January 23, 2009 – Write From Karen

It’s 4:42 p.m.

I’m sitting here trying to ignore my grumbling stomach while trying to keep my eyes open. I’ve had to resort to pouring myself a cup of coffee, left over from this morning because it has been confirmed (by abstaining and then drinking it to see what would happen) that my body no longer likes Starbucks coffee.

WAAH!

So I’m now drinking a nasty cup of coffee so I can wake up and have enough energy to do both Turbo Jam AND walk tonight because I can’t shake that disgusting, bloated body in the dark window image out of my head.

I never got around to going grocery shopping today, but I did make a dent in my emails – albeit a small dent. In fact, I was chugging along and correcting some HTML code when *POOF*, the lights went out. It’s a good thing I had juuust saved my work before that happened or I would be busy patching a hole in the wall made from my head continually hitting it.

The power was out for about an hour, but it was the hour before I needed to go pick up the kids so I was frantically trying to reach my husband to ask him what I needed to do to open the garage door (you pull the rope Karen, no big deal – why is that so hard to remember??) so I could get my car out and pick up the kids.

Luckily, that wasn’t necessary and the power came back on just minutes before I needed to take off. Whew!

I sat around and read that entire hour because when you lose your electricity and you’re stuck at home you can only do two things (okay, three things, but the husband wasn’t around so we’ll knock that one off the list *winkwink*) – sleep or read by a window.

I read. And I was almost disappointed when the lights came back on.

The husband has band practice tonight and I don’t have to cook because it’s Friday night and it’s our “go git” night – a family tradition – so I’m savoring the utter freedom of simply sitting back and waiting for the husband to come home, and drinking coffee the consistency of oil so we can go grab something to eat before he takes off and blows his eardrums for the evening. (I dread when he goes to band practice because when he comes back, he REEKS of cigarette smoke because virtually everyone in the band smokes but him. Or so he says …. hmmm…

It was a semi-productive day today and I’m feeling pretty satisfied with myself. Considering I was completely unproductive the rest of the week, I’m not going to complain.

What are you doing tonight?

Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted at Conversion Diary.

Isn’t this graphic cute?? I love it and am glad to see one of my favorite memes is now “official” (meaning they have their own cute graphic now. *smile*)

Let’s get started …

—1—

Hi! Did you miss me yesterday? Did you wonder what was going on with me because I only posted once as opposed to the fifty times a day I usually post?

thewomen_poster *sigh* Here’s what happened … I spent a good amount of time (I won’t tell you exactly how much time because it’s just pathetic) writing an entry about the movie I watched on the treadmill Wednesday night – “The Women.” And I was getting into it and I was about 1,000 words deep when it suddenly dawned on me, this is crap. Like really boring, preachy crap and I can’t post this because this stuff even puts me to sleep, what will it do to my visitors? And granted, this journal is about me, my thoughts, my life, blahblahblah, but come on, posting that would have been cruel and unusual punishment so I hit the delete button and from that point on? I was brain dead. You couldn’t have made me write something else if you had stuck a gun to my head.

But in case you’re curious to hear my thoughts on the movie, here are the highlights:

It’s a movie about women, for women. There wasn’t one male spotted in the entire film. Not one male spoke. I thought that was a very interesting aspect of the movie.
It’s a movie designed to make women think about their lives and their behaviors.
The movie also points out that when things go wrong in a relationship, don’t automatically point the finger to the partner – face up to the part you played in the break up.
It’s possible to be a strong, independent woman without being a bitch about it.

And those are my thoughts, in a nutshell. The End.

—2—

I now have 45 emails waiting on me. (And here I am, blogging instead of answering them – DEAR GOD, I’m a sad individual). And that freaks me out a little bit because WOW! So many requests and they involve more than a simple link or two. And I’m feeling a little overwhelmed and like a deer stuck staring at oncoming traffic and I absolutely, positively MUST get those answered today.

Today. And before Monday rolls around.

Seriously.

—3—

And just as I typed number 2, a utility truck pulled up in our backyard and it looks like they are preparing to install another pole in one of my neighbor’s yards to help lift the wires up so they aren’t hanging so low and shorting out the neighborhood every time the wind blows which means there’s a good chance I might lose my electricity before I’ve had a chance to catch up on my emails and I haven’t taken a shower yet and now I’m REALLY FREAKED OUT!

But not enough to stop writing this post …

So, moving on …

—4—

Though we’ve decided to take a cruise for our family vacation this summer, we haven’t actually made our reservations yet. We just haven’t had time to both sit down and DO it. Wednesday night, I HAD to walk because now that I know I’m going to have my picture taken in skimpy summer clothing (notice I didn’t say bathing suit because any pictures taken of me in a bathing suit are mysteriously deleted – I have no idea why that keeps happening), I must get this old body into some sort of shape or we’ll have lots of lovely vacation pictures with gaping holes where I was supposed to be standing.

Because I’m not too proud to cut myself out of them.

And last night, MK had his freshman orientation (more on that in a second), and tonight, the husband has band practice, so hopefully, we can get around to making our reservations tomorrow at which time I will explain, in excruciating detail, just what we’re doing and where we’re going – exactly. Lucky you. 😀

—5—

We went to MK’s freshman orientation last night. First, I feel compelled to do the whole girly squealing, tearing my hair out, reaction thing when I think about my BABY starting high school next year.

Seriously. I know it gets old when you read about people saying, “Where did the time go” but seriously, where in the world did the time go?! You young mothers out there with young children, just wait, you won’t FULLY appreciate what I’m trying to say until your kid starts high school. I can’t even explain the impact that has on you emotionally. The overall feeling is buried somewhere between excited-sad-scared-depressed. It’s just … strange. Just wait.

The orientation was long, and drawn out, and we had heard most of it before with GD’s orientation, and MK had even been present for GD’s orientation and was quite cranky we made him go, but I’m glad we did.

The boy’s personality LIT UP when his friends showed up and he talked me out of $8.00 in order to buy a school ball cap. I have a feeling that kid is going to be very sociable. And after the speech was over and we were allowed to walk around the school and visit various tables of clubs, etc., he really acted interested. He wanted to know more about Japanese club and of course, band.

The band information? Disturbs me. Freshman band will have eight evening rehearsals and a full week, we’re talking 8:00 – 5:00, of band camp, in the summer!! All that work before school even begins! And during the school year, they will pretty much be gone every weekend in October/November, play at every home football game and will take an overnight trip to St. Louis and Tulsa.

ACK! I’m not sure I’m ready to let my baby go with a bunch of other wild kids over night and out of town!!

And the sheet warns that band will take a lot of extra time away from the kids and they are still expected to keep their grades up and MK doesn’t manage his time wisely to begin with … can this kid handle it?!

*takes a deep breath*

I can feel the gray hairs growing in as we speak.

—6—

While we were walking around at the orientation, I noticed my reflection in one of the dark windows.

OH. MY. FREAKING. GOSH. Where in the HELL did that gut come from?! Seriously, what in the heck is going on? Here I am, exercising, eating less, definitely cutting back on the junk food, drowning myself in water and juice and yet … and yet … *points in horror* I look like I’m three months pregnant.

In addition to my blubber, I think it might be the clothes I’m wearing. I’ve been wearing these stretchy jeans with a low waist and though they are comfortable as all get out, they don’t do much about holding my gut in. And then I wore this short-sleeved sweater thing that just didn’t compliment my body type.

I’m just going to have to get over my aversion to shopping and spend some time figuring out what looks good on me. Seriously, I am really depressed about this. And I completely disgust myself.

But apparently not enough to pass on the ice cream we had after the orientation last night. *sigh* I’m hopeless. And I have exactly 5 1/2 months to get toned up.

—7—

Another reason I never got around to posting anything else yesterday was because I made the mistake of updating my iPod Touch. Thereby visiting the iTunes store.

I shouldn’t be allowed to visit the iTunes store. I lost track after the fifth click. And even though I prefer to buy a hard copy of my music CDs, I really hate buying a CD for ONE song, so I go wild on iTunes.

And speaking of music, have you ever heard anything from Jem? She’s wonderful. I LOVE this girl. She writes all of her own stuff. And her voice … is simply amazing. Think grungy Enya.

I know that doesn’t sound very flattering, but trust me, she’s amazing. Here’s just one of the songs on her new album that I’m in love with. It’s called “It’s Amazing” and yes, it is amazing.

You can buy her new album here. Honestly, you won’t be disappointed.

Have a great Friday, everyone!

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bloggersbest2 Okay, picture this – you’re trying to entice new readers to your blog. But they only have time to read one of your blog posts. Which blog post would you direct them to? Which of your blog posts really shines and says something about your life? Which blog post are you most proud of? Now take that blog post and submit it to the Blogger’s Best Carnival so everyone else can appreciate your greatness. 🙂