There's a New Girl in Town!

Well not yet, but there will be a new, albeit temporary, resident of the Big Apple starting Tuesday.

I'm not the ambitious sort of career gal. I've done just fine sitting back waiting for the next good thing to happen. I've never had a clear goal in mind, just an idea that I'd like to be paid good money for doing fun stuff. And *poof*, just like that, it has always happened. Mind you, I've had months where I hated the people I worked with, hated the work environment, hated my life...but I never hated the job. How many people get paid to travel and meet exciting new people?

So once again it's happening. I was checking my Blackberry last night, and a frantic e-mail went out asking for a volunteer to coordinate a work effort. I'm a team player, so I said I would do anything if I was wanted. And I was! I was just sitting back waiting for good things to happen, and wouldn't ya know it, they did!

Busy, busy life right now. My kitchen remodel is (finally) going to start tomorrow morning. Knock on wood. The foreman did a walk-through today and dropped off a garbage trailer in preparation for the demolition. And I need to spend the next 4 days getting ready for my move to New York, especially in the fashion area. I am not Sex In The City ready by any means, so plan to spend the weekend at Macy's and Nordstroms. Wonder if they sell long underwear?

Tuesday I hop on a plane to LaGuardia airport, and get in a taxi to our lodgings - none other than the famous Waldorf=Astoria, inventor of the Waldorf Salad, Eggs Benedict, and the Rob Roy. I'll be living there until the night before Thanksgiving, when I'll fly back to Texas for a nice long weekend. Then I go back until December 18th before I go home for Christmas and New Years.

And just like magic, I'll have a new kitchen when I come home! Knock on wood.

How a Tree Ruined My Diet

If you remember my post from earlier in the year, there are very good reasons why you should eat your vegetables. because when you don't, they go bad in the fridge, and when you throw them all into the disposal at the same time, they have a tendency to clog up the sink.

So what does that have to do with ruining my diet, you may ask?

When the plumber unclogged my sink in January (in actuality, he unclogged the sewer pipe somewhere between my house and the street), he found tree roots. Uh oh.

So Monday, when my toilet clogged, I called the same plumbing company, who sent out a kid still wet behind the ears. He gave me an estimate of $800 to unclog said toilet. I laughed so hard at him he scurried himself to the curb and drove away without looking back.

I'm starting a kitchen remodel project, and there will be plumbing involved, so I called in a favor from my contractor. What's the name of the plumber? I called him, and, in my best southern voice, told him that his work on my remodel depended on whether or not he could give me a good deal on my toilet unclogging. You see, I can't afford $800 when I'm about to lay 20 grand down for the kitchen!

The plumber graciously came over on his lunch hour, removed the toilet, and found...wait for it...more tree roots. You see, my house was built in 1961, and back then sewer pipes were made of porous clay, and trees just can't help burrowing in search of good (albeit stinky) water supplies.

I paid the plumber $200.00 and felt very smug because I didn't have to pay $800.00. I felt very smug that is, until Tuesday, when the toilet clogged again. It cleared on its own, and I felt out of the woods. Until this morning, when it did it again. Not to get gross, and I know several men that are proud of clogging toilets with their prodigious dumps, but this was just a liquid affair, with minimal toilet paper involved.

So I called the plumber. Again. He couldn't make it out here until this evening, and since I'm working from home, I had to find other means of relieving myself. So I drove to the McDonalds just down the street. Nice, new bathrooms, with natural stone floors, and an interesting tile pattern on the walls. Very soothing.

But being who I was raised to be, I couldn't use the facilities without buying something. What would my mother say? So after admiring the Kohler faucets in the bathroom I headed to the counter and ordered a breakfast biscuit, complete with sausage, egg, and cheese.

Now you know how a tree ruined my diet.

Closet Case

I found a contractor I liked, and am going forth with a major kitchen remodel. Even though his team won't start the real work for two weeks, I've cleared out most of the cabinets and moved everything into the living room. Why so soon? Well, none of my appliances work, (except my microwave), so I can't cook much except for frozen meals or things made in a crockpot. And I figured it was a good time to go through everything and give unused items to charity anyway.

Once you get started, it's hard to stop. Today I went through my bedroom closet and filled 7 trash bags full of clothes, sheets, shoes, and purses. I hope The Paralyzed Vets like my sense of style, because it's all being donated to them. A couple of nice surprises while I was in there - I found my black iPod which I feared was lost a year ago, my old passport full of immigration stamps, and a silk billfold I bought somewhere in Asia a few years ago.

Tomorrow I think I'll tackle the bathroom. I think there might be a set of steam curlers way in the back somewhere that I KNOW the Paralyzed Vets will enjoy!

Enthusiastic Love

A tug on my hair in the middle of the night. I yell "go away!" and turn over to try to sleep again, even though I'm in the middle of a hot flash, and my chest is dripping sweat. I know that in a few minutes I'll be freezing cold and need the blankets again, so I won't sleep until then.

A few hours later, as I waver between the worlds of dreaming and wakefulness, I feel a tap on my cheek. I ignore it, hoping it will go away. Another tap, this time more insistent on my eyebrow.

"Maybe if I turn over he'll go away", I think. So I do, and slowly slip back into that sweet unconscious state known as sleep. Until I feel a wet cold nose on my chin, and know that a tongue is about to come out. I pull a sheet up over my face, but that's tugged away.

Before I even open my eyes I start to giggle. At the sound of that, I'm pounced upon. My hair is pulled, my chin is licked by a very scratchy tongue, and I have at least 10 pounds of extra weight on my body. When I finally open my eyes I see 4 of my cats all staring at me, all competing for my attention, and all so very very happy that I'm awake!

October

October has always been trying for me. It's my first month back in Texas after spending my summers with my family in Minnesota, so it's a little lonely, even though I have lots of friends here. My weekends no longer revolve around recipes that I can try out because I'm now cooking for one.

It's also the month of Doctor's appointments. My job has a wellness program, which goes from January 1 to October 31. I guess they think we don't do any preventive maintenance in November or December! My annual "well woman" exam is scheduled on the 24th. For you male readers, it's my opportunity to get a PAP smear, breast exam, and blood work done.

I went to see the Dentist this week for my semi-annual cleaning. That part went well. Then the doctor came in and discovered two more cavities. Sigh. She asked if I had any more concerns, and I made an off-hand remark about my crowned tooth on the lower left side never feeling right. Last summer I had horrible pain there, and saw three dentists, who all did x-rays and found nothing wrong. The final diagnosis was TMJ. I did my research, and employed massage techniques, which have made a big difference in the pain. The crown itself has been ground down several times, and it still feels too tall. That's all I told her. Really.

So she ordered x-rays...again. I don't do well with x-rays because I have an extraordinarily small mouth. Those that know me well would beg to differ, but there you go. The x-ray went fine; better than normal. The technician came in with good news and bad news. The x-ray turned out, but she x-rayed the wrong tooth. So round two with the x-rays. By this time I was itching to get out of the office - a 30 minute tooth cleaning had already turned into an hour and a half.

The technician came back with "that look" on her face. Now what, I thought.

"This time the x-ray was correct, and I'm sorry to say that you have an abscess and need a root canal."

I really empathize with people that avoid dentists for years. They're not really afraid of the pain, but they are afraid of the money it's going to cost them.

So tomorrow I'll make an appointment for a root canal. I've had two before, so I know that they're no big deal, especially with the endontist I use. And guess what...drum roll...I'm actually happy about it. This tooth has caused me nothing but problems since it was crowned. I knew something was wrong with it over a year ago. Maybe this will finally be an end to it.

So why not celebrate and spend even more money? My dishwasher hasn't worked well for more than a year, and I discovered that my oven was broke after I tried to heat up a frozen meal at 400 degrees and it was still frozen after 35 minutes. When I cook on the stove, I can't touch the metal edging or the burner covers because I'll get a nasty shock. I ordered all new appliances from Sears, then started really thinking about it. My kitchen is not functional. It doesn't have useable storage, hardly any countertop space, and appliances that don't work. So I went online to Lowes.com and used their kitchen design tool to design the kitchen of my dreams. Two contractors I've talked to say that they think it can be done for $20,000. A lot of money, but $20,000 will sure buy me a lot of happiness.

So I took out a loan, and I'm meeting with another contractor Friday. After I finally pay off the kitchen renovation, there are two bathrooms that need doing. The tiles are falling off of the vanity in one, and the other is all peach. Need I say more?

So October is stressful, and expensive. But in the end, is it worth it? Absolutely.

Summer's End

It's my last week in my Summer Palace for the year, and summer seemed to finally arrive the last couple of weekends.

The squirrels are back (where do they go?), and Blue Jays have started to disrupt the peace around here. They must be coming through on their migration down south. The chipmunks are madly gathering food for the winter, and soon will disappear underground to have their 2nd litter of the year. Today, a whole flock of wild turkeys marched through my backyard on their way to wherever they were headed.

Two weekends ago, many of the lake people had pulled out their docks for the season, and only a few fishermen were enjoying the gorgeous weather. We went to the "sandbar", which during the summer is covered with beached boats, kids, and dogs. This day it was empty except for its native residents - the gulls.

Changing Reality

We all have notions about what is real. And our perceptions of reality and potential outcomes to our actions make us behave in a certain way. Especially if we fear the outcome.

I used to live my life in fear when I was younger. I feared social situations because I was overweight and thought someone would make fun of me. I feared getting my oil changed because I thought that the mechanic would tell me that my oil was really dirty and I was a horrible car owner.

Seriously.

Instead of overcoming the fear, I changed my perception of reality. I wasn't a bad person just because I didn't my oil changed regularly. People liked me when I was fat the same as they did when I lost weight.

I took my niece to Chicago for her cousin's wedding over Labor Day weekend. It was her first plane ride, first trip to Chicago, and a lot of other "firsts". At the wedding dance, her girl cousins and I tried to get her to come on the dance floor with us. We had already worked up a sweat bopping the night away, most of the time without a dance partner. My niece said no, she didn't want to dance. As her cousins became more insistent, I saw that familiar fear in her eyes. I felt it before. I knew what was going through her mind.

"People will see me. I can't dance. I'll look stupid. Oh my God how am I going to get out of this?"

I took her hands and led her onto the floor, promising her that nobody was watching. After a few minutes, the fear in her eyes was replaced by wonder. Nobody WAS watching! Then the wonder was joined with pure joy. Letting go and dancing is an expression of great joy when nobody is watching. My niece changed her reality, which dissipated the fear.

Dance like no one is watching.
Love like you'll never be hurt.
Sing like no one is listening.
Live like it's heaven on earth.
-William Purkey