Okay, this is just too cool

You have to check this link out. It's a live streaming video of a bald eagle's nest. There is a bald eagle chick in it. It is way, way cool. (FYI, the link is the title of this post, so just click it.)

Housekeeping

My husband is a perfectionist.  Poor guy.  He’s married to me – the anti-perfectionist.  Well, I suppose that’s not entirely accurate.  I am very much a perfectionist about some things, but one of those things is not housework.  

My house is clean, but not spotless.  I don’t have an eat-off-the-floor clean house.  Dirty laundry is in the hamper, dishes are in the dishwasher waiting for the cycle to be run, stuff like that.  Once a week I do laundry.  Three or four times a week the dishwasher is run (with only two of us, it takes a few days to fill up).  The problem is the clean stuff.  Clean laundry often sits on the sofa, separated into piles (his work clothes, his t-shirts, towels, my stuff, etc.) waiting to be folded and put away, sometimes for the entire workweek.  The pile naturally gets smaller each day as clean clothing is retrieved to be worn, but finding the time to actually fold everything and put it away is a trick I’ve yet to master.  Same goes for the clean dishes in the dishwasher, although I usually do end up emptying it within two days of the dishes being washed, mostly so I have somewhere to put dirty dishes.  

And then there is the stuff waiting to be read.  On the end table next to my “spot” on the sofa is a small pile of magazines and books, all in various stages of being read.  Right now I have four magazines, two books, and one newspaper sitting here.  I will get to them eventually.  Or not.  Sometimes, the magazines get tossed without being read thoroughly.  The books may end up back in the bookcase, bookmarks firmly in place, to be finished at a later date.  The newspapers get perused quickly, then go to the trash usually each week.  

My husband hates this pile.  He hates the mound on my dresser worse.  It is comprised of stuff to be filed – bills, bank statements, owner’s manuals or recently acquired items, and who knows what else – all stuff I have deemed necessary that must be filed in the 4-drawer filing cabinet next to my dresser. About once every three months I attack the pile.  It drives me crazy, but I just don’t look at it.  

Clutter is my biggest enemy.  And my poor husband has to put up with it – or clean it himself – which he does every now and then.  Last Sunday was one of those “now and thens”.  In anticipation of my brother’s arrival, we cleaned house.  The place is almost spotless.  The clutter on the kitchen counter is gone.  The laundry is put away.  The dishwasher is empty.  The pile is still on my dresser, though.  

The biggest thing I did, though, was clean the fish tank.  It was pretty sad.  Algae covered the sides.  I was down to three fish – a killer opaline gourami who single-handedly killed 30 other fish that used to live with him in the tank, a cory catfish that somehow escaped the gourami, and a golden plecostomus that started off about 2” long, but grew to over 8” long in about 4 months.  (It is huge, ugly, prehistoric, and does a pretty terrible job of keeping the tank clean – the only real reason to have a plecostomus – but I’ve had it for two years, so I can’t bring myself to part with it.)  

Sunday I attacked the tank.  I vacuumed it, removing over half the water.  I took the plants out (fake ones) and washed the algae off them.  I completely cleaned the filter, the hood, scraped the algae off the glass, and filled it with clean water.  The tank had always suffered from way too few plants.  My husband liked a Spartan look.  Unfortunately, fish don’t.  I was finally able to convince him of this, reminding him of the beautiful tanks we had seen in the doctor’s office a few months ago and how full of plants they were.  I told him fish need to be able to hide and we didn’t have enough plants for them to do that.  We do now.  It’s really beautiful.  I then bought more fish – two dwarf gouramis, 6 tiger barbs, 6 neons, and 2 zebra danios.  The Killer Gourami is going away.  The fish store has agreed to take him in trade for more fish.  When I put the new fish in the tank, KG immediately went after them, reaching out his little feelers/antennas to touch and antagonize them, especially the new gouramis.  Sadly, today three tiger barbs were dead, but they were Wal-Mart fish. I don’t usually buy fish from Wal-Mart – there are usually more dead fish in their tanks than live ones – but I wanted 6 tiger barbs and the fish store only had two in stock, so I took a chance.  3 of 4 have died.  Oh well.  I’ll get a refund and check to see if the fish store has had a new shipment come in yet.  The other fish are doing great, despite constant harassment from KG.  He has got to go.

So, my house looks awesomely clean.  My fish tank is in the best shape yet. I have the day off, though the projects in which I am embroiled are nagging at me, and I have been working from home since 6 AM.  My brother will be here in a couple of hours.  They’re showing dolphins playing in the water just 100 yards offshore in Hermosa Beach, CA on Fox 11 Good Day LA.  Dolphins!  In Southern California!  How cool!  How come I never saw dolphins in all my years growing up at the beach?  Global warming.  Must be the reason.  The dolphins think they’re in Hawaii, or Miami.  It’s not warming here.  It’s supposed to maybe snow mixed with rain today.  No dolphins in Lake Pend Oreille.  Rats.

Brotherly love

I adore my brother.  Growing up – not so much.  He is the lone boy in a family of four children.  He falls #3 in the lineup (I am the much revered #1, of course).  He was the most annoying, aggravating brother in the world.  The three of us girls had, at varying times, signs on our bedroom doors that said “KEEP OUT – Michael, this means you!”  He had a talent for breaking things, especially my things.  If he managed to worm his way into my room, he invariably picked up something that was sitting on my dresser and started “messing with it”.  The moment I saw him pick up my stuff, I started yelling at him to put it down.  It usually went something like this:

“Michael, put that down. You’re going to break it.”
“I am not.  I’m just looking at it!”
“You look with your eyes, not your hands.”
“I’m not going to hurt it.  I just want to see it.”
“Put it down NOW or I’m going to tell Mom.”
“Go ahead and tell.  I haven’t done anything.”
“MICHAEL!  Put it down!!!”  

At that point, I generally grabbed for the item, trying to rescue it from certain breakage.  I’m sure you can envision the altercation – me grabbing, him pulling it out of my reach, me grabbing more, usually trying to subdue him and rescue my item from his grasp while yelling at him… finally culminating in him throwing the item at me with a “Fine! Here!  I was just looking at it.”  This scenario was repeated several times a week, often several times a day.  Now you understand the reason for the door signs.  Needless to say, I avoided my brother as much as possible during my teen years.

But a strange thing happened once we all grew up, which none of us girls can explain.  Our brother somehow became cool and fun and all three of us adore him.  We can’t seem to get enough of him.  He and I became very close, talking on the phone several times a week.  He lived in Spokane for about 5 years, so we saw each other a lot.  He actually became kind of wise!  I found myself going to him for advice on more than one occasion.  I am still not sure how that happened.  Maybe credit should go to his wife.  She is amazing, and how she puts up with his antics on a daily basis is beyond me.  She deserves a medal – or a special place in Heaven.  You see, Michael, despite his intelligence, wisdom, and age (he’ll be 50 next year), is still very much that annoying, aggravating kid a lot of the time.  He is zany, spontaneous, witty (a talent I sorely lack but that he has in spades), and unabashedly outspoken.  Did I mention, I adore him?
He has three great kids; the two boys miniature Michaels.  At ages 13 and 9, they already share his sense of humor and wit.  I hate them.  Talking to them on the phone is an adventure in hilarity.  His daughter is a typical teen, totally into fashion, friends, and fun.  So…why all this about Michael?  He is coming to visit!!!!  I haven’t seen them for almost four years, so I am really excited.  They will be here tomorrow, so I will be taking the day off to spend it with them.  They are on a whirlwind tour, visiting friends in Spokane, as well as me and my family, during their kids’ Spring Break from school.  Did I mention I am really excited? I’ve spent two days cleaning my house in preparation for their visit.  I adore my brother!  Now, if only my sisters could be here too…..

Oh… big  news… Edy is cancer free!!!  Check out her blog (link to the left – Hodgepodge).  God is so awesome!!!

Today is a great day.

The perfect morning

As I've mentioned before, I am not exactly a morning person. I've been forced to become one because of my husband's work schedule, dragging myself from slumber at 4:30 a.m. weekdays. Though I'm up, I don't like to interact with anyone for at least half an hour, maybe an hour. I just need time to wake up. There is one exception. I love it when Jonathan is home and he gets up when I do. He is the only person I don't mind talking to in the mornings. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's because he's pretty chatty in the mornings when he gets up, though his chattiness is generally directed at cajoling me into making breakfast for him. This morning it was cheesy hash browns. He absolutely loves hash browns. I think if he could figure out how to arrange it, he'd have hash browns every day of his life. He had talked me into buying these Ore-Ida frozen cheesy hash browns for him when we were at the grocery store last weekend. He didn't know how to make them, so actually set his alarm to get up with me so I could make them for him. I pointed out the location of the directions on the package to him and he set about making them himself, with some oversight by me. They looked pretty tasty.

During the course of making his hash browns, while I made his dad's lunch, we chatted about all sorts of things. Now, we are sitting on the sofa watching American Chopper and drinking chai tea. I can't really imagine a more perfect morning. It's a great way to start a day which will include a second, undoubtedly more squishing, mammogram and an ultrasound. There is not much better than just sitting with your kid, hanging out, chatting about random stuff - exept maybe doing that in, say, the UK, as we will be doing in less than 8 weeks!!!!

Oh, and the thyroid seems to be having a postive impact. I've lost 6 pounds in two weeks without changing my diet. This week I have set out on a better eating plan, so I'm excited to see what the effect will be now that it is coupled with the thyroid. Maybe I'll finally have some success at weight loss!

This is a great morning!

See-saw emotions

This has been a week of ups and downs.  I got permission to hire a young man who was one of my son’s friends in high school, though a year ahead of him in school.  He just returned from his Mormon mission.  The timing couldn’t have been better.  I needed help getting those 34 new computers installed, and this young man is one of three really bright computer geeks my son hung out with throughout high school.  Before leaving on his mission, he had worked for the school district rolling out computers and setting up classrooms.  My boss agreed to hire him on a contract basis for 40 hours.  We’re over halfway through the project and he’s only put in 23 hours so far.  

My mammogram apparently showed some areas that needed “further evaluation” so I am going back on Tuesday for more views and an ultrasound.  Yippee.

My son got two crushing blows on Friday.  He had applied for two things – a study abroad opportunity for next January and to be a resident assistant in one of the dorms.  He didn’t get either.  He was eliminated right away from the study abroad trip when the professor decided to make his first cut by eliminating those with a GPA lower than 3.5.  Though my son will get a 3.5 this semester, a disastrous first semester last year has dragged his cumulative GPA down.  The RA application was more hopeful.  He did really well in the first two phases of the application process, and his resident director told him that he had a really great interview, but he was still not selected.  She told him that he needs another year – for what?  To improve his GPA?  To just “mature” a bit more?  He will try to get some pointers from the interviewer as to where he fell short so he can work on that for next year.  He really was crushed, and it broke my heart to see how hard he took both negative outcomes.  I hope he uses these disappointments as motivation to do better and work harder, and doesn’t just give up.  His disappointment really makes me hurt for him.  Amazing how much seeing our kids in pain hurts.

My grandson turned 5 last week.  His party was today.  He got a nifty new bike, about which he was ecstatic.

The sun is out and it’s supposed to be fairly nice all week.

My son is home for Spring Break.

Duke University is in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

I got a really great new waterproof, breathable windbreaker for my trip to Scotland and England for my birthday.

Ups and downs, but mostly ups.

So much to say, so little time

Well, I have so much to post about, but I have NO time to do any posting. So, please everyone, forgive me. I will try to catch up as I can, but for the next few days, I may be more absent than present. Sorry in advance.

I did go to they gym, by the way

So, you know, back when I wasn't posting and wasn't on my computer, and you weren't reading a post that wasn't there? Well, I actually did get dressed and go to the gym. I only managed a pathetic imitation of a workout, but I suppose even that is better than nothing. Unfortunately, aside from a hellacious leg workout on Sunday, which left me so sore I could barely walk, I haven't been to the gym since. I had good reasons.

I had a birthday Wednesday. Last Saturday was my daughter-in-law's birthday. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant that has been highly recommended. I was disappointed. I anticipated Greek food. The only thing that resembled Greek food was the feta cheese in almost every dish, making them unpalatable to my husband, and the fact that many dishes contained lamb. The food resembled someone's idea of what Greek food might be with an Italian influence - sort of. The food was okay - nothing to write home about. I doubt we will ever eat there again. My husband sat on the edge of his chair the entire time, appearing to be searching for an escape hatch through which he could flee. The odd smells of feta, lamb, and garlic were almost more than he could take. At the meal's end we did have some baklava - again, their interpretation of baklava. The "real" think is multiple layers of phyllo and a nut and honey mixture, and is cut in small pieces - maybe 1 inch by 2 inches. This was a large square about 3 inches square that had one layer of a pistachio/honey filling between two layers of phyllo. My husband did like that, and said, after hesitantly tasting it at my prodding, "okay, I do like Greek food". I think he would like REAL Greek food. Sadly, we had none of that Saturday.

Yesterday, my daughter made me breakfast - a nice frittata. Then, at work, a coworker blessed me with an amazing chocolate espresso caramel cheesecake. I had two pieces and didn't share with anyone at work. My husband hates cheesecake, so I rarely get any. This was amazing - and it's all mine. Then, my husband and I went to a local restaurant that gives you a free meal, including pie and a beverage, on your birthday. My daughter and grandkids met us there. I had a great Reuben sandwich and got peach pie to go. My husband ate it later that night. I was too busy downing another piece of cheesecake to care. I got some nice gifts from coworkers, including a bouquet of tulips and one of asiatic lilies - a bit of spring right on my desk! Then it snowed. It always snows on March 8. It snowed more than it has snowed all winter. School closed for the snow today for the first time in two years. The power went off twice last night, waking me up both times. I got about 4 hours of sleep. Today, the day after my 51st birthday, I had my first mammogram in 16 years. That was fun. Now I am on my way home to watch American Idol, The OC, and House. I may take a sick day tomorrow - especially if I eat more cheesecake tonight.

The results are in

So I got blood tests back. My LDL is higher than it should be, but my HDL is really high too, so that sort of negates the high LDL. The total is 228, which is high-ish, but with the high HDL, no one is really worried about that part. My thyroid is on the low end of normal so.... the doc prescribed levothyroxine for me. It will be interesting to see how it makes me feel. A friend in the gym said she's been taking it for years. She said she was always tired and had gained weight (sounds all too familiar) and when she started taking the thyroid, she had much more energy and the weight just melted off of her. She was never fat - just about 20 pounds overweight, like me. So, I'm excited to see if I have more energy and if I find it easier to lose weight. I have to go back in for a blood test in 8 weeks and the dosage will be adjusted at that time if needed. I'm going to pull out my last blood test from three years ago and compare all the other technical stuff to see if my blood profile has changed at all, but overall, it looks good - very healthy. Yay!

I'm not really here, and you're not really reading this

Look, I'm supposed to be on my way to the gym. I promised my best friend I would be there this morning. So, I'm not really here blogging, okay? If anyone asks, you did not read this post. It's 6:45 a.m. I'm really at the gym on the treadmill or stairmaster. I am not on my laptop reading blogs, commenting, and posting. Seriously.

Physicals, Photobucket, and Psychology

First of all, you may have noticed the latest addition to my blog - the photo montages in the left sidebar. I finally created a photobucket account to which I can upload my photos. It allows me to create these photo stamps and insert them into my blog. Pretty cool. The photos I have uploaded at present are just a few from a trip we took last spring to Seattle and Victoria, BC. I have some amazing photos of Butchart Gardens that I will be uploading in the next few days. What an amazing place that is. You'll have to be sure to look at the pictures once I get them online. Not that my photographic skills are anything to brag about, but honestly, it's almost impossible to take a bad photo at Butchart Gardens. If the shot is in focus, you will have a stunning photo. It is just that amazing there.

Secondly, I had a physical Monday morning. The head-to-toe, blood drawing, peeing-in-a-cup, EKG taking kind. I haven't had one like that in ages. When I took my son in to have an ingrown toenail cut out, the doctor looked at me and said "are you okay? You don't look well." Gee, thanks doc. This is a guy I've known for over 10 years, but he hasn't seen me in at least two years, so I think the weight gain and the bad hair day I was having (see below) surprised him. Last time he saw me, I was working out regularly, I was about 30 pounds lighter, and probably having a good hair day. Anyway, his comment pushed me to say "okay, I'll come in for a physical". They had an opening Monday, so I went in!

The results of the physical are that, overall, I'm a very healthy person. I am waiting to hear the results of the blood tests, which I should get this morning. The doctor actually called me Tuesday with the results, but I was in a meeting, and when I could call him back, he was gone for the day. So, today I will find out if my thyroid is a bit on the underactive side, which I suspect. I know my cholesterol levels will be higher than optimal. That's a family thing. We make a lot of cholesterol, so mine is always around 200, but my rations of HDL to LDL are always good, so docs haven't been concerned in the past. Three years ago, though, my cholesterol was 228 and my ratios weren't so perfect. Since I've gained weight since then, I am expecting them to be even less wonderful. I did recently read, though, that high cholesterol is often a sign of an improperly functioning thyroid, so if the doc fixes my thyroid levels, my cholesterol levels should improve as well. My little sister was put in thyroid a few months ago and said it made a big difference in how she feels. She's 5 years younger than I am, and we are very similar in body type, except I'm about 4 inches taller than she is. Neither of us has ever had a weight problem to speak of - sure, we've battled 10 or 15 pounds off and on as we've gotten older, but nothing major - so when we both started having trouble losing weight, and when I found myself gaining much too easily, it made sense that the thyroid might be a factor. I'm interested in hearing what the doc has to say.

Thirdly, I am in one of those "I hate my hair but don't know what to do with it" modes. It is amazing to me how a bad hair day can affect your entire mood. Last week we went to get our passports. That entailed having a picture taken. I was having the worst hair day ever. My photos looked sooooo terrible, mostly because my hair looked so bad. Okay, partly because I looked so bad too, but a lot because of my hair. Usually, I can blow my hair dry, not curl it or anything, and it looks pretty good. I'm lucky. I have great hair. I have hair women would kill to have. And usually I can "blow and go". The last haircut I got ruined that. Now, if I just blow it dry and don't do some curling, it looks awful. It is fly-away, frizzy in parts, and flat in other parts. It just looks hideous. I don't like having to curl it every day. I just don't have that kind of time, nor do I like spending that kind of time on my appearance on a daily basis. It's one thing to spend a lot of time making yourself beautiful for a special occasion, but daily? Not me. My routine, from showering to makeup to hair to dressing, generally takes 30 minutes. This new "do" adds about 15 more minutes, and it's making me aggravated. So, I decided to go back to my regular hairdresser and have her cut my hair back into the shorter style I had it in up until about a year ago. It's easy, attractive, stylish...everything a hairstyle should be. Then yesterday, I had a really good hair day. My hair, which is about shoulder length now, looked great. All of a sudden, my plan to cut it was in doubt. I can't decide now whether to go back to the shorter, easy, perky look, or stick with the longer, growing it out, needs to be curled at least a little but looks HOT when it is, look. Such a dilemma. I'm so glad I have such trivial things to worry about. Really, I can't help but ask myself "gina, what does it matter in the grand scheme of things?!" "Not a whit", is the answer, of course. And yet, hair, as Edy has discussed in her blog about her fight against cancer, has such a big psychological impact on us. Yesterday I caught the tail end of the Today show. They had all these people on the show who were cutting their hair for Locks of Love. One woman had not cut her hair in 42 years. She looked amazing after it was cut off and she got her new hairdo...much better than she did with 5 feet of hair...but she was almost hysterical when they did the cut. Hair... it plays such a part in our lives. Ask any bald guy. Ask anyone who has lost it due to chemo, or alopecia. Ask a child who has lost their hair for some health-related reason and who is mercilessly teased. That's what Locks of Love is all about. So, as stupid as it sounds to worry about a bad hair day or whether or not to get a new haircut, it does have an emotional and psychological impact on us. Hair... long beautiful hair, shining, gleaming, steaming, waxen, flaxen... heck, a whole musical was made about hair!

I am so clever...in my head

I write such awesome, witty posts every single day - in my head. I "write" these posts while I'm on my way to work, or while I'm in the grocery store, sometimes even while I'm drifting off to sleep. I amaze even myself with how well written they are. I can't wait to get to a computer so I can type them out, verbatim, and post them. And then I get to a computer....and can't, for the life of me, remember a single word. I try to recreate these literary gems, and all that appears on my monitor is a bunch of inane babbling, barely worth typing, let alone prevailing upon anyone else to read. It is so sad. You are all missing out on such great writing, such humor, such wit. I'm so sorry. You'll just have to make do with what I can whip up from the fragments of literary genius I can recall during the few moments I actually have time to post. So sad.