Just a Quote

I found this today while looking for stuff on Ethel Barrett:

"We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do." - Ethel Barrett.

Ethel Barrett did some recordings of children's stories, most of which were Bible stories, and I can remember sitting in front of my grandparents' stereo listening to her tell these wonderful stories about baby Joash and Gregory the Grub. This is sort of what the stereo looked like:

Although it isn't the exact same stereo, it's close. You could lay on the floor right in front of it, and just listen to the records (we stacked as many as my grandma would let us up to the stereo's maximum).

That was fun.

Destination check, please?

What do you call checking email accounts more than 25 times in a day? I think I passed "obsession" miles ago, but I'm not sure where I ended up.

[The real quirk in this is that I'm not really sure what I'm checking for. It's not like I'm anxiously awaiting some message from someone on the Internet Superhighway (to continue the metaphor long beyond its usefulness)]. The weird part is, I'm getting so starved for email that I'm tempted to read those spam emails offering to make parts of the body I don't even have bigger just to see what all the fuss is about......

Anywho.

[WARNING - If you're easily grossed out, please don't read any further. Or at least, don't read any further while you are in places where other people might see/hear you].

Although Monday was a lovely day, Tuesday knocked me on my keister - literally. I was up all night turning my stomach inside out about once every hour (almost on the hour) from about midnight until about 6:00 a.m. I ended the last session sitting on the bathroom floor waiting to see if I needed to exert myself to move, or if it would be more efficient to try to die right there on the tile floor so as not to stain the carpet.

The thing is, this was just a flu - I hadn't done anything worth being punished like that! Really! Monday night being a school night, I did what I was supposed to do. I got home at a decent hour, after getting gas at $2.829/gallon (the cheapest price in the whole state, I later learned). I cooked, I ate dinner, I played with my dog and took him outside like a good mama should, and we went to bed by 11:20 p.m.

There was no evening wine and a movie with friends, no shots at Chili's after work, no booze of any kind - not even cough syrup. I'm not much of a drinker anyway, and I've never had a hangover, so I am not joking when I say I really didn't do anything that would lead me to expect all-night-hurling as the close to the evening's activities.

Further, I wasn't sniffling, I didn't have a tummyache, and I didn't feel unwell at all - until about midnight. It wasn't like I'd been unwell and then ate dinner on top of an upset stomach. This thing snuck up on me, beat the snot out of me and then sat there and chuckled while I ralphed all of the bile out of my liver.

About 18 hours later, it was over. Seriously. Weirdest thing ever. I felt well enough to totter down the stairs and drink some diet 7Up, which was probably not the best thing for me, but it was all I had that I figured would not make me instantly start heaving again. I slept, got up the next morning and went to work. Like nothing had happened.

Something is definitely wrong with the time-space continuum.......

Monday Re-Cap

It's Monday. In a spirit of trying to make things look better, I need to say the following:

1. We had a drop-dead gorgeous weekend this weekend. Temps in the 70s and 80s, sunshine, nice breeze - perfection!! My peony bushes grew 5 inches. :)

2. I'm painting my half-bath on the main floor and I still have white paint (Kilz) on my hand. Dummy me, I didn't realize that the leftover paint in the basement was not water-based, so I didn't get any paint thinner (being slightly afraid of it because of its flammable characteristics).

3. I totally ROCKED on the Madame Alexander dolls from McDonalds - their happy meal toys from the Wizard of Oz were snatched up very quickly by collectors, but I had bought them early and got 6 sets before they disappeared. Since my nieces are not the least bit interested in them (dumb kids!), I have been able to share them with my friends at work who are thrilled to pieces. I'm down to 4 sets and I have homes for all of them. :)

Those are the good things.

**UPDATE**

I started to disgorge the bad things I was thinking of when I felt compelled to post this, but I decided to wait until after I had something to eat, in case I felt better. Which I did. Which leads me to this reminder that I took away from one of the first jobs I had after I got out of law school (working on a series of cases in psychiatric malpractice. Long story. Won't go into it now):

Never let yourself get too:

H - ungry
A - ngry
L - onely
T - ired

(Like how the whole thing spells "HALT"?? I thought it was very clever!!)

Good advice.

Happiness is a warm puppy

Thunderstorms are best experienced from the safety of one's bed, snuggled with a warm puppy. It's more comforting if he snores.

Puppy snores are at once the cutest and strangest sounds I've ever heard. I suppose dogs snore in the same mechanical way that people do, but for some reason, people snores aren't cute. At least grown up people snores aren't.

My dog doesn't have "window-rattling" snores, either. Just soft kind of snuffly ones that make me want to rub his ears.

I decided to stay home this morning - partly because of the rain and partly because I did something to my upper back. I think I just slept on it wrong, but it hurt and with everything else that has been going on lately, I figured "the heck with it" and called in. That lasted about 4 hours before a couple of forgotten deadlines dragged me out of bed and into the shower.

My dog was a little puzzled. At first, the whole concept of mama staying home was wonderful (except that he had to go outside and it was raining). Then, when mama got up and had to go to work, he got a little ... sad.

If I ever won the lottery, I can tell you exactly what I would do with the rest of my life: stay home with my dog and spoil him rotten. Good thing I don't have children, huh? :)