Now that it has been made both official and semi-public, I'm very excited to announce that Skip and Jen are engaged! For those not in the know, Skipper is my little brother, and Jen is one of my cherished lady friends. Skip's had sort of this creepy, stalkerish crush on her since he was ten, and now they're going to march down the aisle. Or elope. Either way, I've decided they are going to buy one of the houses on our street and we will all have regular cook outs. Also, when Steve escapes we can call them and say "hey! Keep your eyes out for Steve!" And then Jen and I will open a yarn store, and Skip and Bryan will offer computer services and sandwich makins. Or maybe we'll all just move to Appalachia.

Changing subjects, a few months ago I attempted to call Bryan on his Skype number and connected with a very nice woman in Arizona. Apparently he'd switched numbers and I was not aware of it. She and I had a lovely conversation about how she used in live in Ohio, and I hung up feeling very connected. I'd forgotten all about it until last night, when I received THREE phone calls at four a.m. All from the old Skype number. I'm not sure what happened, but maybe she saw that I'd attempted that number frequently in the last month and she was calling to find out who the heck it was. It would make since, because of the time zone difference. Still, I answered twice and got nothing. Then I put my phone on silent and I missed one last call. I'm sure she got my voice mail and thought "oh, silly me, it's that nice lady I spoke with last month." Still---I am very tired now.

I have Jerome and Harold snuggled up on my lap, and my arms are stretched over them to type. Jerome is grooming Harold (she thinks he's her baby. Or boyfriend. I'm never sure with cats) and Harold is licking my arm. Thank goodness I haven't waxed it recently, because in case you were not aware, cats tongues are really scratchy.

Last night Garvin had to rush straight to a rehearsal dinner for SCO-double-tizzle's wedding, so we decided to take separate cars to work. He ended up staying out with the menfolk all Friday while I got to go to Lovell's going away party all by myself in Cleveland Heights. I had a really good time. I don't always get a lot of time to myself, and while I enjoy spending time with Garvin, it was a perfect night to rock out my Pegasus Friday t-shirt at a small bar in a nice part of town, than take a long, beautiful drive home through the city and its ritzier suburbs with my windows down and the mild weather pouring, the Beatles playing on my radio. Also, while at the party there was much conversation about the whole Pegasus Friday thing, and I got to meet a lot of Lovell's co-workers who are all down with the Peg.

It was different at home without him. As much as he seems to think I'm St. Francis with the cats, he really does have a calming effect on them. As soon as they realized that I was the only person home they started knocking stuff over. I'd yell "WHO'S DOING WHAT?" and stomp into the room and then WHAM! Something would fall in the room I'd just left. I woke up with the screen we'd removed from the window for the AC unit on top of me. Someone must have tried to walk the edge and knocked it onto the bed. I'm surprised I slept through it and didn't wake up with little screen marks on my face, but oh well.

The real issue has been my need for endless litany. When someone else is here I chatter at them nonstop. "Hey did you hear that Jamie Spears had her baby? Oh crap, I forgot to pick up a wedding gift. Do you think that there's a difference appropriateness-wise between wearing rubber flip flops or those fake leather looking ones? Should I wear bangs? I like tamales, can we have them for dinner?"

I will say that it was a lot easier to get stuff done this morning. I woke up early, washed every piece of bedding in the house, washed the dishes, gave itchy Steve a bath with some calming oatmeal shampoo for his flea bites, picked up my prescriptions, filled my gas tank, bought some food, got cat food and picked up some hydrocortisone spray for Steve's bitten up areas. Oh, and I partially fixed the bathtub drain.

So I'm feeling pretty good. Aside from the occasional yelling at the animals and the fact that I smell like dog shampoo, vinegar and bleach. Garvin just informed me that he's on his way home now, and I hope he gets here soon, because someone just knocked everything off the shelves in the bathttub and partially took down the curtain. Maybe they got into the liquor cabinet or something?

This morning I faced a severe inability to dress myself. All my shirts were too short, none of my camisoles were long enough, or the shirts were too tight in the sleeves, whine whine whine. I was having some serious issues. So serious that I ranted at Bryan from the moment we got up until the moment we pulled in his parking lot. Non stop. Work, clothes, housework, people and their bumper stickers...anything and everything. Finally I kissed him goodbye and went up to my office, feeling a wee bit better.

That's when one of my bosses pointed out that my sweater was on inside out. Fail!

I've been in a lot of pain lately, so I'm going to go ahead and blame the mood and mental deficiencies on that. I strained a muscle in my neck (who can say how? Slip 'n Sliding?) and am covered with a delightful mottling of bruises from Joe C's party, including some fun finger marks all around my upper arms from being hauled out of Joe's hot tub by a rather inebriated girl. I'm sure the pain has not helped my attitude.

On a final note, we have too many cats. One of the little fuckers---and I'm not naming names, but I'm thinking that it was the fat, orange one---managed to overturn AND break a table in our absence. I'm amazed, but also annoyed. This must be what parenting is like.

I just rocked the socks off a routine dental cleaning.
No new cavities...except...the ones I didn't fix back in 2006. *shifty eyes*
But no NEW ones! Also, the hygienist was impressed at how good my teeth looked considering I have missed a dental appointment or two *cough.*

Anyway, usually I end up with a lecture and a "you need to floss more/better/spend lots of money" speech, but today I got an "it looks like it can wait until you check out your new insurance" speech and a congratulations on my outstanding maintenance.

So I'm happy.
Now...time to internet wrestle.

Holy crap, thirty minutes of old-school military style aerobics just handed me my ass. I'm going to improve my health the old fashioned, whip your own butt into shape my way by using the resistance of my own body, instead of letting the running fanatics I know guilt me into thinking that I need to jog to be healthy.

I hate running. I think it's boring, it's too high impact for me to feel comfortable doing regularly without fearing for my joints, and I have to expose my pasty legs outside in shorts to do it. Forget that.

I always liked calisthenics in gym class, and I can do this in the privacy of the house while I'm watching TV. It'll fit right in with the pilates based workout I already do. Then I don't have to worry that I'm not getting my heart rate up enough when we're out walking with the dog.

Not to mention that I'll be increasing my flexibility and upper body strength all at the same time. And the best part of all---I can do this workout without having to put on pants!