Lots Goin On..

There has been a lot of stuff going on this weekend, and between all of the stuff, I haven't had time to blog it.. So here goes: A quick run-down of the weekend so far. (Note: My weekend starts on Thursday night.)

Thursday night L's club came over for a planning meeting. At the risk of being antisocial, I worked on ebay stuff and helped cook.. but I wasn't about to take part in the planning for fear I'd end up with yet another job to do. I can't keep up with what I'm doing, obviously. Anyway the club members are nice, but apparently someone let Monster out!!! Monster Head has never been outdoors in his fuzzy little life! And it was raining!!! When everybody left, and I couldn't find him, I started freaking out a little bit, so I opened the door and started out into the yard to look for him. I didn't have to look very far.

He was huddled up underneath the patio table, his eyes as big as dinner plates, shivering. He was soaking wet and very very angry. He shot into the house like an arrow, and spent the rest of the night grumbling and trying to stay as close to me as possible. Poor thing.

Friday I met with MP about taking over the communications chair for the neighborhood. Apparently I am really in for a spate of nasty emails each month when the newsletter comes out. It's more of a contentious position than I imagined, but hopefully it won't take too much time to do.

Then I went to the amazing Goodwill store and bought some good stuff (I found a BCBG purse, and a Brighton belt!). Friday evening L and I went downtown and listened to some music. We had our pictures taken for the G'ville News/LINK at Roper's Jazz Caverns.

Saturday I went on a looooong ride with some ladies from the barn. Trigger was good as gold on the trail, but acted like a real brat when we got back to the barn. He actually threatened to kick me when I was cleaning his feet, and I discovered another spot of rain rot on his back, and he would not let me scrape it. I guess he needs more round pen work or something. Anyway..

Last night we went shopping for our Retro party on the 5th, and L got mad at me because apparently I wasn't interested enough in what we were doing. Never mind that he took 45 years to look through the 80s mix CD's and he never once communicated to me what he expected me to do for this thing. I swear, I love him to pieces but he is perhaps the absolute worst communicator I have ever tried to deal with. I have every intention of us planning this thing together.. but apparently he doesn't believe me or something.

And today I have to sing with the band at a wedding in GA. L doesn't want to go, but he is going with me apparently. He seems to be upset because I don't know every single little detail of what time everything is taking place.. but it's not my frikkin wedding. I don't know. Can you tell I am a little frustrated? Agh.

SO that's the update right now.. plus.. Mom. Oy vey.
Later: Something shorter. Maybe some pictures...

Long Day

The work day is finally over, and the party is just beginning. Or something like that.
I have the Alumni club planning committee at my house this evening. I am hardly in the mood to be social, but I suppose there is no choice. I am sure that a half a bottle of cab will help me feel better about it, though.

I rode with Trigger yesterday, and he was a total brat almost the whole time. I have rope burns on my hand from his antics in the round pen, and I had to really get after him on the trail. i think he was just having a bad day.

Meanwhile, I have spent too much money this week already.. but I seem to be having a hard time caring enough to stop. I guess I will start to care when I don't have money to go out to lunch next week. ;-|

Hum. At least it's the weekend.

Feast or Famine

I have said before that I love my job. I really do. But the way the work comes in sure can be annoying. I had several days this week where I was bored senseless, with nothing to do at all except read boring RFPs and meeting notes.. and then today the proverbial sh!t hit the fan. All of it. Splat!

So now it's the end of the day and I know that tomorrow is going to be insane, and it looks like the rest of my life is looking like it's revving up to be pretty crazy too in the next few months, as I try to figure out what the heck to do about some big ol situations.

Uh oh. I feel a list coming on.. things I am supposed to be doing right now:
1) Planning the wedding. Duh,
2) Planning a party that we are supposed to host for the neighborhood association on May 5
3) Filing a lawsuit on behalf of my mother
4) Making some sort of future plans for my mother, since it is obvious that she is incapable of making them herself, and is not going to become capable in the foreseeable future
5) Working my normal hours at my normal job
6) Starting a dual employment project for another department
7) Writing grants for a nonprofit organization in town
8) Riding and taking care of Trigger
9) Playing with the band, which includes a lot of creative things (like writing new songs) that I have been neglecting for a long time
10) Selling Tupperware (I don't see this ever going anywhere, do you?)
...
And that's just the tip of the iceburg.
SO.. maybe it's time to do some reevaluating. When I get too busy and stressed, I start doing stupid things like forgetting the dates that I am going to be out of town, and spending $100 on tickets to a show during the time I am going to be gone. I did that this week. :-(

The good news is that I am going to be able to reschedule my tickets. So I will get to see Jesus Christ Superstar after all. :-)

I'm going to see Trigger now. He will make me feel better.

Thoughts on the Honeymoon

I had a dream last night where something funny happened and I remember thinking "I need to blog that!" But I can't remember what it was.

L got a book in the mail yesterday for planning the big honeymoon. Check out the company he's looking at: Backroads This looks really cool.. as long as you can take it at your own pace and you don't end up so tired at the end of the day that it isn't a honeymoon at all, if you catch my drift.

This trip sounds cooler than cool.. but I've already had one honeymoon where there was no traditional nocturnal honeymoon activity, and I am in no hurry to repeat the experience. Just saying. ;-)

Later: My Spending Spree Needs to Stop Soon..

Trigger Gets New Shoes..

Saturday was a day for new shoes and a very nice ride... Here's Trigger standing still like a good boy for the farrier. He was extremely well behaved, until he was done getting his new shoes.. then he had to show off and kick up his heels a little when I put his saddle on and went to the ring to warm up..
He is quite a little show off now that his rain rot is gone and his winter coat is going. He is all shiny and has gotten at least 2 inches taller in the past month. He needs to stop growing soon or I will have to have a ladder to get on his back!
This is what the world looks like from Trigger's back. We had a fantastic ride on Saturday after the shoeing and the showing off in the ring..
Here he is, ready to hit the trail..

... and after the ride and a bath, rolling in the dirt!

The latest NP update for the weekend: I got a $25 restaurant gift card and gave it to MM.. to thank him for all the extra stuff he does for me and Trigger (and all of us at the barn).. riding with us, showing us new trails, helping me give Trigger a shave and a haircut, etc. And I gave L a funny little card telling him he's cute. 'Cuz he is.

Today we went to Artisphere in downtown G'ville. We had lunch at the Overlook Cafe in Falls Park (mmmm, salmon sandwich! Yum-O!) and walked around looking at art for a while. Then we went to the library, and after that we came home and sat out in our yard reading for a while.

For dinner we made steak salads.. bleu cheese, walnuts, pears, with balsamic dressing and sirloin medium rare. Yum-O again.

And right now, our fridge is making some kind of weird noises. I hope nothing is broken again.

Tomorrow: back to work..

Philosophy Experiment

I have decided that it's time for a little update of my relationship philosophy.

I'm tired of being surrounded by negativity! It seems like we all concentrate on negative things that happen, the things that bother us and the people that drive us crazy... the things that people do that hurt our feelings. But how often does the average person concentrate on something positive?

How often do you tell the people you are closest to how you really feel about them? Do you go beyond the perfunctory "please and thank you" dictated by good manners? If a friend or family member says or does something nice for you, or even if you just like being around them, do you tell them, or just think it to your self and go on about your business?

I know that personally I wonder a lot of times about the people who are closest to me. Am I a good friend? Am I someone other people enjoy spending time with? Because it is definitely true that when I have a party and no one shows up (which is usually the case.. although I have finally gotten the message that I have been inviting all the wrong people), I get my feelings hurt and decide that nobody really cares about me.

This is admittedly a dumb way to look at things (thus the philosophy change). Do other people do the same thing? Eh, probably. Most likely even people I love and care about. So I started this grand "new philosophy experiment" yesterday.

It works like this: Anytime I have a thought about doing something nice for someone, no matter who it is, I am going to follow up on it. I am going to actively do the things that will make people happy (including me) and actively ignore the negativism. In the long run, I think this philosophy will make me a better person, a better friend, a better family member, and a better Christian.

So.. here are the things I did yesterday as a result of this thing I am going to call NP (If you can think of a better name for it, comment it!):

1. I bought a card to send to my mother
2. I called PR and told him how much I enjoyed my trip to the marina with him last week, and also how glad I am that he is my friend. He is a great guy and I don't think I have ever told him that in the 12-13 years that we have known each other.
3. One of the directors at work (SM) brought us strawberries from the Edisto area yesterday. I went home and made strawberry jam with mine, and brought a jar for everyone in my office, and also a jar for SM to take home.

So far I have learned that:

1. People really want to hear good things, and most of them are really surprised when you do something nice out of the blue.
2. I have a lot more "nice" thoughts than I thought I did. This could get to be hard work! I might end up having to be nice all the time, if I'm going to follow up on all of them.
3. I'm suddenly kind of like "Earl" (as in, My Name Is..). I've got a list.

Heh. Me, having a list! Can you imagine??

Oh, and the Trigger Update.. It rained. :-( Trigger got brushed and petted a little, and then he went back to the pasture with his buddies. I will have to save my riding for Saturday, after he gets his new shoes.

Things I'm Going to Do this Weekend

1. Meet with someone about taking over the neighborhood newsletter.

2. Play Bunko

3. Go to the Amazing 99-Cent Goodwill Extravaganza

4. Trigger is going to get new shoes and have his toes trimmed..

5. Artisphere is this weekend at Falls Park. We are definitely going to make and appearance there. That's always a fun afternoon or evening. Maybe we'll even do dinner downtown on Saturday night! :-)

6. Clean up my craft room. It is such a mess that I have no hope of finishing any of the million projects I have going right now.. I need to get with it.

7. Ship a bunch of pots and pans to mah seestor. She needs something to cook in besides her Wal-Mart Special.

Later: the Trigger Update

Terrorist on Campus?

What's going on? Seriously, sometimes I wonder what goes on in the minds of certain people. What motivates their actions? What causes someone to crack and do something insane.. like gun down 33 college students and professors who were minding their own business? In case you've been hiding under a rock somewhere, it happened at Virginia Tech yesterday. (Link goes to the A-Town Dependent article).

This event gave a lot of people on this college campus pause. We had a robbery at gunpoint just outside my building last week. It could easily happen on any campus anywhere in the world, and there's really not much we can do about it. You can't fight someone who has nothing to lose. There's nothing that scares someone like that.

Whatever the guy's motives turn out to be, what he did was terrorism in my book. Thinking about how we feel right now.. imagine if that sort of thing was happening every day. It does in Israel and Iraq, and dozens of other places around the world. I don't intend this as some sort of global commentary. I'm just saying.. wow. Lots of us (us being humankind in general) should stop and think for a few minutes about how to stop people like this nutjob.

Either reach out to them before they reach the "actively nuts" stage, or stop them cold with whatever force is necessary to prevent their monstrously stupid and senseless acts.

So there's my two cents. We're praying for VT today. You should too.

Monday Monday

List! List! Yay!
I knew you wanted another list!
(Please ignore the cleverly disguised fact that I am too lazy to craft coherent paragraphs today, so I am relying on a list instead..)

1. L is home! The hibachi dinner was a success, even though he was so tired that he almost fell into his plate. While he was gone, he backed his 4Runner into a tree, so it is looking a little worse for wear at the moment. Sunday was better for L.. We did a little shopping (new rugs for the bathrooms.. they're soft and they match!!! And a new skirt for me which is cute, cute, CUTE), had lunch at Arizona, and then came home for a very, *ahem* very nice little nap.

2. Did I mention the 4-hour trail ride on Friday? Yeah that was great. And Trigger was quite well behaved.

3. Somebody on ebay thinks it is ridiculous to charge $18 to ship something to Canada. I doubt that this person has ever actually shipping anything that far themselves, or else they'd know that I'm not exactly making money off of that deal. That gives me $2 for a box and the rest goes to Uncle Sam for the postage. Sheesh, some people.

Well that was a short list, huh?
Later: Something More Interesting

Ride Em Cowboy

It's been an interesting few days, and I have once again been remiss in posting here. ...Since I am sure that everyone is waiting with bated breath to find out what I am up to! (*insert eye-rolling here).

Seriously, though, it's been pretty cool, despite the fact that the allergies are kicking my butt and without decongestants, I feel like I'm drowning. Thursday evening I went to the marina to see Papa Ridgeback and his neat-o little boat. We ate steaks at The Galley and walked around on the docks. Very very cool.

Yesterday I went on a 4 hour trail ride with a lady from the barn and two of her friends. Trigger behaved himself admirably and we had lots of fun. He is an excellent, excellent horse. L is coming home this evening, but before that, the lady is coming to clean the house (yay). Tonight I am cooking Japanese hibachi style chicken with zucchini and rice.. I even bought sake.

I still haven't heard a word from A. I will cease to be surprised and hurt at some point, I guess. I just haven't reached it yet. I really need to stop thinking of it as "I must not be very good friend material' and start thinking of it as "She must not be the nice person I thought she was." But that's harder than it looks.

Anyway I am sure that no one wants to hear anymore whining about it, so Monster and I are going to put in another load of laundry and finish writing our list for today. :-)

Of Theft and Taxes

I am posting tonight from L's computer, which I used to help a friend do her taxes. It was probably the most complicated tax return I have ever seen, but we "got 'er done" and they are getting a refund. So it's all good.

The theft part of the title is about me thinking I would lift a picture from L's computer to post here. I was thinking that he had pictures that I don't have, but I was mistaken. I forgot that he bought a new computer this year, so I have copies of all of the pictures on here already. I was hoping to find a picture of a slightly younger and lighter L on a mountaintop in Germany.. but no such luck.

So, instead I will post another list. (Yes, I have grown rawthuh fond of lists of late.) This is a list of Things I love, love, lurve right now:

1. L, of course. Absence and all that. And he is so sweet. I am loving his latest purchase.. the Rachael Ray cookware is awesome! L is even awesome-er.

2. My mom. She really drives me insane sometimes, but she is almost comically tragic. Or tragically comic. Anyway I love her.

3. Trigger. Need I say more?

4. I have really been in the mood for ice cream lately. Yumm. And cheesecake. I am very tempted to attempt the pumpkin cheesecake recipe I found today. Maybe I will. But who will help me eat such a thing???

5. My growing shoe collection.. ahh, high heels!

6. The bed!! It has nice clean sheets and an electric mattress pad that keeps it nice and warm. In fact, I think it is calling my name right this minute.

Tomorrow: Who Knows?

400

Hello and welcome to the 400th post at the Dysfunction Junction.

I went riding with MM yesterday after work. It was fun, and Trigger got some exposure to riding with a dog along. Trigger does not like dogs and kept trying to bite and kick at the dog, but he never managed to connect. It was a fun ride, and wow does Trigger look good now that his summer coat is coming in!

I got home around 9 pm and decided to heck with trying to cook anything for dinner. I ate macaroni and cheese and a salad.

In other news, I still haven't heard a word from A. I sent her an email yesterday basically explaining my feelings on the whole situation. Obviously she couldn't care less.. not much of a friend apparently. It sucks. I mean, I would forgive her if she put forth any effort to be nice or explain why she ditched me in Vegas.. but she isn't going to. Obviously I am not important enough.. but I guarantee you that if I were some A-Town county official (or was sleeping with one), I'd be important enough.

Bleah. Gag.

I can't help but think after JT and H and now A.. why do I even bother trying to have girlfriends?! But then there's AC and mah seestor so I'm not completely striking out in that department. Is it just that all women are really like that underneath it all? Do we all have an inner bitch who says it's okay to treat our female friends like crap when it's convenient for us? I hope not, but you have to wonder sometimes.

Later: The Tax Man Cometh.

It's Time for a List..

Here it is, the long awaited Tuesday List:
1. Here are a few more Vegas pics for mah seestor: In front of the Paris Hotel..
And at Caesar's Palace..

2. I am getting an orange tabby kittie from MJ at work! They are 2 weeks old right now, so he or she won't be coming home for a few weeks. But at least my search for a little orange eraser-toed mini-monster is over.

3. Look for an immediate update on the wedding blog..

4. I am ready for my town (P'ville) to be annexed by G'ville. We really don't figure at all in A-Town politics, and it's much closer for us all to go to G'ville for everything we want to do anyway. Why do we have to be part of A-Town when G'ville is a better place to live and work, and lacks the grandstanding, subterfuge, and general BS that A-Town is famous for? Just my two cents.

5. What do you do when you realize that a long time friend is a) not really your friend and b) is not someone you want influencing your life anymore? I guess there isn't so much to do really.. just processing it, I guess. It sucks.

Today.. I am going to see Trigger after work, then it's off to the hacienda to whip up something for dinner and hopefully go to bed early. I am not sleeping as well as I usually do, without L around.

Well Heeey

Tomorrow it's back to life as usual, folks.

L left this morning for Tally. I just talked to him on the phone, and apparently things are business as usual at the parents' house. He is sitting in the "cave" room (it's so filled with boxes that he can't move around) listening to Barney and Denver howl their frustration at being outside at night...

Monster is overjoyed at being inside all night, and not in the garage in his playpen. I went to see Trigger today. We did lots of groundwork and not much riding, but it was fun anyway. He looks really pretty now that his winter coat has shed out. He was a little attitudinal today, but what can you expect after a week of not being worked? We'll hit the trails later this week.

In other news.. I have cleaned the kitchen and washed the new Rachael Ray pots and pans that L bought me before he left. They're pretty cool. I haven't cooked in them yet, but I can't wait.

So.. now I am going to take a shower and do something with my cracked and crappy looking nails.

Tomorrow: Back to work..

Leaving Las Vegas

I am blogging from the hotel gift shop now, as I get ready to leave Las Vegas. It's been a good trip despite A's not showing up.. So, because I have to get off of here pretty quick, a List:

1. Wow, I am still stunned by the fact that A didn't show and didn't call or anything. After all the things L and I have done for her and A2, and as long as we have been friends, I can't believe she would be SO RUDE. Look for an update soon on the wedding blog to discuss the state of my wedding party now that they will NOT be included.

2. I met some cool girls in the class over the last few days and we went out Wednesday night and had SO much fun! We took the pole dancing class at the Aladdin and then went karaoke singing.. I sang the first song and then the guy running it made me keep singing. We packed the bar and felt like rock stars. :-)

3. I miss L! I am SO glad I will see him tonight!

4. We are getting a new cat when I get home. We have decided that Monster needs a friend to play with, and since we discovered that everyone else in the neighborhood has more than the 3-pet limit, we decided to do it.

SO.. Now I am off to get my luggage and check out of the hotel.
Tomorrow: Back home and back to business...

Lovin Las Vegas

I made it to Vegas last night. L reports that this is what I am missing at home: This little guy has figured out that MonsterHead can't reach him through the window.. so he eats in relative peace, and Monster goes nuts.

Meanwhile, I am in my awesome suite in Vegas.

Last night I ordered room service and then went to sleep. (It's hard to get any pics with people in em when you're by yourself.. but here I am). I finally did hear from A, who has not shown up yet.. I got a cryptic email this morning saying that her phone was broken and that she had missed her flight. I don't think I will be seeing her this week, unfortunately. I hope so, but I totally doubt it. This does not bode well.
Anyway, here are Elvis and Priscilla, the resident swans at my hotel. They're pretty neat. They swim around their little pool with some of the biggest Koi I've ever seen.
I snapped this big girl chewing on a rawhide bone at the MGM Grand. There are three lionesses in this giant glass habitat thing with a waterfall. Way cool.

I think I am going to go to the hotel's free happy hour tonight, then out to dinner somewhere.. free shuttles run until 10:30, so yeah.. fun stuff even if it is, as Celine would say, "All By My Self.."