By the way...

When I went to the doctor's office yesterday, they weighed me, and I am down to just under 130. Dude! Seriously! I have met my goal, in only about 2 months.

But now I'm getting kind of worried. It is not normal for me to drop ten pounds in two months. Maybe my thyroid is going batshit? Or maybe it's a side effect of the cholesterol medication or something. Because seriously, the pounds just MELTED off of me, and I can't believe it was all due to just knitting in the evenings. I've only been to the gym like twice in the last two months, so it's certainly not that. And I'm not eating any healthier than normal, other than just not snacking as much at night. Is it really possible that I dropped 10+ pounds in two months just by not snacking in front of the TV?

iTunes shuffle as oracle

This is a meme that's probably really old in the blog world, but I found several instances of it when Googling "iTunes shuffle oracle" after reading Sars' iChing piece.

Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

How does the world see you?
I Shall Believe, Sheryl Crow -- so the world thinks I want to be lied to? Not sure I'm liking this.

Will I have a happy life?
Just Another Day, Oingo Boingo -- that....is not very encouraging.

What do my friends really think of me?
Spanish with Michel Thomas, lesson 8. Wait, that makes no sense. Re-try: Black, Sarah McLachlan -- ouch!

Do people secretly lust after me?:
Baby I Love You, Aretha Franklin -- now that's more like it!

How can I make myself happy?
I Wanna Be Like You, Jungle Book Soundtrack -- OMG ROFLMAO

What should I do with my life?
Everyday Is Like Sunday, Morrissey -- OK, honestly I first got Elvira saying "Hello Darling," but that couldn't possibly count right? So if this is the "real" answer, I should...curl up in a ball and feel sorry for myself?

Will I ever have children?
God Don't Make Lonely Girls, The Wallflowers -- well, that seems pretty straightforward to me. Because, yanno, women can always get laid. Of course this is all a moot point since I already have the Rugrat.

What is some good advice for me?
If I Can't Have You, Yvonne Elliman (Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack) -- so I should just give up and become celibate if it doesn't work out with D? WTF?

How will I be remembered?
Don't Phunk With My Heart, Black Eyed Peas -- Hmm...so I will be remembered as a tramp?

What is my signature dancing song?
Wolfman's Brother, Phish -- ummm, yeahhhh.

What do I think my current theme song is?
She's Got a Way, Billy Joel -- aww, that's nice.

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Peaches & Cream, 112 -- damn, I really WILL be remembered as a tramp, won't I?

What song will play at my funeral?
The First Noel, NSync -- God, let's hope not.

What type of men/women do you like?
Live To Tell, Tori Amos -- so I like guys who are liars and and will fuck me over? iTunes really doesn't think much of me, does it?

What is my day going to be like?
Moments of Pleasure, Kate Bush -- I can live with that. :)

Correction

Not a yeast infection, it's the goddamn BV again! Jesus H Christ on a fucking pogo stick.

So...diaphragm is out. It would cause the same bacterial infection. I'm going back on the pill. *sigh* I really quite liked being in touch with my body's rhythms & changes, but chronic BV is totally unacceptable.

Gosh diddly darn it

Stupid sponge gave me a raging yeast infection. Arrrrrgh. And today I go for my diaphragm fitting. Well, at least I can get the doc to give me diflucan.

EIGHT!

I went to the gym last night to try and work off some of this nervous energy. It's been a while since I've been there; I don't think I've been since Mom was in town and we went together. It felt good to get back in the swing of things, but the best part? The BEST PART? Was when I weighed myself after I showered and changed. I have lost eight pounds! EIGHT!

I had no idea that the evening snacking was quite as insidious as all that. I'll never go back to it, never. Eight pounds, y'all! I am two pounds away from my goal and I've only been to the gym twice since I started the "knitting diet."

And to top it all off? I came home and managed to squeeze into my skinny jeans last night. Gap size 2. I've still got a bit of muffin-top when I wear them, so I won't be taking them out in public just yet, but...they zipped up! Skinny jeans! EIGHT POUNDS!

Best day of my life, y'all.

Holy frijoles!

Damn, my house is clean! I mean really super spic-n-span clean. Yesterday I called a cleaning lady who came highly recommended by someone on the local parents' mailing list. She came this morning with her sister and cleaned the FUCK outta my house for three hours. They did the windows and the blinds. They cleaned the grody shower door track. They made the beds and neatened the place up. They even got the cobwebs that hang out in the highest reaches of the two-story cathedral living room ceilings. They folded all the toilet paper rolls into little triangle ends - and the paper towel roll too! And the woman only wanted to charge me $100! I gave her $200 - seriously, they cleaned the place so well I think I could happily eat off the floors. I asked her to start coming every other week and it is going to be so nice to have it done professionally on a regular basis. Because, yanno, I am a total slob and lazy to boot.

Oh, and my computer is dying a slow, painful death. Last night the speakers went all wonky, and so I ran the anti-virus software, thinking maybe it was a virus. Halfway through the scan, I got the Blue Screen of Death. *sigh* Boss is meeting me tomorrow afternoon to take the laptop and have the hard drive replaced - hopefully that will help a lot.

Eeeeee!

I am so excited. Earlier this week I was perusing the chicklit boards and one of the threads was about organizing your books. Now, my books are decided UN-organized. Ever since I put out the word among family & friends that I'd like to open a used book store, I've been inundated with loads of books. I have thousands - taking up practically every square inch of storage space in my home. There are bookshelves in nearly every room, with books double-stacked on most shelves. There are boxes and bags filled with books in the garage. There is no sense of order or reason; everything has just been shoved willy-nilly, wherever it will fit when I acquired it. My two-car garage barely fits my little old Honda Accord anymore, because it's so overrun with books. And to make matters worse, I set up a database with the intention of cataloging all those books in order to keep track of what I have and what I plan to sell it for, but I couldn't keep up with it because: thousands of books, yo. All having to be entered by hand. NOT HAPPENING.

So on Tuesday, when I was reading through that thread about organizing your books, I got a bug up my butt. I found some great, cheap software from collectorz, and ordered it as well as a BARCODE SCANNER! The scanner will store up to 500 codes in memory. Then you just hook it up to your computer, and it downloads the barcodes into the book collectorz software. It automatically puts in the details of the books (author, title, cover price, etc), and you are free to go run off and scan 500 more books. Is that freaking awesome or what?

So the barcode scanner just came in the mail, and I am totally jacked. I'm spending the weekend organizing my book stash, y'all! Scan the books, put them in boxes, tape 'em up, and store them OUT OF SIGHT. Ahhh...I am so looking forward to less clutter.

Weekend notes

This weekend I got a bug up my butt about the yard. On Saturday, I spent five (!!) hours outside - weeding, putting down bark, cutting off dead leaves from the elephant ear plant thing near the front door (which left no leaves at all; we'll see if it survives), planting stuff in the pots in the backyard, and cutting back the fuschias on the other side of the front door that were also doing quite poorly thanks to the hard freeze we had a few weeks ago. On Sunday I had someone come out to dethatch and aerate the front lawn, and they will be reseeding it today. So at least the front yard will look presentable in a few weeks. I'm also definitely getting a gardening service, because God knows I don't mow often enough (or fertilize, or weed, or anything).

As a result of working my butt off on Saturday, I was pretty sore yesterday. But I dragged Rugrat out to get some new clothes (pants are a particular issue with him, as we have a hard time finding jeans that fit the length while still being small enough in the waist to fit his skinny bod), and to the grocery store. Rugrat's friend K came over for a little while to play, and when I told the kids that it was time for her to go home, Rugrat shouted "Oh, shit!" He is EIGHT. That is way too young to be cursing at the top of your lungs. Soooo...to punish him I made him not speak for an hour (and if you know my Rugrat, you know that this is very difficult for him, since he's a major chatterbox). I told him if I heard him curse again, he'd be getting his mouth washed out with soap. Of course it doesn't help that I'm a complete hypocrite and curse fairly often myself; when he brought this up I told him that when he is twenty-five years older than someone (as I am older than him) he can curse all he wants. Heh.

The weekend ended on a good note though, as we made homemade veggie pizza for dinner last night. I bought one of those thin-crust pizza shells, and we filled it with ranch dressing (instead of marinara, because neither of us like tomato sauce on our pizza), baby spinach, mushrooms, olives, marinated artichoke hearts, slivers of onion, garlic, and standard bagged "pizza mix" shredded cheese. Rugrat's side only had spinach & olives, but my side had all the goodies. And BOY was it good! It earned one and a half thumbs up from the Rugrat, although he said that next time he'd prefer it without the ranch dressing.

Quick Veggie Pizza

We made homemade veggie pizza for dinner last night. I bought one of those premade thin-crust pizza shells, and we filled it with ranch dressing (instead of marinara, because neither of Rugrat nor I like tomato sauce on our pizza), baby spinach, mushrooms, olives, marinated artichoke hearts, slivers of onion, garlic, and standard bagged "pizza mix" shredded cheese. Rugrat's side only had spinach & olives, but my side had all the goodies. And BOY was it tasty! It earned one and a half thumbs up from the Rugrat, although he said that next time he'd prefer it without the ranch dressing.