Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Bye Bye January
Sooooooo.... on to February and a CHALLENGE. I am going to post every day in February, because it's a short month and I really need a motivational hook right now, and I'm challenging all of my friends and bloggy buddies to join me. In fact, I'm just desperate enough to be willing to bribe you all with random weekly rewards. Did I say weekly? Yep, I did! While my objective is to encourage daily posting, I know how hard it is to do this; I don't want anyone tossed out of the party because they had a bad Wednesday.
Rules? We don't need no stinking rules! Just let me know you are up for the challenge. I'll announce the prize on Monday and everyone who posts daily will be entered in the drawing on Sunday.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Cold Sunday Morning...
but instead of fluffy white frosting
there is steel gray ice
the dog seemed to think twice
before rushing into the slippery yard
then returned to bed
to lick her toes
There is so much I should be doing
but the freeze has it's grip on me too
alas I have become
not a graceful ice sculpture
but a lump of sooty ice
fallen from the wheel well of
the workweek
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fifteen Fun Facts
1. FIRST: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology - You've got to love an organization that uses robots battles and lego building competitions to "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes."
2. Fiesta!: A party. Preferably with Fajitas and Margaritas. I could really use a fiesta right now.
3. Friendly's : A legendary ice cream shop in Massachusetts.. and other Eastern states... well, legendary if you live in my house. My husband is convinced that there is no Milkshake that can substitute for a genuine Friendly's Fribble and he has spent many years trying to create a Fribble in our not so friendly kitchen.
4. Forest: I live in a temperate rain forest. Uh, to be more honest, I live in what used to be a temperate rain forest but is now a barren subdivision with three requisite trees per house. The forest waits just beyond the fences and regularly tries to reclaim any unprotected land. You know what else lives in a temperate rain forest? Banana Slugs!
5. Feathers tickle my fancy...
6. Fleas bite
7. Fruit bats are totally cool but I don't want them in my backyard. They need to stay in the forest with the foxes, raccoons and BANANA SLUGS.
8. Flitter: This is what butterflies do. I like butterflies and will plant flowers to attract them if I ever actually plant anything in my backyard... (don't tell the forest I haven't landscaped yet)
9. Fusion: Jazz, Food, Cold... not necessarily in that order
10. Frustration caused me to yell at my husband a few minutes ago because I'm TRYING TO WRITE AND HE'S BEING TOO NOISY.
11. Feist: I'm Sorry, Mushaboom, My Moon My Man.... Lovely
12. Free : Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. This is a great place to look for neat things to teach your kids... or yourself.
13. Fred Astaire: Just because...
14. Forts, especially tree forts have always excited me. Someday I'm going to vacation here.
15. For Sure! Fifteen words that start with F and not a single curse among them. Aren't you proud of me?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Fourteen
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Off to the races...

Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Better living through technology...

The programmable thermostat performs two vital functions, keeping the electricity bill down, and keeping my family passably warm despite my hormonal imbalances. At night the temperature drops to 58 degrees making it possible for me to sleep comfortably with a light blanket. Everyone else is wearing socks, hats, mittens and hiding under down comforters but we all sleep reasonably well. However, when morning comes, and the eskimos have to emerge from their pile of furs, a minor rebellion occurs. Shaking in their long underwear they run to the the thermostat and stab the buttons with their brittle blue fingers. Before you know it the temp rises to a balmy 72 degrees and I'm resisting the urge to strip down to my bra and panties.
In an effort to stop the madness I returned to my trusty programmable thermostat and reprogrammed it. Yes, I gave in. I told it to turn the heater on and warm the house to 68 degrees half an hour before everyone wakes up. Here's where the better living through technology part comes in.. you see, my heretofore dependable and much loved thermostat has a hidden feature called Adaptive Intelligent Recovery. It's a nice feature that insures your house will be 68 degrees at 6am by turning the heater on at 4:30! The reasoning behind this delightful feature is that people prefer to warm up gradually. There is no override, no way to ensure it doesn't come on before a certain time because the program is adaptive. It decides what it wants to do and then does it without consulting me. Apparently it is incapable of adapting to the fact that I wake up the instant the heater comes on. The owners manual assures me that the thermostat will learn to turn itself on later as soon as it gathers enough data to know how long it really takes to warm the house. This shouldn't take much more than two weeks... Obviously this technology was designed by a man.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Coffee Girl....

Hey Energizer Bunny Girl! Do you ever slow down?
You're a mix of high energy and ambition, perfectly matched with strong espresso
When you want something you get it - by any means possible
You're driven, determined, and no nonsense. Which is just how you like your java.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Home again, home again....
How many of you thought I was never coming back?
I had three days in the vicodin fog (more about the ablation at a later date.. thank you so much for all the kind thoughts and healing vibes), 12 hours on the road, a delightful evening and morning with good friends that we don't see often enough, three days at Bob's family reunion/Stepmother's birthday bash, three days at my Mother's, and another 12 hours on the road home. We arrived at 9pm last night and I think I've been doing laundry ever since. Now I'm on my way to work. Thankfully I have a lot more energy now than I did at any time in December. I'm looking forward to getting my house back in order, my blog updated, and catching up on reading everyones blogs this weekend!