I was hoping this weekend would be relaxing, especially since this past week has been busier than usual. Yesterday wasn’t too hectic — Lyse treated Karel, Anxiety, and I to a wonderful dinner at Applebee’s, and then we hung out watching Mythbusters for a while before I took Karel home. Once Geoffrey was home from work, we stayed up watching Blood Ties on the OnDemand.

This morning, I slept in (although Zadya did her very best to imitate a snooze alarm, and largely succeeded), and when we (Geoffrey, Lyse, Anxiety, & I) eventually all rolled out of bed, we headed out to get all the necessary errands done. I needed to get a pair of black slacks for work, but Freddy’s did not have any slacks for a reasonable price (I am not spending $40 for a pair of pants!!!). But we were able to pick up coffee creamer — and the cookies that Lyse & Geoffrey wanted — and grab some Starbucks coffee, too. I wanted to get my hair trimmed, but the first place I tried said it would be over a 3-hour wait — what a load of crap!!! I didn’t want a full shampoo, cut & style — just a trim! So I went to GreatClips and they put me in the chair as soon as I walked in. Now it’s all one length, and it didn’t require an appointment or cost a fortune.

And now for something completely TMI…

Just had to share this, especially since I love kitties on the Internet. Especially mine. *huge grin*

That is all.

I got a bunch more done today — yay! Strangely, although I woke with a bit of a migraine, the more I did physically, the better I felt. 99% of the time, much in the way of physical effort will aggravate a migraine considerably. I suspect that all the coffee that I had was a big part of why I felt better…I don’t get caffeine-rebound headaches when I stop drinking coffee (like some do), but caffeine often alleviates minor migraines. And the one I had today was about a 3 on a scale of 1-10. (Thank heavens it wasn’t worse, as I’m out of Imitrex!)

Anxiety helped me a lot today — several times when I was about to wipe something down, she insisted on doing it instead. The crazy kid actually likes to clean! (I use Simple Green on just about everything — it’s a fabulous cleaner, totally biodegradable & non-toxic, although it does have a slightly-icky licorice smell. For non-wood floors, though, I like Lazer Clean — my mom gave some to me, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever tried on floors.)

Anxiety did most of tonight’s dinner, too. Everyone knows I hate cooking, but it’s a lot easier — and more fun! — when I’m showing her how to do stuff, or talking her through it. Tonight we had BBQ baked chicken, rice pilaf, and home-canned green beans (compliments of my mother, who gave me a dozen quart jars of beans after last harvest). We horse around & laugh a lot when we’re cooking together. Once dinner was on the way, we decorated eggs.

Wow, don’t I sound pedestrian? Then again, I really don’t care if I do, since spending time with my beloved Geoffrey, and my kids, and friends, is the best thing I can imagine doing.

It’s been a busy day! I got permission to use Jenn’s old aquarium & stand as Peyo’s new abode — and I was wrong about the tank size of the old one he was in! It was only a 10-gallon tank (Geoffrey has a 29-gallon tank in the garage, and for some reason I thought we were using that one, but we weren’t.) So I scrubbed out Jenn’s old aquarium, which is a 20-gallon, and that took more than a little bit of time and muscle power — a 20-gallon aquarium is damned heavy when it’s empty! Of course that also involved sifting through the lizard’s sand to clean out bits of yuck as I transferred the sand into the new cage, as well as transferring all the other stuff in the cage (heat rock, food & water dishes, basking rocks, tree branches for him to climb). And I got a few bookshelves dusted and rearranged (books have a way of not making it back onto the shelf in my house…grrr). And I got a job, which also included a side trip to the Social Security office since I have apparently lost my Social Security card & needed to get a replacement in the works. And I moved the broken lamp out of the front room, and in that spot I put the floor lamp that had been in the spare bedroom, largely unused. And I washed everything in my mini-Zen garden (feng shui candles & dozens of rocks in a big plate) that had gotten all dusty, got my huge end table in the front room de-cluttered & dusted, cleaned the catbox & the bunny cage, and took out 2 big bags of trash. And I did a couple of loads of laundry, although I have plenty of that yet to be done. But I never got around to the vacuuming, and the rest of the bookshelf dusting & arranging, which hopefully I can finish tomorrow.

Somehow I still don’t feel like I got enough accomplished. And worst of all — I don’t have any OTC analgesic to take for my sad little overworked muscles! (I think I will go rustle some up next door from the World’s Best Ex & the World’s Cutest Wife, if they have some.)

When I moved into my current home, there was a broken washing machine on the back patio. The landlord promised to get it hauled away, but it never happened, and I didn’t make it a priority, so it’s sat there ever since. When my old washing machine died a few months ago, and my attempts to repair it were woefully unsuccessful, it got hauled out to the back patio, too. Today, I decided to see if I could get rid of them without paying someone, and without doing the hauling myself — I put an ad on Craigslist that they were free to anyone who’d haul them away.

I got the first response in ten minutes. And eight more responses in the next hour! Less than two hours after putting the ad up, the first person who contacted me had taken them away. (I left the ad up until they were actually gone, in case the first person didn’t come to get them, but he was prompt and super-nice.) I’m so happy to have all that open space on my back patio! There are some things that Craigslist is seriously terrific for!

But I haven’t yet been able to find a cheap aquarium or terrarium for the bearded dragon lizard, who is really starting to need larger living quarters! He’s currently in a 29-gallon tank. So, if anyone knows of a larger terrarium or aquarium — which doesn’t need to be water-tight — for under $50, let me know! And meanwhile, I’ll keep an eye on Craigslist.

I’ve received a few invites to Twitter, from friends & acquaintances. If I understand the concept, you use Twitter to note what you’re doing so that your online pals can find out what you’re doing that very minute. Or an hour ago. Or whenever you last used Twitter.

I have not signed up for a login there, because I’m failing to see the point. If I actually joined, my Twitter activities record would look something like this:

11:00 am – Overslept, starting coffee brewing, having my wake-up ciggie
11:06 am – Coffee not brewing fast enough!!!
11:14 am – Drinking second cup of coffee
11:15 am – Attacked by starving cats (who were fed 8 hours ago)
11:17 am – Stupid cats ignoring freshly-filled food bowls, demanding petting & tummy rubs
11:25 am – Resisting urge to snark at idiot on Internet
11:32 am – Gave into urge & snarked, having another ciggie while watching squirrels eat
11:39 am – Refilled squirrel feeder
11:41 am – Cleaning out bunny & lizard cages, fed critters
11:55 am – Vacuuming due to dropping bunny bedding all over floor
12:01 pm – Waiting for spoiled cat to find comfy spot on my lap
12:04 pm – Booted cat off lap because he wouldn’t settle down
12:10 pm – Finished off coffee pot, brewing more
12:15 pm – Feeling growing contempt for idiots on Internet
12:20 pm – Finished reading everything on feed-reader, having another ciggie
12:30 pm – Changed over laundry, added another load to pile on sofa
12:31 pm – Considered folding laundry
12:32 pm – Remembered how much I hate folding laundry, ignoring it until later
12:33 pm – 4,000 books in my house & I can’t find anything I want to read!!!
12:35 pm – Reading one of Anxiety’s books
1:15 pm – Annoyed because I finished book, having another ciggie
1:22 pm – Cleaning cat boxes
1:32 pm – Taking out trash
1:35 pm – Bored bored bored, teh Intarwebs are teh lame!
1:38 pm – Playing Neopets
2:45 pm – Geoffrey woke up, I’m getting offline so he can play EverCrack
5:45 pm – Geoffrey went to work, I’m getting online to check feed-reader
5:59 pm – Finished reading everything on feed-reader again, having another ciggie
6:07 pm – Giggling over cat_macros LJ comm
6:12 pm – Kid wants to know what’s for dinner, must locate answer
6:20 pm – Dinner cooking, having another ciggie
6:34 pm – Dinner served, had to smack cat off kitchen counter
6:43 pm – Smacked other cat off kitchen counter, also threw a dishtowel & yelled loudly
6:49 pm – Idly wondering if there will be sex later tonight
6:51 pm – Idly wondering if there will be anything good on TV later tonight
7:01 pm – Finished reviewing all 300 cable channels for next 4 hours, discovering no good TV scheduled
7:02 pm – Having another ciggie, eavesdropping on stupid neighbors who keep chickens & talk a lot about composting, thanking the gods I’m not a hippie

Et cetera, ad nauseum.

I’m pretty sure nobody wants to read this stuff. Therefore, no Twitter for me.

So the Lyse Beast spent the weekend with us — yay! She took us to IHOP for breakfast, and even loaned me some change so I could get a newspaper, although she made me wait to get one until we left (she hates my habit of scanning the paper while at a restaurant). Later, when Anxiety was trying to chew her out for something, intending to use her full name (like parents throughout the history of time have done to their offspring when chewing them out), she asked Lyse what her middle name was. The characteristically-Lyse reply was, “Like I’m gonna fucking tell you!” Undaunted, Anxiety hollered to me, “What’s her full name?” I answered, “She already told you, it’s ‘Lyse Like-I’m-gonna-fucking-tell-you Starfire’!”

Tee hee. It’s fun being wicked.

A bit later on, we were watching a show that featured someone with a Southern accent. I never pass up the opportunity to tease Lyse that she was born in the South, and so I solemnly informed Anxiety that some Southerners actually deep-fry Twinkies. Lyse retorted (with her rarely-heard Southern accent coming to the fore), “I ain’t never deep-fried no fuckin’ Twinkies!” Snickering, I said, “‘Ain’t never,’ huh?” To which she replied, Southern accent still in place, “Fuck y’all.”

Priceless.

Once again, I’m madly in lurve with Internet Bumper Stickers. And here is the reason why:

For years I’ve been saying I’d rather hear the ugly truth than a pretty lie…that sticker says it with far more style. Dave & Co at Internet Bumper Stickers, you totally rock.

Oh yeah, I want number 5! (Yes, I did try to see if I could do it with just one hand. You wanna make something of it?)

7> Alt+T+5: Generate funny Top5 entries

6> F1, F2, F3: Causes USB ports to dispense beer, wine, and cola

5> Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Esc+F1+F12+Del+Ins+Spacebar: If done with only one hand, reboots the Universe

4> Alt+F+U: Displays graphic image of a flipped bird, uninstalls Windows and installs Linux

3> Alt+T: Converts your description of a problem to something the IT guy understands, and converts his reply into plain English

2> Alt+C: Turns your Clapper on and off, because actually clapping is just too much work

1> Ctrl+O: Gives your spouse an instant orgasm, causing them to roll over and go to sleep so you can keep playing video games

The reptiles and the bunny were the beneficiaries of my spring-cleaning burst today, getting squeaky-clean cages. (Their cages are cleaned once or twice a week anyway, but today I really got everything spotless!) Fido also got a nice warm sponge-bath to help peel the bits of skin still clinging stubbornly from her last shed. Since getting Peyo, I’ve become fascinated by the difference in snake & lizard sheds. Peyo doesn’t shed all at once like Fido does; his skin comes off one section at a time — for instance, his front legs will shed one day, and then his tail or his tummy the next! And he doesn’t get bad-tempered when he’s shedding, like snakes do — which is good, or he’d be cranky most of the time!

I also took the opportunity to get a really good pic of Peyo, and I even sized it so it’s life-size (based on matching my fingers to the picture…yes, I have big hands), so Angst can see how much her baby is growing! It amazes me how fast he’s grown; some mornings when I turn his heat lamp on, I swear he’s noticeably bigger than he was the previous day!

I also got a pic of Anxiety’s newly-dyed hair (though she refused to show her face):