J.P.

I continued the productivity trend of the weekend by completing all the laundry today. All six loads of it. Everything will be folded neatly or hung up by the end of the night and I will have met my goal of going to bed with the washer and dryer empty.

Sometimes I make myself sick with the mundane nature of it all.

Earl passed the afternoon by cheering on the Eagles. He cheered very loudly. But they won and that’s what’s important of course.

I have a video project formulating in my brain. I hope to have something together by the end of the week. Something flashy.

It’s an on-call weekend in our merry little household and surprisingly, Earl and I were very productive around the house today! That makes almost two weeks in a row of domesticity. Before you know it, we won’t be peeing in the shower anymore.

Kidding. We’ll never stop that.

Earl kicked off the morning by getting his haircut in an ultra-short flattop that I must say looks positively fierce on him. FIERCE. Still not as short as my hair, but then again, he has hair he can ‘flat’ whereas I can’t. While he was having fun at the barbershop, I dealt with a few troubles for work that sailed along to resolution quite nicely.

We then decided that Mother Nature has made a statement with all the rain and wind and the promise of snow within the next day or two, so we packed up the camper and camping equipment and took the camper to the dealer for winterization and storage. Such a deal. They’ll make sure it makes it through the winter unscathed and get it ready for camping season with just a few days notice next spring. What could be better?

When we got back home, we cleaned the garage from top to bottom, complete with sweeping, and made room for the Acura so that it would be as snug as a bug in a rug this winter. I found it rather shocking that both the Jeep and the Acura fit in the garage after we took an hour or two of cleaning up the junk. Before we started our project, the person in the Jeep’s passenger seat always had to thread themselves out the window, over some garbage pails, around the snowblower, under the push mower and through the cat’s travel case just to get to the pathway that went to the door to the house. Now you can open doors and everything. Wow!

Earl then took a nap while I worked on some websites and then finished setting up a computer for my cousin that I promised to deliver a month or two ago. Since the day was just whistling along it didn’t even bother me that I had to delve into Microsoft hell and install Windows 98 on it for her. I even fired up the old computer in the basement that has Windows XP to download drivers. After spending a couple of hours using that software I don’t know what in the world was holding me up from switching over to my Macs and OS X. Computing life is so much better now. Since I was done with the Microsoft project, I wiped out Windows XP from the Intel machine in the basement and installed Ubuntu Linux. The computer may be old but at least it can maintain its dignity!

We just got done watching a chapter of “Angels in America” on DVD and now we’re parked in front of our computers catching up on our day. It’s all been good today.

Now I’m thinking that I need to change my beard style soon. I’m getting bored with it. I don’t know what to do though – I’ve never tried a mustacheless beard or goatee before, maybe I should give that a whirl. Anyone have any comments? Maybe I should put it up to a poll and let the masses decide.

I’ve discovered why I enjoy eating out so much. It’s not that I don’t appreciate home cooked meals, because I absolutely love Earl’s cooking (and my cooking too if I do say so) and I have the poundage to prove it. No, I enjoy eating out so much because owning groceries is so stressful.

I just can’t take the pressure.

Last Friday night we went grocery shopping for the week. During the excursion, we picked up a bunch of bananas and a package of individually wrapped carrot packs, which would be perfect for lunch. The carrots were stamped with a “best if used by 10/21/2005”. The bananas were as green as the lawn, I figured they had a good 10 days before they’d get funky.

I figured wrong.

The bananas made a hasty retreat to the brown side as of Monday. I’ve had a banana everyday. I don’t like bananas that much but I can’t bear to throw them out and I can’t stand looking at them so I’m eating them even though they’ve turned their back on me.

The carrots have been yelling my name from the veggie drawer in the fridge. I’ve had carrots everyday with my lunch, regardless of what I was eating. In the mood for chocolate chip cookies? Have some carrots! Want some Doritos? Have some carrots. Thank DIETY$ that I just polished off the last pack this afternoon. So they smell like dirt. At least they’re GONE.

It’s not that I don’t like carrots or bananas, it’s just that I don’t want them everyday. But there they are, aging by the second and making me feel guilty for not consuming them before they go bad.

I won’t eat or drink anything that is one second past the date stamped on the packaging. Earl is constantly reminding me that the date is a “sell by” date, not a “rancid” date, but I don’t buy a word of it. Someone at the dairy knew that something awful was going to happen to that bottle of milk on Oct. 23 at 2:36 a.m. and no one is going to convince me otherwise. Drink it or dump it before that drop dead date. To do otherwise is too risky. It’s funny to look back and think that I when I was a kid I used to drink milk out of pail after skimming the heavy cream off the top so we didn’t get chunks on our cereal.

Our team leader at work brought two bushels of apples to share at the office this week. I think I’m going to lose my mind.

Applesauce anyone?

Just Like Daddy.

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

Last night Earl and I went shopping at a locally owned supermarket which is, sadly, the last one left in the area. Have I mentioned that I’m not a big fan of the huge behemoths that have taken over the grocery market in the area? You think if we were going to have chain grocery stores here, we’d have a quality chain like Wegmans here, but no, we’re stuck with a bunch of Super Wal*Marts (Always White Trash, Always).

Unfortunately the locally owned market doesn’t have a huge selection. They’re trying desperately to compete with the glutton of chains in the area and for the most part they do an admirable job. But when you’re looking for a certain item that you’ve seen advertised or in one of the bigger stores, it’s a crap shoot as to whether it’s going to be there or not.

I had to pick up some cat food for Tom while we were out. He told me in no uncertain terms that he does not enjoy the prescribed food from the vet. If you’re wondering how he told me this, he demonstrated his dislike by backing up to the bowl of food and acting like he was burying something in his litter box. He’s inherited his sense of comedy from me, I guess, because I did the exact same thing on a blind date once.

But I digress.

So we went looking in the “pet” aisle and found a choice between Fancy Feast at two for $1.49 and this Figaro at two for $.69. Trying to save money, I figured I’d get a couple of cans and see how he did with this before I made a commitment and bought a bunch of it.

I served it up for his supper last night and he wolfed it down like he hadn’t been fed in days. Fair enough. I gave him a little more for breakfast this morning with the same results, he gobbled it up like there was no tomorrow and then looked at me and begged for a little more.

I guess Figaro brand is the “diner” brand in the cat food circles, it’s basic, cheap but tastes great. Tom is just like his Daddies when it comes to food.

We’re so proud of our son.

I did something I haven’t done in a long while today. I left work at noon today and went home sick. I never get sick. I don’t like getting sick. I refuse to be sick. So I will admit that I had the “sniffles”, but I most certainly was not sick. I used sniffle time.

I figured in order for me to get rid of the sniffles, I had to have some down time and let my body heal and do it’s thing. So that’s what I did. I came home, had a bowl of soup, watched a couple episodes of “Green Acres” and then slept for four hours until Earl came home from work. I feel much better this evening, though I am still a little sweaty. I’m currently medication free, so I’m hoping that I have this thing licked. I’m drinking a lot of orange juice and herbal tea to give my body the support it needs to fight these sniffles off naturally.

I’m looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. I’m hoping that I can sleep through the night tonight so that I’m well rested and ready to take on the day.