Shut the Leaf Up.

I was happy to groove along to the random tunes that pop up on Spotify while I unpack & organize the new apartment, but my dance & clean party was interrupted by the horrid growling of a leaf blower -- from across the street! The cement & brick apartment complex across the way, the one with no plant-life whatever, is being blown - by the loudest lawn & garden implement I've ever witnessed! Seriously. This is some big-ass noise, my friends. We live next to the freeway entrance, and traffic is heavy this afternoon, but that leaf blower has blocked the cars out, too. The sounds of construction going on three blocks over? Can't hear it anymore.

I hate leaf blowers. Hate them. Can someone explain to me why there is a need for such noisy damn tools? What's wrong with a rake or a broom? Somebody told me once that the folks who do landscaping prefer leaf blowers - something to do with how much time it takes to get things done. Which in a way makes sense, but also, doesn't. Because wouldn't you want to be doing things in the slower way if you're getting paid by the hour? I know I would!

Music Asks:

Someone on sent me this list several months ago, and, slacker that I am, I'm just now getting around to it! It's actually pretty damn difficult to come up with a song for each of these, but I'm gonna do my best..

1:A song you like with a color in the title: "Blue Spanish Sky" by Chris Isaak

2:A song you like with a number in the title: "1985" by Bowling For Soup

3:A song that reminds you of summertime : " Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys!

4:A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about: "According To You" by Orianthi

5:A song that needs to be played LOUD: "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet

6:A song that makes you want to dance: "Twisting The Night Away" by Sam Cooke

7:A song to drive to: "Under The Boardwalk" by The Drifters

8:A song about drugs or alcohol: "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" by Jimmy Buffett

9:A song that makes you happy: "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" from Gypsy

10:A song that makes you sad: "Whiskey Lullaby" by Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss

11:A song that you never get tired of : "Daybreak" by Barry Manilow

12:A song from your preteen years: "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence

13:One of your favorite 80’s songs: "The Warrior" by Scandal featuring Patty Smyth

14:A song that you would love played at your wedding: "True Companion" by Marc Cohn

15:A song that is a cover by another artist: the Tom Jones version of "Kiss" is better than Prince's original.

16:One of your favorite classical songs: "Bach:Prelude from Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, Bwv 1007" by Yo-Yo Ma

17:A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke: "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors

18:A song from the year that you were born: " (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding

19:A song that makes you think about life : "Angel From Montgomery" by Bonnie Raitt

20:A song that has many meanings to you: "I've Still Got My Health" by Bette Midler

21:A favorite song with a person’s name in the title: "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel

22:A song that moves you forward: "God Give Me Strength" -- I prefer the version from the film 'Grace of My Heart'

23:A song that you think everybody should listen to: "Love Can Build a Bridge" by the Judds

24:A song by a band you wish were still together: "Message In A Bottle" by the Police

25:A song by an artist no longer living "Faith" by George Michael. I miss him.

26:A song that makes you want to fall in love: (This one doesn't quite fit, since I am already in love) : "Roses and Violets" by Alexander Jean

27:A song that breaks your heart: "You Can't Make Old Friends" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.

28:A song by an artist with a voice that you love: "How's the World Treating You" by Alison Krauss & James Taylor

29:A song that you remember from your childhood: "Return To Sender" by Elvis

30:A song that reminds you of yourself: "Bird On A Wire" by Leonard Cohen

My reasoning on some of my choices are rather random, but I'm not changing them now!

Challenge Catch-Up

I am so bad at this. I started the month of April off with what was supposed to be a 30-Day Challenge, and promptly forgot all about it. Now it's seven-days later, and I've still only done that first day's challenge. But never fear, faithful minions, I shall catch up, with today's post, which contains seven days: Day 4, 5, 11, 12, 14, 19, and 20.



Day 4: The meaning behind my Tumblr name. My Tumblr name is "BossyBookworm," (which is my profile name on most social media) and the meaning is just what is sounds like--- I am bossy, pushy, dominating, even intimidating, I've been told! And oh, yes, I am a bookworm. Like Scout Finch, I was born reading. Simple as that...

Day 5: Five places I want to visit.  My dream vacay involves visiting great libraries & museums, especially the Smithsonian Institute, The Louvre, The Metropolitan, The British Museum, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That's just ONE trip, someday...  Now I want to go to Universal Orlando so I can see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (and maybe run into Draco Malfoy....) . I'd like to go back to some of the places I visited as a child, like Mount Rushmore, or the Grand Mesa, or the Colorado National Monument. And I want to visit Albuquerque again. I miss New Mexico.

Day 11: What's your favorite quote?  "Fall seven times, stand up eight." - Japanese Proverb

Day 12: Screenshot your desktop: 

Day 14: Provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes: (so ( I couldn't choose just 5. big deal..)

[caption id="attachment_1976" align="aligncenter" width="241"] Been crushing on Bruce since his Moonlighting days.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1989" align="aligncenter" width="221"] As far as I'm concerned, Vincent is the ONLY Thor. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1984" align="aligncenter" width="274"] Dwayne Rocks my world.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1990" align="aligncenter" width="347"] Alexander is the reason I love vampires. And Swedes. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1988" align="aligncenter" width="236"] Oh, Captain, my Captain... Sasha is the reason I'm keeping Portland Grimm. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1968" align="aligncenter" width="253"] Tom just won 10,000 points for Slytherin! [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1979" align="alignnone" width="454"] Daniel & Darren: they're Harry-Fucking-Potters!!  [/caption]

Day 19: A list of all the places you've lived:

Born in Custer, South Dakota. Topeka, Kansas until I was 11, then Grand Junction, Colorado until after high school. I lived here in Portland for a year, then went back to Colorado and went back to college; after another year I moved to Nampa, Idaho to go to school there. Two years later I followed my family to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where my younger sister was attending the University of New Mexico; our folks moved down there so she could get in-state tuition, and so did I. New Mexico was home for enough time that I was finally able to finish my BA. After that I moved back up her to the Pacific Northwest, which has been home ever since. Mostly the Portland area, but in Vancouver, as well. That's it.

Day 20: Concerts you've attended:

Barry Manilow was the first, back in 1985. The Monkees, in 86 or 87.  Reba McEntire & Brooks & Dunn.  I had tickets to see Chris Isaak at the Portland Zoo, and was so excited about it, but we didn't get to see the show; my ex got sick, and we had to take him to the ER. And Jimmy Buffett.  (This doesn't count all of the choral and choir concerts & recitals I've attended and performed in over the years!)

 

 

A 30-Day Challenge for April

In a folder on my Google Drive, I have nearly 150 "journal prompts" saved from various sources online. Some of these prompts are years old, some I saved just last week, but until now, I've never actually been prompted by any. I've decided to begin this new month by challenging myself to write each day, following this list:



Day 1: some basic things about myself:  

The basics of me? Curvy, short, bossy, crafty, and smart.  When I decide to do something, I do it to the best of my ability. Of course, I'm also lazy to the bone.

Tomorrow, some likes and dislikes!

 

Toothless Wonder

In my last post, I talked about the horrible tooth infection that was causing me so much pain, and the dentist that didn't help me at all. (Yes, I realize that I posted that WAAAAY back at the beginning of February. What can I say--I'm a slacker.) Well, later that month, I had a seizure while standing in front of a Dollar Tree store waiting for my Uber to arrive, and ended up in the ER. Four stitches in my right eyebrow, a slight concussion, and as the topper, the impact with the sidewalk knocked that bridge so loose that I've had to have it removed. After much searching, I was given an appointment at the OHSU Dental School, and had high hopes of getting things fixed there, but it was not to be. My insurance wouldn't cooperate with all of the other things that needed to be done, and I was getting desperate. So, I returned to the same dental office I'd been to before, fearful of running into Dr. Idiot again. My luck had changed! He is no longer there, and the staff I've dealt with since is truly FABULOUS-- and, I will say, all quite good-looking, as well.

Decisions had to be made about how to fix things, and I chose to have them remove the few upper teeth I had left, and make an upper denture-- all things that my insurance will pay for. This involved quite a bit more pain, since that tooth that had been infected was a bitch to get pulled. I swear, the root on that thing went all the way up my head and wrapped around a time or two. After the doctor finished with that side of my mouth, I went home and was ready to curl up and die for a few days. And here is why I like these guys so much: because we'd had so much trouble & pain with the left side of my mouth, they gave me the option to use laughing gas for the right side, which is apparently not done very much anymore. I jumped at the chance, and ended up sleeping through most of the extractions. While there was still some residual pain, it was much less, because the spot where those shots were given hurt! Two weeks ago I had my first impressions made for the denture, and later this week, I go back for a second one. I was hoping to have teeth in time for Halloween, but Mr Ji (the denture wizard) says that the first or second week of November is more likely. So at least I'll be able to actually eat Thanksgiving dinner, and let me tell you, I will be incredibly thankful for that! I am so sick of soft foods and gumming foods into submission that I could cry. My stomach is calling out for a plate of crunchy tacos with green chile and lots of cheese, or a bunch of spiral-sliced with a side of green beans. Maybe a big thick steak, nice and rare, dipped in A-1. Okay, I have to stop now, I'm starting to drool.  Soup just isn't a substitute for any of this stuff. My toothless days cannot end too soon!

It's My Life...

My life is not really busy enough to warrant my being such an absentee blogger. I am the Queen of Procrastination, and that does justify it, I guess... Anyway, here I am, with an update.

As most of you know, I share a house with my extended family - my elderly parents, my younger sister and her two children, ages 13 & 23,  2 dogs & a cat. We rent this large house, and have for a few years, and mostly it works. Or it did. Things aren't working so well anymore. My father has dementia, which is getting progressively worse, and he refuses to see a doctor. He's gone from being a friendly, funny, loving man, to an angry, hateful unhappy stranger. He's mad all the time, at everything, especially at the dog, and at me, for some reason. In all of my childhood, I have only one memory of my father yelling at me, and that was when I was about 4-years-old, and ran into the street after a ball. These days he yells at me all the time. I try to remind myself that it isn't him, it's the disease, but some days that's difficult to remember. In January Mom fell at church and broke her hip. She spent two months in the rehab center, and had a mini-stroke while she was there. She's recovering well, but not as fast as she'd like. Not being able to do all the things she's accustomed to doing is frustrating to all of us. The biggest issue right now is money (isn't it always?). While the folks wait for the settlement from the insurance company, bills are falling behind, and we're all worried. Our landlord has informed us that in September our rent will be raised, so we are going to need to move. Mom has been looking at assisted living facilities, but the prices are insane. I've no idea where there rest of us are going to go. I have my disability income, but that's not really enough to pay rent anywhere except a nice cardboard box.

As I type this, I'm becoming very discouraged. I keep telling my mother not to worry about me, but really, I have no idea what I'm going to do. There is no such thing as affordable housing, especially for someone in my situation. I need to be able to move in the next couple of months, and I don't see that happening. It's not as though I need something fancy--all I need is one bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen, somewhere within walking distance of the bus line. I need internet access and decent water pressure, and a closet. Keep dreaming, Jonna.

So what else is going on? Umm...I went six months without a seizure, and then, boy did I have a doozy. Big time. I did change doctors--I am no longer seeing the folks up at OHSU for my neurological needs. I got tired of seeing a different doc every appointment, and that last doctor was just plain rude, so I have switched everything over to Providence. My new doctor is very nice, and seems on the ball.

I had blue hair for a month this summer. That was a mistake...But the blue was better that it's aftermath! In trying to remove the blue, I damaged my hair so much I've had to cut it short, which isn't the problem, not really. The cut is a bit odd, and needs some help, but the color at the moment, oh. my. gawd. My hair is this awful shade of ashy golden blonde, which just looks nasty on someone with my skint one. Looks as if I have scurvy! Blech. Fortunately, I know how to fix it, and will be doing so VERY soon. As soon as my sister arrives with my supplies, as a matter of fact! And then, I'll be a beautiful brunette once again...pictures will follow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Nightmares and Dreamscsapes

I've been a fan of Stephen King since junior high, and his books contains some of the short stories that makes me want to walk up to him and say "Dude, your mind is so twisted, and I LOVE it!" One of those stories is 'You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band', another is 'Chattery Teeth' and one more favorite in this collection is 'Home Delivery.'

The list of stories in this collection (all published previously):

Dolan's Cadillac
The End of the Whole Mess
Suffer the Little Children
The Night Flier
Popsy
It Grows On You
Chattery Teeth
Dedication
The Moving Finger
Sneakers
You Know They Go a Hell of a Band
Home Delivery
Rainy Season
My Pretty Pony
Sorry, Right Number
The Ten O'Clock People
Crouch End
The House on Maple Street
The Fifth Quarter
The Doctor's Case
Umney's Last Case

These include a couple of ghost stories, a zombie tale, some vampires, some alien-ish things, and a couple of those odd things that only Mr. King can come up with. For example, The Moving Finger, a story about a man and what emerges from his drain one night. Like Chattery Teeth, it's kinda icky and just plain weird. Which is why we all love Stephen King, right?

 

Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

As per my rule, after I started watching the Showtime series 'Dexter,' I had to read the book the show was based on.  (I did not read these when the series was running.) I am glad I did; the book is dark, creepy, and occasionally wryly funny. Jeff Lindsay's Dexter is a different monster from Showtime's, but both are equally entrancing.

My favorite line from this book:

"I took a deep breath and tried to remind myself that I was a good girl and didn't do those things." Gotta love it when a serial killer makes you laugh.

 

Something's Fishy

Is it possible to miss someone who never really existed? To long for something you never actually had? Well, of course it is, I tell myself--that's what dreams are. Right? Sure. But in this case, I'm not talking about a dream I had. I'm talking about something altogether different.

Before I go any farther, let me just say that sharing this with the entire world was a difficult choice to make. I need to get this out of my head, though, so here we go! A few posts ago I mentioned that I'd ventured back into the world of online dating, and that I'd met someone.

His profile on OkCupid said his name was Justin, a computer engineer in his mid-40's, living in New York City. He had a cute profile picture; not movie star cute, but attractive. (I'm not movie star attractive, and I don't judge a book by its cover!) He liked books, jazz, Asian food, and travel. He messaged me, and we chatted on the site for about a week and then through emails, and texts. After a couple of weeks, he asked if he could call, and I said yes. Talking to him was very nice; he was funny and smart, and I liked him. He did have a strange accent that made understanding him difficult sometimes; it almost sounded as if he had a hearing problem as a child. He told me his accent was from growing up in Germany, where his mother still lives. It didn't sound at all German to me, but I accepted his explanation, because by this time, I was starting to like this guy. Of course, I should have paid more attention to the things that didn't add up. The strange accent. The fact that if I called him I always got voice mail. And the strangest thing, the one that really should have made me know I was being played--he had no online presence. I did a Google search for the name he gave me -- Justin Peacock-- about a week after we started talking, and while I did get some hits, they clearly were not him. There is a writer of that name living in NYC, and he popped up. His books, mystery/thrillers, are pretty good. But that's neither here nor there. I thought this lack of any kind of online presence was odd, given that he claimed to be a freelance computer engineer; in this day and age, how do employer find him if he isn't online? No Facebook profile, either. Something was smelling fishy.

 



 

A month or so went by, and "Justin" called me nearly every night. I enjoyed our talks, and was truly feeling something for this man. I'd set aside my suspicions, except for a little niggling in the back of my mind. And then he told me he loved me. Frankly, I was astonished. We'd never met, and he loves me? Seriously? He seemed sure of himself, so I went with it, and let him declare his love. I wasn't in love--yet--but I was developing very strong feelings. Then he began telling me he had a job coming up that was taking him out of the country. He said he was going to Malaysia for a month to negotiate the contract, then he'd return home before going back for a year. He said he wanted me to come with him for that year. Well, from there it all went down hill. The week before he was supposed to leave on this trip his calls were fewer and fewer. The day he left, he didn't call, and I was angry and hurt; how do you leave the country for a month and not even call the girl you say you love to say goodbye? What the hell was going on? I emailed him, and heard that he'd been running so late he'd nearly missed his flight, and how sorry he was. Yadda yadda yadda. From then on, the excuses flowed like a river. When I told him that my sister suspected he was playing me, he told me he'd planned on coming to Portland on his way back home after his month was up, to surprise me and prove them wrong. Then he said he was having trouble with his bank and couldn't put minutes on his phone, so couldn't call me. I really didn't know what to think at this point, but I was torn. A big part of me wanted him to be real, and to have him show up on my doorstep. But the sensible part of my brain said "Jonna, something is not right here. Find out why!" So I did what I could, and put his picture into Google image search, and hoped against hope that I was actually talking to a man named Justin Peacock. Nope. I got catfished.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the term catfish, let me enlighten you. 

catfish

someone who pretends to be someone they are not online to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances. From the 2010 movie Catfish

CATFISHED : Being deceived over social media as the deceiver professed their romantic feelings to his/her victim, but isn't who they say they are.

Having a fake profile, images and avatar in order to lure people to have romantic feelings. They are then catfished when the victim realises the person they have fallen for via social media is not who they appear to be.

The picture led me to a Google Plus profile of a man in California named Alexander Appleby (his name sounds fake, too, I know). Every picture "Justin" had sent me was from one of Alexander's profiles, either on Google Plus or Facebook. Just to be sure these were not the same people, I called the business phone number listed on the profile, and spoke to Mr Appleby. I'm not sure if I was hoping to hear "Justin's" voice or not, but the voice I spoke too was definitely not the man I'd been talking to. And he was rather upset to find out someone had been using his photos in such a manner.

I sent an angry email to Justin, telling him I knew the truth, and wanted to know who he really was, and why he'd done this. Needless to say, I've heard absolutely nothing since.

What really bothers me is that I miss him. I miss that imaginary person, and that makes me both sad and angry. I swear, if I ever meet the person behind "Justin Peacock", I will bring the wrath of the gods down upon them.

Random Stuff from My Mind

It's been an entire month since my last post. Shame on me....bad blogger! I really hadn't realized it had been so long--every day I intended to write something. There is a REASON I am the Queen of Procrastination, ya know, not just the Princess! Jeez, you'd think someone who can talk as much as I can, about absolutely nothing, would be much better at keeping this blog up to date, wouldn't you?

Of course, I always think I need to say something meaningful, or at least entertaining, and then I get a bad case of blogger's block! I don't know why I think a blog needs to be deep--I read enough of them to know that isn't true! Some of them make Pauly Shore movies look meaningful! The approach I need to take is this: just write about whatever, and see what happens. Kind of the same thing I do when I talk...

First an update on the last month of my life, in case anyone out there cares:

My bank account, which was hugely overdrawn due to the theft of my debit card, has been mostly fixed. It turned out that my laptop had a huge trojan virus, and a bunch of my info was being taken; I'm actually lucky that they only took such a minor amount of money! I am still trying to convince the bank to refund all of the overdraft fees, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.

Healthwise, things are better. It's been 31 days since my last seizure (YIPPEE!!), and that is fabulous! The thyroid meds seem to have finally kicked in, because I am FINALLY losing weight. (I hesitate to say that, for fear of jinxing it!) And inches, too. Back in April, I took measurements, and re-took them the other day: all of them were down at least 2 inches! It's kinda freaking me out, because I'm not really doing anything differently. Still eating mostly green smoothies (except, of course, on those days when I have to have a big bowl of ice cream!), and coffee, and popcorn. Still sitting around on my ass, reading, surfing the net, and watching Netflix! A part of me wonders what is wrong, to cause this; yes, I am paranoid.

I gave up on growing my nails out, because I couldn't stop from biting them. Frankly, I'd rather wear fakes than have my real ones gnawed down so far they bleed, which is where they end up! My hair still looks terrific, of course.

As for the online dating, well, I met someone. And for now, that is all I am saying about that!



 

I've spent a lot of time watching Netflix this last month. First I binged on True Blood, and now I'm finishing up Dexter. I didn't make it through the last 2 seasons of Dexter when it was on the air, so these are new for me. Frankly, after Season 6, I think I would have quit. Maybe even Season 5. It's not really living up to it's potential; although I do enjoy getting to see Michael Clarke Duncan naked so often! And I am glad that Masuka got his own little storyline (and that we don't have to see him naked!).

Still reading Fanfiction, and I just started reading a book called "Fic: How Fanfiction is Taking Over the World"  Anne Jamison, which is turning out to be very interesting. Can't wait to review it for ya'll!

A now, my little rant for the day:

I surprised myself today when I discovered an article stating that Barry Manilow got married back in April 2015, to his longtime producer and boyfriend! How did I miss this? Being the Fanilow that I am, how did this tidbit (not the fact that he's gay-- as if that's a big shock-but the marriage) escape my notice? Honestly. I am a bit disappointed in Barry after reading several articles about this very private wedding (where Suzanne Somers was reportedly his 'best man' --and that bothers me, too!), simply because he still has not actually come out. No paperwork has been filed, and he has not made any statements. Apparently, Barry is too worried about his career, worried that his fans won't understand if he admits he's gay. To which I say "Oh, PUH-LEEZ! Give me a friggin' break!" I've been a fan since I was in elementary school, and I realized in middle school that he was probably gay (I'm not sure I even really knew what that meant at the time.), but it certainly doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that someone who sings about love so passionately doesn't have the courage to put his love first. Especially now, when his career is rock solid. I ask you, Barry, "What would Tony do if this were about Lola?"

 

These Days

These days of summer, the month of June, has been spectacularly obnoxious for me. Here's why:

Near the beginning of the month, my debit card was stolen, and a number of charges were made online. The charges themselves were not very big, but my bank has added HUGE overdraft fees, leaving me nearly $900 overdrawn at the end of the month. I don't even get nine hundred dollars in SSI/SSD each month!! We are working to fix this, but it seems as if the bank just doesn't care. I hate it, and am not happy. And I'm broke, probably forever, now.

Add to the money problems the health stuff. The last year has been bad, seizure-wise, and we cannot seem to figure out why. OHSU, where I am a patient at the Epilepsy clinic, assigned me to a new doctor last Autumn, and I've seen her once. She keeps rescheduling my appointments. So I'm asking my GP, Dr Jeff, for a referral to the Providence Neurology & Epilepsy Clinic. I am done being shuttled around. That appointment, with Dr Jeff, is tomorrow. I get my thyroid level checked, too, after being on the med for over a year. Let's hope things are looking up!

Some things are looking up, I can admit that. I've lost some weight in the last year, but not nearly what I need to lose. I am a short woman, with small bones, and weighing this much can't be good for me. Now, I watched a TED Talk this week, and based on their info, even at this weight, I'm in the healthier group. See, I do 3 of the 4 things it takes to make you the healthy person: I eat plenty of fruits & veggies, I don't smoke, and drink moderately. I don't get enough exercise, but I'm working on it. Makes me feel better about myself, even if my clothes are a bigger size!

Seriously, 75% of what I eat these days is some sort of green smoothie. My NutriBullet gets more use than any other appliance I own, except my laptop! I am feeling better, and I know I am healthier. There are days when something happens to change that; last week I had a fairly bad seizure, and managed to injure myself in some strange places. How I got what looks like a rug burn/bruise underneath my boob, I have no idea, but it hurts like a bitch! Wearing a bra has been out of the question for the last week. (Oh, and the heat here, that's only made things worse. I miss winter.) I'm finally not sore everywhere else, and feeling like a human being again. It's amazing. Somedays I think my body hates me. Somedays I hate it.

These days, I only want to stop feeling as if I crawled out from under a rock. I looked like I should live under one for a while, but now I'm looking better, thank Merlin. I swear, I looked in the mirror last Saturday, and thought I'd been dead for a couple of days! Ick. Only my hair looked decent; I colored it the week before, and it's very nifty. I'll post some pics in the next couple of days--check Instagram!

These days, I am also having some interesting things going on; I'm back on the online dating scene, because I am apparently crazy (I will write about this later), and have no idea what I'm doing. I am trying to grow my nails out again, and not biting them is torture! Trying to answer Oprah's "20 Questions Every Woman Should Answer." I have no good answers. I never do.

 

Planet of the Ants

I hate having bugs in my house. Except spiders. Spiders, I don't mind. Without spiders, we'd be over-run by other creepy crawly things, and I cannot have that. Back in Colorado, my bedroom was in the basement, and every spring & summer, I'd get crickets in my room. I'd spend hours trying to track them down with my spray can of Raid, until I'd finally have silence, and could sleep. I'm sure I ingested enough bug killer between the ages of 11 and 17 to explain nearly all of my health problems these days! If those dumb crickets had stayed quiet, they'd have been safe; I don't go after bugs I can't see or hear! After all those years of Raid, I started trying to use greener methods of insect control, and some of them even worked! The vinegar trap for fruit flies was a great success-- an inch or two of apple cider vinegar in the bottom of a jar, then cover the top with plastic wrap and poke a few holes, They are attracted to the sweet smell, but drown in the vinegar! And the beer trap worked great for catching slugs. The problem has been ants.

We had ants in our old house, and could never get rid of them, and we have them here. Just little black sugar ants, nothing dangerous, but highly annoying, and fucking EVERYWHERE! Not just the kitchen, and dining areas. I found them in my bathroom, and they've been swarming in my bedroom this week. The first time they showed up, I tried a few green solutions I found online. I sprayed a solution of white vinegar around. Didn't do anything but make my room smell like a pickle. I sprinkled coffee grounds around where they come in ( apparently ants don't like coffee?); not a thing happened, but at least that smelled better. The coffee grounds did keep the ants and other bugs off the plants in the garden when we tried it there, it just didn't work in the house. In one area I lay down a line of black and red pepper, because it was supposed to stop those ants in their tracks! Nope. I just ended up with a dusty floor. The only thing I haven't tried that all the green sites recommend is borax, and peppermint. I didn't have either of those on hand. Today I swept and cleaned, dusted and then sprayed all the nooks and crannies of my room with good old Raid Ant Spray. For a couple of hours, my room smelled like a chemical bomb, and my head hurt like a bitch. But for now anyway, all the ants are gone. I plan on buying some peppermint essential oil and using it -or maybe the peppermint castile soap--maybe both--to spray around the room and bathroom. I don't want to use borax, because we do have pets, and that stuff will get on their feet and hurt them! One site I saw said that windex is a great ant killer, so maybe I'll try that. I can clean my windows at the same time!

 

 

List It Or Lose It

I like making lists, but if you've read many of these posts, you've probably noticed that. Lists keep me sane, or at close to it as I come. I make lists of things I need to do, things I want to do, things to buy, things to sell, and all sorts of other lists. I have entire journals filled of lists: what I'd like my dream home to look like, what I'd like my dream man to be like (that's actually the most difficult list), lists of items I'd have in my dream wardrobe, the songs I'd record if I made a cover album, favorite books & movies & songs, things I love, things I hate, things I cannot live without, and things I'd be happy to never see again. Sometimes at night when I can't sleep and my brain just won't shut up, I lie in the dark and give myself a topic to make a list. For example, bands from the 1970's, going from A to Z, or a list of 25 female characters I really disliked. I usually go in alphabetical order on these lists at night, simply because it helps me keep things in order, and I seldom get all the way to Z before falling asleep.This is how obsessive I get about lists: when I was taking the medication Topamax, my neurologist would give me a quiz each visit to test how it was affecting my verbal skills. He'd give me a letter, and in 60 seconds I had to come up with as many words (no proper nouns, nothing that I'd just said with a modifier --no green then greener) beginning with that letter as I could. I usually did very well on this test, not as well as I thought I should, but I stayed in the top percentile until I'd been on Topamax for several years, and then I started having real trouble finding words. But the lists--after each visit, I would spend my ride home on the bus making a list of words; I'd have always asked the doctor for the list he wrote down as I said them during the test, and then I went from there, until I'd have pages of my journal or dayplanner filled with words. It annoyed me so that I only got a minute to do the first list, and I knew I could do better. When I told my doctor about this, he asked me two questions: "does it make you feel better?" and "how many words do you come up with?" Since I was worried he'd tell me this was a sign I was crazy, I was happy to tell him that yes, it did, and for one letter I came up with nearly 250 words before the bus got to my stop.

My lists are almost always on paper; I've tried the list-making apps on my phone and tablet, and it just isn't the same. I use one occasionally for my grocery list, because it's easier, and I don't lose it. But for my other lists, those that are for my soul, I need the feel of a pen on paper, or hands on a keyboard. I think this is one of the reasons I like sites like Pinterest so much--it's essentially a bunch of lists of stuff people like! I can spend hours just reorganizing my own pins, just getting lost in nothing... Wow.

So. There's a site called listography.com and I love it. Reading other people's lists is fun, and I just signed up, so now I'll be posting my own! https://listography.com/readbetweenthewhines?m=6404158689 That's me. And I have a list posted, so go and read!

I have no idea what this post is about.

Don't expect a topic tonight. I spent an hour today cleaning my room, and swept out whatever ideas I had, along with the amazing amount of stuff there was on my floor. I say amazing, since I'm really the only person who's ever in here, and I seldom go outside, so where the hell is all this bark dust coming from, and I no longer have a pet, so the cat hair really confuses me. The toast crumbs, scattered push pins and those little spongy things that go on the end of headphones--those I claim responsibility for. Oh, and the water bottle cap, that was mine, too.

Anyway. I've been watching a bit of telly online this week, since I don't have a cable hookup in my little room. I've always watched stuff online, but channel surfing on the web is an odd experience. Long ago I discovered the joys of YouTube: lots of old shows are posted there, in full-length, as well as clips, and if you look, you can find almost anything. Last week I watched nearly every episode of The Monkees. Again. Back in the 80's when they were running them on VH1, my sister, and nieces watched all of them, even set the VCR to record them! (I still have those tapes, somewhere...) And when the band toured, sans Mike Nesmith, to capitalize on this new success, we went to see them in concert, in Provo, Utah. It was a good show, too, although it would have been better with all four Monkees; without Mike, it was missing something.

So yes, I watched these shows again, and they made me smile, again. I once again realized that most of my brain is taken up with totally useless stuff: not only do I still know every word to the Monkees songs, recorded before I was born, but I still know the words to most of these tv shows, made & aired before I was born! Here's a clip from one of my favorite episodes, 'The Fairy Tale,' featuring Peter Tork as the hero searching in the forest, and Mickey Dolenez, in this scene, as Goldilocks.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/HlqPgi9wd6g]

I'm writing this in the dark.

Not that that has anything to do with anything, but I thought maybe somebody somewhere might care. I like my new room, it's filled with bright colors and has lots of space, but gets dark really quickly. And I need more light sources. One floor lamp, a small table lamp, and a set of fairy lights just ain't cutting it. My next purchases will be light related, I believe.

Oh, and if I can scrape together the cash, I'm going to get myself a treadmill (there are always treadmills for sale on Craigslist!); I want to lose some weight, but do not want to go outside. I'm not an outdoor girl. I want to be able to do everything right here in my little room. I am the reason the internet was invented--for people who want to socialize without leaving their chair. I've done the online dating thing, but that didn't really work so well for me, now did it? It's way too easy to lie about who you are, and how you are in an online profile, and trick somebody; I found that out the hard way. So while I may enjoy socialising on Twitter & Facebook and all of the various other places I hang out online, I don't think I'd date anyone I met there ever again. One bitten twice shy, or something like that.

Anyway. This week I've managed to fight off two killer migraines, fall out of the shower (bringing the shower curtain down with me), finally finish unpacking my moving boxes, and bite my nails. The fingernails it took me nearly a year to grow out into reasonably strong, heathly nails, are now gone, gnawed off in a few hours of stress. I am so disappointed in myself. But, I know that as they grow back, they'll be healthy, not like last years, when they were all weak & fragile from all those years of being stuck under acrylics! I did it once, I can do it again.

Tomorrow, I have errands to run, and then you'll get a book review. :)