Before your eyes...

I started my day off feeling alone and sad.

Then I started thinking about all I have to be thankful for. The coffee really helped me.

Later in the morning I knew I had to take the wee man and the lab to the track for a run. It has been crazy cold here and we all need to burn off some energy even it was in the teens. Ask me if I like running.
You: "Do you like running pg?"
Me: "Not really. I used to run, but I'd rather walk fast."


The outdoors also helped my spirit.

Then later in the day I went to the frozen lake.


This is Lake Meehagh. In the olden days there used to be an Ice Co. here and they would cut blocks of ice and take them into the city. There are posted signs that when it's ok, you can ice skate on it. Right.


What you can't see in this photo are city guys putting up a fence around the lake so no one goes walking across it. What's really funny is that these guys started yelling, and I knew they were yelling at me. I refused to look at them. Did they think I was going to step out on this half frozen lake? I would never do that. There would have to be others out on this lake safely skating or whatever for me to be comfortable stepping on this ice. Yet I still thought it was funny these guys were yelling at me.

I like this rock the best.

Loving the alien...

A Tale of Two Pets

Story 1-The bag of dog hair.
I realize I may alienate all 4 of my blog friends after I post this photo. I like it because it is a little disturbing and it's not quite right. I'm usually not like this. Never, ever do I stop or slow down to see the victims of a car accident. Obviously I would help or call 911 if no one was there, but I am not a gawker. Nothing to see here, just move along please.

Story 2-The cat.
Nothing kills a romantic spirit than to walk into a bathroom and see poo flung all over. It's funny because I got to say-"Who flung poo" but not so hot to clean up. It was even on the door for heavens sake. I swear that cat is so mad at me for keeping him locked up for 2 hours, but the alternative was a ride in the car and that's more disastrous.

And visualized a heaven...

I have been listening to way too much of Squeeze in the car again. It's bad when my son starts singing, "she always goes to discos but she's never on her own" Momma, what's a disco? At least it's not New Order and I start crying.Feb 2006 post

Great.

Here we go again. The house is back up on the market as of yesterday. This morning we had a viewing at 9am-10am. I'm still in my jammy's until 11 on Saturday. Saturday?! Who goes out that early? Jos had to go tend to some work at Grand Central today. Check out his blog later. So it was me, little man and big ole Emily driving around at 9 in the morning. Oh-and I haven't mentioned it has been like -3F here AND I have no heat in my car. It's really fun. The poor cat who gets car sick, stays at home, trapped in a car carrier. Ironic is it not. Car carrier but he cannot travel. The little man and I went and had a very special Valentines doughnut at D and D and read a very silly cat book. Some old man sat in the corner watching us and I got creeped out. We left quickly.

she wants... drinks for everyone....

After this huge massive frenzy to get so many things done lately, I had to treat myself to a guilty pleasure the other night. Then I started thinking about some other guilty pleasures and I wanted to make a little list.

Favorite movie-The Graduate
I watched this on a little black and white tv alone in my bedroom when I was 16. It changed my life. I could watch it 100 times and it would never get old.

Favorite guilty pleasure movie-Sweet Home Alabama
I know, I know. This is what I watched the other night. I just love this movie and it's so sweet. It has something to do with being from Florida and having lived in Atlanta. Piggly Wiggly was once a part of my vocabulary.

Favorite book-A Town Like Alice
There are few books that I would read over and over, and this is one of them. Stories about WW2 are fascinating to me. I enjoy this one because the heroine is British. Based on true happenings too.

Favorite guilty pleasure book-Cosmos Bedside Astrologer
Now I'm really showing the world how deep and meaningful I am. I have read this every year since I was 18. (The link isn't showing the magazine pullout.)There is something very girly about getting this, and I hope I never stop liking it.

Favorite song-Terrapin
This one is hard but I find myself humming this when my mind is blank. I could think of many Beach Boys, or Beatles or Bowie tunes (and that's just the B's). I love this song by Syd Barret and it always makes me smile.

Favorite guilty pleasure song-Our Lips are Sealed
Yep I heart the Go Gos. I'm jealous because I always wanted to have a band and damn if this song doesn't always make me get up and dance.

I most definitely tag jc, kiki, and rose.

Self portraits challenge 4

I'm an Aries girl and I don't do very well with keeping to lists. Unfortunately life has forced me to keep lists and a resolution is to stick to my lists. I am one of those people that flies from one thing to another, almost haphazardly. Time and energy is wasted. I need to slow down and concentrate on completing the task at hand. Follow the list and eventually everything will get done. Right?
More resolutions here.

Trisha wears No. 5...

Another crazy as heck weekend. I bought a paper shredder on Friday, and the whole family has been treating it like a toy. You cannot however shred ties or hair. Darn. It took 2 days to shred 10 years worth of important documents. I felt like Fawn Hall. I almost asked Jos. to put an army shirt so he could pretend to be Ollie North, but I remembered I don't get very excited over anything related to the military.

Today I was building a cat house-yes yes. Everyone knows I have a 4 year old. No one realizes though that my son is the keeper of all the cats in the world. Our house is getting really cramped. Today he told me we have all the animals on the whole earth in our house. His words exactly. Even buffalo.

So I was building a Lego cat house, and listening to the new Sparks, called Hello Young Lovers. One song struck me as really funny and I wanted to share. It's called Perfume.
Here is how it starts off
Genevieve wears Dior
Margaret wears Tresor
Mary Jo wears Lauren
But you don't wear no perfume.

Next verse is more women's names then the chorus is
That's why I want to spend my life with you.

It made me think about all the perfumes I have worn over the years.
I wore Heaven Scent as a girl. Then when I was a preteen I wore this great perfume called Blue Denim. I thought Bonne Bell made it, but I'm not sure.
The next few years are vague. When I was a senior in high school, someone gave my mom a bottle of Channel 5. I loved the stuff. I started getting into vintage clothes and loving Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly, so the perfume fit. Until my trig teacher asked me why I was wearing a perfume for old ladies, then I never wore it again.
My college days, I wore Beautiful by Estee Lauder.

Then I started to ease off on the scents. Working and being forced to smell horrible colognes in very small spaces makes a person rethink scents.
Maybe it was when we started taking yoga and our teacher told the class not to wear any.

Today, I use scented body lotion which gives a hint of smell. My husband has blessed with by keeping me in Marc Jocobs. I love the smell and the bottle is nice a sleek. if I don't have that, well it's no smell.

My question to my blog friends, what scents have you worn in the past and what do you wear now?

The A to Z of Paintergirl

The always funny and witty jc down in Texas has tagged me.

A- available or single? None of the above. It's been that way for 13 years. I was never with anyone longer than 3 months before I met my husband.
B- best friend? The hubby. I kind of miss having a girlfriend to complain to. Boys want to fix things all the time.
C- cake or pie? I'm a cakey kind of girl.
D- drink of choice? I'm taking jc's route. Water, coffee, seltzer and red wine. Used to always drink beer but I've switched to the ole vino.
E- essential item I use every day: Moisturizer and lipstick.
F- favorite color? I have a lot, but cerulean blue is a color I always love to use when I paint.
G- gummy bears or gummy worms? Bears. I'm not crazy about either. Swedish fish are yummy, until I learned about the whole red dye, squashed bug story.
H- hometown? Orlando-F-L-A. And no I did not live with Mickey.
I - indulgence? Dark chocolate and fresh flowers.
J- january or february? Winter is hard for me. My dad and sis died during this time. I'll pick February for the sake of getting tulips for Valentines.
K- kids and names: The little man(4) is named after a famous jazz musician, middle name a rock star. The black lab is Emily(7), and the black cat is Siddhartha(10).
L- life is incomplete without? Music. Could you imagine no music?
M- marriage date: Day before Halloween.
N- number of siblings: 2 older sisters. My oldest and I were 13 years apart. My very funny middle sister, we're 8 years apart.
O- oranges or apples? Granny Smiths in the fall, and most definitely clementines in the winter. I really don't like eating oranges. I love drinking orange juice.
P- phobias or fears? I hate HATE flying palmetto roaches. I really don't like them at all no matter what they are doing. I hate the sound they make when they are eating. I think they have a built in microphone right by their buggy little mouths. That sound has kept me up nights when I was a teen. drove me crazy. For what purpose on THIS PLANET DO WE NEED TO HEAR A ROACH EATING THE GLUE OFF OF A STAMP?
Q- favorite quote? "Is it safe?" or "When you're driving you can listen to what you want!"
R- reasons to smile? It's snowing!! I just picked my son up from pre-k and made real hot cocoa so we're all sugared up.
S- season? I used to love the spring, but now I get allergies.sniff. It has to be fall-the colors are beautiful. Summer has it's moments-the fresh cut grass smell and winter is nice too. Blanket of white.
T- tag. Lilly
U- unknown fact about me: I was junior fire marshall when I was 12. I loved writing tickets out to teachers for all sorts of infractions. I was such authoritarian figure back then.
V- vegetable you don't like: Lima beans. I hate their texture. It's grossing me thinking about them.
W- worst habit: Procrastinating.
Y- your favorite food? I love so many things, but I'll say Thai and Indian. I sometimes crave a good old fashioned burger.
Z- zodiac? Aries. I'm a mars girl all the way.

And your horse naturally won....

We had a very busy weekend. It's the beginning of a huge journey, in every aspect.

Decided to go back up to Plattsburgh and check everything out. See if we still loved it as much as we did in the summer. No complaints. I want to move now.

This picture above is when we were about to start our drive in the Adirondacks. You can see the fog. I love these mountains. I love mountains in general, but these really are special. It's just a feeling I have about them.
Now we are in the range and clear. Somewhat. We were about half way through the mountains when it started snowing. The little man had to use the potty and we stopped at a really nice rest area. The spooky part was no one was there. It creeped me out. My husband and I didn't say at the time, but we were both concerned that the weather was going to be worse ahead. We were wrong. The skies cleared and it was a clear blue day for the last 40 minutes. Had a lovely time on the mini holiday. My son was jazzed because he got to go swimming at 7.30 in the morning.



The drive coming back was different. The part I was worried about was the mountains, but it was majestic.

It's a little blurry but I love this big sheet of ice. All of the pines were dusted with snow. It looks like another world.

After Saratoga Springs is when we hit sleet, and rain and more crappy rain. Stopped in Glen Falls and had a coffee. If you are ever in this area,check it out because it's the cutest city.

Then we reached Bear Mountain and it was fog. Fog like I have never seen. The kind of fog that sailors tell stories about. Or it's the inside/out fog from the Simpsons.

Happy to be home. Getting ready for the next step.

*Watched the rest of season 5 of Six Feet Under. I just sobbed my way through the last episode.

Telegram sam...you're my main man...

Yesterday I went through an old makeup case that now dutifully holds extra toiletry items. Samples from hotels, deodorant in the mail, soaps that relatives feel like that have to give me. Am I a dirty person? Am I a female version of pigpen? Now I might be with my whirlwind jam hands 4 year old crashing into me. I ask-do I really need all of these things?

I try not to hoard. It's a hard habit to break. (Please don't sing Chicago) I sometimes feel like I'm waiting for a disaster. The kind where you'll need to put on on those ugly sweaters, and leave the house immediately with as many of these unwanted, but needed items.

My dad was a teenager during the depression. We saved everything. It became annoying and embarrassing. It's great to be frugal, and even penny pinching,hey I like Clark Howard, but I consider it hoarding when you really don't need such items. How many rubber bands does a family need? Or twist ties? Will there be a time I need 20 little bottles of shampoo?

So I'm not really sure what to do with all of these samples and I don't want to just throw them out.

I also found this toothbrush. Wouldn't life be so much easier if everything simply stated what it was?

Candy lion...

I think I must just be wanting to complete the things that I have started rather than looking at myself as some sort of masochist. I really don't see myself as one.

Trying to finish Mishima, and now trying to finish the 5th season of Six Feet Under. (When is Deadwood coming out?) Has anyone else seen this last season? The first 4 episodes were very painful. Everyone fighting, everyone knows someone who is about to completely lose their minds. Maybe it's the reality of some of the shows that is unbearable. I hate seeing couples fight because it's so unnecessary and unhealthy. My husband and I were discussing how the earlier seasons were more enlightening. They would get a person thinking about all sorts of unearthly things. very philosophical. The deceased father had the best lines, and very insightful as well. The kind of thing you'd want your father to say. Now though, I'm not sure where the show is headed. We have to finish them now.

-Other news, still plodding along with our happening. Starting to formulate a business plan. It's exciting.

-I'm starting to sell more things on eBay, maybe I'll craigslist some furniture too. Less is more, especially when moving.

-There are also many times I wish I had a camera with me. One time I think about often is once my son was doing something he shouldn't have been doing in the back seat of the car, and I was forced to pull over. As I was about to drive away, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a sweet mama dear and two of her babies crossing the road. I wish I had a photo of that.
The other day driving to the library, I saw 4 wild turkeys and a black squirrel. The turkeys kind of freak me out, but the squirrel is so unusual.

I could feel at the time...

The book I'm currently working my through as most of you know, is Death in Midsummer by Yukio Mishima. If you saw how small the book is, you'd be asking me why it's taking so long. It's a book of short stories, that has been translated from the original Japapnese.

I was sitting on our stairs this morning trying to get through one of the more painful stories called Patriotism.

While I was sitting there, I questioned why I was reading this.
Having a deep love for the Japanese culture is one.
I wanted to read Mishama because he has always interested me as well.
Years ago, we came across a photo book, and always admired the grahic black and white photos and the look and feel of it as well.

Mishima was a force of nature. He may have been insane. I don't think I can even try to summerize his life so here is the wikipedia entry.

He is old style Japanese. Meaning everything is very well thought out, and not just a half thought. The stories he has written are very powerful, and read like a mini movie. They are very intense. Sometimes he comes off as a cold writer. Maybe that is the translation. Maybe that's his way, being distant.

The story Patriotism is about a young Lieutenant who commits seppuku and his beautiful wife who watches and then kills herself as well.

Not the most positive read, but beautifully written. The pain intense and almost unbearable.

I have 3 more stories to read. Wish me luck.

If you get caught between the moon and nyc...

Here is my son demonstrating how to turn on this very lovely toothbrush.
Immediately he asked me, "What is it doing, something strange I think"

Yes-what is it doing?

I bought my husband a battery powered toothbrush for Christmas. Bought myself one too. This is where not reading the fine print, or otherwise, large print beneath the logo gets me into trouble.

I was hoping to buy a brush that the head spins. Oh no, what it does is vibrate.

Yes I said vibrate. I guess I didn't realise that Oral B Sonic=Vibrate on the toothbrush.

Do you want to know what it is like to stick this vibrating toothbrush in your mouth?

It is like a very unsettling carnival ride. Not that fun, and you have a feeling it might not be great for you. You're more scared of the carnies, so you don't say anything.

And when it stops you are thankful to be on solid ground. That's the toothbrush exactly. When the 2 minute warning buzzes in your hand and you turn it off, it's this huge relief that the vibrating has stopped. Oh and the sound. Very authentic to a dentist's tool, if by way, your dentist uses a small Cessna aircraft in his office.

The upside to this whole fiasco of a brush is that I have very polished teeth. I'm just not sure how much my brain appreciates it. Maybe this will eliminate EST therapy in the future.

*My husband has started a new blog. I'm happy that he's doing it. Hoping he'll be inspired.Please stop by and say hi to him. Design is Stupid.

that..is..what..you..get..

Self portrait challenge.
A resolution, as always, is to finish this gosh darn books I have started. Mishima isn't even in here, but he will be the first to go. Some library books have crept in as well. I have some Xmas gift books too. All started by the way. Who knows where Darwin is...upstairs packed in a box already, I suppose.Self portrait challenge.
More resolutions here.

All is quiet...

Happy New Year's everyone! (Sorry, it's the only New Year's song I know)

2006 was a bit of a roller coaster and I'm not planning on looking back anytime soon.
I usually don't make resolutions that make me commit to something everyday. I find it hard to live by rules that I impose upon myself. If I say I'm going to meditate everyday, it will probably not last into the second week of January. (Meditating by the way, I'm like Lindsey in Arrested Development, falling asleep.) Last year as in previous years I have said I'm going to finish all the books I started years ago. I read some of them. Of Human Bondage is the next one to tackle.

This will be a big year. I turn 40. That's pretty big to me. We didn't sell our house, but plan on putting it back up. We have some serious life altering plans in the works, so the next few months will be busy and a telltale of what the year will bring us.

I hope everyone is enjoying their day, some of you have already had your New Year's Day. Remain thoughtful in your actions, and peace to all you crazy kids.