Saturday thoughts

I slept shamefully late today. It was so nice. I worked out (lower body jam and the standing segment of 'ab jam' -- these are TurboJam workouts and they're top notch! no foolin'). Rob shopped for the food and came back from the grocery store with a lot of residual stress still clinging to him. Narrow aisles, people holding up the flow as they picked through cans, mulled over purchases. Glad i wasn't there. I felt bad because some of the things he picked up we didn't need. . and some he paid more than i would have. . so then of course i can't just bite my tongue for which I had to apologize after. Poor guy. . battling his way through all those obliviously obstructive shoppers, then having me slinging jibes about unnecessary toilet paper and frozen vegetables. When will i learn to chill out?! ha ha!!! I try though, honestly.

The last couple of days were the 'breakdown days'. . . things be breakin' down. . why is it like that? You go along using things and then they all seem to conspire to quit, one after the other! First there was the 4 new tires for the van just before Christmas. . and more recently, two days ago in fact, I went downstairs with an armful of dirty laundry. It was up near my neck and i couldn't see. . (*i have the number of stairs memorized!*) I walked in sock feet into the laundry room and splosh i stepped onto a newly-saturated carpet. ugh. .i hate it when my feet are soaking wet and cold. At first i thought that perhaps someone had done a load of wash and a rag or sock had become stuck in the tub drain. Not the case. I then looked around and saw our hot water heater dripping from two areas in its nether regions. . . great. . . of course i called Rob at work and he advised me to call the number on the tank (we rent). The company said they'd sent someone out asap. . meantime Rob came home early from work, drained the unit -- the buddy came along and within 1/2 an hour we had a shiny new tank. Phew. . no big cash outlay and speedy service! all right!!! However, in the aftermath of the hot water tank episode, as Rob got the shop vac out to suck up all the water, he plugged it in and it popped, sparked and wheezed like a deflating bagpipe. . yeah, great. . . perfect timing. . a dead shop vac too. What gives?!

Next day. . i'm working away, pounding the keyboard with my customary force, when the adjustable tray and board fell onto my legs with an ominous clunk. I was right in the middle of a 'biggie', which needed to be finished. . I tried fiddling with the tray adjustment knob. . it was stripped. The tray was weirdly heavy. . i didn't realize how weighty it really was. All of this was followed by a teeny bit of panic. . . oh my gosh, how am i gonna work?!!!! I had to clear off everything to have a look at the thing. . not good. . irreparably fractured at the base of the mounting bracket. gah!!!!!!

ahhhh. The whole unit hung there sadly, swinging slightly - still affixed to the desk, bumping my kneecaps as I sat, thinking. What followed was me running around my house, scrounging for things to jury rig, so I could finish up. Nothing was the right height or weight. The keyboard on its own was flimsy and felt toy like. . I hunched over with the board on my legs and the weight on the balls of my feet with my calves tense. . nope. .that was just ridiculous! I put the board on my desk - wrong height, made everything in my upper body hurt. I finally propped things with 2 wrist rolls on top of the desk and managed to peck away in a really-slowed down fashion, which annoyed me greatly cuz i'm used to flying. . If i don't produce, i'm of no use. *i thought to myself, "So, is this how it feels to type like Rob?"* heh heh. . I finally had to concede and tell the girls in the office that i couldn't continue until i had a new board. Luckily i had some meetings to attend 'in house'. . so those comprised the rest of my shift. . beautifully nice change actually!

I'm not saying anything more about breakdowns. . hopefully this spate of brokenness is done. Today we went out to buy a new shop vac!!! Got one 40% off, but have to wait for the new shipment to come in. . think we'll be okay. Robbie had thoughtfully given me a coupon in my Christmas stocking for one Cinnabon, so seeing that we were thisclose to the little store, I decide to run in, get my pastry and come out to share it with Rob. Well, I went in. . . but all that remained of the former Cinnabon store was bare marble counters, stacked up with broken off backsplash tiles. hmpf!!! it figures. I haven't had a cinnamon bun in probably over a decade. . . and i'm standing in the mall, with the fattening certificate in my hot, little hands and the store was broken too!!! WAH!!! I thought of asking the guy in the nearby kiosk for details. But i decided to just say goodbye . Every time i'd been in that corner of the mall the cinnamon air was so enticing and fragrant. . but i never gave in! Now I wish that i had!!! boourns!

All busted things aside, its been a good day. I love finding happiness in the littlest things. When we went to the 'expensive' grocery store to get a few items that we can't get at the 'discount place'!! I came across their Valentine's display. Now let me tell you what its like for me seeing all that beautiful pink, white, red hearty gorgeousness. . . Pavlov, dogs, bells - that pretty much describes it. Rob had gone to the back of the store to get maple syrup or something. . i was transfixed at the front. My eyes fell on this heart-shaped, pink rosebud-layered 'wreath' with a pink ribbon loop for hanging. I caught up with Rob, showed him my 'must have' item and he just grinned and put it in the cart. I love that he didn't even care that it unnecessary. Every time i see it now, hanging on my back door, i smile. I love beautiful things.

Bought some Smucker's cherry jam. This is like happiness in a jar. I love it. .the ruby red colour, the tartness of the fruit. Its the most fabulous stuff. I'm also very excited to try my new decaf black tea -- Canadian maple&vanilla. . doesn't that sound amazing?! Maple, well what's not to love? I might even use maple syrup to sweeten it!! In fact, I think i will. What could be better? That's another little extravagance I always allow for. I can't bring myself to buy artificial syrup. . who wants glucose and caramel colour on their pancakes? I just can't, even though its so cheap, its real or nothing for me and no one here complains. Wouldn't dream of using pancake mix either!!! blech. . We had buttermilk wholewheat pancakes and lean bacon for supper, fruit for dessert. . mmmm.

Rob's downstairs watching hockey. KK's reading a magazine. The dishwasher's humming away. (Please don't break down!!!) We've rented "Snakes on a Plane" for later. . . lol! oh boy. Went out last night, saw Children of Men. . . now that was quite the film. . hopeless, polluted, violent, ruined world without children. I felt like I needed a Prozac! I won't give things away, in case you want to see it.

Saturdays, I love them. Sometimes they feel like everything you want to do during the week but don't have the time. . and well, they are that. But I love the way they're often so open. They're aren't always 'have to' things on Saturdays, and often unless you work weekends, they're all about 'want to'. . .

Hope you had a great Saturday yourself!!! Gonna go put the kettle on. Talk soon. P.s. Guess what? After the dishwasher finished its cycle. . KK went in to the kitchen and said "Mom! The dishwasher leaked." Sure enough, a nice, big puddle of water on the floor. perfect. p.s.s.: don't ever rent Snakes on a Plane. That was 2 hours of my life i'll never get back! When we weren't completely grossed out, we were laughing at the sheer dumbness of it all. Samuel L. Jackson WHAT were you thinking when you signed on the dotted line for this stinker?!!!