Been Busy

Makin' stuff, sewin' stuff, printing labels and a brochure for my craft fair this weekend. I hope I make enough cash at least to make it somewhat worth my time there. As for time spent makin' all this stuff, I'm not worried about that. It's been my much needed down-time. On that note, has anyone seen my usb cable so I can download/upload some of my crafty macaroni and cheesy pictures?? Ugh! Donde esta??? Hey, my husband now officially has a new hobby too...He's been going to these Jujitsu (I know, misspelled for sure) classes...He gets to roll around on the floor and wrestle people until it hurts too much or he's gonna die so then he just "taps out." I learned all kinds of new terminology about this over the past week. In fact, don't anyone try to approach me from the front and grab my shirt collar because I can effectively grab your hand between my two, pull it down and back and break it (unless you "tap out" first)...Very interesting! (How funny that I'm making all the calming relaxing things (and sewing!) and he's releasing all of the aggression that's been building I guess since he hasn't been playing rugby. We all need some kind of outlet for sure! That said, I think I'll go sew the crap out of the gingham heart ornament I'm in the midst of! Grrr!!

Bustling

I'm continuing my saga from my trip to New York here...lets see...left off with the Dixie Cup of Wine, went and found our seats, though it's still a little early for the show to start (about 15 minutes to go). Our seats were, well, pretty far back, but in the mezzanine so it could have been worse. I commented that the seats looked much closer when I selected them online, the girl next to us agreed. Oh well. I asked the nice seating/door lady if there would be any possible way to upgrade the seats...umm, nope, all sold out (but meanwhile there were only like 50 people seated in the theater at all. We sat and waited. Shortly after eight, an opening act comes on. Some brothers band. Some of their songs were okay and some were kind of noisy. When they were done we went for another beverage, this time the Bud-in-a-Plastic-Bottle (very classy) and I made Trav stay out in the lobby area looking out over the balcony into the lower level which was...well, Bustling! No wonder there were hardly any folks seated in the theater, this is clearly where the action was. We looked down on a sea of people, mostly donning their metropolitan blacks, scarves, and style. My eyes just soaked it all in. Hanging from the ceiling was an enormouse crystal Christmas Tree dangling down over the main lobby, spinning ever so slowly and bedazzled with sparkles from the light. I wished I could drink that image!! (Great, now I'm sounding like Becky's blog!)
We hear some music getting started and head back to our seats expecting our show to start....Ummmm, nope, opening act number 2! (It's already 9 and we haven't eaten dinner, but I'm doing okay cause there's music and wine!) We sat ready to be entertained nonetheless. These guys were much better than the first opener and I felt my foot start shaking to the beat and all then they began to get a little jammy and stuff and I just felt like it was absolutely insane that all of these people in this theater (more folks seated by now) could all just remain in their seats sitting and watching. I turned to Trav and said something along the lines of "Clearly there are no hippies here..." I don't get it! No one was even standing up! Sit and watch. Now don't get me wrong, I've been to shows where you sit and watch (love Dar, Leo Kotke, etc) but these guys were clearly jammy and danceable...puzzling...Where have all the hippies gone?
So I enjoyed the music from my seat and FINALLY it was time for our guy Bright Eyes, also known as Conor Oberst or something like that. We could barely make out the figures on the stage from where we were but it was nice to know that there was live music going on. I knew many of the songs because I listened up in the weeks' leading up to it. This is the guy that sang one of our wedding songs, that I came home from work one night and Trav said, "You know how you asked me to think about a good wedding song, well this is it." and he played it and danced with me in the living room:) So I might not get all of this guys poetry, but he's alright by me if he can move my honey so with his lyrics...So a good show, though he didn't play our song. That's okay. Next time I'll have to put in a special request.
So it's time to go and we slip out the back door. It's like midnight. It's cold outside. But New York City during the holiday season nonetheless so cold-shmold is what I say. I don't want to go straight back to the car since we didn't get our time to roam around a little when we arrived. So we leave towards 5th Ave. in hopes of strolling past some windows, the Plaza, and Central Park...we find ourselves right smack at Rockerfeller center. No, I didn't get to go ice-skating:( and the tree wasn't there yet, but still, one of those must visits during the holiday season). I loved our little walk, the giant snowlflakes decorating the buildings, the quietness of the streets that late after the madness to get there in the first place. I just love being in the city (I think I said that same line in my last post when we were down to see Lion King, that must mean I'm really serious about it!) The walk was cut a little short by a cold husband and the trip home was direct and uneventful (phew!) I could never live there, but I sure love to visit!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Go!

On Monday, Travis and I had an evening adventure in New York. For his birthday I had given him tickets to see one of his favorite singer guys (Bright Eyes) (also the singer of one of our two wedding songs) at Radio City. So I worked a regular day, came home and we were on the road by 4:30, both with travel mugs of tea in hand (this detail becomes important...) So a Monday night, traveling south on 95 shouldn't be too bad, but you have to count on SOME traffic getting into the city particularly at prime rush hour...I'd say we cruised along well enough until we were in the Bronx. Then it was stop and go, then mostly stop. I'm beginning to feel like I have to pee so I mention it (it's important to plant the seed well in advance of it becoming an emergency, particularly when in traffic and where there are no easy "rest stops.") So I planted. Did I mention the mostly stopped traffic?

I begin to have flashbacks to our trip to Newark Airport for our honeymoon. Much the same slow-to-not-moving traffic however at least we didn't have a plane to catch this time around. So say we began the traffic at about 5:15 (and pee seed planted at this time as well). Knowing we're already in the Bronx I was fine with the traffic. We weren't going to be late for the show that doesn't start until 8. So we sit and wait in line. And we wait. And wait. And didn't get very far and now it's 6:00 (did I mention I have to pee?). I vocalize my need again along the lines of, "So I may really need to stop and pee at some point kinda soon." We make an attempt to get off the highway and do some backroads for awhile, but somehow we ended up on the highway again just a little ways down. Now it's becoming urgent. Belt is unbuckled. Soon thereafter I'm doing the leg shake. I find myself eyeing underpasses as being a good possibility for a sheltered, somewhat private possibility (I had to do this once before years ago when there was such traffic because a bridge was out.) No more underpasses and now we're merging onto our next highway. I eyeball my travel mug and say,"Okay, it's officially an emergency...we're going to need to just get off the next chance we get." Travis speaks calmly along the lines of, "I don't think I've ever had to go so badly to the bathroom." I shush him. He asks something about directions or the map, I tell him I can't look at a map because I only can focus on not peeing!! I'm dancing in my seat. We get off the highway and pull into the first gas station we see...yay...ohhhhh, no bathroom. We drive down the road, I'm telling Trav, just pull into a parking lot...then we see our sign for the 3rd street bridge that we were going to so we just went over the bridge (I was hoping to have peed before getting into Manhattan out of fear of not being able to walk and find a bathroom.) Oh well. We go over the bridge, on to FDR drive and get off the first exit, pull down a dark road next to the highway, there's a shady excuse for a "park" a couple of trees and some grass and I run behind the tree and do my thing....Holy Camoley!! Now I can relax and enjoy myself. Of course I told Travis when I got back into the car that this story doesn't leave the car, but it's actually funny now...I was actually very worried!

So it was a good thing I got that out of my system because now we get back on FDR heading south and get off around 60th to begin cutting across town. It's about 6:30 now. Still time to grab a quick bite before the show. So we begin making our way across town when I feel like we're going up a hill (in Manhattan???) I see signs for the 59th street bridge ahead so I tell Trav to turn because we don't want to cross over into Queens. Well we turn and lo and behold we're on the bridge ramp, no turning back now, on our way to Astoria. Mind you, we're both very even tempered at this point, rolling with the punches (even Travis who really doesn't like traffic, no less a wife with an emergency while in traffic, no less going back over the river that we just crossed, heading in the opposite direction than we needed to be). So you think you can just go across the bridge, turn around and come right back...ummm no, not so much...one way one way, no left turn, no right turn...we drove in circles following signs leading us back to the bridge...insanity! We eventually make our way over again, get to a parking garage, and are walking to the theater at 7:30. No dinner. No relaxing. We stop at the falafel guy on the corner to grab a sandwich but he's all out of falafel. Oh well. We go into the theater, past all the hip young kids and to the bar. We may not be so hip and young, but at least we can drink a $9.00 dixie cup full of watery Merlot to decompress after an unexpected 3 hour journey into NY. What the heck! I've never had such trouble getting into the city (or around the country, and even countries that I can't read the road signs in!) Oh well. We made it there safe and sound. To be continued...unless I don't feel like it!

Happy Turkey Day to All!! Count your Blessings and Enjoy your Time with Family!

Just So You Know...

Even if you were three months pregnant and miscarry, insurance doesn't qualify that as having been pregnant...I just got off the phone with my OBGYN's billing company who proceded to tell me that I owe copays on office visits which I was told at my very first one that I would only have one copay for the course of the pregnancy. Now that I'm no longer pregnant I receive a freakin' bill for more copays so I call and explain that I paid the one copay I was told to pay and the woman proceeded to tell me that essentially my pregnancy doesn't count as a pregnancy according to the insurance company, therefore pay up...

What the hell did they suck out of me when I went to the freakin' hospital 2 months ago then if that didn't count as a pregnancy???

Yup I was pregnant, now I'm not, sorry some of you didn't even know and find out like this but as much as I think it's in the past and I'm moving forward, there's still constant reminders which really just suck. Maybe just being able to get it out by typing it here will help me some more.

The Art of Complaining

Just a quick little note on this art that I'm regretfully good at...I think I've been better about it more recently (think back to last years complaining upon complaining about my job). Luckily there's significantly less to complain about in that category. Which doesn't leave too much else that I'm really entitled to complain about (although it WOULD be nice if I was actually getting paid for the second Master's Degree status at school (still in conflict with Human Resources)...But the reason I post this is because on Saturday morning, (brrrrrr), my soccer team had the playoffs. I watched the weather on Thursday and Friday and was hoping for a rainy morning and therefore cancelled games (I don't like to play when it's very cold outside, just like I don't like to jog when it's cold, either). So anyway, I hear the rain Friday night and I'm thinking it's looking good for a cancelled game (or two...it WAS the playoffs so if you win game one, you gotta play game two!) So anyway, I wake up to bright blue skies...grrrr...Get to the field @ 8:45, game starts at 9...I'm on the sideline (fine, for a little while, then after reflecting on the fact that I could still be home in my nice warm bed, I start to get frustrated by the fact that I'm left to turn into an icicle on the sideline when I know that some of the girls playing are going to bail out for game 2 during which I'll be playing (even though I have things to do, not to mention that once those guys leave then I won't even have a sub if I wanted one)...yadda yadda...So, we're losing game one, right up to the last 5 or so minutes, I'm thinking, good...I've gotta get home, showered and up to the parents for lunch...We score and tie the game. Okay..that's a Good thing I remind myself. We go into 10 minutes of overtime, still tied, then into penalty kicks...after the first 5 kicks, still tied, so then into the Next 5 (very unusual for this to happen...) and we win. So rush rush to the cars to get to the other field, I call Trav to tell him I have to play another stupid soccer game which means we'll be late for lunch...and so off I play at an even colder field...we tie (of course) and go into a 10 minute overtime and end that in a tie, too and that is how the playoffs end...
I rush home and am complaining about having won, and about poor me having to be outside (with shorts, mind you) in the cold cold weather and Travis says, "You're not allowed to complain about this." "Why not?" I ask. And he goes on to remind me that I play soccer because I enjoy it. Because I like to play. I was disappointed earlier in the season when I didn't think I was going to get to play. So I figure, I must really be good at complaining if I can complain about something that I volunteered for, paid a good chunk of cash to be part of, and miss when I'm not taking part in it...
So alas, my goal moving forward will be to try to be more "cognizant" of my complaining and making an attempt at ensuring there is merit and validity to that which I choose to complain about.

Hurtin' for New Material

Alright, so I've been thinking about posting over the past couple of weeks but either I was too lazy to do it or else had nothing to say, which I still kinda think, but I guess I can share a confession...

It's about...our tub.

It's the regular square tiles/grout kind of tub and you know what happens when it doesn't get a really good scrubbing for awhile...well actually, we've scrubbed the regular tub part and even the grout part, but just with "regular" scrubbing stuff (we especially like "Zud")...But as I've been on this kick of trying to finish all of our "harsh" cleaners and transition into more natural type or homemade products, I haven't been keeping up with the purchase of new cleaning supplies...

Okay, so the grout had turned a nice shade of, hmmm...black (I hang my head in shame) (but the toilet bowl is always sparkling!) I did some research and referred back to various recipes I had been saving to remove mildew/mold from grout and mixed my concoction of borax, baking soda, and white vinegar into a paste. I applied the paste and scrubbed whole heartedly with my new grout brush and earth friendly homemade cleaner...but for naught. Still dark mold all around the edges. Travis said not to worry because it was at least clean mold. That didn't do it for me.

So the next day I stopped in at the grocery store to pick up veggies for dinner and I somehow found myself strolling down the cleaning product aisle (funny how that happens). I see one scrubbing product called Bon Ami which I had read that people recommended because of it's earth friendly ingredients. I picked it up, then put it down. I already tried earth friendly without success. So I kept going until I spotted what I was looking for...Mold and Mildew Remover With Bleach. I have also read that bleach is not the cure all for mold/mildew because it only wipes out the surface mildew but you can count on it growing right back, but since I'm not about to dig the grout out (yet), I needed the next best thing...

So before going to bed, I took a deep breathe and sprayed the perimeter of the tub and let it set for 5 minutes while I opened the window wide and left the room to brush my teeth...When 5 minutes was up, I took a deep breathe and began to scrub...magically, the mold was going away! I so value a sparkling clean tub, and while the grout still has some battle wound/gray areas, it is sooooo much better off now. The only problem I had after the big scrub was that all I could smell for the rest of the night was bleach...even not thinking I was breathing it in, it managed to get up in my nose because even when I went outside for air, all I could smell when breathing through my nose was bleach...yuck! Then in the bedroom, we had to keep the window open because it was so bleachy too...bad bad. That's kinda why I was hoping to "go green" with the cleaning products because all that bad toxic stuff gets inside the body and accumulates...I don't know, maybe there's another active ingredient in the spray I bought? Otherwise, I might as well make my own bleach mixture if that's what it's going to take to keep the tub clean...

How sad that I'm blogging about mildew...yup, this is what happens when writers run out of material...Please share your remedies for keeping grout clean...yeah, I know, keep the shower curtain open when done showering, squeegee the excess water, window open, fan on, yadda yadda...any other magic bullets???


I'm a dork who hates to scrub the tub...


That's what you get for an update...