Riiiiinnng.
“Hello?”
“Who is this?” asked the elderly lady on the other end of the phone. I chucked to myself. Mildly demading for someone calling me. How dare I answer the phone at the place she was trying to call, after all. Wherever it was.
“This is Dixie. Who is this?”
“Sorry. I must have the wrong number,” she says, rather sheepishly.
“S’okay. Bye!”
Today was strange. Odd. You know? Not freakout weird, but things were just slightly curious. Everything was off a little, I guess.
I met somebody who might be a new neighbor today. She was waiting for the manager to arrive, to show her the place. While I was talking to her, the manager pulled into the parking lot..”Oh, there’s Jeannie…” I was saying, and BOOM! She drove her big, gold SUV directly into the telephone pole. While we watched. I think I said, “Oh shit!” She didn’t move right away. Just sat there.
The other lady and I ran over to see if she was okay. She’d hit her head on the windshield, but nothing was cut or broken. She was only slightly rattled…she recovered and did her business with the other lady…she wasn’t hurt, so it was okay.
Later, I visited with a friend on the phone, and enjoyed a good visit. 
Friends rule.
Also this afternoon, my parents called. They’re in town and wanted to see about stopping by. (For a funeral, for that matter. Old friend of my brother’s.) So I visited them about an hour or so…And itt was a nice visit. Some are better than others, and this was a nice one. And it occured to me, while we were visiting: I think they appreciate my sanity. Sometimes you think about it more than others, but I do think they appreciate it.
Does that sound weird? I dunno. (more…)
Damn buy.com and their crappy customer service and slow shipping. I want my new toy, damnit. I want to see how the Roomba works. (read: I goddamn just don’t like vacuuming.)
I have been working with my tripod, though…another bday gift. I’m trying the time-lapse thing again with Roses. Still making a few mistakes: the camera got moved when I had to take the battery out to be recharged. It also takes roses a LONG time to open…like a few days, in this case. But I’m having fun and it is much better than my ealier try without a tripod. Balancing the camera on the top of a damn fan doesn’t work so good, man. 
I’ve still got a reasonably high stress level, in large part due to work issues and shit to figure out. (I got a long list of that.) Probably self-induced. But I guess most stress is. I’ll sure be glad when I get past this busy time and feel a little less pressed.
I’ll get round 1 of the new rose video opening up soon. My server didn’t wanna connect me when I tried the first time, and fixing it is pretty much the same as work for me. Ha.
I’m just kinda distracted lately. That’s all. Mildy stressy and distracted. I blame that (and everything else) on Astrology. Who do you blame when you don’t want it for yourself?
I don’t care, though, just so long as it ain’t me.
Yesterday, I got my butterfly bushes that I ordered. I think these are the colors I got. I’m sure on the red one, but not so sure on the pinkish one, because I can’t remember.  I read someplace to plant two colors close together and they will wind around each other and looked cool, so I’m gonna try it. The red I picked as it should be a favorite for hummingbirds as well as butterflies and the other one was on sale. I planted them and doused ‘em in Miracle Grow. I don’t know if they will bloom this year or next, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy them whenever they do.
 
I’ve enjoyed this gradual birthday thing. (more…)
This should be a code by now. Really. It’s absolutely fucking bizzare.
When I have lots of feelings, things in my home get wet. For example, sometimes the dishwasher overflows whenever I have lots of emotions bubbling around. I’m serious. I mean, Hell. I know you probably thing I’m limey, but it’s true. The dishwasher overflowed and ran all over the floor today. (My kid cleaned it up. That was cool, though.)
Water. Somehow, whenever I’m feeling a lot of feelings or about to, something that’s not supposed to spew out water does. I’m serious as a heart attack, man. You probably think I’m insane. I would, in your shoes, I have no doubt. Or probably. But maybe not. Either way, though….it’s absolutely fucking true, man. (more…)
There’s a new little monkey in the band of neighborhood kids. I was sitting outside drinking my coffee when said monkey skated up and started talking to me. She looked about 11′ish.
“Do you dye your hair?” she asked, with obvious sincerity.
I laughed. “Yeah….it doesn’t grow in like this,” I responded. She paused.
“Oh….it’s a lot of different colors.”
“Yeah. I like colors,” I smiled at her. She went about her business, but came back in a few minutes to ask a few more questions–about a stray dog, the camera in my window (”It’s so I can see who’s at the door when I’m upstairs working”), and another one asked about my cats. Normal kid chatter. I went about my business and thought little of it, although I was aware the fella that has dubbed me the “crazy cat lady” was sitting outside and probably heard the exchange. Whatever. I mostly ignore him. (more…)
Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!
Today is my husband’s 43rd birthday…I hope he is having a terrific one! He’s off tomorrow, so we get to hang out extra. And we’ll have some gifts and dinner and whatnot tonight.
I just feel really, really lucky to have him in my life, you know? I know it’s a big deal to have someone who loves the Hell out of you, and I’ve been blessed enough to having him in my life for over 18 years now…I couldn’t ask for a better husband, or a better friend.
Happy Birthday to my Honey! I love you.
my friend julie’s newest addition - Lily! she looks a lot like my cat, smokey. smokey is the bitchy cat. i think smokey has kitty bipolar. Lily, however, is quite sweet and playful.
that old house/building thing…i think it’s interesting to look at.
i tried to take some pix of the butterflies and hummingbirds–they’re back! but they moved too fast for me today. so it’s just another flower shot…maybe tomorrow. 
They were looking for a leak in the unit next door, and decided, eventually, that it was our dryer vent clogged. And it had to be pulled out. By tearing out the floor in our sunroom. Which means I spent the day entertaining the landlord and the maintenence guy. That’s every bit as fun as it sounds.
What a mess!
Vega the cat flees the scene after being spied exploring the holes in the floor.
  
 
The floor was torn up all day, plaus a big hole in the laundry room, with all the stuff from the sunroom stacked in my bedroom. This was from about 9am until about 4:30pm, with a couple hours off for lunch (or good behavior, depending upon perspective).
Didn’t get much work done today. Go figure.
Add to this mix a tech problem to figure out and a chattier-than-hell landlandy who, among other things, talked to me about: her friends, her kids, her “female” health issues (breifly, thank god), many other things i did not retain AND cleaned lime scale out of my toilets and wanted to scrub my tub. She also changed my “filthy” furnace filter and gave me several mini-pep talks about maintenence. She was nice enough about it…she’s an older lady and tends to go on.
But when they left, the tube was replaced, the smoke alarm on the vaulted ceiling was fixed, the broken stove handle was reattached and the door that’s been off it’s hinges since we moved here was repaired. And my dryer works just like a brand new dryer now. That tube has been clogged a long time.
So you know. It was stressful, but it’s good to have stuff working right, too. Especially when I don’t have to do it. And they’re done!
I scared off a collector today. I consider that no small feat. It wasn’t my collector, mind you. All my bills are paid at the moment, thank you very much. I am grateful for that…to be honest, I am not completely sure whose collector it was. I answered the phone, knowing it probably wasn’t anybody I wanted to talk to.
“Hello. I’m trying to get ahold of a relative of yours.” I was expecting to hear my stepdaughter’s name. “Lorriane Shillcutt?” I. don’t. think. so.
“That’s my husband’s ex-wife!” I snarled.
“Oh, ok, sorry. Bye.” She was off the phone in a flash. Evidently, the disgust in my voice was enough to scare her off, just like that.
I don’t know if they were really looking for the ex, or looking for her as a contact listed for the kid. Because there’s no way they should be calling here looking for her, for Holy Hell’s sakes.
Damn collectors.
