Life Roundup

Sunday, just before breakfast at my mom's house:

Karen: Hey, where will I find the griddle now that you've rearranged everything?

Mom (just as casual as can be): Oh, it's in the 2nd drawer of the guest bathroom closet next to your ammo.

Because that makes perfect sense, right? Cookware in the bathroom? Next to the ammo?
A little later...

Karen: Oh yeah, what's that belt with all of the bullets in it doing in the guest bathroom? Is that yours?

Mom: Hunh?

My sister and I about fell over laughing at the thought of my mother owning anything related to a firearm. Long story short it belonged to the previous owners of the house but there sure was some confusion that morning.

I've been reading Wicked, which is turning out to be really good! (I tried to read Mirror Mirror by the same author but I just couldn't get into it.) I liked the show okay- the sets and costumes really sealed the deal for me but the music, while sung by incredibly talented people, lacked that memorable quality. (Aside from Gravity. Everybody knows that one because of Glee. And Popular.) The story seemed really trite and preachy. On the other hand the book has depth and interesting characters and I've been doing nothing but lounging around in my underwear eating popsicles and reading.

Which is okay because it's been very very hot. In case you live on the bottom half of the world, we're having a heat wave here in the southern USofA. It's going to be the hottest summer ever, and TGFAC (Thank God For Air Conditioning). Stepping outside for more than 2 minutes is asking to be drenched in sweat and needing to drink a gallon of water. This afternoon it was 102 and the heat index was 112. That's hot- even for Tennessee.

Yesterday I was like okay, even though it is 12 million degrees outside that is no excuse to skip exercise. I've been doing a lot of yoga lately but slacking on the "real" working out. So I busted out some ab work (crunches, jack-knives, leg lifts with the swiss ball) and rotated those with a bunch of push-ups and then felt like that was probably plenty and called it good. It took about 30 minutes and my abs are staging a rebellion today. My arms and shoulders are catching on to the strike and everything feels sore but I like that- it tells me that I worked hard. Really I need to get back on board with the cardio. I build muscle pretty fast but I have to work on endurance again. It's just that the thought of going to the gym and doing a bunch of cardio and getting all sweaty and then going outside into the heat is completely unappetizing. YUCK.

I've finally started watching Pushing Daisies on Netflix. I watched the pilot last night and it is exactly the kind of quirky lovely little show I enjoy. In a way it reminds me of Dead Like Me- very weird and watchable and lots of death talk but it's funny. Good stuff. And, like most of my favorite shows, canceled after two seasons.

What with Wicked and Pushing Daisies, I need to mention that I blew through Kristin Chenoweth's Memoir "Just A Little Bit Wicked" in about 2 days and if I didn't love her to pieces before (and let's be honest- I did), I love her even more now. It is funny, smart, self-deprecating, and real. I hope she is as cool in real life as she comes across in her book. There were parts that made me laugh out loud.

In other news, I have about 6 more weeks of twice-weekly allergy shots left. I am still in the build-up phase, and then I only have to go get stuck once a week. I'm really glad that needles don't bother me because otherwise I couldn't do this. I feel really bad for the little kids who have to get shots- the nurses try to make it as fun as possible with bright band-aids and stickers and stuff. But you can tell they are just screwing up their courage every time they have to go. Brave little guys. Anyway, the injection sites keep blowing up into these huge hot itchy welts so I've been on lots of Claritin and going through a ton of cortisone cream but that doesn't seem to be helping much. SIX MORE WEEKS!!!

Okay I guess it is obvious that there isn't too much happening around here. I'm on a reading kick, life is good. So, stay cool if you're in the heatwave. And just stay out of trouble if you're not.