the laanba blog

Parched

Felt the all too familiar feeling of allergy problems settling in last night as I was cleaning the apartment and it dawned on me that I had hardly had any water.  For days.  I've had things to drink (a soda with dinner, a few sips of water, some juice) but straight up water?  No.  I go through periods where I get like this and I am only reminded when my body starts protesting.  I have made it a goal many times before to drink more water and even bought nifty water bottles.  I don't even know where two of them are (I think they are in my car).

It's weird when life gets busy like this and I let things go to hell.  As I mentioned last time there isn't really a good reason that I've let stuff go like this, but I just get in a rut of not going to the grocery store, not cleaning, not eating well. Hopefully I am back on track.  The refrigerator is re-stocked, my water bottle is full and I will be packing my lunch. Now if  I could just figure out why I let myself get off the rails and how I can keep myself here.

Tread

I got new tires yesterday.  Man are tires expensive.  They tried to up sell me on rims, but I held steady because I was already shelling out $500 that I really didn't have.  But when I got home and really looked at the new tires it made me realize just how bad my other tires were.  I  have grooves on my tires now.  I'm lucky nothing happened on those bad tires.

And it may be my imagination but I think it is quieter in my car.  At least it felt that way on the drive home.  That's nice.  There are times when I really had to turn the iPod up to listen to my podcasts.  Usually when I spend that much money on something I'm very excited about my new toy (electronics, furniture, etc.).  Tires are kind of out of sight out of mind and they aren't exactly glamorous. I'm going to try to make a point of really noticing them and enjoy and be thankful that I have them.  

Quietish Days

Well it ended up being ice instead of snow.  I'm glad we had the day off because there were hundreds upon hundreds of accidents on Houston's roads.  You can see some of my photos in this photoblog post.

As for the unwinding aspect I've done a marginal job.  I've done the things my body needed to unwind, lots of being lazy, laying about watching TV reading books and taking naps, but my mind is still going 100 mph on random things.  I need to learn to quiet my mind.

 

Out with the old...

So remember a few weeks ago when I went shopping for a new TV cabinet.  Well I finally got it. Woot!

Here is my old one.  I forgot to take the picture before I took the TV out.  I bought this when I got out of college.  My old tube TV fit in the center perfectly and the bottom held a stereo that I used to have perfectly as well.  It was a great cabinet, but after I moved the first time the sides and top became very wobbly.  It has served me well, but with the change in TV's it just didn't really work anymore.  

And here's my new one.  Wooo!  I love the dimensions.  It fits the TV so much better.  The other one swallowed the new TV up.  I also like the dark wood.  Of course most of the other wood in my house is lighter wood, but then of course the other stuff in my house is from Wal-Mart, etc.  I am slowly going to get grown up furniture and I plan on it fitting this piece.  One nice piece of furniture down, 75 more to go.

Take Two

I am going to try to do this experiment that I had scheduled for last Spring Break.  I ended up being sick and so it really didn't matter if I stayed on the couch and was non-productive, because that is all I was capable of doing.  I still have the same concerns about my home time being a giant time sink so I figure it can't hurt to try.  I was much more in the frame of mind for it last year though so I'm not sure how long I will last.  We'll see.  The clock started at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Vacation Part 2

Vacation Part 2 begins today.  I just back from dropping my mom off at the airport.  Vacation Part 1 consisted of getting ready for Christmas, traveling to the family in East Texas, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day activities and after holiday travel.  It was all lovely but very scheduled.

Now I am on my own for the next week and have no clue as to what I am going to do.  A whole week off and I am giddy at the thought.  I do NOT want to be lazy and lay around my apartment the whole time. That seems such a waste of vacation.  On the other hand I do want to rest and relax before heading back into the stress pit of work which means to me being lazy and laying around my apartment.  I'm sure I'll figure it out.  And I have no doubt this week will fly by.

Flowery Clean

 I love fresh cut flowers (take note would be suitors).  They always seem so luxurious to me and usually only make an appearance in my place when it is freshly cleaned.  It would seem wrong to have beautiful flowers in a messy apartment.

So here is my latest flower bouquet and it marks a special occasion.  The apartment being cleaned by someone else.  I have been toying with the idea for a long time of hiring someone to clean my apartment on a regular basis, but I have never followed through.  I always felt guilty about it. Every time I would think about it I would tell myself that I could do it and there is really no point in spending the money.  But the words of a fellow music teacher always stayed with me.  She said it was one of the best things that she had ever done.  

This first half of the school year with its hellish hours finally broke me.  After two separate incidents where I was under the weather for a week, but still working long hours and the apartment turning into a disaster zone, I finally couldn't take it anymore.  The plan is to have the apartment cleaned twice a month. I'm hoping that in between I will be good about keeping it picked up since it will be regularly cleaned.  It's only been two days but so far so good.  I've put my shoes and dishes away just like a real grownup. I really hope this is a turning point because my life feels so much happier when my apartment is neat and tidy. I guess I just need to be nudged in the right direction. Maybe I'll have flowers all the time.

Gnats

I hates them.  I hates them I sez.

It's not like I've suddenly become slovenly, but I have been fighting gnats in my apartment for the last month.  Not a swarm, but enough to irritate the hell out of me.  I kill them and the next day there are one or two more.  Rinse lather repeat.  Then I'll have a few days where there are none and I feel like I have won.  Then bzzzzzz.  There goes one flying by my head.

It is driving me crazy.  I don't know why they are all of a sudden a problem.  Do I need a freeze to get rid of them?  Hurricane?  Global thermal nuclear war?  At this point I'm ready to sign up for whatever it is to vanquish these creatures from my house.  Right now I stalk my apartment with a bottle of Tilex shower spray which for some reason kills them on contact.  If I'm around my cat, her food or my computer, I use a water bottle mister to dry to drown them to death.  It would be comical if it wasn't such a nuisance. 

UPDATE:  They got into my English muffins.  I hadn't even opened the package yet.  I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.

UPDATE 2:  Maybe they are drain flies.  I don't know but I did just have two or three wee ones fly out of the kitchen sink.  Now I'm getting the heebie jeebies.