A Day in Life

(Day #16,667 to be precise)

Flu last week.  Better now.  Seattle this weekend.  Don't know exactly where but there be drinks.

Quiche for dinner.  Mushrooms, ham and cheddar.  Side salad.

Interview tomorrow.  Hope some sort of income generation by next week.

Stopped using complete sentences.  Saves time.  Holding onto punctuation for now.

Maybe speak only in haiku one day?  Not tomorrow (interview).

Happy Birthday, Oreo!!

Oreo turned 4 years old today!

 

Kevin's Request

[Anonymous called today and asked that I blog more often.  So, I am blogging even though I am at a loss for much to blog about.]

 

The extra $1000 never came to pass. 

After scouring the sofa cushions we lost interest.  It was a fun challenge and if we had more of a social life and got out of the apartment regularly we might have picked up pennies off the ground or sold some extra stuff that's just laying around gathering dust or made a cardboard sign to wave at motorists at a busy intersection.  But we did none of that and there is no trip in our immediate future.  (Maybe I'll revisit the challenge at a later date when I'm more motivated.)

The good deeds are coming along. 

I was walking past a man on a ladder who had dropped a tool.  I handed it up to him so he didn't have to come down.  He was happy.  I also passed a guy trying to put up signs in the wind.  The signs kept blowing away and he had to keep chasing them down.  I got closer to him and picked up the ones heading toward me and then held onto them while he got the posts solidly in the ground and the signs secured.  Sure, I could've crossed the street and left him to it but it was like 10 minutes out of my otherwise uneventful day.  I've also been doing the dishes for Paul.  I told him about my good deed doing and he might be taking advantage at this point (must remember not to spoil him).

 

The weather has been lovely . 

It's been in the 80s (during the day, at least... 30s at night which is brutal!) and sunny.  Smoke from the Eastern Washington wildfires are causing a haze but the result is beautiful sunsets!  Can't do anything about the smoke so might as well enjoy the sunsets!

 

I have wasted my whole summer. 

Back in the spring I was thinking I would be working and saving money to go somewhere fun after my Olympia sentence is up.  I didn't.  Back in July I started doing push ups to improve my sagging, aging arms.  (I gave up on that after I couldn't see any significant results in a month.)  If I'd kept up with it I would probably have quite the solid definition but, alas, I did not.  I was thinking (as I lay under the covers trying to avoid contact with the frigid morning) about the scene in "Twin Peaks" when the giant stands over Agent Cooper and says "A path is made by laying one stone at a time..."  My path would be nicely paved if I had actually started anything I'd thought about.  Well, gotta start somewhere I guess and it's never too late to start.  The trick to starting anything is to keep going and not stop until you're done.  That's a lesson I need to learn (again).  The only thing I have kept at is the writing.  I am still writing and coming up with ideas for my book and short story outlines.  If I can stay on track maybe I can start working (and working out) without letting that slip away! 

(Fingers crossed)

Easier Said Than Done

I spent the day looking for good deeds.  Granted that I did not wander around town seeking little old ladies trying to cross busy streets but I couldn't find anything to do.  Oreo and I walked around the park and there was no garbage laying around (there's ALWAYS garbage!) .  We even wandered into the back path where there are usually signs of homeless encampments and even those had been cleaned up.  I thought I could pick up dog poop left behind by careless owners but couldn't find any of that, either.  So I will do something closer to home.  Maybe I'll wash the dishes while Paul is out so when he comes home he can relax (I cook and do laundry and it's his job to wash the dishes... he rarely wants to do them).  Fingers crossed that tomorrow it'll be easier to find something that needs doing.  (Going to the library so there's a better chance.)

I have been neglecting the scale for the past couple of weeks.  (Paul and I have been watching "Twin Peaks" and the doughnut scenes have been murder!  I finally had to get a bunch of doughnuts and set them up in the kitchen so we could get on with our lives, unobsessed by them.)  But after yesterday's confession about the suspenders I figured I should see what sort of damage I had done to myself.  In fact, I discovered I had lost a few pounds since the last time I checked.  I don't understand but will not question it.  I don't want to know if it's just that the scale is broken.  (I had an issue with it needing a battery a few years ago.  It told me I was getting lighter by the day.  When it told me I weighed just 20 lbs I knew something was wrong with it.)

Frank the cat is getting OLD.  I know he's at least 20, could be even older.  So it would appear that Frank's hearing is going.  At first I thought it might be a sad thing but actually it's turning out to be a blessing in disguise.  He can't hear the vacuum so he no longer fears it!  He can't hear lawn mowers, dogs barking, alarms or any of the multitude of nioses that terrified him in the 20 years I've had him.  Life seems to be mellowing out for old Frank!  I'm sure he prefers it this way!

Good Deeds

In my effort to be as positive as possible I have decided to take a page from the Boy Scouts and do a good deed every day.  Whether it's picking up litter on my walks or holding the door for someone at the liquor store I am going to make an actual effort to do good deeds large or small.
The other day I helped a man in a wheelchair at the grocery store.  He couldn't reach down to get ice cream and asked me if I would help him.  I did and asked if there was anything else he wanted.  He had a few things he couldn't reach and I got them (funny, because I'm so short I usually have to ask passing tall people to help me out!).  He was very nice and happy.  I think that's when I started thinking about small good deeds.
Oreo and I usually pick up litter on our walks (except anything resembling medical waste... learned that downtown).  I think I'll just be more conscientious fom here on out.

In other news, I thought I might be losing some of my "living-in-Olympia-and-just don't-try-anymore" weight at last!  Then I realized that I have gotten so fat my hips can no longer be responsible for holding up my pants (can't find 'em so can't use 'em).  I thought I needed a belt because I had to keep pulling up my jeans but in reality I need suspenders to hang my jeans off my shoulders.  Maybe in my good deed doing I'll get more exercise and have less time for snacking?  (10 lbs. less would be ideal... That's not asking much...)

The weather is perfect for a camping trip.  I'm just pointing that out.

Sunny

When I was in high school I did a lot of babysitting.  One night I was being driven home by the dad of a family I sat for.  He told me that the most important thing in life was to be positive and surround yourself with positive people.  I've always remembered that conversation.
Personally I have always tried to be positive.  I may be sarcastic but I always think that no matter how bad things get they are always primed to get better.
I live with a Negative Nellie.  He's a Moaning Minnie.  He's a glass-half-empty kinda guy.  Today the weather is sunny and hot (and really quite lovely).  But Paul is on edge.  He says it just reminds him that fall is almost here and the weather won't be pretty for long. 
He has begun to stress about where we are going to go when the lease is up in December.  Now, I thought we had sort of figured that out already but he is thinking and restrategizing the plan.  I am just happy the sun is out.  December is December.  It is only September (and just the beginning of September at that!).  Now I do understand that a little planning ahead never hurt anyone but I refuse to get upset about what may or may not happen between now and then.
Why can't he be happy NOW?  When he does get a rare positive day he is full of clever ideas and has a smile on his face.  Unfortunately he goes to bed and wakes up fretting about having spent a whole day being happy.
I don't know what to do with that attitude.  I want to be positive and believe everything will be absolutely fine.  Even if things get tough I figure they get tough for some good reason and something great will come from it. 
Maybe it's good to have a balance.  Maybe I'm being counter-weighted by his negativity.  Perhaps it's a yin-yang thing?  Maybe it's fate saying "get out and find yourself someone who can see good and happy things!"  Who knows?  I just wish I had some more positivity around on a regular basis.  We've been spending alltogether too much time exclusively in each other's company.  I can feel myself sinking into some sort of dark pit if I'm not careful.  That would not be good at all.  We can't be Mr. Doom and Ms. Gloom.
So send positive vibes this way for now.  I'll send them back!