Nightmares

The night before last I had a nightmare about being trapped on a flooding island.  That may very well have spurred from a book I'm reading, or show I've watched.  But why the dramatics?

Last night I had a nightmare that I can't even really remember, but I woke up twice, once with sweat pouring off my face and down my neck and the next time I just recall sitting up in bed to shake myself awake long enough to lay back down and stare at the clock for about 10 minutes.  What was I dreaming?!?

It's funny to me, that now that I am getting some sleep on a regular basis, that I can not really get sleep.  It's as if my body has decided to retaliate to the goodness sleep brings.  As if my body says, "I'm too good for all that none sense, I don't need it like the rest of the weaklings".  I want to say, "no-no, you DO NEED it, see those dark circles under my eyes, the headaches, that's what happens". 

In any case, I'm exhausted.  The exhaustion brings on a whole slew of other symptoms.  While I've always had haunting dreams, anxiety dreams, odd recurring dreams, I've managed to go on in life adapting to the little sleep I get from them or simply the unconscious understanding that they are dreams and can hurt nothing other than my fragile mentality which can be overcome in the right circumstances.  But nightmares where I feel trapped or endangered and only wake up at just the right moment...those are just painful sometimes and then I can not go back to sleep.

Do you often have nightmares, anxiety dreams, haunting dreams, recurring dreams?  What are they of?  Does talking about them help anyone?  Does anyone have a theory on what they may mean?

Bella in a Pillowcase

I don't know about most bulldogs, but Bella, my beastly bully likes to burrow. Mud is fun, blankets work too! Well last night she opted for the pile of pillows I was using on the bed. [I didn't get to stay there long, Dani was fussy and so I ended up on the floor next to her swing for the rest of the night where I was up every hour to an hour and a half. You would have thought a dog might join me, but I see where the loyalty lies now...the comfy bed]. As we're all very tired these days, I understand how these things happen, but it's amusing none the less and note worthy...Bella burrowed her head into the pillows, but somehow managed to burrow her head right into the pillow case. Yep, my bully had a pillow stuck on her head. I laughed hysterically, partially because it was so funny, but mostly because of sleep deprivation!

It's okay Bella, mom loves you like crazy still and am glad you can make me laugh so hard!

Speaking of lack of sleep and my baby girl Bella, she managed to work her way into Becky's attention when she came to help me out today. With complete lack of sleep and a bad case of depression Chris needed to call in reinforcements for me when I took a video of Dani crying and then talked to him on the phone crying. Reinforcements came in the amazing package of Becky carrying in Subway for lunch with surprise cookies and an Icee! I love Icee's. Anyway, she basically had to babysit for me while I turned to mush on the couch hoarding my food. While sitting in the recliner with Dani, Bella decided to climb up and make herself known! So, be warned fair friends, for those of you that visit, you basically have to babysit me, Dani, and the bulldog. Riley is pretty content sitting back and laughing at us though!

I Voted

Today was productive. I got an ample amount of work done in the office, I had a smooth doctor's visit, and I got to eat Mexican at the newly reopened Carrisillos Mexican!

To top it all off, I voted.

I purchased Chris' birthday gift, got Eva's baby shower gift in the mail, am now blogging while resting with the babies (who are snorting loudly) in bed (I also snuck in a bowl of ice cream).

More Alphabet Things

It's been a while since I've been here to write. In fact, I almost forgot where to go, but frankly, I'm blaming that on pregnancy and that which mother nature calls memory loss.

Sometimes I find myself writing in my head, the things I want to say just to get out of my head and even the things I want to tell people. Other times I literally close my eyes and see sudoku. What I see there is not enough to play, but enough for me to realize I haven't had my daily fill of numbers [I know right, an engineer NOT having her fill of numbers? Well, no one has ever said I was normal]. When I go to bed though, it all becomes overwhelming. Eh, well, let me restate that. Since becoming pregnant, I sleep regularly without trouble except at night when I'm winding down and thinking of all I have to do the following day; in these cases, it all becomes overwhelming.

My trick you see, to falling asleep, is the alphabet thing [as mentioned before]. This was last night's thing: name US cities in alphabetical order, the city must be the first that comes to mind! Here they are (or as far as I got):

Anaheim
Anaheim, Boston
Ana. . . Chicago
...Denver
...Effingham
...Farmington
...Gatlinburg
...Hermann
...Irving
...Jacksonville
...Kankakee
...Laramie
...Monroe
...Nashville
. . .

I either forgot the next cities, or I fell asleep, either way, I'm quite grateful!

Alphabetical Order

When I can't sleep, I have a few techniques that I dazzle myself with in order to doze off. The first trick consists of a healthy dose of diphenhydramine. If that fails me, or if I manage to resist the urge to consume medication, I do the alphabet thing. It's simple, much like counting sheep.

The problem with counting sheep is that it requires too little thought and therefore my brain begins to wander again as the sheep roam about doing their own thing. So I have to do something more complex. [Once I wrote equations in my head, but I found I got so consumed with trying to remember complex ideas that I wanted to get up and write things down rather than sleep. So, I go to my good old alphabet thing.]

For ages (or since junior high school), I said the 50 States in alphabetical order. Then, when I got too used to that, I'd count how many states had A's, or double letters, or ending in vowels, etc. I rarely bore of this; however, on occasion, I like to mix things up for my brain. In these cases I list items in alphabetical order, based on theme, and repeat them until I eventually fall asleep. It never fails that eventually I just doze off with little recollection of where I even left off. For example, last night was animals...

armadillo
armadillo bear
armadillo bear crocodile
armadillo bear crocodile donkey
...you get the idea...this is my list...or as far as I got...
armadillo bear crocodile donkey elephant ferret giraffe horse impala jaguar kangaroo llama moose n..n...n...

Books and Psycho Killer

I have to report that yesdterday, I slept like a dream! I'm not sure if it had to do with the fact that I'd stayed up too late the night before; or if it was due to the fact I worked out at the gym for 2.5 hours; or if it was due to the yoga class I went to that really got my muscles good and stretched. In any case, it was exactly what I needed.

I just heard Psycho Killer (it played through on my iPod). I like that song, a Talking Heads song I always forget about. Odd though, singing fucking French. Speaking of French; I love that in the book Fool, by Christopher Moore, Pocket the fool will say "Moi?", "in perfect fucking French". If you read the book, you'll see what I mean. It's catchy!

In terms of books these days, I have a stack of borrowed books to get around to; for example, I have the Twilight series (which I expect to be cute, but perhaps not the best source for literary enticement) and I have another series of books Eva lent me that I can't even recall. I also have a small group of books that I bought but still haven't gottent through (either because I can't get interested or because I have gotten around to them).

And still yet on books, I did buy a David Sedaris book. After reading Moore, I am just really into wanting some good satires. There are only a few books left by Moore that I have not read, and to be honest, I want to drag them out for as long as I can. It's dissappointing to find an author you really enjoy who happens not to have a ridiculous amount of books to read. So anyway, if you know of any good satire authors, or really ANY good books, please send your suggestions my way! Please!

Anyway, so I'm dressed cute today, well as cute as I can make myself. I have a party for work this evening. It's the A List '09 Party! Very exciting! I'll be sure to report later!

Word-
weapons grade: Better than the rest, of higher quality.

No Sleep

No sleep. At least 12 hours of work ahead of me. New Rancid is wonderful. Sims 3 is now out, the geek in me is jumping outta my skin!

Word of the day-
coming in hot: Having to use the restroom in a dire manner as you arrive at your destination; to head straight for the bathroom after getting out of the car.

Insomnia Sucks

Okay, so it's 0400 on June 03. I can't sleep. I keep laying my head down on my pillow, but sleep does not come. I got 4 hours of sleep, better than less, but annoying as all fuck. I'm sure you can relate ... everyone gets bad cases of insomnia right?

I have a million things running through my head. I need to stop these million thoughts because 1) I need to sleep; 2) They do nothing but sadden me; 3) What good comes from thinking over and over and not doing?

I was told, that when these millions of thoughts pop into my head, that I should write them down. Identify what makes me sad, angry, etc. about these thoughts. This happens to be a public blog so I won't go that far; but gee, what a great idea that sounds like!

I'm pretty blah at this time in the morning, no tea yet, no interesting blogs yet, no major work drama yet. So, I will part with you, and perhaps meet up later good friend.

You Suck!

Ah, nothing like some hot tea with a bit of milk and sweetener to get you going on a cool and rainy Spring day! Or, that's what I am telling myself!

I wanted to blog yesterday night, but I had taken some diphenhydramine and had the urge to sleep. Knowing that I rarely feel the opportunity to sleep, I took my mind up on its offer and crashed into bed with my snuggle pillow held tightly to me! It lasted until about 2 or 3 in the morning. I was awaken to a nightmare that I no longer recall; but I can vividly remember my heart beating at a ridiculous pace! I nodded in and out of sleep until about 5:30 this morning. I am so tired!

On other topics I went to the bookstore last night. Borders of course! I had to go because the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel was out on bookshelves yesterday. I couldn't miss buying that. I also was at the end of my Christopher Moore book, A Dirty Job. I had purposely dragged it out as long as I could even though it was really good to read! I loaned it to Chris because I truly believe he will appreciate the humor! Something I learned about that book just last night . . . it glows in the dark! All this time and I just learned it! Of course I don't make a habit of reading in the dark so I have to wonder just how many people know about its glowing properties?

It happens every time I walk into the doors of the bookstore; euphoria from the perfect temperature, perfect lighting, and the smell of refreshing books! Dead and Gone was right there for me when I walked through the door, I snatched it up as if someone were ready to remove them as a waiter removes a half full plate in front of a still consuming diner! I wasn't about to let it out of my sight!

I marched onward with a mental list of books I wanted to peruse! More Christopher Moore, Chuck Palahniuk, and a handful of titles I could think of at that moment. As it always goes, I can never leave a book store with fewer than two books, I left with three. Lovely Bones, You Suck, and Dead and Gone.

Also yesterday, Shane sent me to some videos of Olga from Toy Dolls teaching how to play various songs on the guitar! It was brilliant! So thanks for that Shane Brain! I'm still so far back on the learning curve I'm beginning to believe I'll never figure it out. My fingers just don't move that fast. But I suppose, like everything else I have ever encountered, it will take time, practice, and patience!

Other things I find noteworthy:

I wrote in My Other Blog yesterday as well should you want to look at some cool photos. I finally watched Monday's episode of House, where CTB (a.k.a. Amber) sang part of a Specials song! I reached 100 posts on Twitter (which I some how felt unaffected by). I read through a blog called (and previously referred to in my blogs) Bifsniff; where I found a trailer that was very interesting (to say the least). BUT, on that blog is a great, and I mean great sort of advertisement. I do think you will like it!

Now that I have rambled, please write me to tell me how you are doing! Maureen, I haven't heard from you in ages. Are you doing okay?

Word of the day-
snark: Sarcastic comments. Combination of "snide" and "remark". {Sounds like this word is right up my alley]

A Message to Bernie

My fingers are numb. I guess that is what happens when people learn to play the guitar. I'm not doing so well with learning the guitar, but I figure it's a lot like learning to type, eventually the brain will memorize the exact location of the finger placement to achieve a certain note.

So this morning I heard the story of my dear little friend Grace T., who got in trouble for calling someone fat. Her innocence is going when she notices people are different! It sounds as if she was fairly certain that her life was over!

I couldn't sleep last night, which I suppose is not really surprising these days. Lots of tossing and turning and trying to get comfortable, and thinking about this or that, legs fidgeting, or saying the States in alphabetical order (a compulsive behavior I have acquired)!

My morning started out hectically with me having to answer RFI's (Requests for Information - from contractors) to a job I am no longer involved in, and when I was involved I wasn't even doing design but drafting (modeling in REVIT). Got that done though and am back to my confidential job. Load cases! Exciting, I can see it in your face. (Yea, maybe I really CAN see your face)!

The one thing that has made my day though: my message to Bernie! Oh yes, I sent a message to Eva's business partner telling him that we used to take baths together as children. It's been the long running joke since I told her doctors! Oh the laughter that poured out when I saw her e-mail to me. There was payback, but it was worth it!

Okay, well then, on that note, sorry for the overwhelmingly dull blog!

Word of the day-
poser: One who pretends to be someone they are not or who tries to fit in but exaggerates.

Lightboxes in My Blog

I'm attempting to do something different with my blog today using "lightboxes". I will guess that this won't work in MySpace or Facebook, but then again, I never know until I try! So here it goes! Click on the links to websites and they will take you to new pages. Same as always. Click on the links to pictures and a "lightbox" will pop up with the image. So instead of taking you to a new page, it just pops up over this blog. Click on the image to make it go away! Now, the blog -

I'm exhausted! I've been having these extremely vivid dreams lately. Last night's was about work, people sitting in different locations (Steven Crang over by Advanced Strategies, Andrew Schwabe over by us, Mike Plotnick by IT), office furniture was being rearranged throughout. It was so vivid that I've had to stop and think a few times if some of it was real. For instance, my pink cup that I use daily, I had thought it was in my "locker", but it wasn't, it was in my overhead cabinet. I understand my confusion because in my dream last night, I cleaned my locker so that I could put my cups in there! But, now here at work, I see that my locker is not cleaned out, at all. It's rather messy.

I also woke up several times in the night. 1 A.M., 3 A.M., 5 A.M.; each time thinking to myself (or maybe I talked out loud too?) "I get to sleep more, thank God I get to sleep more". At around 5 A.M. Riley was crying. I had thought it was because he wanted outside badly and I was so tired I couldn't understand that there was an awful noise that sounded like animals being killed. I never heard it, but Chris said it was loud and caused Riley to have a fit! That all seems so unreal that I am wondering if I dreamed it as well!

At any rate, I'm still exhausted. I am ready to fall asleep at any given moment!

Thanks to Dynamic Drive for useage of the lightbox scripts!

Word of the day-
key: Just perfect. Describes something that would make you a whole lot happier.
In Use: A hug from mom would be key right now!

Death. It's A Dirty Job

It's Wednesday. This is encouraging. Closer to Friday! I've started the morning out with a good mood despite the poor quality of sleep I got last night. I didn't take any Tylenol PM, which could have been my problem. I also lost my snuggling pillow some where in the middle of the night. Lastly, I ended up with the White Beast, a.k.a. my princess Bella. She was snuggled up to me under the blankets. She's a bed hog though, so I had no bed and no blankets.

I think I mostly can't sleep because I want to read; after days upon days of not being able to concentrate, my mind keeps dwelling on needing to read more. I am reading a book called Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The whole gist of the book is about a boy and girl. The synopsis:

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last---revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.
But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door---a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night. . . .

The next book awaiting me to read it is A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. I've mentioned this book and author before. This book is about a guy who gets a dirty job. The synopsis:

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy, the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant. And Charlie's been lucky. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy, and who is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at his wife's bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .

People start dropping dead around him. It seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, some body's gotta do it.

Bestselling author Christopher Moore now shines his comic light on the undiscovered country we all eventually explore -- death and dying -- and the results are hilarious, heartwarming, and a hell of a lot of fun.

I have had a book recommended to me that I will soon check out (The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle). I will have assumed Mike C. to know of this author and to provide me with a just opinion. Then lastly there is a book that I want to check out only because the website for it is amazing looking (No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July). I know nothing of the author. I still of course have a list of books I am "reading" such as The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. I've been reading this for a long time. I get distracted, and then get back to it. There is also Shortage of Engineers which describes my life as an engineer very well! I looked on my book shelf last night looking for another book and saw some others I had still wanted to read, or at least reread. So anyway, yes, I have reading on my mind. It's a pleasurable escape from the real world!

Now onto some other thing I like, charts and graphs. A funny and witty little thing I found in the HOK Life blog! It's the GraphJam! Seriously, I find it amusing, I assume if you are reading this blog, you have a similar sense of humor and will also find it amusing! So here you are, Graph Jam (the site might be a bit wacky acting, taking ages to finally load and such, but have some patience).

Word of the day-
9 to 9: A way to say you hustle. Most people work from 9 to 5, but you put in more. You have the 9 to 9 hustle.

Happy Birthday Fella

How could I forget!? Today is:

Stubby's birthday!

Happy Birthday fella, sorry to make you!

........
Now onto the other things I wanted to talk about but got interrupted by work!

Dream

I can barely recall what my dream was about last night, except for one clip. My dogs had red irritated skin with bites all over them; I had decided we had bed begs.

........
My Sleeping Arrangements

Last night I tried to lay down in bed. I had Riley's butt resting on me, and Bella literally sitting on my shoulder. I told them to move, they would fidget and come right back. I wanted to have room, I wanted to sleep alone! I took my two pillows (one for sleeping and the other for snuggling) and went to the couch. Bella seemed to think that I was leaving her so she followed and climbed up on the couch. She couldn't curl up at my feet, she instead had to trudge her way along between me and the back of the couch where she proceeded to snore for the rest of the night! Therefore I did not sleep well. Riley was at my feet not allowing me to pull the afghan up over my shoulders. So there I was freezing, awake, and not alone on the couch. I think I'm supposed to be appreciative of this!

........
25 Things

I was inspired today to write 25 things after reading Kelly's blog. Kelly wrote about 25 food things; I happen to think food is gross so I will write 25 of my favorite non-sappy lyrics to occupy my time, as this will take all day. I'm sticking to only songs on my Zune, so covers will be listed by the person on my Zune. (Give me some credit, I'm at work with headphones on, it's just what popped into my head)


1. "I don't believe in cool, I went to summer school" Creeper Lagoon, Chance of a Lifetime

2. "I'm wearing fur pajamas" Talking Heads, Wild Wild Life

3. "You're gonna make me spill my beer if you don't learn how to steer" Wilco, Passenger Side

4. "I won't tell a soul except the people in the night club where I sing" Old 97's, Designs On You

5. "You're so cool you could have put out Vietnam" Shane Macgowan, Haunted

6. "They were guzzling marshmallows and then jumping off the Empire State" Robyn Hitchcock, Balloon man

7. "The KKK took my baby away" Ramones, The KKK Took My Baby Away

8. "Everybody can do the ska, it's a new dance you can't resist" I have no idea

9. "Blame it on being a girl" Old 97's, No Baby I

10. "From the embryonic whale to the monkey with no tail" They Might Be Giants, Mammal

11. "All the times when we were close, I'll remember these things the most" The Clash, Train in Vain

12. "Just because you're better than me doesn't mean I'm lazy" Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards, To Have And To Have Not

13. "I said I like your 2tone clothes, she said I like your broken nose" Bad Manners, Skinhead Love Affiar

14. "I got embarrased and I decked the sale's clerk, stole the wig and ran like hell" Kevin Devine, Haircut

15. " I promise these last years of loving you will be the best years of them all" Mike Ness, If You Leave Before Me (okay a sappy one got in!)

16. "If you were a TV show baby you would've been cancelled" Screeching Weasel, Crying in My Beer

17. "Looks like somebody forgot about us, standing on the corner, waiting for the bus" Violent Femmes, Waiting for the Bus

18. "Mrs. Ewe and Mr. Ram, where did you get that lovely lamb?" The Specials, Stupid Marriage (I like sheep)

19. "Got a light? smoke it up, Zig Zag, Roll it up" Tim Armstrong, Take This City

20. "If I fall back down, you're gonna be my friend" Rancid, Fall Back Down

21. "The way that you sleep is the image I'll keep, always on the edge of my mind" Old 97's, Bird in a Cage

22. "Casino Queen, my lord you're mean" Wilco, Casino Queen

23. "I gotta check for nothing, all made out to someone" Old 97's, The One

24. "It is time for to realize, and try and be your little size" Madness, Taller Than You Are

25. "I walk into the bar and I put in twenty buck because I know people's taste in music sucks" Bouncing Souls, Bullying the Jukebox

New Day

Yea, it's a new day! I'm ready to go back to sleep.

Words of the weekend and today:

bbiab: Acronym for "be back in a bit". Most often used in Internet chatting. Sometimes shortened to "biab:, for "back in a bit".

polar: Beyond cool. Colder than ice.

In Use: That jacket is so polar!

Blue Room

So it's Saturday. I got up early to go get some blood work done. I was going to come home and sleep but I just wasn't tired. I played on the Internet, a fave to do, and I'm starting to feel a little sleepy again. I should be napping in no time!

I wish I could say I am in as good a mood as yesterday, but it's just not the case.

Wishy-washy.

It's supposed to snow today. It's so mind boggling because this past week was warm and sunny; now it's gloomy, rainy, and maybe snowy!?! St. Louis weather, if you don't like it, wait ten minutes and it'll change!

I have to clean out the spare bedroom, rather put my crap up in the spare bedroom so that Rachel M. can stay with us next weekend. I'm putting her in the blue room, it's less scary (less sheep), and has the more comfortable bed in my opinion.

Other than that, I don't really have any plans for the weekend. I should use this opportunity wisely, but I won't!

Canadian Boyfriend

I can't talk long. I came in to work late today after sleeping close to 24 hours. It felt good to sleep. I will be leaving at noon for lunch with Amanda and Emily and will also leave on time tonight to go to yet another wake/visitation. This time for Amanda's grandma (dad's mom). I think I already mentioned she had passed away in yesterday's blog.

I'm pretty busy again this week. So I will leave you know with the word of the day:

Canadian boyfriend/girlfriend: An imaginary or fictional boyfriend or girlfriend.

Dead Version of Him

So this morning, as I wait for others to get to the office, I will write my daily blog. The problem with getting to work early is that often when things need to be done by others, I must wait. Anyway, so I had a lot of thoughts about what I wanted to write about today, so in my most awful penmanship, I jotted them down.

For starters, when I walked in today, I had to weave through a massive crowd of athletes all waiting to climb the stairs of my building. Here at Met. Square, is this crazy thing called, Master the Met, where individuals climb the stairs to the 42nd floor. Yea, I briefly thought about doing it, but when exercise without the stair climbing makes my knee swell to the size of a cantaloupe, I think maybe I should avoid this obstacle in life! So to the elevators I go, "Elevator going up"!

So speaking of hellish things like stair climbing, last night I had some nightmares. Actually two nightmares, but the same one twice (if that made sense). The basic premise of the dream is that my father killed my grandparents, chopped up their bodies and put them in a clear plastic trash bag stuffed in a closet in the basement of my house. Well in my dream the house that was "mine", was actually my family's (we're a happy family; me, mom, and dad) but actually took place in what is today my grandfather's house. In the dream, the guy who was my father was the dead version of him, the guy from the casket anyway. My mom was herself, but young like in her photos. My older brother and I were as we are today, but my younger brother was small, like 3 or 4, when I used to take care of him in those family crises that meant my older brother and I would sneak, with baby brother to the car (sweet Nova), get into the back seat, slink down real low and hide! Anyway, that's a whole different nightmare I called reality that doesn't get discussed; so in the dream, I find out that my father did this and I have to get my brothers out of the house so they don't find out. Well I don't know how the dream ended in this version, but the smell was very real, and awful. I cried a lot in this version of the dream, imagine that, I cry a lot all the time! In the second version, the basic same thing happened, but I had to tell my mom what happened and show her the body parts. I had to sneak us out of the house, I had to get clothes for everyone, I had to get our valuables. At the end, before calmly walking out the door, I told my dad not to take all of this personally, that he would always be my daddy, no matter how old I was. I got in my car with family and things in tow and started to drive off when my older brother jumped out of the car to get, of all things, the hose! By this point we were fleeing for our lives so I had to run out and help him as fast as I could and I was falling and trying to move without being able to do so. I was wakened by my alarm, so I'll never know how that dream ends, thankfully.

Since I woke up with what felt like little sleep because of nightmares, I got dressed half asleep. What was I thinking, red and white striped socks with pink and gray plaid loafers. Really what was I thinking??!!??!! Anyway in addition to my "getting ready soap box", I realized as I brushed my teeth, that I will be a really overburdening mother. I'll always be saying things like "stand up straight", "tie your shoes", "eat your food", "take your medicine", "stop slouching", "squeeze the toothpaste from the end of the tube", "pull the shower curtain out to dry", "clean up your mess", "wipe up your crumbs" . . . . etc. That could a really frightening thing to do to another human being. Poor children! Speaking of moms and children, I'd like to wish my preggo friend Rachel a speedy recovery. Such an enigma she is indeed!

Okay, so I've written a lot already, so I'll save the following topics for another day this week, the apocalypse (and my preparedness), Mardi Gras, Teaching at SIUE, and guitars (redemption song and crazy little thing called love).

I'd like to give you the word of the day and finish this with a tiny list of small things that make me happy.

tramp stamp: A tattoo above a woman's ass crack. In use: Her pants were so low cut, you could see her tramp stamp

A few of my favorite things:
-The sound of a guitar, more specifically when you can hear the finger glide along the strings of a guitar.
-Lyrics, especially the kind that mean something to you
-Being so sleepy that there is no lying awake thinking and staring
-The way Listerine kills germs, and anything inside the mouth, I'm amazed I still have a tongue!
-My favorite T-shirt, the Airstream T-shirt!