Pinkananda and Bhu

Having a little bit of a slow start today.  It's supposed to be a vacation day for me, but as is usual several "emergencies" have come up at work that require my attention.  I've been dealing with a couple of these from home and, as you can see, Bhu is "helping" me by rolling around on the floor and trying to tempt me with his floofy belleh!  Actually, he's hoping I'll give him a bit of his favorite treat:  homemade Chicken Liver & Rice pate.

Looks like I'm going to have to change the dates of our planned vacation in April, too . . . either go earlier or later.  Either way, I miss my daughter's birthday. 

Although we'd planned to work on the garden this weekend, we had big winds, so we couldn't plant snow peas.  Then yesterday we had storms that rolled through here, but we got hardly any rain!  There were flash flood warnings all around us, but we got a spritz and that was it!  It was the WIND!  OMG! 

My mid-winter blues feel permanent at this point.  Even the sight of daffodils poking out of the ground and robins chortling all day doesn't break the spell.  I haven't touched a piece of fabric or strand of fiber in a creative way in two months.  I have been forcing myself to follow a bit of a schedule in terms of completing chores, but, to be honest, this might be exacerbating the blues!  I need new clothes and shoes but I can't find anything that fits my body OR my personality!  Not to mention the fact that shopping bores the living sh*t outta me and I hate doing it more than anything, including going to the dentist and doing my taxes.  I'm sure you're all dealing with your own case of the blues in one way or another.  Are you getting over it?  How? 

Yesterday, a couple of walkers found a guy passed out under the bridge on the nature trail.  Inside the house, I heard the hum of heavy engines and was curious, so looked out the window and there was the ambulance and fire truck with the lights all aflitter!  And down into the park the crews went, fetching the dude (he was alive), and hauling him off to hospital, I guess.  A neighbor walking two basset hounds thought he'd been drinking.  I think he was probably living in the park.  There's a little culvert a bit north of the bridge that looks like it would make a great shelter for someone.  It's happened before.  No matter what you do, something will happen.  Even if you are unconscious under a bridge in a neighborhood park.  In my current mood, I'm not sure if he was "rescued."

Yesterday, the president of our university had a "town hall" meeting and you know how those go:  people step up to a centrally located mike and ask questions.  I opted to listen to the meeting on my computer so I could continue to work.  By the time the thing was over, I was screaming in my office "SHUT UP!  SHUT UP!  SHUT UP!  TAKE THE MIKE AWAY FROM HIM!"  Some loony business professor was squawking away about the unfairness of the university's new plan to make people contribute to their retirement plans. 

I wondered if Jerry Seinfeld was there.  I half expected to hear George rush up to the podium and push the first questioner (a nasular, sloooooooooooooow talking whiner who I would have just HAD to heckle if I'd been there) aside as he spewed in his predictable frustrated fashion about letting people "like that" take up his valuable time.  Next up, Kramer, asking questions about something completely irrelevant, like the soap in the restrooms.  It would have been fun.  But instead we got a series of people worrying about what the employee contribution to the retirement fund is going to do to the "lowest paid" employees -- you know, the ones who make less than $10 an hour.  Nobody at the university EVER thinks about them until they can be used as an example.  I would have loved it if the president had said, "Okay, well, we won't make people who earn less than $12 an hour pay.  But the rest of you bloodsucking faculty who make $14,000 a month will have to pick up the slack."  mwaaaaaahahaha!    Speaking of which, where were all those folks who make less than $10 an hour?  AT WORK!!  WORKING!!!  NOT SLACKING OFF SITTING ON THEIR ASSES IN AN AUDITORIUM AND GETTING PAID FOR IT!

The first one who really got me yelling was the snotty professor who reminded everyone that his colleagues at Penn State make 20% more than he.  "Do you wonder WHY idiot?  BECAUSE THEIR COST OF LIVING IS APPROXIMATELY 50% HIGHER THAN YOURS, DUMBS**T!  Go there!  Go to Pennsylvania and live the good life with your extra 20% which will enable you to buy a better BMW and I hope you like it because you're going to be in it for a lot longer STUCK IN TRAFFIC!  Shut up and let somebody who isn't an idiot ask a question!" 

Okay, so I could go on and on about this, but the fact of the matter is that faculty are really living on their own little planet.  They are not like you or I; they are special.  The university exists for them.  So many of our faculty simply refuse to teach because "the students are too stupid.  Yes, you will have to pay me $14,000 a month, but I refuse to teach them."  What do the tax payers get for the $14,000 a month?  A few publications that none of them will ever read and which bear no influence on our lives. 

Speaking of which, I have a plumber here to look at my water heater, which apparently decided to "fissure" last night, the evidence of which is a large puddle on the basement floor.  As a result, I am purchasing a new water heater and having it installed for $868.56, thank you very much, and it will be done today -- right now -- on a Saturday!   I know there are lotsa folks out there who can actually do such things on their own, but I would not be one of them.  Me iz be URBAN CHICK!  Hubby is tooooooo cerebral for such things as well.  Anyway, the old water heater served us well:  it's 18 years old and we have hard water.  It's kind of a little miracle.  It's good to know, too, that it's still possible in America to get what you want if you can pay cash for it right away.  I like that.

Toodles, turtles!  xxooo P

The folks at Floof & Fur are having an election for Cat Purresident and Sweet Praline is my favorite!!  Bhu LOVES her!  He also loves Maggy!  Go there and vote.  GIRLCAT POWER! 

"me iz watching boidz outsidez!"
No, Bhu, I think you are trying to eat the angel hair begonia again.
"no, boidz, honest.  me watchez boidz. U go away."

As you can see, today is a rather bleak, grey day, but it is mild.  Another even-numbered year has been largely wasted on work and distraction, but  not entirely.  In 2008, I . . .
learned to blog
became minimally able to use Photoshop
got my crochet hand back
made a black and blue quilt for Kyle
made a baby quilt for McKenna Rose
made three more baby quilts, just in case
made three Amy Butler quilts
made a variety of gifts and trinkets for friends & fam
won a Service Champion Award at work
cut my hair five times
did not get fired and got a raise
finally learned how to communicate with my assistant
made some new friends
didn't lose any old friends
ate lunch for less than an average of $1.50/day
got to enjoy 365 days with the man I love dearly
listened to hours and hours of Bhu's gorgeous purring
ate a variety of veggies I grew myself
added a variety of perennials to the garden
did at least 200 loads of laundry
ironed 520 shirts and 520 pairs of pants, at least
went to the grocery store 208 times
completed over 300 crossword puzzles
did not lose all my retirement money in the crash
did not injure myself in any way
paid less personal property tax
drove less than 3,000 miles
had to buy two new irons
read 400 newspapers, 52 books
watched 84 movies
took over 200 photos, mostly of Bhu
and much miscellaneous activity in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.

"U iz boringz!  How much fanzy feest U buy fer me?"
What are you complaining about?  You look healthy to me!  How many times did you go to the vet and Josie?
"me no likez vet.  She mean.  I luv Josie.  She nicez to me.  me purrs fer her."
Okay, Bhu.  What will we do this year?

Carol Kane in Scrooged.  Why?  Because that's how I feel and that's how I even act sometimes.  Like that.  Plus, I LOVE the accent!  Wut iz dat?  Like something you mighta heard on the lower east side a hundred years ago.  Sounds like her tongue's swollen. 
Anyhoo, love to sing along with Bill. 
Birthday today.  I gotta get a camera phone because I just don't take my camera with me on my various outings.  Maybe that's a good thing (I have a boring life) and maybe not (there's a lot of color, despite the boring).  Plus, my phone's so old the paint is chipping.  Went to eye doctor with Sabryin, got new license plates for car (which means using the screwdriver, ugh), returned poll worker training materials to County Clerk's Office and went to Red Lobster for lunch.  The waitress, Aubrey, was a vegetarian who hates brussells sprouts.  I've been a vegetarian at least four times in my life and I do prefer flesh protein.  What can I say?  And I've always LOVED brussells sprouts, plain without cheese sauce thank you.  After lunch we watched Goma's debut on Animal Planet, thanks to Sweet Praline's mom, Paula, and then played a game of Scrabble.  I won, but my favorite move is to make more than one word at a time.  Also, I feel very cheap:  I had to use the word "zen."