Where Am I?

All of a sudden I feel like I am in Wisconsin. There is snow. There is ice. And, it's fricking cold. It was actually warmer in Denver, Iceland, and Alaska yesterday. Unbelievable. Monday was horrid...it took me four hours to get home. That is not an exaggeration. I left work at 5 and pulled into the Safeway next to my house at 8:45. I had prepared to write a scathing assessment of Washington drivers and their inability to drive given any kind of inclement weather, and often in lovely weather either. About how I don't understand how they thought driving one mile an hour up the hills was going to help them crest the top without spinning their tires. About how ridiculous it is that their fricking enormous four wheel drive SUVs were landing in the ditch and stinking up the air with their spinning tires while my puny Neon performed admirably. About how close they were to a short, chubby Wisconsin-born female going ninja on their asses, her mouth overflowing with so many explitives that she had to start making some up because the current ones weren't effective anymore. But I am weary of recounting the drama and will instead just smile and wave. It's supposed to storm again tonight, but I am working from home...I have thwarted your efforts, Washingtonians! Take that!

Nikki on 11.29.06 @ 12:43 PM PST [link]

Give me an 'S'

A friend of Tim's is doling out letters of the alphabet (for free!) so that people can post a top ten list of things that begin with said letter. I was handed the gift of S.

1. Sheri Reynolds books (The Rapture of Canaan)


2. soda (specifically Mountain Dew)


3. spirals


4. Splenda (tastes just as good as sugar)


5. Sunglasses


6. Scott Foley


7. sandals


8. sweet kisses (awwww...hey, it's just cleaner than what I could've said)


9. shopping


10. sleeping

In some ways, it was more difficult than I thought. Still, S is a pretty easy letter to deal with.

Nikki on 11.29.06 @ 12:32 PM PST [link]

Cheery Day - Not

Today just kinda sucked.

It started with a suspicious debit/credit charge when I looked at my bank statement online. I don't generally look at it on the weekends, ut today checked it just for fun. Voila...a charge for some Florida Tile company in Portland. Since I haven't purchased tile or been to Portland, I figure that I didn't do it. I reported it to the bank and also called the business. Hopefully it was an innocent mistake, the case of numbers being transposed or something when someone either spoke or wrote down the numbers, since I still have the card and it hasn't been out of my direct supervision. So of course the bank cancells my card just in case, which means that I have my credit card and about $50 in cash to work with for 3-5 working days. On top of it, my credit card is a Discover card, which many places take, but not all, illustrated by the yarn store that I went to later to get the last skein for Mom's Christmas scarf. Fortunately, I remembered my cash and paid for it. Later, to cheer myself up, I bought a new cell phone. The old one really wasn't in too bad of shape, but I've never liked that it didn't have speakerphone and that the ports for the chargers and earpiece were nearly stripped. So now I have the oh so fun job of getting it back up to my specs. When I got home, although it felt like it was 7 pm, it was only 2:30. So, even though the dining room wasn't quite dry, I put the furniture back anyway. Called a couple friends to see if anyone wanted to hang out but everyone had plans. I have a bunch of laundry and other cleaning to do, but laundry is just such a hassle because it takes to frikking long. Watched a Harry Potter movie and finished knitting the scarf for mom. Put up some Christmas decorations because I thought that would cheer me up. Took a bath even though I had taken a shower this morning. Ordered pizza. All the while feeling quite melancholy. Just went to Safeway and got a fuzzy navel wine cooler because I rarely get fuzzy navels. And also got some Kissables because I am not feeling very kissable these days. I am in general just feeling sad.

How is it on really busy days I long for a day like today when I don't have a lot to do, but then when I get one, all I can focus on is how pathetic I am?

Nikki on 11.25.06 @ 10:22 PM PST [link]

Thanksgiving Memories

For some reason, Thanksgiving tends to be kinda bummer for me. It's never been exactly what I want, since I've moved out here. I don't know if it's that I miss my family and the way they do things or the foods that my family eats...or what. Really, I've only had two truly bummer Thanksgivings: the one when I thought that I was going to cook this great meal for "my man" only to have him break up with me the night before...and last year, which I slept through it because I didn't really have anywhere to go and I had to move within the next couple weeks. The night before Thanksgiving this year, I remembered the "breakup year" and found it ironic that I was driving to his house five years later. Granted, we didn't spend the actual holiday together...but oh well. I ended up going to a friend's house, which was very nice and I appreciated the invitation, especially since it was the only thing between me and sleeping through the whole day again like last year. I tend to get sleepy when I am stressed/bummed out.

I spent the morning of Thanksgiving steam cleaning the livingroom. That was kinda fun. Sucked up lots of cat fur. All the livingroom furniture is shoved into the diningroom. Mika loves it. I think I am going to rearrange everything to better accommodate Christmas decorating. When should I buy the tree? That is the question. Then, I will have to steam clean the dining room. Not sure if I will do the bedrooms since I really don't want to move all that furniture. Maybe I will just steam clean around it, which is a lot less thorough, but since I don't plan on moving any furniture around in there, I think it's acceptable.

Today I had to work...but the joy of it is that I have been in bed working the entire day, still in pajamas, not even wearing my contacts - just glasses. How great is that? :)

Nikki on 11.24.06 @ 03:17 PM PST [link]

Halloween and Bust

I was excited about Halloween this year but it quickly all fell apart. First of all, I didn't get to go to the pumpkin patch. Now, you may thing, well that's not such a big deal. The pumpkin you got next door at Safeway was perfectly fine. And that's true enough. I guess it's the sentimental attachment that I have to going to the pumpkin patch. And while tromping through the mud (it had rained that morning) wouldn't have been very practical, there are other things that happen at the pumpkin patch that mud wouldn't have really impacted. It's now two years of no pumpkin patch. Oh well. My jack-o-lantern turned out pretty cute.

I was also excited about Halloween night. I thought that I might have plans and would be handing out candy to the kids in the complex. However, those plans disappeared and no kids came to the door. Traffic was insane, as it always is on Halloween, so I didn't get home until 6:30ish, so I have a feeling that most of the kids started in the complex long before I got home. So now I have a huge bowl of candy that must be irradicated from the house immediately so that I don't consume it. I'm sure that if I bring it to work it will be taken care of. We're all about the candy around here.

Nikki on 11.01.06 @ 01:01 PM PST [link]

NoNoWriMo

I know I say this every year...but I really want to stick to the program this year. I spent a couple hours the other night refamiliarizing myself with the story. Had a couple of those moments when I read a section and thought, Damn, that's pretty good. Also had a couple of those moments when I read something about one of the male characters and thought, Damn, he's so sweet and funny. And they were completely fictional details, too...just what I need, to fall in love with a character. lol I spent the hours the other night writing in one of the lounges at MS. It was perfect. Nothing to really distract me, but not isolated. Easy access to caffeine. Now that I don't work there, I like to be there. :) If only I could get access to write there once or twice a week...doubtful that they'll issue a cardkey for an aspiring novelist, though. :)

Nikki on 11.01.06 @ 12:56 PM PST [link]

Sports Suck

I try to be athletic...but it just doesn't work. When I am stumbling all over myself, injuring myself...I tell myself that perhaps I should be satisfied with things that I don't have to work quite so hard at. There is no shame in being a knitter or a writer. But damn, that grass is always greener on the other side. But, there is also so much that I hate about sports:

1. Multiple people yelling at you at the same time to do two different things. This is probably my pet peeve. This happened at soccer on Monday night and I was about ready to smack them both and then leave the field.


2. People take sports way too seriously. Including myself. Good God, we're not at the World Cup here, folks. When someone messes up, just laugh it off instead of kicking the wall or looking askanse at them.


3. If someone falls down, help them up. I don't care if the ball still is in play. At least ask if they're okay as you leap over them to get down the field.

I really was inches away from quitting on Monday night. And most of the people are very nice...but everyone gets caught up in things and that's what I hate. No one is immune.

Nikki on 11.01.06 @ 12:51 PM PST [link]