Meandering Missive

A quick & happy B-Day post & MEME!! :D

2008-05-16T23:36:20Z

Gotta make this quick because it's been a busy day and will proceed to be a busy night! :)

First, before I forget, I want to thank the 12 peeps who sent me amusing notes on my WishRoll.com Birthday Greetinger, and the following peeps who sent LJ Virtual Gifts to my Profile Page: beckerbuns, cheschirekat and savvyelfpirate. I love virtual gifts! :) Also thank you to amethyst_hunter for the thoughtful Snail Mail card! It was quite funny! *HUGS to ALL*

This morning, while my mom was doing prep stuff at home for the annual family "May Fest" tomorrow, I went to the Post Office to mail surprises to two fellow May babies from the AWESOME bday_packages community, which I highly recommend that everyone join! Then I went to Aki's Bakery, a delicious San Jose fixture much like Dick's Bakery (of Burnt Almond cake fame). I got one of Aki's exclusive Neapolitan cakes (chocolate, strawberry, vanilla) for tomorrow, when my aunt Janie, cousin Julie and Julie's son Brandon are coming to celebrate my mom's B-Day (May 6), my B-Day (May 16, today) and Mother's Day.

Then I went to Safeway to pick up extra milk and eggs for the strata my mom's going to make for tomorrow's lunch. Then I ate lunch at home, did some stuff (not even sure what!), then went back out to Hollywood Video because you get a free DVD rental on your B-Day. :) I would have chosen Ratatouille, except that I FINALLY got to see it when my mom chose it as her free rental last week. So instead I chose Stardust, another movie I've been woefully lax in watching, even though I've been REALLY wanting to see it!

Then onward to Starbucks, because how could I let my B-Day pass without a festive Java Chip Frappuccino? *giggle* I got excited when I saw not one, not two, but THREE police motorcycles parked in front of the place, but alas -- none of them were yummy. :( One was too old for me and unattractive; one was too old for me and was smoking outside (I'd NEVER date a smoker!); and one was kind of attractive but too old for me. LOL

Back at home, I did dry and wet Swiffering of the kitchen, family room, landing and downstairs bathroom and cleaned the downstairs toilet in anticipation of tomorrow's May Fest. (I wouldn't have bothered cleaning at all, but my mom decided it "must" be done! heheh) Now I need to clean the rat cage and prepare their food dish for later, because I'm going out tonight at my friend Jenny's house for the monthly Bingo Belles game. And yes, she DOES have air conditioning! *cheer* I'm looking extra forward to tonight's game, because each month, whoever has a B-Day gets to play with 3 bingo cards instead of 2, thereby increasing their chances of more wins. ~~And it so happens I'm the only May baby in the group!~~ Whoops! *blush* I forgot: Jeri's also a May baby! ;D I'm also looking forward to visiting with Jenny's extremely loving and funny doggies, Jasmine and Jake!

And now, I leave you all with a meme! There were lots of birthday-themed memes at MemeGen but I didn't like any of them. So, I wrote my own! LOL! It's one of the kinds that fills in the names of folks from my Friends List, and I made it with a lot of spaces to fill in, so you've a GOOD chance of finding yourself in a very FUNNY situation! *giggle*

The BEST LJ birthday party ever! by scaryshari
Username
Age according to the Francliserian calendar	5,811
Arrives 1 hour early	elsh
Arrives 2 hours late	jackson_oat
Brings a hot date	julessmiley
Brings a hot date who starts flirting w/ the above	memoryanddream
Sets up a portable bar: drinks for everyone!	baby_buns
Gets drunk; tries to make out with me	dragonkiri
Gets drunk, gets sick, gets taken home...	beckerbuns
...by this very kind person	rodluvan
Teaches everyone a fun line dance	poopik
Wants to teach origami; no one's interested	purplesquirrel
Gets Jack Sparrow impersonator to jump from cake	amethyst_hunter
Brings me a Starbucks gift card	waywardgrace
Brings me a Target gift card	soojaebi
Brings me a box of Hamburger Helper	raininroses
Brings me a box of Kleenex	cheschirekat
Starts blogging about the party on his/her PDA	savvyelfpirate
Helps with post-party clean up (THANK YOU!)	devoosha

I'll take the free food & music; you keep the HEAT!

2008-05-15T06:17:05Z

Here's a quick recap of yesterday (Tuesday) and today. I'm keeping it short because I'm warm (which often makes me cranky), I'm getting sleepy, and the rats are getting hungry. LOL

Yesterday and today were very BUSY, but for the most part good, and included my early birthday lunch party thrown by my co-workers (yesterday), and a free piano concert my mom and I got tickets for tonight. One of the worst things is that the mercury has been slowly but surely rising, and today it was around 90 degrees! :O To make matters worse, it was kind of muggy as well, which is very UNcommon for this area, thankfully. I am so heat-intolerant, it's not even funny. amethyst_hunter and I think it must be "old age" (haha), as she's having the same problem! (Though I expect it's worse for her in Illinois). I definitely feel like the ice cream cone in my icon when the weather turns hot! :(

Anyhoo, enough rambling! Here's the recap!

When I got to work, I found my cubicle FESTOONED with BALLOONS! *giggle* Laura got there early to blow them up, tie them and decorate with them before I arrived. She is SUCH a sweet and thoughtful person! :)

She even stuck some balloons into my Ficus fakifolia, a.k.a. my fake ficus tree! ;D

For my birthday lunch, we went to California Pizza Kitchen, one of my fave places and also rather close/fast to get to. I ordered the delicious chix lettuce wraps, which you can see on this menu. I had this meal-sized appetizer item the last time I was at CPK. I almost ordered their famous Thai chix pizza (see that menu here) but I got the wraps again instead. *blush* But NEXT time I'm definitely getting a pizza!

Just for fun, since I wanted a pic of at least ONE actual pizza, I photographed Mi Song's combination one. She ended up giving me a slice, because she didn't think she could eat it all. It was delicious! OH, and so was my peach iced tea! :D

Here is one view of our table. From left are: Magnolia, Amanda (partly hidden), Becky (partly hidden), Laura, me, Young. Mi Song took the picture. A rhyming trio of co-workers -- Anne, Anne and Nan -- couldn't join us, because two were on vacation this week and one had to work. :(

Another view of the table. From left are: Laura, Young, Mi Song, Magnolia, Amanda, Becky.

WHOOPS! I almost forgot a funny anecdote. I got such a bad case of the afternoon doldrums yesterday that I drove myself (I usually walk) to Starbucks and got a Java Chip Frappuccino. I was just sooooo sluggish and sleepy, which is odd because I did NOT have a heavy lunch, and I did NOT have alcohol with lunch either. heh Anyhoo, as I was driving back to the office with my Frapp, Living on a Prayer came on the radio, which is only my FAVE Bon Jovi song! :D I cranked the radio volume up as loud as possible (which isn't that loud with my speakers) and I sang along equally loudly! When I got to the office parking lot, I sat there drinking my Frapp and singing to the music, and between the two of these things, I got VERY energized!!! I didn't feel sleepy the whole rest of the day!! LOL

Today was crazy & hot, but the concert was cool!
First I went to the chiropractor for my weekly appointment. Then I went across the street to Petco to get some CareFresh bedding for the rats; I also ended up getting them one treat and one toy as well. *grin* Then I came home and did a shower/shampoo, after which I made lunch for my dad and I, and we ate it. (My mom met up with some friends for lunch). Then I flew out for a nail appointment, because my nails started looking atrocious. Then home again, where I started feeling very lethargic and cranky due to the damn heat. The rats were lethargic too, but they remained cheerful. :D Finally we caved in and put on the air conditioning! *cheer*

After a quick dinner of Subway sandwiches, my mom and I drove to Saratoga High School, whose beautiful new (or semi-new) McAbee Performing Arts Center was the venue for one of the concerts in The Classical Series at Montalvo Arts Center (formerly Villa Montalvo, whose name I prefer). One of my mom's friends had some complimentary tickets and we got a pair. :) The performer was world-reknowned pianist Vladimir Feltsman, whom neither my mom nor I had ever heard of, despite his achievement and fame. (Sorry Vlad! *blush*) I suspect that my culture- and humanities-loving friend purplesquirrel might know of him!

Anyhoo, he was EXCELLENT! Before the intermission, he played seven parts of Bach's English Suite No. 2 in A minor: Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Bourree I, Bourree II and Gigue. (I only know these names from looking at the program! heh) Then he played the following three parts of Beethoven's Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 "Pathetique": Grave -- molto allegro e con brio, Adagio Cantabile and Rondo: Allegro. After the intermission, he played Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. I really like Pictures but this time I had to skip it, because we left at intermission. My mom had just developed a sinus infection but hadn't yet started antibiotics, so she wasn't feeling so great. Also, there was something on TV that she really wanted to see, and we both forgot to set the timer on the VCR/DVD player, so all in all, we came home early.

And now it's close to midnight, and I'm VERY sleepy now, so I'm going to feed the rats and see if I can fall asleep -- when the weather is hot, I often have trouble falling asleep, even if I'm sleepy. Blah to that! :\ And tomorrow the high is predicted to be 100 degrees! :O :[ But my office is air-conditioned, and I'm looking forward to reading the B-Day card that I know has been passed around for me at work. (Tomorrow is my closest work day to May 16, as I don't work on Fridays). I'm also very much looking forward to Friday the 16th, not just because of my birthday, but because it's the monthly Bingo Belles game! *cheer* Jenny and her doggies are hosting. :) And then the day after THAT (Sat. the 17th) my aunt and cousins are coming over for lunch and to celebrate my mom's and my birthdays and Mother's Day. So it will be another BUSY yet FESTIVE couple of days! Photos and recaps will come eventually, too. *giggle*

Happy Mother's Day, in every way! :) + birdie stuff

2008-05-11T18:35:32Z

Whether you celebrate Mother's Day as a mom, stepmom, grandma or aunt, or as the child, stepchild, grandchild, niece or nephew of one of the above -- I hope you have a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! :D

I'm still going thru all the pix I took of Blueberry & Jellybean on their May 7 B-Day "party", but I'm not done yet. *sigh* Hopefully I'll post soon -- they're very "squee-worthy"! LOL In the meantime, I didn't want Mother's Day to pass without wishing everyone a great day, in whatever way you celebrate!

OH, before I forget, speaking of moms, yesterday I saw THREE different male-female bird pairs. :) One was the house sparrows who are raising their babies in a hole in the side of my neighbor's house. Actually it's for the exhaust air from their clothes dryer, but the mesh fell off years ago, so it's now very appealing for birds who like to nest in cavities. I see these cute birds all the time, actually, and hear them cheerfully chirping every morning and at various times of the day.

But yesterday I also saw a pair of house finches hopping along on the ground, eating things near my 4 o'clock plants, plus a pair of lesser goldfinches visiting and cleaning themselves on the fence and in our blue potato bush tree. And then today I saw the female goldfinch pulling threads/filaments off the fronds of our Mexican fanpalm. I guess she's going to use them in making a nest! :)

Happy B-Day to Blueberry, Jellybean & Wilhelmina! ALSO, about my crazy/busy day!

2008-05-07T23:27:43Z

First things first -- birthdays! Today is the 1st B-Day of my sweet, gentle, squishy, funny, fun and smart rattums, Blueberry and Jellybean! I love them sooooo much! They love me too, and also love each other! :) :) I didn't adopt them until mid-June 2007, but May 7 is when they were born. I hope they live for many more healthy, happy years! (Sadly, most rats don't live past age 3, but there's no harm in thinking positively!) I didn't mean to give a "Harry Potter-esque" glow to the boys' party hats, but I had a PhotoShop brainfart and couldn't properly cut and paste the hats onto the photo of the rats. *blush* So I used the rubber stamp (clone?) tool instead, hence it looks odd but actually kind of magically cool! LOL!!

I also wanted to wish a very happy birthday to my friend rodluvan in Sweden. Wilhelmina, you are one of the most kind, sensitive and loving people I have met online, and I'm glad that we met here on Live Journal. :) I hope you have a wonderful birthday, and many, many more! Your husband and son are very lucky to have you in their family! *hugs*

And now a quick wrap-up of my extremely BUSY day!! (It includes details of the rats' mini "birthday party" too! teehee)

First my mom and I carpooled to the chiropractor, where Dr. Jennifer worked on her and Dr. Stephanie (they're sisters) worked on me. My mom liked her treatments much better this time than the last time. We both still miss "the doctors B" terribly (an unbelieveably awesome father/son practice; their last name starts with B), but I've gotten used to the girls, and my mom now (kind of) is also.

Then we went to the Washington Mutual in Willow Glen because we each happened to have a CD coming due at the same time, so we also had the same grace period. (We much prefer it to the Almaden branch). Interest rates are SICKENING! :( The best we could get were 2.7 and 2.6 percent. I actually remember a time, in the 1980s, when interest rates were between 8 and 9 percent!! :D :O Anyone else remember that?? It seems like a million years ago these days. *sigh*

We came home for lunch, then I went back out on more errands! First I went to the new-ish Petsmart on Monterey Road to buy more CareFresh for the rats (that's the only retailer that carries the multi-coloured "confetti" CareFresh mix), plus I bought a few other things. Then I went to Los Gatos because -- speaking of grace periods -- I was almost out of that period for my P.O. Box renewal! *blush* So I REALLY needed to pay for my next 6 months, which I did without incident. :) Before the Post Office, I stopped at the Happy Dragon Thrift Shop to poke around, since I haven't been there in a while. Sometimes I buy things for myself, sometimes to sell on eBay, and sometimes to give others as a gift. This time all three of these applied. :) I love buying as well as donating to Happy Dragon and its sister shop in S. San Jose, the Unicorn Thrift Shop, and my mom donates to Unicorn too. These shops raise funds for EMQ Children & Family Services, which I feel strongly about supporting, because I know a family whose kids have been (and are) helped by EMQ.

One of the Los Gatos Starbucks was my next stop, because as usual I was craving a Java Chip Frappuccino between 2 and 3 p.m. *chuckle* There was a boo-boo and a delay with my drink (too mundane to go into), but the reason I mention it is because even though I wasn't even aggro because it was an honest mistake, one of the baristas gave me an "any drink free" comp card, as a way of apologizing. Well, he apologized verbally too. I was very shocked and happy to get the free drink thing, because it's good for ANY drink -- so I'll probably get a Venti size next time. ;) This is particularly amusing in light of the fact that last night, when Buca di Beppo messed up our pizza order, the manager was so apologetic she said she was mailing me a $25 gift card, even though the pizza cost significantly LESS than that! It's nice when places have such GOOD customer service, like Buca and Starbucks!

Then I went to Whole Foods, also in Los Gatos, to get some Balance Bars and Luna Bars, some 100% natural, no preservatives dried fruit mixes made by Just Tomatoes, which I love to eat AND love to share with the rats. I also ended up buying a handful of Glaceau Vitamin Waters, because they were on sale for 99 cents (VERY CHEAP!), plus they had the cran-grapefruit "Balance" flavour, which is very hard to find, for some reason. I also bought a few other things.

FINALLY, I came home and did a shower/shampoo, then it was time for dinner. After that, I wanted to play with my rats and give them their B-Day surprise (more in a minute), but first I had to get ready to go out yet AGAIN! Thankfully this time it was just to the clubhouse in my townhouse complex, for a meeting of the Community Relations Committee, of which I'm a member, along with my next-door neighbor/friend/fellow Bingo Belle Lisa and a few other folks. The meeting began at 7 p.m. and lasted less than an hour, which was a nice change, especially since I wanted to spend extra time with Blueberry and Jellybean! I even told the committee members it was my rats' B-Day, and they found it very cute. ;D In the process of the meeting, I volunteered to help with the annual poolside summer BBQ as well as a fall social event but I'm not sure if it'll pan out, so I'll talk about it later if it does.

Then home AGAIN, and time to play with my little BIRTHDAY BOYS! *giggle* It was a wonderful playtime (in the bathroom, of course). I had intended to bake them an all-natural, delicious-sounding cake/bread treat from a mix made by Mama Bird's Cafe (yep, it's marketed toward birds) but I ran out of time today. :( So instead I wrapped up with giftwrap and natural raffia an all-natural carob and peanut butter bone-shaped dog biscuit made by Nature's Animals, which I bought recently at Petco. The boys went BANANAS for it! ;D In fact, I almost had to break up a semi-fight over it! I also rubbed vanilla Ensure on my hands and arms so the rats could lick it off -- a fave activity of theirs that I haven't indulged them in for a while. But I did this time, and they LOVED that too! You really haven't lived until you've been licked by a rattie tongue! :) Anyhoo, I have some FANTASTIC photos of the boys from today, doing all sorts of cute things, but of course I've no time tonight to prepare the pix. *sigh* It's already after midnight by this time! But please check back in a few days and prepare to squee!!!

My mom's B-Day: the good, the bad & the interesting!

2008-05-07T07:13:06Z

Happy birthday, Mom! :D Not that she reads my blog, and I of course already wished her a happy B-Day several times, but there's no harm in saying again! I have several B-Day icons; I chose this one because I would like to "make a wish" that my mom lives for MANY more healthy, happy years! :)

And now, here's why today, May 6, had...

The good stuff was, of course, celebrating another birthday! :) It was also getting a paper card AND a Blue Mountain eCard from me, plus an eCard from Blueberry & Jellybean, and even a paper card from my dad! It was also getting a few small but heartfelt gifts from me, along with a bouquet of white-and-deep magenta variegated carnations, which I picked up at Lucky during my afternoon break at work. (One of my mom's all-time FAVE flowers is the carnation).

My mom also enjoyed getting phone calls yesterday and today from several friends and relatives, including her California best friend FR, her Illinois best friend Jackie, her sister/my aunt Janie in San Leandro, and our cousin Leah from Arizona. Cards from friends have been coming in the mail too, as have a few gifts. :D

After work today, I picked up a Pizza Angelo from the Buca Di Beppo located nearby in Oakridge Mall (I still don't like calling it Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge -- that sounds kind of... I dunno... lame!) Anyhoo, we've had that pizza variety once before and enjoyed everything on and in it, especially the Romano baked potato slices/chips. We got Buca food and not something else tonight, because we happened to have a $10 gift card for the restaurant, which came as some type of "neighborhood promotion" thing a few weeks ago. Apparently everyone got these in the mail! *cheer*

Part of the not-so-good stuff is connected with the Buca di Beppo order. :( But first the other thing, which is about my dad. On the weekend, he broke off part of a tooth after biting into a small piece of fruit... I think an apple slice. My mom called his dentist first thing in the morning Monday, but they couldn't see him that day. So instead, they gave him a 1 p.m. appointment today. I felt very bad that my mom had to spend her B-Day taking my dad to the dentist for this semi-emergency visit. Plus she had to get up earlier than she wanted to today, and had to rearrange her breakfast and lunch, due to needing to be across town at the dentist by 1 p.m. And my dad is soooo sloooow to get going and out of the house, mainly due to his difficult in breathing, but also due to his lack of motivation to do much at all, period. *sigh* I sure wish my mom had had a FUN day today, or if nothing else, a RELAXING day, but neither of those was to be. And now it looks like my dad's going to need some major dental work of varies types I won't go into now.

OK, back to Buca Di Beppo! When I brought the Pizza Angelo home, my mom and I scrutinized the various toppings and noticed the delicious Romano potato chips/slices were MISSING, which is probably our FAVE topping on that pizza! So I called the place and spoke with the guy in the take-out department, who remembered me, my name and my order, and was extremely apologetic and nice. He said he was never informed by the kitchen staff that they were transitioning from the lunch stuff to the dinner stuff (I called around 5 p.m.) and that the chef/s didn't yet have the Romano potato chips ready for the pizzas. He said if he'd known this, he would have told me when I ordered the Pizza Angelo. So there was a definite breakdown in communication there, plus there was a disappointing delay in the chef and kitchen staff preparing for orders.

Here's where stuff got mildly interesting -- in a good way! :) After I spoke with the guy, he went and got the manager so she could try to make things right. I explained the situation, including the fact that tonight is my mom's birthday and my mom has a rule to not cook dinner on this date. The manager chuckled and said, "Ooh! I like that rule!" ;D Anyhoo, long story short, she was very kind, apologetic and polite, and ended up offering me a $25 gift card for my trouble!! Now that's what I call good PR! Especially since I hardly spent any of my own money on the pizza, since I had the free $10 gift card to begin with! The manager is going to mail the $25 card; I gave her my address.

I thought there was something else to write, but I'm getting so sleepy that I'm having trouble seeing/thinking straight! *chuckle* I wanted to go to bed more than an hour ago, but I FORCED (yes, that is the word) myself to stay up so I could blog about today, today! Especially since tomorrow I have three more B-Day wishes to give -- two for Blueberry & Jellybean, and one for my friend rodluvan! heh

Send me a B-Day "Greetinger"? :)

2008-05-03T00:30:57Z

Some folks may recall my February Valentiner or my March 8 Greetinger, both of which are fun, interactive "widget" thingies from that quirky website, WishRoll.com. Well, I'm doing another! :) This time it's a birthday Greetinger, seeing as my natal day is coming up May 16. *blush* I thought I'd start early, since otherwise I'm so absent-minded, I might forget until the 11th hour! LOL

You can click the pic below to send me a B-Day greeting! :D Festive flowers are added to the background with each new greeting that comes in. I'm such a sucker for cutesy stuff like this!! (BTW, the "Received" counter doesn't refresh right away, so it may look like your greeting didn't go thru, but it did!)

Get your own Greetinger

May 1st: the day of MANY holidays! :)

2008-05-02T02:39:49Z

Happy May Day, Beltane, Walpurgis Night, Lei Day, International Workers' Day, Loyalty Day, and St. Joseph's Feast Day!

Because I'm feeling kind of lazy this evening (heehee), the first paragraph below is actually a copy-and-paste from a journal entry I wrote last year on this date. Some of you may remember it, but there are also new folks on my Friends List since a year ago, and to them it will be NEW! :)

It's amazing how many different holidays, festivals and/or observances all crowd the spot of May 1st on the calendar! That's pretty cool! I suspect most people don't know about ALL of the above (I didn't know of Lei Day or Loyalty Day, and only vaguely knew of St. Joseph's Day), so for the record, here are my two fave references. This Wikipedia entry is the most comprehensive and interesting. However, this shorter InfoPlease entry isn't bad either.

I wish I could say I did something traditional that reflected fertility and festivity and Nature-based spirituality, like dancing around a beautiful Maypole or wearing a wreath of hawthorn blossoms (the haw is called the "mayflower" due to its habit of flowering the first week of May). However, I worked all day. But that's OK, because I am so grateful to have the wonderful job that I have! :) As I've said before, everything about it is GREAT: the duties, the pay, the co-workers, the commute. Plus free lunch each Thursday; today it was Tony & Alba's pizza! And I did do SOMETHING outdoorsy today -- my co-worker Anne A. and I took a healthy and refreshing walk to the giant shopping center whose name I don't know, and we went to Starbucks! The weather was just beautiful! Perfect for May 1st!

Get ready for a big yummy post! :D

2008-04-29T06:59:02Z

I finally finished Photoshopping (alliteration unintentional but amusing) all the photos from yesterday (Sunday), which was GREAT! :D beckerbuns and her kids and I did our fundraising walk for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (total $$ amount in next post) and went geocaching afterwards. *cheer* We took lots of pix of the former and the latter, plus I also took pix of sweet dogs, pretty flowers and unusual oak trees. :) Oh, and Becky took a funny video too, which I shall share! OH, and I also need to share some truly crazy music-related synchronicity!!

But not tonight honey... I don't have a headache (*grin*) but it's almost midnight and I gotta work tomorrow! I figured I'd have time tonight to do a big blog entry or play with my rats, but not both. :( So obviously I chose my furry boys. :) I like to give them a cage-free playtime each night, which they love! Anyhoo, I hear my pillows calling, so I'm going to hit the sack now. Be sure to tune in tomorrow or Wednesday for the whole scoop! LOL

P.S. Don't spill the oatmeal!!

Miscellaneous good things + last sponsor request :)

2008-04-26T22:40:12Z

I meant to blog yesterday (Friday night) but somehow, between doing other things, the night got away from me and it became too late to first sit down and start writing.

Promoting Game Day
The day began with me going to the homeowners' association office to drop off a flyer for the monthly Game Day here in my townhouse complex, which is the baby of myself and my neighbor (and fellow Bingo Belle) Lisa M. The office staff will make and distribute copies of the flyer to all the residents, which they do each month. The most people who ever turned up for a Game Day was 16, back in March -- maybe we'll top that in May!

Chiro and massage
Then it was off to my chiropractors' office for adjustments, followed by a 45-minute massage with Nyra C., the awesome certified massage therapist who works part-time out of that office. I've had a massage with her before, and I highly recommend her! She does a great job and is also extremely nice. :) My tough old trapezius muscles in particular thanked her!!

Shopping
Despite feeling all buttery (LOL) and relaxed after the massage, I drove across the street to Petco to buy some stuff for Blueberry and Jellybean, and also for a couple folks in bday_packages who have pets. (Sometimes when it's someone's birthday, I dont' just send small surprise gifts for THEM, but also for them to give to their pets, if they have any. I love doing that!) Amusingly enough, my boys enjoy toys and/or snacks marketed for a wide variety of species -- NOT just rats!! These include dogs, cats, birds, rabbits and ferrets!! ;D And rats too, of course!

Lunch and more shopping
Anyhoo, then I went home for lunch. Then my mom and I went out to do some grocery shopping at Safeway, and while there indulged in a delicious Java Chip Frappuccino from the Starbucks there. Then home again, where I finally got some housework done! To whit: I dusted and vacuumed the upstairs of the house and vacuumed the staircase. (I did almost all the rest of the housework today).

Cystic fibrosis fundraising SQUEE!
I usually do house cleaning stuff on Saturday and/or Sunday, but this Sunday I'm going to Palo Alto with beckerbuns and her kids (and maybe her husband) to participate in Great Strides, a major fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We're walking in honour of her 12-year-old son, Ricky, who has CF. I talked more about this in my previous blog entry, but you don't even need to scroll down to read it. You can simply click here to be taken directly to my personal Great Strides fundraising page. :) :)

I'm extremely happy and grateful to say that I've received sponsorship donations from 11 people -- well, 10 plus myself -- and the last person who donated (today) has just pushed me OVER MY GOAL! *cheer* I set a modest goal to raise $250, and as of tonight I'm at $265!! Just for the record, there are NO prizes or incentives for raising various "brackets" of money; it all goes to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The reason for my excitement is simply because I didn't think I'd raise so much! :D But of course, more donations are always welcome, so if you're reading this and would still like to contribute, there's still time! *blush* Just click the link above. (If you don't want to, that's totally OK. No hard feelings. I just wanted to make one more shameless plea for sponsors, since this is a cause close to my heart.)

The wayward baby birdie
OOPS! I almost forgot to mention that around dinnertime yesterday, I saw some type of sparrow fly around our yard and land on the ground. A family of sparrows made a nest a few weeks ago in an open air duct in our neighbor's house. We've seen male and female birds flying into the hole, bringing nesting material and, more recently, what looks like bugs. We can hear loud chirping from the baby birds, but never saw any until last night, when a baby that wasn't even a fledgling yet ended up in our yard! I don't know HOW the heck it got here, because if it ventured out of the hole, it likely would've fallen straight down, since its wings were too small to fly. But it apparently made it sideways and into our yard! YIKES! And the mama bird came over to look at her baby, but couldn't help! :( Fortunately our neighbor on that side, Stephanie, was home when I knocked on her door -- she didn't even know of the nest!! :O Like duh! How could she not see and/or hear all the bird-related commotion? But now she knows. :) And she very gently picked up the baby bird, cradling it in her hands as she quickly hurried back to her own yard, stood up on something (I couldn't see what) and placed it back in the hole. I hope it survived the fall and is doing okay now!! What a cute little peeper!

P.S. Despite the fact that my "hot" icon, below, looks angry, I'm not! LOL! The weather took a very warm turn today, and being the heat-intolerant person I am, I felt quite uncomfortable for a while.

Sponsor request: CF fundraising walk blush

2008-04-23T17:04:27Z

Hi all! :) I always have trouble asking people for money for fundraisers I'm participating in, mainly because I never want anyone to feel "railroaded" to give. Then again, if I don't tell people what I'm doing, there's no chance of EVER getting a sponsorship donation, so I might as well at least TELL people, right? *blush* Anyhoo, this Sunday my dear friend beckerbuns and I are participating in "Great Strides", a fundraising walk in Palo Alto for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Becky's son Ricky, 12, has cystic fibrosis; we are walking in honour of him and all the other kids and adults affected by CF.

I'd write more, but I'm almost late for a chiropractor appointment, so I will leave you with the link below, which takes you to my personal Great Strides fundraising page. You can read more about the fundraiser there, and also about Ricky. :) Thank you SO MUCH for any amount you give, no matter how small!! *hugs* And if you don't want to donate, that's OK too. No hard feelings!! :)

http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/dsp_DonationPage.cfm?walkid=5375&idUser=250342

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-23T02:48:53Z

I hope everyone had a good Earth Day. :) Tonight's icon REALLY sums up how I feel about the environment, the earth, and all the animals, vegetables and minerals (sounds like 20 Questions, heheh) that inhabit it! I know some folks did Earth Day-related things last weekend, but some also did stuff today. If anyone did and/or attended anything cool, I'd love to hear about it! As for me, I unfortunately didn't do much,

I talked about Earth Day (online and in-person)

I read about Earth Day (online)

I recycled, but then again, I always do

I carpooled with my friend and co-worker Becky R. when we went to lunch at Round Table Pizza, where I ordered a vegetarian pizza for a change! (Becky says eating vegetarian is good for the environment, in a roundabout way).

I walked instead of driving later in the day, when I went to Starbucks

I bought a Starbucks giftcard and then bought my Frappuccino with it, because for every purchase made with a giftcard on Earth Day, Starbucks donated 5 cents to Conservation International.

Since "charity begins at home," I renewed my lapsed membership in an awesome local nonprofit, Our City Forest.

I wish I could say I planted a tree, or did a beach cleanup, but I didn't really have time to attend an event like that over the weekend, and today I had to work, but maybe next year!

Another wild weekend!

2008-04-20T06:38:31Z

Well, OK, so it wasn't actually wild. But I found that title amusing. ;) My weekend was, however, very BUSY, but in a very good way! Below is a breakdown of the three days, so you can read them one at a time if you prefer.

FRIDAY: the $50 rat cage sale
On Friday morning, I finally sold my extra rat cage! It's the Coast Cages Bel Air Rat Mansion, only mine is pretty purple, and now they're only in black. I bought it at Petco before I got Blueberry & Jellybean and before I was sure where in my room it would fit! It turns out the cage wasn't a good fit for more reasons than just where it would go, but I couldn't return it because when I learned that my neighbors had a fancy Dremel, I hastily had them cut out the metal wheel in the cage. And obviously you can't return a cage if you've altered it. *chuckle* (I knew I'd be getting male rats, and males generally don't like using wheels once they grow up, and that was definitely the case with my boys! They only liked wheels when they were wee ones!)

So after posting the cage for sale over various months in ratties here on LJ and NC Rat Chat in Yahoo Groups, and after getting in touch with a few interested people only to have nothing pan out, I finally posted the cage on my local Craigslist, and I got FOUR eager responses in TWO days! :D One panned out quickly, and on Friday I met with the gal, Kate, and got $50 for the cage! I'd reduced the price due to the missing wheel and also just to motivate people, because I didn't want to keep the cage in the garage any longer. As it turns out, Kate has two girl rats, and normally girls love running in wheels, but hers don't! LOL! So she was glad the wheel was removed! She was also a very nice, kind, friendly person with whom I had more than just rat love in common! :D We also discovered that we'd both had similar frustrations/disappointments with our most recent boyfriends, we both like (and drive) Toyotas, both have trouble parking sometimes (haha), and both have an embarrassing and quite odd thing that we procrastinate on that I won't go into because it's really lame. *blush* I hope maybe we can become friends; you can never have too many friends! Plus you can generally tell (or at least I can) within about 10 minutes of chatting with someone in person, whether I'd like them for a friend or not. :)

FRIDAY: the great bingo game!
And now, without further ado, here are the pix from Friday night's Bingo Belles game! *CHEER* But please be sure to scroll down afterwards, because the rest of the weekend also has some stuff very worthy of reading! :D :) BTW, I was this month's bingo host.

As always, I took a photo of the pile of wrapped gifts, but then Ina came late and added her gift to the pile, right before someone won the first one! So I wanted to take a photo of the "appended" pile (LOL) and beckerbuns (Becky S.) was gracious enough to help me! ;D Note the FESTIVENESS of all the bags and boxes!

Coleen was excited to win this mini TV that Becky brought; everyone thought it was very cute! It looks like Becky S. is making a proclamation, but I've no idea what she was saying! LOL Speaking of Becky and funny things, about halfway thru the game, she started echoing Gladys (the electronic bingo caller) any time Gladys called a number that had 2 in it. For example, if Gladys called "O-72" then Becky would go "TWWWOOOOOO!" She did it in such a funny way that it cracked me up each and every time, which I'm sure the other gals thought was bonkers! *giggle*

My neighbor Lisa came late, because she, her husband and their two sons were at the boys' elementary school for... a BINGO NIGHT! *giggle* Afterwards, she brought her younger son, Daniel, here for a few games because he's always envious his older brother Vinny attends a game (only once or twice a year). So Lisa bright Daniel but he got sleepy quite quickly, and went home -- which was only next door! heh BTW, look how similar mother and son look! :) So cute!

These were the "Oreo Balls" that everyone found so amusing -- and yummy! Whether they have white or chocolate coating, the inside is the same: chocolate Oreo cookie!

One of the gifts was a Target card (as usual *grin*). And as usual, it kept getting stolen by people because Target rocks!!! As it was going around the table, I snapped this picture because I thought the moveable alligator mouth was funny. And then Jeri had the great idea of putting a chip in the alligator's mouth, to make it more realistic! :D YUM!!

Here we have Jeri, Coleen, beckerbuns, Daniel, Lisa, sjkat27 (Katheryn), Ina and Margaret. If it looks like our players are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, that is correct! :) We span three decades!

The same group, but with Scary Shari! heh I actually asked Daniel if it was OK if I gave him rabbit ears, and he giggled and said it was! Absent were Becky R., who had a cold, and Jenny, who was attending the reception following a funeral (I don't know whose). I'm sorry you both had less-than-pleasant reasons for missing bingo. We all missed YOU, and hope you both can join us next month! *hugs* OH! I almost forgot to say that I won 2 gifts this time! One was a necklace and earring set with a motif of pretty roses, and one was a $10 gift card to Cost Plus World Market. Nice wins, both! :)

SATURDAY: the sneezing fireman
Saturday morning, I was on my way to a 10:30 a.m. "orientation" at the chiropractic clinic (more on that in a minute) and pulled up at a traffic light next to a fire truck. As always, I checked out the firemen in it, and noticed the one in the front passenger seat looked kind of brawny and handsome and had a nice-looking moustache. ;) He looked like he might be too old for me, but I still appreciated his good lucks. Anyhoo, within a few moments of me checking him out, which he had not yet noticed, he gave a HUMUNGOUS SNEEZE! His window was open but mine was completed CLOSED, plus I had on the radio, yet I heard his sneeze extremely loudly! LOL LOL!!! Not only was it wildly loud, but he also flung himself forward in his seat as he snoze! I couldn't help myself -- I burst out laughing! ;D :) Then I was so embarrassed that I didn't even look back at him for a while. *blush* Finally I peeked, but I don't know if he knew I was laughing at him or not. It was just sooo funny, especially to someone like me who has always found sneezes amusing.

SATURDAY: at the back-crackers! (chiropractors, haha)
The chiropractic orientation wasn't all that enlightening, because I've been going to chiropractors for 7 or 8 years now. Most recently it was the amazingly awesome father-and-son practice my mom and I have gone to for many years, but they moved their practice elsewhere and sold the San Jose one to a pair of chiropractor sisters, one of whom the dad knew from when he taught at Palmer College West. I mainly went to it because I was curious what it would be like, and also because those of us attending an orientation (they had and have other dates) could get certificates to give our family and/or friends for free initial consultations, exams, and various x-rays and tests. Normally all of that would be aorund $200. Who wants one? :)

SATURDAY: the aggro yet funny dinner
That evening, we went to the home of F, my mom's California best friend, for dinner. (I always call her that, because my mom also has an Illinois best friend, Jackie, with whom she grew up). Anyhoo, we were the first to arrive for dinner, and discovered F in a great state of aggroness, because a plumber had been there more than TWO HOURS yet couldn't fix the fact that her kitchen sink was backing up. Even weirder is the fact that the entire sink and inside piping was brand new, as of just a month or two ago! She couldn't believe something went wrong! And apparently it was VERY wrong, because the plumber had to shut off all the water to the house, and even called a second plumber over! Unfortunately, neither of them spoke very good English, which further frustrated F, on top of the fact that it took them WAY too long to fix the problem, which eventually was fixed. I felt really bad for her, because she got so delayed, but I have to admit it was kind of amusing to hear her yelling at the plumber that she couldn't understand what he was saying! Fortunately her daughter helped translate. I'm sorry -- I'm not laughing at her misfortunate. Somehow it just seemed a bit amusing, but I did NOT let her know I thought that!

Then, when the other folks arrived (not that many) and the late food was all finished cooking/baking/whatever, and we were sitting down to eat -- couches suddenly arrived! LOL! Apparently F's daughter K's stepdaughter and husband were in town and decided this would be the perfect time to drop off two couches they no longer wanted but which F *did* want. (They live in Paso Robles). So then the dinner got delayed AGAIN, as F tried to direct them as they awkwardly maneuvered two bulky couches through the side yard and back yard and into the family room! Again, I apologize for finding this amusing, but I couldn't help it! *giggle* It was just such a crazy case of Murphy's Law! And it just seemed weird that suddenly COUCHES started marching into the house right when everyone wanted to eat!

SUNDAY: the wild & crazy dream!
Today involved grocery shopping, dropping off my old, broken D-Link wireless router at a one-day electronics recycling drop-off point (yay!) in a Wal-Mart parking lot (boo!), drinking a Java Chip Frappuccino and vacuuming and Swiffering the house. But the main thing I wanted to write about is the very long, vivid, crazy dream I remembered when I woke up this morning! I've always LOVED re-reading dreams I've had, months or years afterwards, so I made notes earlier today so I could remember enough to record it "for posterity" tonight. :)

Basically the dream was like a cross between Big Brother and summer camp, although I seem to feel there was a cruise element as well (?!) There were many people in the dream, but the only ones I remember recognizing were beckerbuns and her kids.

I think the Big Brother part was first. I was one of the houseguests. The downstairs of the house looked almost identical to the downstairs of my own house. I commented about that to this gal who seemed to be the most powerful among the female players (and also very pretty), and she made a comment about whether that might give me an advantage. I didn't see how that could be, and told her so. Also, in an attempt to get her to trust me, I offered to show her a secret room/passage in the house that no one else knew about. You had to go upstairs first, then down into a staircase that led to the secret room/passage. Of course, this part of it looked NOTHING like my house! I don't think we actually went IN the secret room/passage, but I feel like she and I had formed something of an "alliance" because I showed it to her.

I remember I had also been getting to know some of the other houseguests better, and I felt pretty good about my relationships and/or alliances with several of them. However, one of them felt kind of bad that I hadn't tried to form an alliance with him. He was someone who lived in my townhouse complex and thought that because we were semi-neighbors, that I should align with him. (He was not a neighbor in real life; I don't even recall what he looked like). In the dream, he didn't outright tell me he felt bad that I was kind of dissful of him, but I overheard it when I was somewhere that enabled me to spy on some of the other houseguests.

Shift to another part of the dream, where a bunch of people were living on a pleasant, wooded island. It totally reminded me of a summer camp place. I think some of the people from the Big Brother part of the dream may have been here; I'm not sure. Maybe my subconscious mind was now thinking more about Survivor instead of Big Brother; hence the outdoorsy setting. *chuckle* Although it really struck me more like a summer camp. Anyhoo, this is where I ran into beckerbuns. Her sons Ricky and Andrew were also there. I remember her daughter Misty was there too, but I don't think she had much of a part in the dream. (Sorry Misty!)

In one part of the dream, Andrew and I were in some type of "general store" type place at the camp. We each had a brown bag full of little tokens we had won and/or earned (I don't know how or where we got them). Each token was color and/or pattern coded to match with the particular prize it was good for. Some of the tokens, however, did not look like "typical" tokens but rather like small jawbreakers, except that they were squishy, like those soft foam balls people can use as stress-relievers. I had some of those tokens, and I was delighted that my purple-and-blue (or purple-and-green? not sure) tokens corresponded to a small prize that had the same colour scheme. Yep, I'm one of those peeps who usually dreams in VIVID colour! :)

I remembered one or two of the actual prizes I got this morning, but by now (the evening) I forgot. :( I think one may have been a little globe or a keychain, and one may have been a mini postcard (?) Andrew got some little action figure type toys, and also a small kite! Afterwards, he was playing with the action figures in something that looked like a huge porcelain bathtub (but fully clothed). While playing with them, he was telling me that he was very excited to fly his kite. (beckerbuns -- does Roo like kites in real life?) Anyhoo, then some boys from the camp came by and started teasing Andrew because he was playing with action figures and because he wanted to fly a kite instead of going with them to do something that was either playing a sport, or getting in trouble. I think the boys were slightly older. Andrew got wound up and upset from the teasing, and I think had some sort of temper tantrum. Then Becky came to take him somewhere, due to his outburst. I volunteered to watch after Ricky while Becky was off-site with Andrew. She gratefuly accepted, and Ricky was very happy about it as well.

That's all I remember about that part of the dream. In yet ANOTHER part, I myself had been off-site, but wanted to get back to the island. I was on a little wooden dock, and a guy with salt-and-pepper gray hair came up in a boat that was like a cross between a skiff with an outboard motor, and a canoe. He was in his 50s and was quite charming, and in the dream we knew each other. (I've no idea who he actually was). He told me that if I wanted a ride back to the island, I'd have to swim alongside his boat for part of the time. I thought that was ridiculous, especially since he had plenty of room for a second person! Also, I was fully dressed, and I didn't want to get my clothes soaked; in particular, I didn't want to swim with my blue jeans on, because they get VERY heavy when wet! He told me he'd swum in jeans before, and it was no big deal. And besides, he wouldn't let me into his boat unless I swam part of the way.

So I grudgingly gave him my purse to keep in the boat, and reminded him to keep it dry because it contained my cellphone and/or my digital camera. I also took off my earrings (LOL! What minute details!) and gave him the earrings, because I didn't want them to come out of my ears while swimming. Then I jumped in the water and started swimming. It was a pleasant temperature; not too warm and not too cold. As I swam, part of the time it almost felt like flying. This is hard to explain, but I remember looking down and seeing what looked like vineyards below me (?!) I don't know if the vineyards were under the water, or if I was in the air looking down on a winery or something! But I'm pretty sure I was still swimming too. Weird, huh? And I think that's all I remember of that dream! There was some aspect of it that involved some of the camp people being on a cruise ship, but I don't recall that part anymore.

Am I a banana? Or am I bananas? BOTH! ;D

2008-04-19T01:47:53Z

My Bingo Belles monthly game starts in about a half hour! *squee*! I think there will be 8 or 9 of us! And I'm hosting! :) Anyhoo, I have some stuff to do before the gals arrive, so I will leave you all with this funny meme for tonight. (I'll post party pix in a few days, of course!) This meme pretty much fits me to a T! I can't believe how right-on it is, especially since some of the memes from the Blog Things site are rather inane and/or inaccurate. But I LOVE this one! *giggle* Whatcha think -- is it me? ;D

You Are a Banana

You are mellow, easy going, and a total softie on the inside.

People find it really easy to get along with you. You suit most tastes.

And while you're very sweet, you're not boring or ordinary.

You have an attraction to the exotic, and you could show up anywhere... doing almost anything!

You are spirited, energetic, and a total kick to be around.

You're also quite funny. Your sense of humor is on the goofy side, and it fits you well.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

Yesterday, today & tomorrow

2008-04-17T02:58:38Z

YESTERDAY
To my fellow unfortunate Americans (haha), I hope you got your taxes done by the midnight, April 15 deadline! If not, well, you're SOL! heh Mine were e-filed by our accountant a month ago, but I waited until April 14 to mail my payments, as I was aggro about owing $470 in federal and $104 in state taxes. :( I didn't want the government to have my $$ any sooner than necessary! I've since filled out a new W-4 form at work, claiming "0" instead of "1" for my exemptions. My paychecks will now have even more withholdings, but at tax time next year, I'll have a NICE surprise of a refund, rather than a BAD surprise of owing money!

I saw two guys on Yahoo Messenger whom I have not seen online and/or chatted with in quite a while. I was happy to see them again and happy that they were still interested in chatting with me. ;D

I went to the Starbucks by my work and tried a Honey Frappuccino for the first time, because they were out of the chocolate/mocha chips needed for the Java Chip Frappuccino (my fave). I can't decide how I feel about the Honey Frapp. Partly I like it; partly it's just "eh!". I think it may be an acquired taste. Anyone tried it? If so, what did you think?

TODAY
On this date in 1746 was the Battle of Culloden in Scotland. As a history buff in general, a lover of all things Scottish (well, and Irish too), and as a once-and-future poet, I wanted to share this poem that I wrote man years ago about this historic battle and its lamentable outcome. Click here to read it. *blush*

After this morning's chiropractor session, I went to SummerWinds Nursery to buy potting soil. My mom went yesterday to buy a 6-pack of Imperial Antique Shades pansies, but didn't know we were out of soil! Oops! Some pansies in this variety smell like ROSES, believe it or not! :) Along with Antique Shades, some of my other fave pansies are Jolly Joker (a crazy, festive combo of purple & orange!), Rally Lilac Cap (stunning purple & white, sometimes w/ yellow splashes -- check out my icon!) and Baby Bingo "Denim" (*giggle* Sounds like I made it up; I love alliteration AND bingo!)

Anyhoo, I bought a big bag o' soil.... AND a prayer plant! (Maranta leuconeura erythroneuro). The two types are shown on the link I just gave; mine looks like the top photo. I've been wanting a prayer plant ever since I bought one for beckerbuns' son Ricky when he was hospitalized last year for cystic fibrosis-related lung issues. (He loves plants and gardening!) Not only do they have beautiful leaves, but the leaves rise vertically and press together at night; it looks like they're praying! I've never seen a prayer plant flower before, but several at SummerWinds were sending up floral stalks, so I definitely couldn't resist buying one! :D We transplanted the pansies today, and found a nice spot in the kitchen for the prayer plant with good ambient light but no DIRECT sunlight, which they don't like.

TOMORROW
Tomorrow (Thursday) a very close friend and former co-worker of my mom's, CH, is having a complete hysterectomy. That alone would be a reason for me to think good thoughts for her, but things aren't that simple. The reason for the surgery is because she has cancer of the uterus. :( Based on CH's biopsy and/or various tests, her doctors think it's Stage 2, but won't know for sure until they do surgery. It MIGHT only be Stage 1, which would be wonderful news! But hopefully it will not be anything more than 2!! I know no one reading this knows CH except for me, but if you're comfortable praying/thinking/sending good thoughts to someone you don't even know, please join me in doing so for CH. She has a beautiful, loving and compassionate heart and is an amazing person! :)

Free food, health news, Olympic flap, icons, rats, clothes, more!

2008-04-11T06:30:14Z

The list of keyword tags might look intimidating, but actually all the things I'm about to talk about are brief -- just a big collection of little bite-size chunks! :D And obviously many of the tags apply to the same topic, so it's not like there are 18 DIFFERENT topics! Damn, that'd be too much even for me!! :O

Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?
In this entry for the last week in February, I asked the same question, because that week I enjoyed THREE free lunches: a goodbye lunch for a co-worker who moved away, a welcome lunch for a new co-worker, and our usual free Thursday lunch. Well, now I had TWO free lunches! One was our usual Thursday lunch, this time from World Wrapps, an interesting healthy Asian fusion chain. Try it if there's one near you! :) The other lunch was Tuesday, when my fellow editors LG and Becky R., our staff writer CD and one of our regular freelancers, HS, went to lunch with JM, one of the executive Veeps of the entire Gannett Healthcare Group who was visiting from out of state. (Unlike some folks with that title at other companies, JM is a warm, fun and friendly person!) Anyhoo, for that lunch we went to Sushi Boat Town. I had lightly fried tofu pillows in a dark miso-like broth topped with tiny crunchy onion bits, and a plate of veggie/meat gyoza. Both were delicious!

Musical synchronicity
While in the restaurant, I heard a LOT of great music from four decades: the 1970s, 80s (my fave), 90s and now. I should've asked if it was FM, HD or satellite radio. Anyhoo, one of the songs was Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly", which I haven't heard in ages! I don't have any strong feelings for the song one way or another; it's just one of those classics everyone knows and lots of people remake. heh The weird part is that after lunch, I went next door to An-Jan Feed & Pet Supply (a small Bay Area chain) to browse and see what I might want to buy for Blueberry & Jellybean. I don't think I've ever left An-Jan empty-handed! ;) I usually go to the one closer to home, but this one is closer to my office.

My point is that what should I hear playing on the radio but "Killing Me Softly"!? What are the chances of hearing such an old song two times/places in a row? This is why I added "synchronicity" to the tags for this journal entry. Actually, there have been other instances of it in the last week or so, but I forgot what they were, so I can't share them here. :( But this one was crazy! :D Oh, and yes -- I did indeed get a couple of things for the rats! heh Speaking of those sweet boys, we interrupt this journal post for a squeeful picture of them. Afterwards is more blogging about more happy topix!

Blueberry is on the left; Jellybean is PEEKING from inside a freshly washed hammock I was getting ready to hang in the cage, to replace one that needs a washing! They often eat in the hammock, so it gets all messy with crumbs. And sometimes they have "wee-wee accidents" in there as well -- usually just little sprinkles! *giggle*

My mom's good health news
Before I forgoet, I should share this GREAT news! Just 6 or 7 weeks ago, my mom started Zocor, one of the statins used for lowering cholesterol. Thankfully, her HDLs ("good cholesterol") have always been nicely high, and her triglycerides have always been nicely low. However, her LDLs ("bad cholesterol") were climing toward high (I forgot the number) and her overall cholesterol number was definitely too high -- 225! And this is in spite of making healthy lifestyle changes like walking more, eating products with cholesterol-lowering plant stanols/sterols, eating products with Omega-3s, and dramatically limiting her consumption of anything with even moderate levels of saturated fat and cholesterol.

It's genetic, because her mom (my grandma) had high cholesterol despite eating healthy and remaining super-active all her life, even into her 80s. My aunt has high cholesterol too, and even mine is climbing out of the range it should be for an active, healthy-eating 35-year-old. :( But the GOOD NEWS is my mom's recent blood test! Her overall cholesterol dropped from 225 to 164!!! In just 6 or 7 weeks!!!! *cheer* Her LDLs also dropped significantly!! *cheer again* (But I forgot the number). And she's had NO bad side effects! However, she does not yet have the results of her liver enzyme test. This is important, because as most folks know, occasionally statins can cause liver problems. sabbathunter, I'm glad you said your liver numbers went back to normal on your second test, after they were elevated on the first test you had after starting Lipitor. :) One of these days I'll probably try Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor myself! Those are the three most popular statins, aren't they?

China Olympics and torch brouhaha
It is a crisis; there is no doubt about that -- this is what International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said publicly today about the big storm brewing over the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. How sad that someone like that would have to say something like that. :( You can click that link for the full article.

Has anyone been following the flap surrounding the international Olympic torch relay? While I agree that the IOC should probably not have awarded the 2008 Olympics to China, I don't necessarily agree that people should protest and/or demonstrate along the torch route. For example, yesterday the torch came through San Francisco; I even know some people who went up there to try to show their disapproval. But San Francisco is not part of China, and the torch's flame is not Chinese -- it originated in Athens, Greece! I just kind of feel like the protestors/demonstrators are ruining the ceremony for all the people who were lucky enough to get to fulfill their dream of running with the torch. YES, it totally SUCKS the way China doesn't care about Darfur, and the way China has subjugated Tibet all these years, and how China still doesn't allow certain freedom and rights to its own people, even in the 21st Century. I HATE all that! :( But I still somehow feel like the torch-related protesting is kinda misplaced. I dunno. I'm a bit torn actually. I certainly won't be surprised to see people protesting and/or demonstrating in China at the Olympic Games, however.

These icons are so Kawaii -- NOT!
The other day, I saw some random icons in someone's LJ; I don't even know whose it was! But the icons were very memorable, because they were super-cute animated veggies in the Kawaii style, yet most of them were saying and/or doing very snarky, witty, goofy or naughty things. LOL! And that's how I discovered and fell in love with KawaiiNot! I dare you to visit that website, click on the "icons" tab and NOT end up taking some of the hilarious animated icons to use in your LJ! I dare you!! *wicked giggle* The "festive fruitcake" I'm using tonight is one example; I also took the passive-aggressive carrot and the crazy cuckoo clock. You'll see them all -- and more! (BTW, how perfect is this giggly talking fruitcake for someone like me? LOL! Not only am I nutty like a fruitcake, but I also love to use the word FESTIVE!!)

Kohl's -- you must be from Jamaica, cuz Jamaican me crazy!
I swear, I don't know how the "middle market" department store Kohl's makes enough money to stay in biz! It boggles my mind sometimes. They practically GIVE the merchandise away! :O And we always seem to go crazy with their sales and promos! My mom holds a Kohl's store charge card so is on their mailing list. Every so often she gets a special discount with her Kohl's flyers that come in the mail, and this time it was 30% off!! However, all the stores were already having some BIG sales in honour of opening some new stores somewhere (they all celebrate, apparently! heh) So we went shopping the other day, because we wanted to take advantage of all these discounts, plus I had a $10 gift card that I wanted to spend, before I misplaced it. I won it at last month's Bingo Belles game. :) That's amusing, because it was the gift that I myself brought to the game! But there's no rule that you can't win and/or steal your own gift! (Speaking of bingo, the April Bingo Belles game is Friday the 18th, yet only one person has RSVPed so far. This is very unlike the gang... now I'm wondering if my group emails suddenly are not getting thru to most of the members? YIKES! Note to self: check with some of the gals tomorrow!!)

Anyhoo, we ended up getting a whole variety of stuff: a blouse for my mom, a three-pack of socks for my dad, a pair of pajama pants for me, an adorable Peanuts Gang T-shirt for me (see below!), two decorative plaques with inspirational quotes for my Aunt Janie and cousin Julie's upcoming birthdays, and a Christmas clearance silk tie with funny reindeer, which I might sell on eBay or might keep to give as a while elephant gift somewhere. I almost bought a delicious smelling For Every Body soy-based candle, but those were one of the FEW things not on some type of sale! heh

Some of the things my mom and I got were on clearance; others were just on sale. But the sale price is great as it is! My Peanuts shirt, for example, was regularly $20, but was half-off, so it was only $10. But then we applied my mom's 30% off thing to it (and all the other items), so the shirt was only $7! Not bad, eh? LOL! Would you believe the shirt is a size XL? However, don't faint at the idea of me wearing extra-large anything -- it was in the JUNIORS department! ;D And now, here is that cute and... dare I say it... festive shirt!!

Games & dreams & rats: OH MY!

2008-04-08T04:17:18Z

Yesterday (Sunday) was the monthly Game Day in the townhouse complex's clubhouse. My friend, neighbor and fellow Bingo Belle Lisa M. and I are the organizers. This month was not nearly as well-attended as March, which I blogged about here, nor did I play as many games.

But it was still fun! :) And I got to enjoy Scrabble, Snakes & Ladders and Scattergories. I won the latter two games, even though Snakes & Ladders is 100% luck, and there were four of us, so I only had a 1 in 4 chance. Despite not being a competitive person, I generally do well in Scattergories because I'm a writer, editor and die-hard "word nerd"! *giggle* *blush* That's also why I do well in Scrabble, but for that game, we didn't keep score, because it consisted of two adults and one child (Lisa's younger son), so scoring wouldn't be fair.

Has anyone been having WEIRD DREAMS lately, or is it just me? I've been meaning to write down (well, type) the highlights of some lately, but I keep forgetting to do so. Fortunately, I haven't forgotten the dreams themselves, even though they're no longer as sharp in my mind as they were the morning I awakened from them. But that's my own darn absent-minded fault! :(

Before I get into the dreams, however, I wanted to give a humble reminder about these squeeful photos of my rats that I posted this weekend for World Rat Day. I know it's silly of me to get so happy/excited when folks comment on my rat photo entries, but I do! *blush* So, because sometimes folks tell me they miss some of my updates when viewed on their Friends Page (yet another reason I dislike that distracting, messy thing), I thought I'd provide another link to my latest images of Blueberry and Jellybean. :) :) I hope you'll take a peek!!

And now:
One of the most vivid dreams I've had lately involved a UFO/alien invasion. I don't know if it was only happening in California, or the United States, or maybe the whole world! *shudder* In the dream, I think I first heard about a bunch of UFO sightings on the news. Then somehow I learned that a swarm of UFOs was "predicted" to be flying over a certain part of a certain city at a certain day or time. I've NO idea how I learned this. So I went there with a lot of other people -- fools that we were! I brought my camera with me, but it was not my digital camera, which was odd. Instead, it was my 35mm Ricoh ShotMaster Zoom, a film camera that I used for picture-taking from 1990 (when my Kodak Disc broke down) to 2003, when I got my Kodak digital, which is part of the large EasyShare series. I've used the Ricoh on occasion, but not much. My dad also has an awesome Canon SLR 35mm that I've used, but also not recently.

Anyhoo, back to the dream. At the predicted time, a group of UFOs flew rather erratically and quickly over the city, and not just overhead, but also in/through some of the spaces between the buildings! I think it was a typical "downtown" with many tall buildings, but also some open areas. I actually remember looking through the viewfinder of my camera and getting excited that I was catching some UFOs in the pictures! (What a shutterbug geek I am! *giggle*) I remember I was also taking some of the photos while I was running, because a bunch of us decided we'd better run for shelter rather than just standing around like deer in the headlights, taking photos or gawking or whatever.

The next thing I remember is that a bunch of us were living in some type of "tent city". I don't know why, and I don't know what, if anything, happened to our homes. Several people shared each tent. I remember I was not giddy with my camera anymore, but was feeling kind of scared and/or depressed about the whole idea of a possible alien invasion. One of the people in my tent was Natalie Portman, who happens to be one of my fave actresses. In my dream, she was either a relative of mine, or a good friend. She was upset because she couldn't find her boyfriend in all the turmoil. We hung around for a while, talking, and I tried to make her feel better.

In another part of the dream, I discovered that some rather common household chemical was a major deterrant to the aliens. It was something really mundane like paint or nail polish or glue. I seem to think I discovered this fact because I came across a little alien (really small, like mouse-size maybe) and I put some of the chemical near it and it shrank away in fear and loathing. heh This gave me a feeling of empowerment and relief!

In another part of the dream, I was part of a small group (I think it was a group?) of people who were either on the aliens' planet, or on board one of their spaceships. We were in negotiations to see what the aliens wanted and how we could get them to leave everyone alone. I remember that the aforementioned mundane household chemical was a significant part of the negotiations. *cheer* I think some of the aliens looked sort of like the typical Greys, but not really (less scary -- Greys freak me out terribly!). And some of the aliens did not look like them. The "leader" alien was fairly nice, all things considered, and willing to talk/negotiate. I don't recall how that turned out, though.

In another part of the dream, I was with some people who were trying to get to an old-fashioned, open-car steam train that was going to take us to our homes. We were all hanging around on an area of stairs and ramps and levels and stuff, between some buildings and I think with water beneath us, kind of like some touristy places near the ocean. Two people set off on the wrong path, and got "stuck" somehow and couldn't turn around. I don't really know what happened to them, though. I decided on a different way to go, and some people came with me. Actually I think I was leading the people. I didn't know if it was the "right" way to go, but soon it lead us to a rural area that looked like the countryside, which is odd since we were just at the coast, supposedly! I think there was a covered bridge or a barn nearby. Then suddenly I remember that we were on the train, and I was so happy about that! :)

Unfortunately, then I realized that I didn't have my cellphone. OH WAIT! Back up a second! I just remembered that in the part of the dream with the tent city, I lost my cellphone! I tried to find it for a while, and I think Natalie helped me, but I had to give up for whatever reason. OK, back to the train ride. I was very upset that I didn't have my cellphone, because I wanted to call my folks and make sure they were still safe at home, and also to let them know I was STILL ALIVE! :) I'm not sure if I still had my camera, but it wasn't on my mind at this point. Anyhoo, suddenly I felt something vibrating on my belt loop, the way my cellphone does when I clip it there and it's in vibrate mode. Except it wasn't my cellphone, but rather my Ete Swatch watch, which is one of the Swatches I own in real life, and which is my fave. Click the link and see how gorgeous it is!!

So, the Swatch was vibrating and ringing like a cellphone, so I "answered" it. LOL! It turned out to be someone from Normandin Chrysler Plymouth Jeep, a dealership located less than a mile from my home in real life. No one in my family has ever bought a car there, though, but it's been a fixture on the Capitol Expressway Auto Mall since before there was even an Auto Mall, and the Normandin family have been in the area a long time. In fact, when I was pre-school age, one of my best friends was a boy named Stephen Z. whose mom Christine (or dad Peter, but I think it was Christine) was related to the Normandins!

Anyhoo, I've NO idea why someone was calling me from Normandin, but I was excited because as I said, the dealership is less than a mile from my house! :) I think I spoke with someone named Linda, but I'm not sure. We had a nice chat, and she told me that our area was okay with no UFO damage, apparently. I asked her if she would call or visit my house and tell my parents that I was okay and on my way home. (I was VERY anxious and eager for them to know I was okay; I don't even know how many days I'd been away!) I think she said she would do it. However, the next thing I know, the train has arrived in San Jose, and somehow I knew that in a very short amount of time, I'd be back home again! I'm not sure how I was going to get there, though. But what's interesting is that this dream had a distinct CONCLUSION to it, which is something that's LACKING in most of my dreams. Then again, most of my dreams are not "mini epics" like this one was, so I guess it makes sense for it to have some sort of resolution, just like an epic novel or movie. *chuckle* What do you all think?

And since this ONE dream took so loooong to type about, I won't go into the other ones now. LOL!

My boys celebrate 'World Rat Day' with... PHOTOS! squee

2008-04-06T01:43:45Z

Actually, yesterday (April 4) was World Rat Day, but the day and I ran out of time before I was able to blog about and post photos. *sigh* So I'm doing it one day belatedly! ;D I love the idea of a holiday celebrating rats, and I encourage you to click the link above to learn about World Rat Day!

And now, without further ado, here are adorable and funny pix of my adorable and funny rattums, Blueberry and Jellybean! (I didn't take these pix April 4, but this is a good time to share 'em).

More "brotherly love" photos again! :) I know dragonkiri loves to squee over these ones. (heehee) I think that's Blueberry on top and Jellybean on the bottom.

A second "brotherly love" pose. Blueberry is definitely on top in this one. Sorry the color is so weird and grainy -- I took the photo without a flash and had to lighten/brighten it up in Photoshop.

Berrykins was tearing up a toilet paper roll (with paper attached) when I caught him in this cute pose. Doesn't he look like he's guilty? ;D "Busted!!" Also notice his cute little hand. The red "tentacle" tube thing belongs to a big plush octopus toy you'll see in a minute!

This was supposed to be a macro shot of Berry eating, but it came out a little blurry -- probably because I couldn't use the flash on him at such close range. That would be almost cruel! :O The big red "mouth" to the right is the crazy octopus toy you'll see a few photos down. heh

Berry always seems to look googlie-eyed in the photos where he's on my shoulder! LOL Sorry this is blurry; I don't know why. As for me, I pixelated my face to disguise it, because I think I look horrid in this photo!

Jellybean snuggling on my arm. He's not as huge as he looks in this photo; he was just kind of "spread out" here. heehee

Jelly LOVES to hang out (literally and figuratively!) in the sleeves of my sweatshirt. It's easiest for me to catch him in a photo if I give him something to eat beforehand. *giggle* Does he look like he's SMILING while eating? :)

Another photo of Jelly Belly in Mommy's sleeve! I love the feel of his soft, furry, warm body touching my arm!! Look at his cute little hand too!

I'm pretty sure this is Jelly. Note again the cute little hand! And now you can see just what the giant red octopus toy looks like! LOL The boys love playing in and around it!! You can't tell from this photo, but it has FIVE tentacles that also have openings the rats can go in and out of!

I think this should be part of my "brotherly love" photo series, because they're snuggled together SOOOOOO sweetly and cutely! What do you think, dragonkiri? *giggle* BTW, I think Berry's on top and Jelly's on the bottom, but I'm not sure.

The boys are tolerant of me doing just about ANYTHING to them when they're eating! ;D I got the idea to put Dixie Cups on their heads for a photo-opp, since I always give them Dixie Cups to play with anyway (they love to chew and tear them up! LOL). So, does Berrykins look SNAZZY with his hat, or what?

Jelly was supposed to stay seated in front of me when I gave him a treat, so I could take a hat shot of him. However, he decided to eat behind the toilet instead. His hat started to fall off, but the back of the toilet caught it! LOL

Afterwards, I caught Jellybean washing his face; here he is mid-wash, pulling on his ear. Maybe he wanted to "clean up" after the photo shoot? ;D

How my April 1st ACTUALLY went!

2008-04-03T05:13:43Z

For those reading this on that distracting, cluttered mess known as a Friends Page, rather than at my actual journal -- if you didn't see this entry from this morning, please read it. :) I want to be sure everyone knows that the entry I wrote on April 1, about my car being burglarized and vandalized, was an April Fool's Day prank. I feel guilty and bad that I got so many people wound up about the incident. *blush*

My April 1 was actually a very good day. Here's why....

I fooled my mom twice on April Fool's Day. The first joke was when I was in the bathroom, and suddenly I ran out making this "whooping" sound that I tend to make when I get startled or scared about something. (You should hear the sound; it's quite amusing! *giggle*) Anyhoo, she was in another room of the house and yelled "what happened?" to which I replied that there was a spider in the bathroom. (I'm afraid of spiders, which I know is silly but I can't help it. *blush*) So she chuckled at the way I wigged out, and walked with me back to the bathroom so I could show her the spider. Then I grinned and said "April Fool!" and fortunately she found it funny and got a laugh. :D

The second time I fooled my mom, I was just about ready to leave for work. I made my cellphone ring, then answered it as though someone were calling me. I pretended that one of my co-workers, LG, was calling me from the office, telling me not to come to work because she had just arrived at work and called the police because she noticed the office had been broken into some time during the night. My mom, upon hearing my end of the conversation, could tell that someone at work had gone wrong, because she walked into the living room where I was on the phone, and was staring at me with a very puzzled/concerned look. I was just wrapping up my "call" at that moment. But darn it -- as soon as I closed up my phone, my face betrayed me! LOL! I started to smile and had to confess to my mom that the phone call was a fake! heheh I guess I would make a terrible liar, wouldn't I? Not to mention a bad poker player! ;D

At work, I fooled two co-workers. One was my friend (and fellow Bingo Belle) Becky R. and the other was our office manager BG. I sent them each an email, separately of course, asking if they had any secret admirers or guys who were trying to find them, because I'd just gotten a really weird and rambling voicemail message from a guy from their "past" who wanted to know if they worked out of the same office as I do, and if so, could I get him in touch with them. Becky came by my cubicle first, supposedly to listen to the mysterious message. However, her face was so contorted with confusion and anxiety that I confessed immediately. Her face immediately looked sooo relieved, and she started laughing!! She said that I really fooled her. When BG came to my cubicle, she put her hand on her hip and said: "Is this some April Fool's joke?" LOL!! I was so busted! ;D She wasn't aware of what I played on Becky, so I guess she just somehow figured I was playing a joke. And she was right! She was also a very good sport about it; it turns out she likes to play short, harmless jokes on people as well. *giggle*

Lunch was no joke, but rather was a delicious surprise! I was informed by LG that some people were going out for lunch that day at The Happy Bamboo vegetarian cafe. I was happy myself, because the last time a group of office friends went there was for Becky's birthday lunch, but I couldn't make it because it was on one of my days off, and I had a chiropractor appointment right when they were meeting for lunch. :( This time the lunch group was LG, Becky, YK, MY, JL and myself.

I'm so glad I got to try this place, because it was terrific! I encourage ANYONE in the greater San Jose area to try this place, or at least look at the menu! Becky's a vegetarian (not a vegan, though) and really likes Happy Bamboo. And now I see why! :) The menu has an amazing array of items, the majority of which are Asian themed. Of those Asian themed items, most were Vietnamese but also some Thai and Chinese, plus some "Western specialties". heh

I ordered "Au-Lac Vermicelli", which the menu also called "Bun Bi". Click here for a great photo of Bun Bi on the internet that looks almost exactly like mine, except mine also had pieces of crispy spring roll sitting on top. The menu described the dish thusly: "rice vermicelli, lettuce, bean sprouts, fresh mint and shredded cucumber, topped with peanuts, spring rolls and tofu, bean thread, veggie ham mixed with roasted rice powder, served with house dressing."

When I saw the presentation of it in Happy Bamboo, it reminded me a lot of Dolsot Bibimbap, one of my FAVE Korean dishes! Well, except Bun Bi was on a bed of noodles instead of rice, and it didn't have as many veggies as Bibimbap, and also it had spring rolls, which bibimbap doesn't have. I asked MY, who is Korean, if my Bun Bi reminded her of Bibimbap, but she only saw a very vague resemblance, and only barely. *chuckle* soojaebi, what do you think? ;D

Last entry = APRIL FOOL'S JOKE! ;D

2008-04-02T15:51:05Z

I guess I would NOT make a good reality show contestant, because I feel too guilty and sad/bad when I lie to people or manipulate their feelings. *blush* I'm too honest and kind (not that this is bad). I would probably be the first person voted off the show!!

The car vandalism/robbery situation I posted last night was an April Fool's Day prank. purplesquirrel and beckerbuns were correct when they hoped/wondered if the whole thing was a joke. It WAS! I'm sorry, though, that I got so many people upset for me and Flora. Thank you for all of your concerned comments, and I mean that sincerely!! *HUGS* *blush again*

There are two things that would have given away that it was false, if you knew about my parking habits or the inside of my car. (heehee) First thing: I don't park Flora outside on the street, where vandals or burglars could even get to her. I park her inside my safe, dry, warm GARAGE! Second thing: Flora doesn't have a radio/CD player. She only has an old-fashioned radio/cassette player, so when I mentioned that my CD deck was stolen, that was another tip-off that the whole thing was a fake story. The only TRUE part of that story was that I really was unsure about how much of the incident would be covered by my auto insurance. But I think I got that figured out, thanks to several people's helpful comments. :)

I actually had a very GOOD April 1st yesterday. :D I will blog about it later, because for now I have to hurry and eat breakfast and leave for a chiropractor appointment.

Why. Today. Sucked.

2008-04-02T02:24:09Z

This icon is highly appropriate.

I left my house this morning to go to work. When I got to my car (Flora the Toyota Corolla), I saw both of the front windows (she's a 4-door) were smashed. When I looked inside, I saw my CD/stereo deck had been removed, although oddly enough, the thieves left my couple of CDs. Maybe they don't like 80s music? My cellphone battery charger was also stolen, which I always leave plugged into the cigarette lighter hole. And -- to add insult to injury -- the paint was keyed along the driver's side. This whole thing SO SUCKS!! :(

One of my neighbor's cars was also broken into, with several things stolen, including a big bag of clothes he wanted to donate to a thrift store! Isn't that awful? Although at least the fact that my neighbor's car was burglarized too lets me know that no one had anything against ME personally. Not that I could imagine anyone wanting to target me in the first place.

So, that's the news for today. I was obviously very late to work, because when I called the police to file a report, the dispatcher said there was a unit in the area and he actually had time to drive by in person and take the report (rare these days). It turned out the cop took about 20 minutes to arrive, so by the time he took the report from me and my neighbor, and took pictures, I was REALLY late! And of course, this was the day I was supposed to attend a staff meeting, which I missed except for the last 5 minutes. At least I'm not working tomorrow, so I'll be able to hopefully take care of things with my car insurance company. Do insurance policies even cover theft and vandalism? Suddenly I'm not even sure if they do, which I feel stupid about! *blush* I do know they don't generally cover "acts of God" like a tree falling on your car, or dents from hailstones. I prefer to call those "acts of Nature", but that's another topic. heh

At any rate, TODAY REALLY SUCKED!!