and they're not worth squat on eBay - I checked!) I also need to weed through the boxes upon boxes of what I call "memorabilia" and everyone else calls "crap" that needs to go into scrapbooks. I actually finished one (detailing my first Atlanta stint - the Ron-Rocky-CNN era) but that's such a small stretch of my life - I don't know how many books I'll have filled once I fill in all of those gaps! One thing I definitely want to keep is sadly missing, I have lost my Pink Lady album. (Pink Lady is the Japanese disco duo who had an infamously short-lived TV show - produced by Sid & Marty Krofft and co-starring Jeff "Buttsteak" Altman, who has never been funny. Never.) I am very sad. I have also figured out that I really don't have much to say today - the ennui is killing me! I'll write more later, but in the mean time, if you find my Pink Lady album, please let me know.



And you wondered why I was such a Spice Girls fanatic...

Dammit, we can't have nice things...

Greetings on post-Hump Day! First off, we got the vacation situation all worked out. I will be permitted to take a week off (without pay, of course) to go to Costa Rica, as long as I don't take one more second off until my year anniversary in June. This also means that I have to drive to Savannah by myself on Friday and miss out (again) on fishing with the legendary Captain Judy. Oh well, at least I won't be subjected to the country stations P. has programmed into his Sirius unit! At least I have my XM, Dane Cook and Jim Gaffigan to keep me company!

Now, to the matter at hand. The destructo-dog! Ever since Boo has come into our lives, we have managed to keep the things we would like to be free of bite marks and slobber (shoes, books, etc.) out of harm's way. We also have a wide array of things she can chew on in lieu of my Steve Madden pumps or P.'s surge protector. Unfortunately, since she is still limited by the big satellite dish around her head, she has been denied her chewies because she tends to thrash around quite a bit, and her stitches have started pulling a bit. I don't want a return engagement at the vet, so no playtime for the pooch until she's healed. SO...this AM, she found something new. In the 5 minutes I stepped into the bathroom to put on my makeup (yes fellas, it actually only takes me 5 minutes to put on my face. The hair, however, is another story - and don't even get me started on finding something to wear!) she managed to chew up a substantial portion of the carpet in front of the laundry room - even exposing the "painstick" thast holds the carpet down (if you have ever stepped on it, you know exactly what I'm talking about.) This wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't just had some other mishaps in the house, calling for insurance claims and repairmen trotting through the house (it's feeling more and more like that horrible movie "The Money Pit" every day.) At least we can tack this on to the list. By the time we get done fixing everything, P. isn't going to want to leave! Great. I was beyond pissed this morning - and even her big, sad brown eyes didn't keep Boo out of her cage. (That's hard...could you resist this?

I thought not...

Clipped Wings?

I read online that today is the "gloomiest day of the year" and for me, it's kind of ranking up there with some of my not so pleasant days. Yes, there are the usual Monday problems, but my travel plans may be seriously curtailed for the next few months. I have only been at my job for a year, but I have already taken 15 days off. 15! Wow, it didn't seem like that many. Friday here, Monday here for long weekends with P. It wasn't an issue until a long Valentine's Day weekend in Savannah came up. That request led into a week in Costa Rica that may not happen now. Oh sure, I could go, but I'd be going as an unemployed tourist. I don't know what to do. We (P. and myself) had talked this past weekend about our future. He has been travelling a lot, and we haven't had a lot of "quality time". By July we will know if we're staying here (albeit not in Hooterville!) or heading east to be closer to P.'s office. I need a change, that's all I know. I am sad, miserable and lonely. I am trying to expand my horizons (I have been really good about easing up on my television consumption, well...except for "Flavor of Love"- yeaaaaahh boooooooyyy!) but I just feel like we're almost roommates - not even, as I saw my roomies more than I see my husband. It sucks. I sent P. a frantic email this AM when I got the news - I'm sure he's probably pissed and/or confused at the moment. Ought to be an interesting conversation tonight!

By the way, my youngest sis got engaged this past weekend! Despite my "doom and gloom" attitude, I am really happy for her and my future brother-in-law!

Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue...

Since when has my life become like "Green Acres"? I guess I should have known that marrying P. would bring a heaping helping of challenges into my life (not driving him crazy, being a good wife, cleaning a house, etc.) but one thing I didn't really expect were some of our differences that I either denied or overlooked. We do have a frightening amount of things in common (both communications majors in college, both love football and hair metal, both are sushi fanatics, the list goes on and on...) but one thing I don't get is the whole urban (me)/rural (him) thing. Now, I think it's pretty obvious that I am not thrilled with our living situation at present, but P. is happy as a clam to be living in the sub-suburbs. Yes, the lake is lovely, but I am getting way too excited about doing things like going to the "fancy mall" and getting my hair done - as these tend to have been my major outings as of late. It's downright depressing where I live. I know Florida is strip mall city, but the ones around us are run down and many are still bearing the scars from last year's hurricane (a lot of blown-out signs litter highway 19.) Restaurants are closing at an alarming rate (we have a few chains in the area, but many of the indie places are gone or rarely patronized. There's really nothing to do once the 5 o'clock whistle blows - although I am starting to figure out why there are so many A.A. meetings in P.R. I don't think we will ever move. I am trying to get used to the slower pace of life, but it's really hard! I probably should stop writing now, as I can get real negative real fast, and I want this blog to overflow with positivity and humor - not complaining and anger. Besides, I'm babbling. I'll write more later...

Broken Resoultions

Yes, I managed to already break a resolution. I haven't been writing, and I should be ashamed of myself (I am). I have stayed slim (I managed to fit back into my "Prince Pants" - my favorite pair of pants ever. They are black and lace up in the front and on the flared bottoms. They were my favorite club pants - I looked "hot" in them (well, with me, I don't get much hotter than "lukewarm", but you catch my drift. Of course, I don't think the "Prince Pants" are going to see much action in Port Richey - they're not going to fit in at the "Karl Reef", that's for sure!) I have been keeping the house (relatively) clean - I finally tackled the mysterious pink mildew in our bathroom, so I've been doing the good wife thing (haven't seen much of P. since New Year's, so a clean house probably isn't the best possible indicator of what a good wife is.) I have been away from the TV a lot more, mainly because I impulsively decided to clean out the closet in "my room" (aka the guest room - our guests can stay with us as long as they don't need to hang anything up!) I have old photo albums, scrapbooks and things that need to be put in scrapbooks strewn all over the floor, along with every single thing I ever wrote, from my My Melody diary I had when I was 10 to the last incarnation of my now-abandoned thesis. (Sniff - don't get me started on that.) It's hard to get rid of things, except for my "fat clothes", I was glad to get rid of those! School stuff is the hardest. I have textbooks from my Radio/TV days that I think don't even talk about cable, and have lessons for editing 3/4" video tape (I'm sure even the podunk station I worked at in Panama City doesn't even use that anymore) and I'm positive I won't need any papers discussing the films of Francois Truffaut for anything...ever. But it's stuff I wrote, so I'm keeping it (P., who also was a Comm major, has some outdated books too, so I'm sure we'll both come to our senses someday and pitch them. (Note, I said "someday"...)

What was I getting at? Oh yes, resolutions. #2 has still been a tricky one. I am still very much in limbo with that. I have my days though, so it's at least a step in the right direction. So, 3 out of 5 ain't bad, right? I did sign up for an online writing class through the university, so I'm trying. And I will start writing a lot of random stuff here, just to keep the right side active. I am also keeping up muy other blog, runninfitz - if you read it, you'll find out why. Oh well, the painkillers are kicking in (getting over my current medical problems would greatly contribute to improving my chances of achieving the happiness I'm searching for!) so until later...

Life as a "Doggie Mama"

Aaah, the joys of dog ownership. There is not one sqare inch of our house, cars, and clothes not covered in white fur. Each and every pillow on the sofa is riddled with little bite marks. I have trudged through my neighbors' yards every morning, yelling "Boo, poopies!" I am losing my mind.

But that's not really what I wanted to talk about. I was going to go off on Lindsay Lohan for making us recovering bulimics look bad, but it's not worth my time and effort. I don't want to fall into celebrity journalism here. I'll just keep my fond memories of working at Planet Hollywood.com, where I was paid to care about what Ben Affleck was doing. I was going to talk about quitting and procrastination, but I'll do that later. I was going to take you on a tour of my horrendous movie collection, but I think that deserves more time than I have right now (you really need an hour or so to properly discuss "Roller Boogie".) So that really leaves me with nothing for today, but at least I'm writing! Oh, and I get a chance to for,mally warn you about the Chris Atkins vampire flick I talked about yesterday. It's called "Dracula Rising" and you should do whatever you have to do to avoid this tripe! (Sorry, Chris, I still think you're a hottie. I had to endure the abuse in college when my friends found the 45 (that's a record, kids!) of your song from "The Pirate Movie", so I guess now we're even!)

"I opened up a container of yogurt, and under the lid it said "Please Try Again" because they were having a contest I was unaware of. But I thought I might have opened the yogurt wrong, or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me. 'C'mon, Mitchell, don't give up. Please try again. A message of inspiration from your friends at Yoplait. Fruit on the bottom, hope on top.'"

Still miss ya, Mitch!

The snow turned into rain...

Yeah, yeah, yeah....everyone does it, and they all pretty much look the same, but I can't help but add my resoultions to the 2006 pile. So, here goes:

1. Lose weight. How trite. Do you think anyone resolves to gain weight? At least I don't have as far to go as I did a few months ago, when I was a bit more "fat and happy" (see #2). And, best part, I found my old, "skinny" jeans - and they FIT! Saves me a chunk of change, as I was going to replace my (now) baggy jeans that looked like they had a garage sale after the bus and truck production of "Annie" (a.k.a. the "Ragamuffin Collection"!)

2. Get happy (or at least happier). This one is way harder than losing weight. I have a great hubby who's patient, cool, fun, patient, tolerant, nurturing, supportive, did I say patient yet? - and I should be ecstatic that I was able to pull the wool...um, I mean find someone like him (I'm such a kidder!) BUT (not as in big but...that's back to #1) I am so dissatisfied with ME. I am stagnating at my job (definitely not what I signed on for...I wanted to be Peter Scolari on "Bosom Buddies" (Henry/Hildegarde - advertising copywriter extrordinaire), but am more like the late, great Wendie Jo Sperber (Amy - office flunky, coffee bitch. If you don't understand these references, too bad - you should've watched the show!) If you want to take a bright side approach, at least I have time to write (see #3) and conduct very important Internet research (such as finding the "More Cowbell" sketch from SNL and searching for a DVD of "Valley of the Dolls" to add to my horrendous movie collection.) Unfortunately, I still don't really, truly know what I want to be when I grow up (and at 36 years old that's probably not a good thing.) The deadline to complete my graduate thesis has come and gone, and nothing bugs me more than being a quitter, so that's also weighing on my mind (even though I really don't have a good use for a Master's degree in Mass Communication...) Let's see, what else? I am a horrible parent to my pooch (who I'm sure regards me as "Ol' Candy Ass".) To quote Eddie Murphy, "My chi'dren don't lissen to me." She has a blatant disregard for my calls outside, and is much more content eating duck poop than coming tome when I call her. P's the disciplinarian here, as it probably should be with "kids", but children don't chew on your shoes and computer cables when left alone for a few minutes (or so I've heard.) And of course, the cherry on top of my angst sundae is my living situation. I have still to make a real friend - and it's really hard when you're a good 25 miles away from any activity. The house is taking it out on me - I came home after Christmas to find "my room" flooded out and many of my pictures destroyed - not to mention the fact that all of the furniture and objets d'crap that occupied my room now takes up space in our living room, den, and "my" bathroom! I hate being in limbo - as soon as P's comany gets straightened around and established a permanent home base, my hands are basically tied. Add to that the fact that I'm alone a lot, as P.'s been travelling quite a bit as of late (left in "Chaos Central" with an adolescent German Shepherd with an attitude!) 2006 is going to be a moving year for me...in more ways than one! Whew! That probably should've been a few resolutions! Onward...

3. WRITE - in any way, shape or form! I think I have my novel/novella starting in my cluttered mind (title is there, as well as general direction - but I'm not quite ready to get an agent yet!) I have to make time to do this - and in a perfect world, not during the workday! I also want to be more dilligent with this blog (after next week Runninfitz.blogspot.com may be concluding, so I will devote to this one full-time) as it may lead me to some great story ideas (and it's quite cathartic at times...) So, in order to write, looks like I should...

4. Watch less TV - sit on my lazy butt less. When you get psyched because "Celebrity Fit Club 3" is on, followed by an "I Love the (year, band, song)" marathon, it's probably time to step away from the boob tube. "Trading Spouses" is not supposed to be the most mentally stimulating part of my day (but I feel more like a "God Warrior" for watching it!) Yes, "House", you will not be snubbed (I can't, I am developing a girlish crush on Hugh Laurie) and "The Office" and "My Name is Earl" will make up the rest of my "must see" list. Other than that - life's to short to watch crappy on-demand movies (and boy, 2005 was ripe with them: "Blue Demon", "Dark Town", "Dracula 3000" and that God-awful Chris Atkins vampire flick just to name a few) so free time should involve activities such as writing, exercising, walking the pooch and other such things.

5. Be a better friend and wife. I actually started on the first item last month, as I managed to send out Christmas cards (but it's the first Christmas after the wedding. I think people are more apt to send cards that first year. I need to pick up the phone and call folks more often (one activity I could actually add to #4.) Being a better wife is going to take more work. I need to go fishing more and, well, see #4 again! If I get #2 going, this will also help out immensely!

Five is enough, right? Oh, there's still other things like boning up on my Spanish, taking a guitar lesson, getting de-cluttered, cooking dinner more often, making it through a whole day at EPCOT Wine Fest and such. I am optimistic that 2006 will be a good one!

Later, 'Taters!