malkatsheva

The good news: I haz new glasses! Everything is soooooo clear right now. Ahhh.

The bad news: my body was so happy about the glasses, apparently, that it refused to sleep last night. So I'm a little logy this morning. And I have clients this evening.

This is a Thai picture and I got it from Netflix. I viewed it in the original Thai with English subtitles -- I like to hear the real voices. I recommend this picture to anyone who's watched a lot of action movies or kung fu pix: it's full of genre-based jokes and gags and will make you laugh copiously. My one caveat is that apparently there's NO SUCH THING as political correctness in Thailand, since some of the humor in this movie is really, really not PC.

I actually didn't realize going in that this movie was a comedy -- I rented it because it features action god Tony Jaa. Oh, Tony Jaa. . . your soulful eyes and magnificent fighting skills make me melt! He was funny in this movie, too, a nice departure from his usual serious persona.

I would talk about the plot, but in a movie like this, plot is soooo not the point. For this, all you need to know is that action plus funny equals good! Netflix this movie and enjoy a good laugh.

Happy Birthday to stillnotbored!!

My husband came back to America. . . naturally while I was in Wisconsin. . . he picked us up at the airport yesterday night. Our reunion was everything one would wish for, with the hugging and the weeping and the happiness.

I could not feel better right now. Everything is good now. My husband is back.

I'm on my way to Wisconsin with my spawn to celebrate this happy holiday. See you when I get back!

I walked over to the Shell to pick up my husband's car, which was there getting a new tire and a new rim. I drove out of there and headed over to get the car inspected for emissions, since it's time. No sooner do I get into the testing facility, the CHECK ENGINE light comes on and I fail the inspection! Apparently, my exhaust gas recirculation is insufficient.

So I drove straight back to the Shell and dropped the car back off and walked back home again. But I stopped off at my girlfriend's place and had an apple and some cheese & crackers and got a nice pep talk from her.

Happy Birthday, retrobabble!

Took myself out to lunch at our local Indian place -- I had Aloo Gobi, cauliflower & potato, and it was so unbelievably tasty. I mean it was intensely full of ginger and buttery goodness. So darn good.

I took a nice long walk today. It was beautifully sunny out. Today was the first day in probably six weeks that I didn't want to take a nap. I had plenty of time for it since I had no clients -- but I just wasn't really sleepy for a change. Very good sign.

I heard from the garage. The manly voice on the phone informed me that I had a bad ignition coil, and that this and the tail-light which needed replacing would, together, run me about $215.

PHEW!!

I can handle that. Hopefully I can pick it up later today or maybe tomorrow morning.

I went out today, heading for the bank, when all of a sudden, the car began to shudder and my engine light began flashing. Sweating cold sweat, I quickly turned the car around and headed straight for my service station, the lovely and talented White Oak Shell, where I dropped off my car (my minivan, a repeat offender in the service department, grrrr) and walked home from there.

I am sooooo grateful that the car didn't stall out on the road, creating a much bigger problem for me. I am soooooo gratefu, extra grateful, that all of this happened today when I could handle it, instead of tomorrow when it would be a huge crisis. And most of all, I'm grateful to know that I've got some money in the bank to pay for these repairs. (Thanks for all your hard work, baby!) Oh yeah -- and I am grateful that I have another car at home so all this drama is just an inconvenience.

As I was walking home, I noted crews with blowers in the neighborhood, so as soon as I got home, I quickly used my blower to blow all my leaves out to the common area where the crews will handle them! So now my hands are vibrating from using the blower.

I went to yoga class, did a little grocery shopping. Took a little rest in the afternoon. This evening we have Family Game Night. I got us a new game, Fluxx, which has generated good reviews from the audience.

Also the pest control guy came to put down baits for the mice which have begun leaving evidence around my kitchen as the weather has gotten a little cooler. Shoo, you little bastards!

It was pouring rain today, so I wasn't surprised my one client canceled. I got to spend the day relaxing, which was very nice, and also got to spend the evening at home with my kids -- which is very nice.

Those of you who are on FB -- hi honey -- I posted some new pix of the kids. Nothing super-amazing, just some random pictures of my spawn.

We had macaroni & cheese for dinner, and some nice hot biscuits. Jack is right about one thing: mac & cheese is better when the sauce isn't liquid-y. I haven't made biscuits in about 3 years I think. But they were just as tasty as ever. Mmmm, carbs.

I haven't been posting much because I just can't seem to find the energy. Nothing seems interesting to me enough to post about. But that's symptomatic in and of itself, so I figured I better bust through the ennui and post something, no matter how pedestrian.

And pedestrian it is. I took my son to the mall to get Age of Mythology: Titans Expansion today, and he also picked up Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party I. He spent the afternoon rhapsodizing alternately about both games. I do love to see him happy! My daughter went over to visit a friend for a while, then worked on her application to the middle school magnet that she's chosen. The application is a weighty business and is quite stressful for both of us. We are just hoping for the best, I suppose.

And we had some baked ziti for dinner -- made in advance for us by my dear husband -- and now everyone is relaxing. I have the day off from work tomorrow. I was supposed to do massage at the Marine Corps Marathon -- but all my friends who would have taken me with them dropped out, so I dropped out too. Maybe next year.

The sun is out! And it's warm! Very nice. I did two Thai massages today, which is a lot and left my back a little tired. Took some ibuprofen for that. I filled a couple prescriptions, made a deposit at the ATM and even put air in my tires -- which was desperately needed. Doing that made me feel so much better, made me feel all competent and in control of things.

And yesterday I arranged to take this evening off because my shoulder was tweaking yesterday. But I am so happy to report that today, my shoulder is feeling fine, but I still have the evening off! So I get all the relaxing with none of the shoulder-tweaking anxiety.

And my kids are doing their homework just as sweetly as any mother could ever wish. Today is a mighty nice day.

I am so SICK of all this RAIN!! I hate driving in the rain. I really hate driving at night in the rain. Stop it! Stop it right now!


Ugh.

I had occasion to visit Target today, getting pants for both my spawn. While there, I was very favorably impressed by the quality of the toilet paper in the restrooms. It was comfy!

In other news, meh. I made some shortbread for a friend who was supposed to visit, but he's blowing me off for some Heroclix-related game bullshit. Wow, it's almost like having my husband home: another man in my life who is off to play clix. Huh, I thought I wasn't mad that he cancelled on me, but now I see that in fact, I am a bit pissed.

But it's pizza for dinner tonight, and we'll play UNO and have a little fun. Family Game night is always nice. And then afterward we'll all snuggle up in bed and watch the second half of Biggest Loser. I don't know why my kids enjoy that show, but they do. Any excuse to snuggle, I suppose.

I readily admit that most of the criticisms leveled at Laurell K. Hamilton are true. But this quote from Seduced by Moonlight shows just why I love her.

Anyone who thought that slaying armies was easier than fixing your own internal emotional mess hadn't had enough therapy.

That's what I love about LKH. Underneath all the monsters and the sex and the sex with monsters, her books are about personal growth, relationships, love and the difficulty of truly knowing yourself or another person. You know -- girly stuff. The monster sex. . . that's just the fun, juicy window-dressing.

So write on, LKH! Don't listen to the haters!

I just got my gutters cleaned -- how naughty that sounds -- by a guy who was straight out of bad-tv-land. He had a huge, I mean immensely high, poofy mullet and a hilariously large belt buckle. The buckle was formed of interlocking letters and completely covered with rhinestones. It filled the whole area between the navel and the groin. I am not making this up. As a final grace note of wackiness, he kindly recommended that I buy a pair of Crocs to save as a valuable collectible, since the Crocs company is currently circling the drain. Where do these people come from?

P.S. Happy Birthday to daisan!

What a waste of a wonderful actor. Couldn't hardly even recognize him, playing some creepy prosecutor. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln? I love Lie to Me. It's a great, entertaining show.

Happy Birthday to stevenagy!!

Somehow found the energy to pick up the phone and purchase tickets for Thanksgiving! And then for good measure, ordered a couple books from Amazon that have inexplicably disappeared from my collection.