Gracie having asthma put me into cleaning mode (and okay, my allergies have been acting up lately, too, so I did it for both of us). I did the normal dusting routine, but I also decided to go one step further and do the one task I dread most... taking all the leaves off the fake ficus and wiping them down with a cloth. It needed to be done... it was nasty. I tried the shortcut of putting them in a bag with salt and shaking it all around... but it didn't work very well, even in small batches... maybe it was supposed to be rice instead of salt... I dunno. So I just finished putting my tree back together. It looks a lot better now.

The pet piller worked just as well the second time as it did the first. I'm in love with that thing. And Gracie only coughed once today so the medicine seems to be doing its thing. Or maybe it's because I vacuumed behind the bed, and under the bedside table, where she hides. In any case, I'm a happy camper. I love my kitty insanely and don't like her to be sick.

Tomorrow I'm cooking for mom and dad, and maybe their neighbor, who is a cool guy that is pretty much a part of the family. When my parents eventually retire, and if they end up relocating, I half expect them to all end up in the same place. It would almost seem weird if they didn't. Anyway, my parents usually treat when we go to lunch on Sundays, so every once in a while I cook lunch for them because they won't let me treat otherwise, and it's my way of showing my appreciation (and sometimes expanding their culinary horizons). So today I went to the grocery store to buy steaks and shrimp, and I feel like I got a great deal - I bought a multi-pack of about 6 steaks, and my discount card saved me around $23. *smile* I'm going to cook some of Pioneer Woman's recipes: bacon cheddar biscuits, grilled steaks with bleu cheese sauce, and potato bundles. They all look soooooo yummy. And mom is bringing a cobbler for dessert. Oh lordy... I already feel miserable, lol.

Spent a couple of hours clipping coupons and watching werewolf movies on SyFy (the new bloody UPN) but spent most of the day cleaning and doing chores... one of those weekends. It was raining most of the day and I had the windows open with a candle lit, it was really nice.

I need to get my eBay clothes, patterns, and fabric out so I can photograph them to sell. It's ridiculous that I bought all that crap and now it's just sitting in my closet taking up space. I know now that I'm not going to sew on a regular basis, certainly not enough to attempt some of the amazing patterns I had to have. And the fabric I bought... very little of it is anything I can use. Problem is that I don't know what kind of fabric it is, so I'm going to have to put together bundles of color I think. The clothes? Some of them don't fit me because they're too big, or I just never wore them for one reason or another. I could donate them, but I need the money (and I'm sure some of it will still end up being donated).

I procrastinate a lot. If I get started I'm almost obsessive about completing a task, but until then... I don't even know why it is. Sometimes my excuse is that it's a workday and I won't have enough time, which is bullshit. There's plenty of time left in the day when I get home. I've somehow latched onto the idea that I can't do anything on a weekday. I need to get over that.

My electric bill has delayed my foray into lotion making because it was outrageous this month... I don't know how I can have new energy efficient windows, a new A/C, new appliances, and end up with a HIGHER electric bill. It just doesn't compute. And the days of having your meter checked for free are over, I think my provider said it would be $65 if I wanted them to check it. That's another reason I enjoyed today... I didn't run the A/C at all.

Oh well.

Yesterday I did diddly-squat.

Okay, not true. Not exactly. I made another disappointing recipe out of the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook... so far I've made four recipes... so far all four have sucked. This one actually made me want to vomit... and I'm not kidding.

I ended up surfing the net to find suppliers and information on how to make lotions, bath salts, and bath bomb fizzies. I tend to like scents that aren't readily available mass market, and I like the idea of controlling the ingredients that go into it, so -- if nothing else -- I would like to try it out as a hobby. But I would like it even better if I could turn it into a business. All of those things should have a decent shelf life, and I know there's a market there if you do it right. I'm thinking that if I do pursue it... a lot of people might get lotion for Christmas this year... I'm sorry, but things are tight right now and they'll just have to understand. More on that later. *

Funny thing happened while I was researching, I found several really interesting sites that were completely unrelated... that's how I think the internet contributes to short attention spans and ADD... you never finish anything because you're constantly distracted by other things. Information overload... but some good can come out of it, like angryalien.com... that's good stuff...

So, accordingly, I updated my Random Stuff page to add the pages that I really liked, and then I realized categories were beginning to reveal themselves and I reorganized the page to reflect that. Got to check 'sense of accomplishment' off my daily list. J/K.

One really cool website I found was The Simple Dollar. I like the way the guy writes, and the information is helpful, too. I quickly got addicted and spent no less than two hours reading his blogs and following links. Another is a website that my cousin, Beth introduced me to a few years back, Pioneer Woman. She's hilarious, but my favorite part of her website is that she includes yummy recipes, and she takes pictures of each stage in the process so you can see it (and I reiterate that she's hilarious). I want to be her when I grow up. There are a couple of others, but those are my two favorites at the moment. Check out the revamped Random page if you're interested.

So I am, once again, considering the name change to Job. I have a new home repair issue to contend with:

Exhibit# 1 - My toilet tank has been refilling itself on a fairly regular basis for the past month or so. I thought it was a leaky seal and was going to go get a part to fix it... eventually. My spidey senses weren't tingling. They were just mildly irritated at the fact that I would have to make a trip to Home Depot, because I still don't know where they moved to and I suspect it's the hellish high traffic area down the road that's going to cause me a lot of unnecessary stress. I hate playing dodgeball, especially with my car.

Exhibit# 2 - The last couple of weeks there has been a whine coming from my kitchen faucet when I turn it on... I remember that sound calmly being referred to as 'air in the line.' Eh, there wasn't a sense of urgency... it sounded like something that would eventually work itself out. The spidey senses didn't give a crap.

Exhibit# 3 - The last couple of days as the water was draining from my bathtub, there was a horrific, guttural sound originating from my kitchen sink (scary if you're not expecting it and haven't yet identified where it's coming from). Now... my spidey senses are a little freaked out by the gurgling, but they still weren't catching on to the urgency of the situation.

I'm going to sue my spidey senses for negligence. It was all starting to add up but I was oblivious because a few months back they worked on the water lines and some of that same shit happened.

Where it started to get ugly was (Exhibit# 4) when I opened my blinds this morning and saw the water coming up out of the pipe outside my master bedroom. Two things became apparent to me at that point - 1) the toilet had just been flushed, and 2) there was toilet paper on the ground surrounding the puddle that was forming around this geyser... and it was unrelated to the spirited game of pass the plunger we played last weekend.

Yippee.

So I called my insurance company and filed a claim. I'm assuming this has something to do with my foundation repair, and I'm hoping it's covered. It occurred to me to wonder if, since I have three different policies (homeowner's, windstorm and flood), do I also have three deductibles? I've already met my windstorm deductible, so do I also have to meet the homeowner's deductible, too? If the answer if yes, then S of a B... that sucks.

And I think I actually shot my own self in the foot... I stopped donating to charities because I don't have the extra dough, but I did still attempt to do a good deed by starting the coupon exchange, and then this happens... Gawd... can you imagine what would have happened if I had gotten around to volunteering to work with Habitat for Humanity??? Hopefully this link between good deeds and bad luck will fade by the end of the year and I can get back to being a good person again... I really want to eventually do H for H...

So I'm thinking that with the gig having been pushed out a week, and this new development, that's God's way of telling me to forget about Oklahoma. I think it's also his way of telling me to sell all that shit I bought on EBay (and Cook Yourself Thin) last year, back to people on EBay... instead of letting it sit in my closet of shame, unused, gathering dust and guilt.

Or maybe Suze Orman put a whammy on me for not having an emergency fund...

Or maybe should have the house exorcised...

So this is my parting nugget of wisdom... if you don't own a house... if you're thinking it's a good investment... that you get tax breaks... that you build equity... IT'S A LIE, PEOPLE!!! DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!! YOU WILL NEVER GET OUT OF IT, WHAT YOU PUT INTO IT, AND WHEN YOU ADD UP EVERYTHING YOU'VE SPENT IT WILL SICKEN YOU!!!

Okay... I feel better now...