July 27, 2007
· Filed under Life in Peekskill, food, shopping
for the second Very Exciting Event. Here’s me all duded up. I have to leave here in a few minutes. It’s very warm in here, and the polyester/nylon/plasticky/whatever my outfit is made of is NOT BREATHING. And I’m wearing shoes, little black kitten heels. I should be wearing the pink Chinese Laundry kitten heels that would totally match this outfit, but I don’t know where they are. They’re open-toed, too, and would show off my awesome French pedicure. So cute! After The Event I think I’m going to mosey down to Build-A-Bear Workshop and make a Hello Kitty stuffed toy. Ohhh, I just checked out the website and there’s all sorts of trouble I can get into. Mannn…
Will update after The Event.
UPDATE: Saturday 1:45 am
Just got back from Jenn and Uli’s where we had a delicious dinner of flat spaghetti and meatballs with grated cheese. Nice, simple, comfort food. She loved the earrings, put them on right away, and is thrilled about the book. Ohhh…you want to know about The Event? It was good, although not as magical as Thursday’s. I should know end of next week. Then I’ll be able to spill it.
July 27, 2007
· Filed under Life in Peekskill, books, work
Thursday morning’s Very Exciting Event has precipitated another, linked, Very Exciting Event Friday at 1:30 pm. After my therapy session, so I’ll be able to prep beforehand. I’ll know the outcome of all this mystery Sunday or Monday.
I had some really good conversations at work today. One was with a woman whose perfume smelled like cocoa. I asked her what it was, and she said that she gets it made for her on St. Bart’s. It was delicious! But unattainable. I’ll have to see if Demeter Fragrances has one that smells like cocoa. Nope, just checked. They have “Chocolate Chip Cookie” and “Brownie;” I ordered a mini-splash of each to see which I like better. She recommended this book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
. She said that it was all about not living in the past, and not living for the future, but on concentrating on what is in your life right now at this very second. Good advice, I’m putting the book on my Top Ten Wishlist.
There’s something rotten going on in Peekskill. I can’t talk about it yet. I don’t really understand it all.
Posted 1:59 am
July 24, 2007
· Filed under roller derby
Specifically, roller derby girls. As in joining. No shit. There’s the Gotham Girls League in New York City and the Suburbia Roller Derby in Westchester. I used to skate when I was younger, a million years ago. This could be very, very cool. I certainly have the attitude for it. It would be great exercise, and not all of the girls are petite flowers, in fact, quite a few of them are pretty big. I could be Small & Fierce (again). I think we’re going to go to the Punk n’ Roll fundraiser for the SRD on August 18th in Yonkers, and the bout between the Queens of Pain and Manhattan Mayhem on August 11th at CCNY.
I am doing something Very Exciting on Thursday, something I can’t talk about yet. Email me if you can’t wait.
July 21, 2007
· Filed under beads, books, food, gardening, pampering, shopping, technology
Our neighbor down the street very generously gave me the phone number for her cleaning people, Marlene and Veronica. They both speak English fairly well, meaning that they appear to understand what I’m saying and that I have only a little trouble understanding them. I keep getting them mixed up, and it isn’t because they look alike, because they don’t, but the one who does the talking when they’re here is Veronica and the one who I’ve spoken to on the phone is Marlene. So I keep getting them mixed up. I’ll get it, eventually. Anyway, my floors are now clean enough for even me to feel comfortable walking about barefoot. And the surfaces! They shine!
On the first of my two trips to Stop and Shop today (the second was for more tinned chicken and Texas Pete Hot Sauce), I noticed in the window a huge sign welcoming everyone to the Midnight Madness Harry Potter Sale that began at 12:01 am and ended 59 minutes later. So instead of waiting until the 24th for my library edition to arrive (Amazon had trouble processing my card, and neglected to email me until it was too late to get here for today), I picked up a regular hardback first edition of Deathly Hallows. So as soon as I make my way through the last 3/4 of Phoenix and wade through Half-Blood Prince again, it’ll be ready and waiting for me.
I made a pair of silver heart and Swarovski crystal earrings for Jenn for her birthday, I think she’ll like them. I need to wrap them and the book and blow out my hair to be ready by the time we have to leave. Jack says it’ll take just over an hour to get to Hoboken barring all traffic. And no, we did not pay $857.13 for him, we got him on Amazon.
More planting…here are pictures of Samson and Delilah, the Snow Fountain Cherry and Kwanzan Cherry that we had the landscapers plant for us. Samson is in the front yard, and Delilah is in the back. What I don’t like is that there is now a multitude o
f yellow leaves on each tree. Shit.
Tell me that this isn’t the freakiest picture you’ve seen today: 
Click here for more. Thanks to Hula for the link to the Pravda site!
July 21, 2007
· Filed under books, cats, movies, pampering, shopping
Ally at Salon Diva in White Plains helped Anne Marie, my stylist, blow out my hair for the vision of loveliness you see here. However, Ally has been to the Arnold Schwarzenegger School of Hairdressing and pulled on my hair so hard that my scalp is bruised. Anne Marie did a really nice job with the cut and color (something called Goldwell Illumen) (roll back my age ten years, please and thank you), she knows my hair very well after twenty-one years of loyalty. I’m vexed as to whether or not to blow it out again for Jenn’s birthday party tomorrow night. I know if I use the curling iron I can make it so Gary will like it. Straighten, then curl. My naturally curly hair. I know. It perplexes me, too.
We’re going to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tonight. I’m partway through rereading it. I bought the paperback version for the express purpose of keeping my hardback as pristine as possible. The movie starts at 9:40 in Mohegan Lake and right now it’s 9:16. Tigger is climbing all over me and the back of my chair (you weigh 19 pounds, cat) as if he were a kitten. Sweet boy.
I went to Anthropologie to buy a gift for Jenn and found this great little book, Small Graces; The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life. From the inside flap: “Small Graces is a journey into the sacred moments that illuminate our everyday lives…Through the exploration of simple acts, Small Graces reminds us to chart a course each day that nourishes the soul, honors the body, and engages the mind.” I think she’ll like it. I think I’ve actually given it to somebody else before, just can’t remember who. If I had thought ahead, I could have gotten it on Amazon for about $5 less, with free shipping, but I didn’t. As it is, the book cost an additional $3 for parking at The Wastechester Mall on top of the price of the book. I should have just parked at work across the street like everyone else does. Le sigh.
UPDATE: Order of the Phoenix was really good. Dolores Umbridge frighteningly reminded both of us of Mary Foster! I’m trying to get over the deletion of so many details from the book, but it’s hard. I’ll just finish reading Phoenix, then reread Half-Blood Prince in order to have prepared for Deathly Hallows, arriving tomorrow by UPS. The Wiki page has a plot summary of DH; I can’t allow myself to read it before I actually read the book. I’ll just have to wait.
July 16, 2007
· Filed under movies, shopping, technology
We went to see Transformers Saturday night at the UA Cortlandt Stadium 11 in Mohegan Lake. What a fun movie! I was skeptical about it, but quickly amended my position once the screen lit up. My favorite Autobot is Bumblebee (of course!). Kam Williams of EurWeb writes: “Gets this critic’s seal of approval as another overblown Michael Bay extravaganza, for it succeeds in bringing a cornucopia of beloved robots to life for a concatenation of epic battles worthy of a bombastic summer blockbuster.” Love the SAT words there, Kam. However, he ruins his otherwise lovely review by further going on to say, “But best to check your I.Q. and political correctness at the refreshment counter to enjoy this mindless macho exercise in misogyny which promotes ‘Bros before hos!’ ” It may be a “mindless macho exercise,” but it certainly isn’t misogynistic by any stretch of the imagination. A female analyst is the one who realizes they’re being hacked, and a female is the one who saves Bumblebee. The guy who so callously shouts, “Bros before hos!” gets left in the dust, literally. Another reviewer, Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News writes, “There is so much action packed into every second of Transformers that by the time it’s over, you may be tempted to go outside and give the box office another 10 bucks.” I tend to agree. Go see it, if only for 2 1/2 hours of escapist fantasy.
I ordered the Olympus WS-300M 256 MB Digital Voice Recorder and Music Player from Amazon. It’s slated to arrive tomorrow, for only $3.99 for overnight shipping. I love Amazon Prime! For something like $80 a year, you get free two-day shipping and $3.99 overnight shipping on anything Amazon themselves (not their affiliates) sells. That means that the glider loveseat and table we bought incurred only $3.99 each for overnight shipping (they had to ship separately). The teak armchairs we got had free shipping. We buy so much on Amazon that the membership cost is totally worth it.
July 14, 2007
· Filed under meme
This is kind of a cool thing; I’ve always been interested in history when it comes to knowing all the things that happened on a particular day. You go to Wikipedia.org, type in the day and month you were born, and post a series of what happened that day throughout history. Mine is May 2 (stubborn and strong like bull) and here are things that happened that day:
1519 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian inventor and painter (b. 1452), hero of mine, and painter of my favorite painting, breathed his last breath
1936 - Engelbert Humperdinck, British-born singer, is born
1955 - Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer, is born
1955 - Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
1969 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
1972 - The Rock, American professional wrestler and actor, is born (I’m older than The Rock?!?)
2000 - Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted toU.S. military.
What happened on your birthday?
July 14, 2007
· Filed under G, Life in Peekskill, cats
Gary has this uncanny talent for channeling Harry (the 18 pound silver tabby) and letting me know what is really going on inside the cat’s furry head. Apparently the cat has a Brooklyn accent.
“Got a sandwich? Can I have a sandwich?”
“What the fuck is that smell?!?” (This, on the BQE headed over the Triboro into Queens. You know that smell.)
“The fucking Guatemalans stole the lawn!!1!”
This last bit had me in literal tears on the way home from dinner this evening. I do this high pitched squeaking, heaving noise that sounds like a sick dog. My nose runs, my eyes leak, I’m a danger to myself and everything on the road. To back up a bit: last week we hired landscapers (okay, two boys, Anthony and Larry, maybe they’re in their 20’s, who work at the local nursery) to scrape the top 2″ from our entire back yard, getting rid of all the weeds, all the grass (such as it was), construction debris, everything. They also broke up three pieces of cement sidewalk that were laid like a path leading from a nice stone path to the deck. May I remind you that no one lived in our house legally for at least seven years before we bought it; hence, the soil quality is poorer than white trash. This project left the back yard a literal dust bowl, but weed-free. Harry has been begging to go outside, escaping twice in the past two days, so I rigged him up in his harness and leash, and let him out. He bolts for the now-vanished grass and stops dead in his tracks. He sniffs, loudly, and looks up indignantly as if to say, “Where’s my fucking salad? I left it right here.” We tour the back yard, then venture out to the front, chewing the crewcut of a lawn there is now (the boys weed-whacked the rest of the grass to within an inch of its life). We stayed out there for about a half hour, him rolling in the dirt, trying to get under the latticework of the porch where the boys had ripped up a stump, sniffing everything. Fast forward to this evening after dinner: I’m checking out digital voice recorders on Amazon. Gary holds up his microscopic new iAudio device, and says, “This is a digital voice recorder.” “Really? Wow! It’s so tiny!” He fiddles with it a bit, and then…click here (turn on your speakers). I love my husband.
July 12, 2007
· Filed under family, food, knitting
No conversation today. Apparently there was a family tragedy involving a car accident and multiple deaths. NOT ON MY END, everyone here is just peachy keen. I was advised that “when he comes back, maybe he’ll be a little more, gentle.” One can always hope. I’d like to be “gracious” about it and give the benefit of the doubt. But it is really hard to believe that anything will change.
Dinner tomorrow night with my father and stepmother at Tango Grill in White Plains (tango music launches from this site). Looking at the website, I wish I hadn’t; they misspell “superb,” (”supurb”) and even Zagat (”Zaget”). And that’s just the front page. They forget to capitalize the word Italian after writing it correctly directly above. They write Argentinian and Argentinean. Make up your minds! My dad said that it’s Brazilian BBQ but they’re listing themselves as a combination of Argentinian and Italian food.
Almost finished sock one of the new pair of On Line socks. Just need to bind off the last half of it. Wheee!
July 12, 2007
· Filed under bipolar, meds, music, work
Just took some Ativan. It has an expiration date of sometime last year, but it should still be good. I’m totally anxious about a conversation I’m going to have tomorrow (today? later today, Thursday) that I was supposed to have today (yesterday? Wednesday). It’s about work, and I’ve been warned by a very credible source not to write about work on the Internet. So I’m not going to go into any details. Suffice it to say that I’m very nervous and have now trashed my sleep for two nights (last night because I was supposed to have this conversation today. Yesterday). I could end up getting fired over this. Or made to leave. There is a difference, with the latter being my work life made so impossible to live with that I’d just resign. I just can’t deal. And I don’t see my therapist until Friday. Day late, dollar short. I’ve discussed what I’m going to say with Gary, and he’s been very patient and giving with me about this, understanding that I need to go over and over and over this because I CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT I’VE SAID. Things go in one ear and right out the other and I hate this brain fog. I can keep the fact that bipolar disorder is covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act top of mind, and I can cling to that like a life raft. That I am not paranoid, Mentally ill, yes. Insane, not so much. I am not a bad person, I am not a slacker, people genuinely like me. I can remember those things too.
In this hour of quiet desperation, I have things I am thankful for. A loving husband who believes in me and wants to see me triumph. Friends and family who care about me and support me and help me to remember that I am not insane. Three wonderful cats who know to rub up against me and snuggle fiercely. Knitting, to help take my mind off this roller coaster. Medication, which I. WILL. NOT. FORSAKE. And Amy Winehouse, whose music is almost too good to bear (music launches instantly on her site). At these times, music is my companion, my solace, I can find refuge in a familiar lyric (”…You try to make me go to rehab and I say no, no, no…”) and often I’ll play one song over and over and over, burning it into my brain, driving out all else. It helps to not necessarily quell the extraneous noise, but to overpower it by sheer magnitude. Even when circumstances prevent me from actually playing music, it rides merrily along inside my head, becoming my own soundtrack.
Of course, if I do leave over this, either way, I’m free to write whatever I want.
