Sunday Morning Coming Down

My head hurts. I had 2 Shiners last night. I am cornfused. This makes no sense. But, just perhaps, it wasn't the beers, it was seeing the latest in West Texas Cowboy Fashion.



You are gonna have to bear with me and use your imagination here. I have spent way too long looking for the exact type and color for technical accuracy here. I failed. So, imagine...the above style....the below color.


I saw these elf-y cowboy boots in lime green, orange and baby blue last night.

As a kid I loved helping my dad remove his cowboy boots each night. The little holes on the side fascinated me, I was weird, what? My dad has always worn boots. About 5 years ago, he got deck shoes for working in the yard in the summer. Can I tell you it was a bit frightening to see my dad's feet decked out in anything other than his well-worn cowboy boots.

I also lived in Houston for a very long time. I went to a lot of rodeo's. I went to a lot of dive country bars. Hell, I went to school, work and the grocery store.

I am quite familiar with cowboy boots is my point. I have nothing against most. There is something a bit comforting about them when worn properly. A feeling that the wearer of said boots is a just a good ole boy. Never meaning no harm.

But. Worn wrong. I get creeped. And these creeped me. And these do as well.


Cows are not orange. Ostriches are not blue. Stick with normal color please. And pointy shoes are for elves.

Although, I have to say, women passed this fashion on to the men. Why oh why were women wearing their own elf shoes just a season or two ago.



These shoes are really making my headache worse.



EDIT: I have revised the pictures in this post to reflect the true hideous nature of the boots. I learned on Sunday afternoon that the style of these boots originates from the Chihuahua area of Mexico. With that vital information, I have been able to provide a more accurate picture of the hideousity. /fianna

What - A - Burger

For those outside of the South, I am sorry. Why, you ask? Whataburger.

Whataburger is only in the South. I originally thought it was a Texas only restaurant, until I performed my thorough research for this post. Whataburger has franchises from Arizona to Florida, although Texas is definitely their stronghold. I didn't know until now that they had a couple in my state. I always thought crossing the Texas border was the only way to get a fix.

The burgers are similar to Sonic, but better. Their fries are mmm....maybe closest to McDonald's but better. Their chicken strip dinners are equal to none. However, my favoritest item on their menu? TAQUITOS!! (Or breakfast burritos to those Yankees present!)

During my party-ing days, I was turned on to the glorious nature of taquitos at 3 AM. Now that I actually get them during daytime hours, they are every bit as delish.

As I have mentioned the male portion of my household works some ridiculous hours. He was out the door at 4 AM today. So when we moved out here, in order to properly be housewife-y, I wanted to ensure he received a good breakfast. After all, it is the most important meal of the day. My solution:



Taquitos!!

I made 15 today, in order to stock the freezer. 2 minutes in the microwave and a perfect breakfast is in hand. Yum.

This weekend, I also was able to obtain an item I have been looking for:



My FIL used to go to Whataburger years ago with his mother, chatting and drinking coffee. Out of Whataburger's nickel coffee mugs. I saw some at a Trade Days event in February, but did not get them because I wasn't sure if they would sell on Ebay. I told my man about them and he flipped! He wanted them for his dad. So, when I went back to that event this weekend, all I really wanted were these mugs. I didn't think they would still have them, but I was wrong! I have been told that Whataburger still fills the mugs for a nickel. I think I am going to win some points when his birthday rolls around...

To the Left Before He Cheats

There aren't many radio stations that come in out here in the boonies. I listen to the "Adult Alternative" or "Popular" or maybe the "Rock" station. It is the only station that plays the Top 40-ish stuff. It also plays country crossovers, R&B, hip hop, and jazz on the weekends. Whew. Lots of records in that joint.

So, with all of these different genres to cover, could someone explain to me why I have heard "To the Left" by Beyonce and "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood twice each today? It is 3 PM here. So, by my count, they should be replayed sometime soon. Then right after those, they will play that Arms Race song by someone or another. And that Fray song is on right now for the 2nd time today.....

I grew up in a bitty little town, smaller than this one. I always thought we were really behind in the hot and happening stuff, be it clothes, movies or music. Like all the "cool" stuff came to Kansas a couple months after it hit LA, NYC or Atlanta even.

So, audience participation please: what songs are being played nonstop where you are? Am I behind the times? Or is it just me?

OMG OMG OMG (& Naked Cats)

Did you see!!! I had a visit from the famous Laurie!!! Crazy Aunt Purl visited this little innernet space!!! I spent 2 months with a pretty famous celeb on this work deal I did in the past. That was so not nearly as exciting. She is causing people the world over to do the ugly cry for her today. Have you been to her site yet? And have you ordered her book yet?

And, my own felines, in their sexiest Playcat poses....

Book Dealings

Every day, while I am working busily on Ebay-ing, cat herding, tea making, etc., I constantly check my RSS feed for Crazy Aunt Purl's latest post. She must not have slept at all last night because her post was up crazy early today. I know she gets 10K readers a day according to the Amazon description of her book, and I get 3 a day. But gosh darned it, I think if you know something good, you gotta share it. You have to tell everyone you know and love because maybe they aren't aware of how awesomer their life will be. Hence the Carolyn post. And I am sure there will be more recommended stuff posts. I have sent many an email to my poor friends to turn them on to whatever is my latest obsession. Now, I have you. And I share. And I love Laurie! So go see her. I don't buy books, that is what the library is for. And if I am feeling particularly lazy and don't wanna return books, I go to Half-Price Books. I never buy books at full price. But, I just did. Because it was Crazy Aunt Purl. I think I may try my hand at knitting again soon. She inspired me to try and well I failed, but she wrote a book. A book! I can barely write a post. Go see Laurie, and then visit my other links off to the left. But come back. I will be posting naked cat pictures later.

Got Gas?

On my way to the big city Friday, I was thinking about blog posts. I needed something. Hmmm, my life isn’t all that exciting. I work on Ebay, I cook, clean and sleep. I need more things to write about. Then I get stuck in the mud . Which seems so passive. It is more appropriate to stay, I stuck my car in the mud. So there is a blog post. Bam!

Then life again happens. This morning, early for me, on a Sunday, 7A.M. An annoying beep wakes me. My dear has his alarm clock set on his 2 phones. They are recurring so they go off every morning, not knowing that it is the weekend and we DON’T want the alarm to go off. But I had asked him to please, oh please, turn them off last night because I was already woken up yesterday morning by the chirping.

Then he wakes up and we realize that this is not his phone. What is the stupid noise? I am a light sleeper and ticked off already so I get up. It is our Carbon Monoxide Alarm. He tells me to rip it off the wall and take the batteries out. I, little Girl Scout, I am. Exercising that levelheaded-ness I lacked in the mud incident, test it. Put new batteries in it. And it proceeds to scream a lot more. Every room of the house, it screams. Um, do we have a gas leak?

I promptly open the doors and windows to air out the place. The alarm shuts up. We move to the living room and sleep there. With the doors and windows open as to prevent a silent death.

We do have gas in our apartment. It powers the AC unit, so I turned that off. There are also gas hookups for the washer and dryer, but I don’t think they work. I turned off the air.

We haven’t called anyone, because well, we were tired. And wanted to sleep and not have the fire department traipsing through the mess. Keeping us from the important sleep.

I shut one door when I woke up, because frankly, I was cold. The alarm is still silent, I am alive, the boy is sleeping and snoring so he is alive. So do we do anything now? Do we blame it on a fluke? Maybe the cats were a bit gassy?

Anyone?

And Yoda is NOT gassy she would like you to know.

My New Shoes

I don’t frequently buy new stuff. I buy clothes sure, but almost always second hand.

So, why oh why are these new cute flip flops now in my overloaded closet? Were they just that irresistible? Why did I even go to Kohl’s in the first place?

Well….because I did this.




I wish I had taken pictures while in the moment, but um, I wasn't very level-headed.
I am a level-headed, rational, forward-thinking person most of the time. I usually can foresee when ideas I may have are a bad idea. Friday, apparently not so much.

I had just gotten into the big city, was on my way to the 3rd place on my list. It was way back in a new neighborhood with twisty dead-end streets. It took quite some time to find the place. And when I get there….they aren’t open. They open at noon. Grrrr. So, I am leaving, trying to figure out how to get out of there. Turn left? Right? I had no clue. Ah – but wait, just over there, is a cut through where I can get on the street where I need to be. I will shave off lots of time, and save myself lots of frustration. So, I take my small little Go-cart of a car and attempt to cross a dirt path. That was apparently not quite dirt, but much more like mud.

I realize this when my front tires are about 6 inches deep. And spinning.

I kept it together. My dad raised his 2 girls to be self-sufficient. Found a piece of wood, stuck that under the worst tire. Nope, just dug them deeper. Ok. There is a storage place just up the street, oh I hope they are open already.

I gather my purse. Before I have a chance to get 10 feet from my car....a big white pick-em-up truck is turning around!!! Hallelujah!

Now, this is Texas. Please comment on where you live, if life is this easy for ditzy girls who put themselves in stupid predicaments requiring muscle and horsepower. Not that I have frequently gotten stuck in mud, I have done it before though. I have had flat tires, I have had busted hoses. I have been stuck on the side of the road more times than I should admit in my 10+++ years of driving experience. I have never, never ever had to wait more than 5 minutes before a white knight in a big truck stopped and assisted this damsel in distress. I love chivalry!!

While the pick-up is turning around, 2 guys in an El Camino stop as well. These 3 wonderful gentlemen quickly extract the poor go-cart out of the mud. Quickly and efficiently. These guys sure seemed to know exactly how to go about this, like they patrol the streets looking for stupid girls who get stuck in the mud.

I didn’t get their names, my manners were buried underneath the heaping mounds of shame piled at the top of my emotional mountain. But if for some reason, they make a habit of reading silly girls’ blogs, hey guys, thanks so much for rescuing the silly redhead in that mud hole!!

So, what do you think of my shoes? I went and bought them right away. To replace these:


So, with a determined look on my face, I took my little mud covered car all around the Big City, wearing these cute shoes and muddy jeans. Oh, what people must have thought.

I tried to find a car wash, and indeed stopped at one, but it wasn’t working, so I continued with my day. A little mud is not stopping this determined girl.

Except I never got up to a very high speed during the day. Until my ride home.

I am leaving town, get up to about 55 mph. My car starts shaking. Violently. Um…..uh oh. I keep going trying to figure out what is going on. Is it just mud caught up on things? Maybe driving will shake it all off. It is dried by now, it will just fall off as I go faster and shake the car more…. I am so smart!!!

It doesn’t help. I proceed to the next town and find a car wash. I select the under-the-hood washer option on the automatic car wash dealio. This will surely help. $6.00 later, not really. I then check my tire pressure on my front tires. Nope, that is ok. I can see mud coming out of the hubcaps from the wash. Again, optimistic idiot I am, decide to keep going, the car wash removed the mud, and the water will loosen anything that it didn’t get and I will be fine. BTW, the big city is almost 2 hours from my home. I am currently about 20 minutes into the drive.

So, back on the highway. With a 70 mph limit, my car will not permit anything over 57 mph. If I do, it shakes, and screams and I think I will flip it. Mud is periodically falling off. I hope it was mud at least, and not an alternator, or a tire or carburetor,…..

I stop in the next town, which has a tire place. And beg for their help. Shame covers me again as I am surrounded by 6 very bored tire repair worker guys who want to know what has this poor girl done to her very poor car. Oy vey. I just need an alignment check I say. So, they proceed to check it out. When they jack it up, it is obvious that I was ripped off on that $6.00 car wash. Mud everywhere. They remove the hubcaps from the front two tires. Mud falls everywhere. They take off the tires and go rinse them off while I nervously beat at the various parts and remove all the other dried mud that I can.

While it is in the air, the manager proceeds to warn me that my tires are dangerously bald. And my brakes….metal to metal….

And since I was quite cheery at this point, I give the underside a once-over and find that the tailpipe is pretty darned corroded as well. Weeee…..my 10 yo car, those 175K miles haven’t treated you nicely.

So, the guys put it all back together. Sweep my pride up with the mud that has fallen off my car and send me on way. $5 broker.

And the ride home? Blissful. I was cruising along at the posted speed limits. Because I can’t speed anymore. At least in the State of Texas. Who has a point system now. Pretty soon they won’t allow guns in restaurants. What is becoming of Texas anyhow??

Well, at least they have good ole boys who help poor damsels who are stuck in the mud.

Thanks again guys!

Busy-ness

I have been busy the past few days with my sales, which I am very happy about! I am really hesitant about joining the workforce again and would love to just sell online. However, if I can't make a decent amount at it, I am gonna just deal with it and get an 8-5. I am definitely not looking to make the equivalent of what a day job would pay, but at least 3x more than I am currently bringing in.

This morning is a perfect example of why the day job thing would suck. The man flew home yesterday evening. At 4:30 this morning, his alarm went off. (He sometimes gets up at 3AM!) I got up, made him some coffee as he was dragging, and boom I am wide awake. So I have been up since around 4:30 today. If I had a day job, I may kill him when the alarm goes off.

He will be home sometime between noon and 3 PM. So we will get to hang out all afternoon and evening. Perhaps nap :)

If I had a day job, I would work for attorneys. Most are grumbly all day as their normal status. They learn this in law school apparently. It has been my experience that they expect their staff to be bright and cheery and happy to do whatever inane, crazy, illogical or impossible things they request - with a smile. I would be grumbly and tired all day. If I didn't get fired, I would get home at 5-6 PM, be in a foul mood. Make dinner if we are lucky or (more likely) call for pizza and crash. This does not look to me like a nice lifestyle.

I love how life is going now, but in order to keep it how it is, I need to make more $$! My sales are definitely increasing, I am getting better at this whole gig, but I just gotta see a return!


The resume is still sitting on my desk in decent draft form.... but I have always been a glass half-full type of girl.

Why I Heart Austin

Too many people spread their love of Austin, Texas. I don't want to jump on the bandwagon. There are some things I HATE about the city, but there are things I absolutely love about the city. So I want to share those, because this is my blog to put crap up on.


Things I hate:
Traffic - The gubberment wasn't able to build freeways fast enough to keep up with the ridiculous amount of growth that this city has undergone in the past 10 years. Gridlock is re-dick-er-ous. A while back, there was a short-lived plan that showed a proposal for toll roads. They were going to make nearly every single freeway a toll road. While this would reduce traffic - perhaps - it is a bit crazy. Oh and can I just ask who thought of the I-35 split in the middle of downtown. All of a sudden the road splits into 2, 2 lane freeways, one on top of the other. I am extremely curious of how they are planning on doing the road construction to expand this. Yipes.

Grackles - These are horrible evil birds. Their primary residence, as far as I could tell during my brief residence there, is the Hyatt, the exact same place I had the pleasure to reside at during my stay in Austin. Sweet. For the record, I did NOT do this. I have a full alibi, for goodness sake. Although, I can't say I didn't celebrate. However, a word to the wise - do not park under a tree in Travis County. Never ever ever. Automatic car washes cannot remove that ... well...crap.

Parking - It stinks. Really bad. But, of course, this is just a difficulty associated with the ridiculous amounts of growth this town has undergone! Build a parking garage in downtown Austin. You will be a millionaire in a week. Or maybe two.

Things I heart:
Ok, first a disclaimer. I was working while I lived in Austin. I was in a hotel, working a re-dick-erous amount of hours. I am sure I have different views than others do of the wonderful things this town has to offer.

Restaurants:
Thundercloud Subs. Robert Earl Keen has a song, Dreadful Selfish Crime, that says.."looking for the rain in a Thundercloud". All I ever think of is, mmmm, I really want a samwich.

Magnolia Cafe. Love Butter. Garlic Serrano. Need I say more. Except, more please.

Kerbey Lane. My almost absolute favoritest Austin restaurant. Portabella omelettes. I don't think I had anything except Portabella omelettes at this restaurant ever. (I hear their waffles are to die for though!) Yum. Yummy coffee. Waiters covered in tattoos and dreadlocks. Mmmm. They offer soy milk for their coffee. Nuff' said for those lactose intolerant readers - hmmm.

This is a bit outside of Austin. My love has a motorcycle. Take a ride on a bike out there and man, you will feel just like a Harley riding crazy biker chick. Yea, just trust me, just without the leather chaps. It is a gorgeous ride and the destination is well worth the wind blown hair and the wait you will encounter. I am not a BBQ fan really, but I was blown away.

While this is the restaurant section, I have to include Threadgill's. While I was never all that partial to their food, the stage!! Live music AND fried okra? Whoa. That is a bit much for my poor heart!!! Go for some meatloaf, sides of green beans and okra, get a Shiner. Listen to some great bands. Heaven? (And it was a block from my shelter, the Hyatt!)

Do you really want to see the best views of rich folk in Austin, do you wanna see a sailboat, do you wanna see bikers, do you want a really really good margarita, do you want to see your cute waitress run up and down 5 flights of stairs to get that rita? Then go here.

If I ever find myself on Death Row, Shady Grove is where my last meal should be from. Oh but what to choose - the Hippie Sandwich with extra pesto mayo? Bad Chili Dog? Grilled Wings with pesto ranch? OMG - the Airstream Chili?? Or - since I am already sentenced to death - Tortilla Fried Queso Catfish. Shady Grove was definitely the most visited dinner place during my stay in Austin. Kerbey Lane for breakfast, Shady Grove at night!

Just a few others, honorable mentions if you will:
Hut's Hamburgers
Hula Hut - Thai pasta, on the patio with a Newcastle....mmmmm.
Hill's Cafe - amazingly good steak and country music to boot! Sit in George Strait's booth!
Malaga's for breakfast!!! Yum!

And I would just like to state that if you want sushi, go to Houston. I searched high and low for good sushi. Nope, uh uh. Not in Austin!

This post seems quite long, could be my longest yet. And it centers on food. Well, not surprising. I have a few other things to say about Austin. The live music, the people, the city's individuality, the great bar scene, Barton Springs, bats,...but I don't wanna take up all the innernet space....

Carolyn Wonderland

May I please take this post to introduce you to my all-time super favoritest singer, guitar-picker, yodeler, all around amazing musician - Carolyn Wonderland.



This is an old video, 1992. I was turned onto Carolyn around 2000. Hmm, I do not recall how I came across her, but after just one visit to see her at Last Concert Cafe, I was absolutely addicted. She had a standing Tuesday night gig and for years, I was there every Tuesday. She has since moved to Austin, another thing that I guess I need to make a tribute to (except for the damn birds. I hate you Austin birds).

She has incredible pipes, incredible... um ... guitar-ness, she can play a trumpet with ease, slide guitar, piano, recorder, saxophone and on and on. It is truly amazing that she is still primarily a Texas talent.

She has become a bit more political in recent years, and while I don't agree with her stance on some of those issues, her voice is still amazing and her talent is unbelievable.

So, that is my Carolyn tribute. I love her. Enjoy for yourself. And leave me a note about your own awesome music love. The band that you would love to tour with in a smelly bus, the musician that would make you leave your beloved, the band that brings you to tears while they put the biggest smile on your face, no matter what your mood.

Beautiful Day. Hope you are enjoying it!

Up and At 'Em

I am up, official MST is 5:43 A.M. Eating oatmeal, drinking coffee. Heading off to the big city. Not sure if we will have the pleasure of having updated llama/alpaca/gnu photos today. I am in the big truck as my little car is at the airport driven by the love. Not sure about pulling over with a big honking truck. Much easier with the little Rolla. I am excited today because the big city is having their annual garage sale at a fairgrounds. First time visitor of course, but I love love love community wide sales. Always have! Even before the lure of printing my own money came into the picture, I was getting up early to go to Trade Days in the Houston suburbs. Which brings up one of the most difficult aspects of the shopping aspects of my job, not buying for self. I have bought myself a fair amount of items while I have been the Ebay maven. In fact, the clothes I am wearing today....My coat fetish has been fueled, my home has been decorated. All for pennies.



As I have mentioned, the desert is beautiful. No snow overnight. I am looking forward to watching a beautiful sunrise this morning.

Snow?

There is another chance of snow tonight. Global warming, huh? Sure, Al.

And....

I decided not to go to Big City #1 today. I stayed up late finishing "The Center of Everything" by Laura Moriarty. Highly recommended!!

So I am a bit tired today. After 5 hours of sleep, my alarm beeped like mad. I decided that since tomorrow in Big City #2 is going to be quite fruitful, or at least busy, that maybe today I should just stay home and rest the bursa. And sleep in.

So I must go to bed early tonight as I plan on getting up at 5 AM tomorrow. One thing I did not know when I moved into the state adjacent to Texas, is that the Mountain time zone begins on the TX-NM border. So, while this is quite nice for TV watching. We get big city channels from Texas and the NM stations. So, each night, I get 2 opportunities to watch any show on the major networks. Very nice. I hated waiting another hour when Heroes was on! Please come back soon Heroes! Tangent over, sorry.

The time change really messes me up when I go shopping. The big convention center garage sale starts at 8 TX time and the estate sales mostly around then as well.

And the entire reason I started this second post today....



Picture of the Day. The desert is amazingly beautiful. This is at Carlsbad Caverns.

Who Am I?

I got my first comment! So, Kali asked where I am. For a long time, I lived in Houston. I just recently moved to a small town within New Mexico, but is just minutes from the border of Texas. So, couldn't I have said "I am from New Mexico"? See, this is a problem for me, funny enough. I have identified myself as one thing for so long and now I have to change that line of thinking.

Perhaps, this was ultra difficult for me due to all the changes that this move here created in my life. I could no longer identify myself as a professional hard working woman. (By choice btw!) I was a housewife.

A change in identity is quite shocking when you have so much invested in that identity. Until I gave up the career path at Big Law Firm, I had no idea how much of my worth was invested in that job.

And truly, I feel that shock is part of the reason I am home now. I was disappointed in myself that I had become such a slave to that lifestyle and woke up in a sweat scared of what to do next.

I have been a stay at home mom to the cats and Ebay seller for 4 months now. I am getting a bit bored with it and as I mentioned, the uncertain income scares me. I am quite independent and don't like asking for money. We haven't combined our finances yet out of laziness and hatred for the problems that come. (autodebits, oy). My car needs a bit of work, and while I would have the money in a second if I just asked, I am hesitant to do so.

Then, why not just get a job and stop bellyaching? The love's job has a crazy schedule to it. He will leave really crazy early and come home sometime between noon-3 PM. And we have a great afternoon. If I was working, it would, in all likelihood, be an office job. 8-5, or one that I am aware of is, 9-6. This would hamper our crazy carefree lifestyle. Ha.

He is supportive of whatever I choose, and was a bit surprised when I mentioned that I was working on the resume, as I didn't keep him informed of where my mind was, as it was crunching all these thoughts. He just wants me to be happy and is wary of my complaining on the Ebay track.

Before I moved here, I was gung-ho on the financial fitness marathon. I started blog reading via PF Blogs, a compilation of all personal finance blogs. I was busy paying all my debt off and then started saving like a mad woman. But here comes a 180 when I moved here.

I am still working on this new identity process. I struggle less with it now than I did initially, but the battle is not over.

At this time, I would like a good balance between work and home. I am concerned with my all or nothing attitude that I have, as I will dive so deep into a new project without concern for anything else around me. And this is where I think I lost my own identity a bit with my last high-demand job.

So, whoever said you don't really know yourself until you are 30, lied. I am still learning, alot. This move pushed the learning curve pretty far and I am lucky for all I have learned. And I will be learning something more soon. As soon as that resume gets completed. Oy.

Oh, and Kali, a small town in New Mexico.

I assessed. And sat back down.

Tomorrow - that would be Friday the 13th

Well, my man, my roomie, my love, has done left town. He landed in Nashville a short time ago to visit some family that lives there. I hate sleeping alone now. Which is really strange because for a long time, I had a hard time sleeping with someone in bed with me. I would keep waking up. It is nice, though, to feel this way.

I am going to Big City #1 tomorrow for some Ebay shopping. Garage sale season is really heating up. There are alot of community sales as well, so it should be a success. On Saturday, Big City #2 is having a community wide garage sale at a fairground. I hope to get lots of stuff to post and make millions off of. Wish me luck.

What really kills me, all week, the weather is good. The weekend comes and it turns. Tomorrow is supposed to be really windy. Alot better than rain or freaking snow like last week!!

My hip is not nearly as angry today. I hope it survives this weekend's activities. I need to have a good weekend to increase my sales. This week's posts were good and hopefully will result in a nice finale, but I need to keep it up and make sales in the store.

The resume was prepared today; however, so the countdown to a regular ol' job has begun. I guess.... I am still only slightly motivated. I like my life. However, the stress involved in not having a steady income is wearing. I need to contribute more to the coupledom financially, before we have kids and/or move to Dubai, or Rio, or Switzerland.

So dear diary, wish me luck in all my endeavors.

Physical Fitness

I am a competitive soul. Not in the sense that I seek out competition. I was never very athletic, didn't play in sports in school. But if someone says something that has a bit of competition in the endeavor. Throw down the gauntlet, baby! Well, my dear love, said he would like for us to be able to run 5 miles straight by the end of April. Now by straight, I mean, keep that treadmill pumping baby. No slowing down to walk and gasp for air. Straight through until the 5 miles are behind you. Whoa. Are you serious?

After assuring me he was serious, and after I assessed the situation, I found that this indeed was a competition worthy of my efforts.

So we were steadily running. Doing 2 mile intervals without dying. Felt pretty good. Then my hip started hurting a bit. And then a lot. Yesterday was not a good day. I believe it is hip bursitis, which means that I have really pissed off my bursa. I am mainlining IB's and applying ice.

I went running after it was already hurting and I believe this is what pushed it over the edge.

So I am off from running. Yesterday I pretty much performed no real activity, unless crying is an activity. And sleeping.

I hope this improves. I want to continue with my Ebay stuff and need to go shopping this weekend. We shall see.

Any ideas? Encouragement? Similar stories? Just please do not say I am a wimp and that you can run 5 miles without breaking a sweat in high heels. Lie, if necessary!

My Humps

So I tried once

I tried one blog before. Blogger ate it. Apparently it tasted like chocolate covered cherries. The url doesn't exist. My account told me to create a blog. I would have thought it was all an aberration. A figment of my overactive mind, but then Adsense approved my account. And you have to enter a blog address in order to verify that you don't discuss killing mimes and midgets. So, I did not make it up. However, the powers that be decided it needed to go. Damn you, the man is keeping me down once again.

Here are my alpaca friends.





These were posted on the blog I mentioned hereinabove. Maybe they are the reason for the censorship.

Must I only post pictures of horses that don't like humans?



But that isn't very friendly to the domesticated animals. Hence, a picture of a cat. In a pot.



And now, your day is complete. You have seen three species of animals in various stages of cuteness.

My Name is Fianna and I am a .....

Why do I need a blog?

1. I am bored.
2. My Myspace friends won't respond to any of my blogs or bulletins so I need to find a new audience. More friendly folk.
3. I need a place to share the photos I take.
4. I need a place to put all the cool links from cool sites to cool blogs to cool stuff because my friends must be tired of it.
5. It seems that by posting to a blog where people can come to or not come to, that I can do as I please without bugging people too much.
6. My friends sound mean after this list. They are not. This is all in the writing.
Speaking of which, this is my blog. If you do not like my grammar or complete lack thereof. Stop coming back.
Have you heard of stream of consciousness? I am not going to reread these posts for Emily Post. Nope.
And, hi, thanks for visiting. Check out all my cool stuff.