A different kind of hair ball

Our kitty, Cappuccino, loves to pounce and attack things.  Most of the time this is a milk jug ring, twisty, balls, paper clips, and strings.  He also loves it when a ball of animal hair floats out from under one of the couches; this slides easily on our wood floors.  Part of the fun for him is that all of these slide easily on wood floors; they also flip.

Now, our cat is unique!  He likes to attack my hair.  It started a couple of months ago with him biting on my pony tail; he was very careful to not get any skin.  After doing this a handful of times, he left my hair alone.  Then, over the past week, he has started again!  One day I was working on the laptop.  The cat was perched next to me on the back of the couch.  And, the next thing I know, he is licking my hair and I'm not kidding, my eyebrow.  Now, I know that I needed a shower and my hair didn't look great but COME ON!!!  Later, we started playing a game with my hair; you can figure out how it went by the pictures.

Step 1 (ooohhhh)

Step 2 (I want it)

Step 3 (I want it all)

Step 4 (you can't get away from me)

Step 5 (a "handful")

Step 6 (happy kitty)

But tonight I have a loving kitty; he gets very jealous when we work on the computer.

I hope that all of you got such a warm, wonderful hug today!

Andy decided to come home on Fridays

This is a follow up to my last post.

After looking at his schedule and thinking about how much he would be gone from home, Andy decided to go to UTA 2 days a week and do work for the lab from home on Fridays.  YEA!!  So, now he'll only be staying with Doug and Correy 2 nights a week.  Thank you Sharkeys for putting him up!!  This makes his life slightly better.  According to the current schedule, each week he works 45 hours and does school stuff (class, homework, research, etc.) for 37 hours; this is without his drive time.  He starts every day at 4:30am and tries to be in bed before 9pm.  I know-it's awful!  I'll be happy for him when things calm down at the UTA lab so that he doesn't have to spend so much time on research and is able to have some real down time. 

My husband's mistress's name is UTA

So, we knew that this semester was going to stink (you can substitute a stronger word) since Andy's plate is so full.  He is taking two courses for the first time.  We talked a lot about the feasibility of this.  Thankfully, one is homework based, and one is project based.  Andy also knows his professors.  Our thinking was that if he didn't work on research this semester that he would be able to take the two classes, work full-time, and occasionally have time for a life.  What a great plan that was!!

His thesis advisor is the head of the lab at UTA that Andy has worked with for experience and research.  Well, this gentleman told Andy that he needs to come in to the lab to work this semester.  As most of you know, I love to make plans and don't always handle it well when they are changed.  So, being a little frustrated, I made alterations to Andy's schedule so that he could do lab work on Mondays when he had to be in Arlington for class.  Again, I thought this was a great plan because he could kill two birds with one stone.  The thesis advisor then let Andy know that he needed to be in the lab more, preferably at least 3 days a week.  Looking at Andy's schedule, I could fit in 2 days of research at UTA with options for doing research at home occasionally on the weekend.  Today, Andy spoke with his thesis advisor who requested that Andy at least try to come 3 days a week.

So, I'm pretty annoyed (again, you can substitute a much stronger word) with Andy's new schedule.  I'm trying to be supportive with his pursuit of his degree, but I am not sure that he will be able to do well everything that he is attempting.  He gets up at 4:30 so that he can be at work by 6 am (even on the weekends).  He will go to Lockheed Monday through Saturday.  Because he now needs to be at the UTA lab 3 days a week, he will spend the night at the house of some friends who live close by the campus so that he doesn't have to spend so much time on the road.  Since he has to watch one of his classes online and do homework for his two classes, he is left with a handful of hours on Sunday (if he doesn't have too much homework) that we can spend together or he can take care of anything not related to school or work.

Thankfully, Andy is thinking that the need for him to be at the lab so much will only last through the end of February or the beginning of March.  Hopefully, this will end before midterm time so that he has plenty of time and energy to prepare.  

And so I sit here at home on my first night alone.  Yes, I am fuming, but I am also trying to keep in mind that taking 2 classes allows him to finish his Master's earlier and this is for the good of Andy's career.  Eventually, I'll calm down and this insanity will end...oh, from my fingertips to God's ears....

Neurology appointment today

I went to the Neurologist today.  She has diagnosed me with Dystonia and Fibromyalgia.  Of course I can't have one muscle problem, I do things right-two where I think one exacerbates the other!  On the upside, I get to adjust some of my medications.  We are going to try to take me off of two current medications and add Lyrica for Fibromyalgia.  We're going to see what all is helping and continue that!  I'll go for a follow-up appointment in 3 months.

YEA!  I found some of the books on my list when I went to Half Price Books.  I look forward to finishing another book within Middlemarch so that I can choose one of these hopefully fun books!

The cloth bags at Half Price Books are AWESOME!!!

Oh, and totally forgot to include this in an earlier blog after making a trip to Half Price Books.  We didn't have any of the cloth grocery bags that people are using now and really wanted some; we'd been making do with small bags that I had received at different teaching conferences.  When we walked in the doors, there on display were the Half Price Books version of the cloth bags; I loved them.  Yes, they are narrow and long, but they fit a ton at the grocery store...oh, and they are the perfect size for those really large rectangular packages of chicken legs, thighs, and wings (the ones that they put on sale for $1/lb); they sit in the bottom without having to be titled in any way.  So, of course I love the practicality, but that is not what made me fall in love initially.  They have slogans or sayings on them; we bought two different ones.  I now proudly state that I am a "Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac" and tell others to "Get a Spine".  I hope those statements bring you as much laughter as they have brought and continue to bring me (yes, I am laughing as I write this)!

More books as a reward for reading Middlemarch

Last night we visited Andy's uncle, Rob, who is in the hospital after having a mild heart attack; he is recovering just fine.  Yes, our family medical woes continue!  And appropriately, today, Friday, I once again head to the Neurologist, and next week, Andy & I both have doctor's appointments.

After my Neurology appointment, I'm headed to Half Price Books with a slightly less ambitious list of books I'd like to purchase with gift cards from Christmas.  While slowly battling my way through Middlemarch, I've decided to take some advice that Jessica Koebbe gave me.  She recommended reading simultaneously books that are lighter, easier, shorter, and basically anything that is different.  I'm going to use this with a rewards system.  Every time that I finish a book in Middlemarch (Yes!  Exactly!  Would you believe that it has 8 books within the book??) I will reward myself by reading a different book.  Currently, I'm almost finished with Book 2.  I do find the plot interesting and look forward to the "future", but I have to read for at least an hour to really be into the book.  In that hour, I tend to make little progress (very unlike my usual self) which leads to little inspiration and passion for hours of reading.  I'll try to limit any further complaints about this book.

Back to my original point (in case you've forgotten already like me, my Half Price Books trip with a new list).  My last list contained well renowned and classical works of literature; I felt like an intellectual snob with this large list of among others Plutarch, Aristotle, Plato, and Herodutus.  This list contains more contemporary works, most from the 90s and 2000s.  They have been bestsellers and/or I've heard great things about them from multiple people (btw, why don't we say persons anymore....).  Since they are more current, I've made a large list in hopes of finding a handfull of them.  I think that after exhausting those books I am able to find, I'll look at the library for some of the others.  If they are really good, maybe one day when they have been in print for many years, I'll be able to find them at Half Price Books or on Amazon.

Oprah's Best Life Series, Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan, and my thoughts on both

Although not a die hard Oprah fan, I do enjoy some of her guests and topics; I'm a sporadic watcher.  I was really excited when I saw that she was going to be doing a series about how to live your best life; I recognized 3 guests I have previously enjoyed, Dr. Oz, Suze Orman, and Dr. Laura Berman.  So, I watched Oprah every day last week and have signed up for her follow-up evening broadcast with these 3 this week.  

Naturally, I am interested in what Dr. Oz might say about medical conditions; I go back to the neurologist Friday and the Cardiologist next week for follow-ups.  Yes, I did send an email to Dr. Oz with my medical difficulties, but I do not expect any sort of response.  I did find Oprah's medical problem and diagnosis regarding her thyroid interesting.  I'll annoy my neurologist with more questions about the possibility of that being the case...actually, my neurologist is always open to discussing any possible diagnoses I bring to her.

I don't always enjoy Suze Orman's style of delivery, but I do think that she makes a lot of really important points.  Of course, I've always been interested in financial matters and obsess about our personal finances; my obsession has become more intense since we have begun living on Andy's salary alone!  Thankfully, we are not in the kind of debt that many others are, but having used up a lot of our emergency savings over the last year, we are on a mission to try to bolster them.  Since we both worked, we were used to needing only about 3 months in emergency funds; now, we are trying to get to 8 months and are a long way from our goal.  We've known for several months that 2009 would be a challenge financially because we expect to pay off some loans, find out about my disability claim, and discover how a rent house affects our taxes.

Andy will also be taking more classes this year which means larger tuition payments; thankfully, at the end of the semester, his work does reimburse us.  So, with all of these major financial events, we are always looking to cut expenses so that we are able to save a little more.

I became very excited when Oprah announced that Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan (her book with financial advice for 2009) was available for free download.  I would have downloaded it then, but I knew that the website would be inundated and moving very slowly; I waited until the next day to get it.  Its about 200 pages written in a Q & A style.  She has some incredibly important information and good ideas, but the book is also quite repetitive because she tries to fully answer every question.  It does lend itself to helping those who need answers fast.  Since I read it in order, there were many times that I was able to skim over answers in later chapters. (I can't complain too much since this was a break from reading Middlemarch.)

Dr. Laura Berman is the sex therapist who stars in Sexual Healing.  I won't give you details, but if you are interested in intimacy, sexuality, couples therapy, or other related topics, check out Oprah's website or look for one of Dr. Berman's books.

I hope that those of you who are also following along with Oprah's Best Life Series are gaining helpful information.  I don't know that I've had any life changing (Oprah calls them ah-ha) moments.  I do think that they are doing a great service to many women; we all need to be reminded to not only give to and love others but also ourselves!  All of you ladies are worthy of the time you give (or should give) to yourself.  It doesn't detract from your relationships; it strengthens them because you are strengthened by that time and able to share and inspire others with your soul and personality!  Maybe we should be asking each other is what have you done for yourself lately and what are you planning to do for yourself in the next week.  This would help us be accountable to each other; we all know that we get wrapped up in what we do for our loved ones, church, community, etc.

Cocky Current Civilization

We watched The History Channel's 2 disc series, Ancient Discoveries.  I know that we are two, cute little nerds, but this was awesome!!  They talked about Greeks and Romans who made significant advances such as water timers and clocks, water factories, indoor plumbing, machines, automatic solar system models and calendars, mobile theater staging, modern medical instruments, surgery, and many other advancements that were made by citizens of these empires.  Throughout the film, they kept saying things like "He was ahead of his time."  I got really annoyed by these phrases!  How could a man be ahead of his time scientifically when others before him laid the ground work for what this man does?  Not only that, we know of contemporaries and others before and after were also making great advances.  Also, so many of the great libraries were burned and many of the great works were lost; how do we know that those we think of as ahead of their times were right in step with others and the knowledge available?

It just makes me so angry that we believe we are the modern man and so much more advanced than previous generations!  How arrogant!  There were so many great civilizations that eventually fell and with that fall much of their knowledge and advancement was lost.  Because periods of greatness were typically followed by ones of darkness, we assume that we are more advanced than previous societies.  Another problem with our viewpoint is that we look at societies from a biased point of view-what we consider advanced (computerized systems) and ethical.

I'm not arguing that we are or aren't living in the most advanced age.  I'm simply saying that we are cocky to believe that this is obviously the most advanced society!  Try to leave some room in your minds that others might have discovered things that we are just re-discovering or have yet to discover again.  Watch some documentaries about the history and technology of ancient societies, not just the Greeks and Romans.  You might find that you need to leave a lot more room in your mind for future revelations of these societies.

Mortifying Milk Moments

On Friday, we had Doug & Correy over for dinner.  They had just flown in from New York, and called us to confirm when they were catching a taxi home to Arlington.  

Thankfully, Andy had cleaned the kitchen the day before.  We had cooked and run on so many occasions over the previous two weeks that there was a huge pile of dishes.  I had simply not felt up to standing for the time it would take to clean everything.  So, my wonderful husband spent what he claims was 6 or 7 hours washing, drying, and putting away every dish that we own; this was only a slight exaggeration.

So, I made a grocery list, Andy went to the grocery store, and I quickly picked up the living and dining room.  On the grocery list, I had specified which items were buy one get one free.  When Andy got home, he had only bought one of these without getting the one free.  He thought that he would get the one at half price; there is a reason for this thinking.  On a previous trip, he bought three of something when there was a 3/$5 sale; I made him return two of them explaining that he would get one for $1.66.  This information and discussion got mixed up with the buy one get one free sale.  After griping at him (I simply couldn't believe that my husband who is working on his Master's degree did this) and internally berating myself for having not specified to buy 2 of each, I finally shut up and was able to let it go.  Oh well, we had plenty of all necessary ingredients for that night's meal.  It turned out just fine once I chilled out.

We made a white bean dip, cheddar cheese balls, chicken, tortellini salad, bread, mashed potatoes, and an apple dessert.  Everyone else was drinking a glass of milk with dinner because they had already had some alcoholic drinks with the appetizers.  On Doug's second glass, someone said something about the milk having a strange taste.  After assuring them that the milk was fresh because we had just bought a new gallon the other day, we looked at the gallon which said best by Dec 25...oops!  Apparently, we had two jugs in the fridge while we were working at the ranch and didn't realize that one had gone bad while we were gone.  So, with some of our good friends who were exhausted from their travels, they drank expired milk and ate mashed potatoes that had the same expired milk mixed in them.  I was so embarrassed that we had served them bad milk; you would have thought we gave them food poisoning.  I hope that their tummies didn't give them any trouble the next day.  

I promise to check the expiration date on the milk for any future guests; it will probably become another one of my OCD things!

2009 New Year Letter-a look back at 2008

Every year we write a New Year letter to send to family and friends; it tells the stories from the past year.  We mailed the letters but are posting it as well for our technologically advanced family and friends, not to mention those for whom we don't have an updated address.

So that our two page letter doesn't take up a huge chunk of space on our blog, I am going to post the letter as a comment.  To view it, click on the title of the post (see above where it says 2009 New Year Letter-a look back at 2008).  Feel free to comment on the letter or year!