bekeeblog

there aren't too many things that remind me of my age... my birthday is one, yes. but, for some reason, paying my water bill is another (then there's taxes, and sparse grey hairs).

i can almost remember the exact time, when i was a kid, that i realized my mom had to pay for all of the water that we used. i thought it was free for everyone until that moment; i think i was 9 or 10. i started thinking of water differently after that.

what about the water that we use to wash clothes and flush the toilet; that's not free? we pay for water just to dirty it?! what about the school's water fountain? i admit, i called it a bubbler in middle school.

almost immediately after buying my home, i installed a rain barrel, and then another one a couple of years later. i'm now interested in doing something with our grey water... i'm not sure where to start, but we'll figure it out.

a friend of mine has a water bill that's over twice the amount mine is; he takes a bath every single morning.

Posted by bekee at 6:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this week has been one of learning for me! i got to play around with some jquery for an update at work, and the entrelac is coming along well. i almost want to knit everything in entrelac now! except there's a lot of purling involved... maybe it'll help me to purl more quickly.

this friday marks another girls night out. we haven't been since... october? it should be good, they're bringing a dj from chicago, so it should be fairly busy.

i also really need to get back into brailling...

Posted by bekee at 8:23 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this weekend was pretty good. i got to spend a lot of time with matt, i filed my taxes and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of rebate, i loaded my music up to my laptop and am currently in the (painful) process of getting it onto google music.

Posted by bekee at 6:03 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm trying really hard not to comment on this, but *every* *month* it amazes me how it's more than half over already.

we finally got the mattress out of the front room. someone at work had a house fire over the holiday and needed a bed for their new apartment. now we just have to move the appropriate hard surfaces and organize fabrics and yarn. this might also lead to a more organized basement... we'll see. we moved the inversion table downstairs and it's right next to the litter boxes; i'd like to put it somewhere else once there's room.

we're having a couple guests this weekend. hopefully the weather cooperates with their drive from chicago. unlucky timing with getting rid of the mattress, but we have plenty of blankets to simulate a camping experience. at some point, we should get an air mattress for occasions such as this.

we've finally reached a wisconsin winter. there's snow on the ground, and my car tells me it's "icy 4°" in the morning. i'm still toying with the idea of getting a remote starter, but it feels like a first world problem to solve and it makes me feel wasteful.

Posted by bekee at 9:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

four days go by really quickly when you sleep late every day. i'm amazed that we can just lay in bed as long as we do. the dogs hate it. but! they loved the snow; so much that they don't listen very well since they're running around sniffing at everything.

i neglected to bother with my computer... i just don't want to commit to the 2-8 hours it might take to reformat and install windows. :/

we attempted biking in the snow with a pretty good success rate. i discovered that my tires kick up a lot of snow onto my calves, so wearing gaiters is required for a drier arrival.

i've been toying with the idea of going vegan for a month... just to see if i notice any discernible change. i might have to wait until after we have our celebratory non-smoking dinner at muramoto.

Posted by bekee at 6:30 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it was on this day, two years ago, that i woke up with no cigarettes in my possession armed with the knowledge and will to quit. and for two years, i haven't had so much as a puff of tobacco.

i kinda wish i would have saved $8 a day for the past two years!

Posted by bekee at 6:55 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

on my morning commute, i calculated the time and amount i spend driving to and from work every month; it comes down to about $10 a day. that depresses me. i know people spend a lot more than 30 minutes one way in their car or other transportation mode, but geez. that's 5 hours a week that i am not with my sweets, or my dogs, or knitting. maybe i should use that time to write a book.

also, my muffintop has slowly snuck over the point of acceptability, so i need to do something about that. to start, i'm paring down my daily snacks... it got to a point where my snack bag was too full of unnecessary calories. especially in the form of v8 and string cheese. i get enough vegetables and cheese in my regular meals. so, we're back to the standard fare. no more snacking between snacks.

however, woodman's decided to stop carrying my blue bunny yogurt and i have yet to find a replacement that fits these criteria: no high fructose corn syrup, no gelatin, and no fruit on the bottom without being over $1. i found cascade fresh but it's fruit on the bottom. so i'll put up with it until i find a replacement.

and! i finally got on the words with friends bandwagon and currently have 5 games going. i also seem to have all of the vowels in the pile.

Posted by bekee at 6:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i barely slept on thursday night, resulting in a cranky me by the time i got home. i was on edge with everyone. matt's lucky he was away making bloody mix. the afternoon was lazy, except i sufficiently fried the hard drive in my tower (more on that later) and i ended up going to bed before (or around) 10. i then slept until 11:15 on saturday morning, and couldn't bring myself to remain upright long enough to drive to the moen family christmas in prairie du chein...

we didn't do much on saturday, except grocery shop and move the rolltop desk into the study. i was dubious that we'd clear the door frames, but after removing a couple of pieces of fascia, it just barely made it. that night, i managed to stay up until 1.

sunday was sleepy, but it was nice out, so i had to force myself to get up. i had the use of both nostrils, so i made it to the tavern for a late brunch; and then home to knit.

up again for another short week!

Posted by bekee at 6:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

back to work for the second day after eleven off... the dogs seem confused, and my brain doesn't want to go to sleep before 10 or wake up when i'm supposed to. but, it's actually nice to have the sun glaring into my rear view mirror on the morning drive.

i woke yesterday morning to an email that someone had used my paypal account to send someone $549, so i had to pay heartland $25 to put a stop payment on the transaction... which is better than being broke for 10 days while paypal did their investigation. they completed it last night, tho, and reversed the transaction. part of me hopes they accidentally give me the money, but i know that won't happen and if it did, i'd have to give it back at some point.

anyhoo, i'm already looking forward to the weekend!

Posted by bekee at 6:23 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

eleven days went by way too quickly...

we spent a lot of it at local establishments, and i have the pictures to prove it:

here's to another great year with my sweets!

Posted by bekee at 9:32 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

eleven days off soon!

the weekend went by quickly, again; at least it was nice out.

i came home to a gift box from matt's sister. i am now the proud owner of 1.5, 4, and 6qt crock pots! i want to make seitan stew in the 6qt ... hopefully it'll be eaten or frozen.

we woke saturday to about an inch and a half of snow. i didn't tell the dogs and let them figure it out once we got outside. they loved it!

we were home early all three nights, knitting and watching breaking bad, firefly, or how i met your mother.

we had a guest last night. kate was on her way back to chicago from her mom's place and got waylaid by the madison magnet. her visit prompted matt to go through the fabric scraps that she gifted him when she moved to nyc over a year ago. we found some pretty cool pieces, and hopefully it'll motivate us to do the soft goods room over break. i know i keep mentioning that; it'll happen eventually.

also, on the way to sunday brunch, this happened:

Posted by bekee at 6:35 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i came home last night to my fourth flat bicycle inner tube in as many months. at first, it was humorous, and matt helped change a couple since it was nice out and sunny and we weren't in a hurry to get somewhere. now, it's just ridiculous. the guy at revolution said there was lots of glass inside my tire, which seems odd.

he also mentioned that my brakes are sticky and i should get them looked at. i think i need to become more bike-sufficient, cuz it's spendy not to be.

also, a christmas story was on tv last night; i'm mad that nextflix doesn't have it on instant.

and, this morning was the first morning that i missed having coffee in my cold car on the drive in to work.

Posted by bekee at 8:23 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

my back has been on the verge of giving out since i woke up yesterday morning. i decided to tough it out all day, but broke down at 3 and took two non-aspirin (you may or may not know that i rarely take medicine for any ailments). it barely touched the pain... when i got home, i scoured the house for the heating pad that we'd already spent three days looking for... i found it in the very back of the downstairs closet on the floor underneath two boxes (wtf?).

i then proceeded to use the inversion machine that i always forget we have and it seems to have helped... until we took the dogs on a leash walk and nora tripped me and jolted my back ... i had to stand on the side of the road and stop myself from toppling over in pain.

fast forward to the middle of the night when i got up to use the bathroom and could barely bring myself to sit up. matt got the heating pad from the basement for me and i laid for a little bit on that.

this morning, it was pretty hard to get up, but once i inverted, it seemed to relieve it a little bit. i have a chiropractor appointment this afternoon and am a little scared because i don't want to it get worse.

i think i'll have to skip girls' night out tonight... :(

Posted by bekee at 7:08 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

after dropping off the fuzzies at gramma's (now known as "scramble!"), we got to matt's folks around 1, an hour before scheduled dinner. they do things very differently from our family... in the moen clan, everyone brings some sort of appetizer or beverage, and we all stand around chatting, eating, and drinking for a couple of hours. then, when someone decides it's time to eat, the meat and fixin's get set up on the counter and everyone walks around filling a plate (or two!). at the schweiger household, no eating happens until it's time. i was not prepared for this method; i was starving. but, everyone enjoyed our squash. oliver even announced, "i like squash now!"

we then played uno attack until matt finally said he was tired of it. i went to bed around 10:30 and he and his sister stayed up til about 3. i woke up around 7 and dozed on and off til about 10, the spare bedroom is on the sunrise side of the house... i stirred and matt woke, and he made us scrambled eggs and we chatted some more about the roll-top desk that his mom wants to give to matt, and some bookshelves that would most certainly not fit in my trunk.

the dogs were very excited to see us... we eventually got home and headed out on our bikes after too many hours sitting in a car.

the night ended with us knitting, watching breaking bad, and me being very tired.

we met up with some friends on saturday for brunch at mickey's. the weather wasn't really cooperating with a bike ride, but we took to it on two wheels anyway. after we got home, i had no intention on biking to woodman's in the drizzle; so we hopped in the car and i was happy for the decision. the place was desolate. i'd like to think it's that way every saturday at 5pm, but i think it's just cuz everyone had their leftovers to plow through.

sunday, matt went to work and i slept in... even tho i have the bed (mostly) to myself, it's hard to enjoy it with him gone for work at 7 am. i imagine that's how he feels every weekday morning.

the day went along as per usual, and we came home to watch some more breaking bad. i got mad at a scarf and cut it from the skein. maybe matt will pity my foolishness and fix it for me. :)

Posted by bekee at 6:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was about to type "it's a bit early for this", but i quickly realized that's just hogwash. we should take time more often than once a year to reflect on what we're thankful for.

i'm thankful for meeting my best friend and the love of my life, albeit under stressful and almost unmanageable circumstances. i'm thankful for a loving mom and her partner, george. i'm thankful for an understanding family who didn't judge me for getting a divorce, but offered help and condolences.

i'm thankful for a billion friends who i know would (and have!) drop everything and do anything for me if i needed it. i'm thankful for having a house that i love, and two adorable dogs that go nuts every day i get home, and a cat that practically sleeps on our heads at night.

i'm thankful (even tho i don't always act like it) that i have a providing job at a company that doesn't sell oil, fast food, or debt.

i'm thankful that i'm healthy and able, that i can bike almost anywhere i want and feel free doing so. i'm thankful that i can afford to eat out as frequently as i do. i'm thankful for cozy nights on the couch, huddling around the ipad, knitting and watching breaking bad.

so, thanks.

Posted by bekee at 6:26 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

tonight, we're having fish from lake nancy; my mom's friend from forever ago lives there.

i need to gather up my lappy to drop off at a friends' house for him to fix. luckily for me, he lives just on the other side of the beltline from where i work, and he even offered to drop it off at my house when he's done!

i'm almost finished with a scarf that i started a while ago, with yarn that i bought even longer ago. speaking of, i need to find an occasion to wear my awesome sweater that i finished last december holiday. i haven't worn it yet because it's too nice ... i know.

i think i need to set weekly goals. just tiny things that will make me feel better ... especially since it's dark when i leave work, and i can tell my mood is suffering because of that already. i'd like to purge the food cupboards; maybe the pantry at st vinny's takes donations. i'd also like to re-season my cast iron skillets. i did it a couple years ago, but using them was neglected due to other life changes. and, not necessarily for this week, but i'd like to get the soft goods room at least halfway set up; which means we need to find a place for the inversion table... which means we need to tidy up the basement. that must be why we keep putting off the soft goods room. :x

Posted by bekee at 8:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

every weekend goes by too quickly. on friday, we didn't do a whole lot our of the ordinary. saturday was brunch, groceries, dinner, and a failed attempt to see a silent film at the overture center. we weren't expecting the line out the door, and neither of us wanted to wait... so we went to the 'dise and the shamrock. i ran into a good old friend who moved back here recently.

again, i slept in much later than i had intended on sunday ... i knitted some while waiting for brunch; we had a fire last night and i made a huge batch of seitan in my new 4qt slow cooker!

Posted by bekee at 6:39 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

now is the time of year that i am most grateful for quitting smoking. i used to have such a hard time seeing while driving home, especially when then ground was wet, that i had to drive through town which took sometimes an hour and half to get home. i'm thoroughly convinced that my not smoking has had a profound affect on my night-vision.

however! it's a huge pita to walk the dogs in the park at night. they're both black, and the park is black. especially since one of the "street" lights is out at my entrance. i reported it to the city of madison website on monday, but they haven't gotten out there to fix it yet. the park is pretty uncomfortably dark even with that light working.

so, i bought two led dog collars just to throw on before a walk. that way i don't have to keep yelling, letting everyone know that i'm a girl walking alone in a park. :/

i also bought some new biking gloves, the ones i got from machinery row a couple weeks ago don't feel like they'll cut it on a ride when it's less than 20°.

and a tiny ratcheting socket set. cuz i wanted to fix the stool i was sitting on last night and i couldn't. :x

Posted by bekee at 6:29 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's finally friday. this week has been kinda stressful all over; so i'm hoping the weekend is low-key. i got a call back from my isp in regards to my email this week... they said that everyone received the $3 increase email, but it didn't affect everyone (i think they're fibbing to save face, but whatever), and! they're going to drop the monthly rental fee for the wireless router. booyah. i should speak up more when i'm disappointed in people or actions. it seems to work (100% of the time, at least as of right now).

this weekend is lutefisk in barneveld. i can't even count the number of years i've been going... i think i've only skipped one in the last 15 or so. it'll be nice to see everyone, it's going to be a bigger crowd than usual so we'll have to split up between tables. last year, matt and i sat at a separate table with some ladies who were very happy to see "such young folks" enjoying the meal. it was cute.

here are matt and i on halloween... we made severed head necklaces, but his broke.

Posted by bekee at 6:35 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the past month has been filled with losing things, dropping carry-out all over the sidewalk, laptop taking a crap. but, this morning, to top it off, i couldn't find my keys. anywhere.

i was so frustrated, i fell to the ground crying. i have never, ever, ever lost my keys. ever. ever!

i was most upset about having to replace my automatic unlocker key and my dog keychain.

then, i remembered that i had worn my raincoat last night and the keys were likely in the pocket because i had my bag on underneath it and wouldn't have put them back in there.

immediate relief.

now i just need to get my laptop functioning again and order will be slightly more restored.

Posted by bekee at 6:54 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm not usually a letter-writer... you know, the kind of american consumer who writes complaints to companies for whatever reason i can think of to yell at the ceo for whatever bonehead decision they made; but today is different. i just got the following message from my isp:

Beginning in December, the price of your Internet service is increasing $3/mo. If you decide to cancel your service, you will not incur any early termination fees.

If you have any questions, call 1-800-xxx-xxxx.

Thank you for being our customer.

to which they're getting in response:

while i understand the business need to generate income, this note comes almost completely devoid of the desire to keep the current customers that you have.

i'm sure longevity doesn't really matter to whomever is going to read my email, but i've been a customer for fifteen years, paying quite a bit more for internet service than i think i should have to because it is a local company and hasn't quite gotten to the point of being a huge, greedy corporation.

a few months ago, the hardware you provide me failed and i was shipped a new wireless router without being told of the $2.95 monthly fee after having used your wireless hardware for years; and now i'm being told of another increase without any realized benefit to me. will you have fewer outages? will you provide faster speeds at the same cost? will i not have to reset my $2.95/month router every other week?

and no, i'm not really complaining about $2.95 wireless gateway rental or $3 increase in service; i'm just concerned with the apparent lack of empathy toward your customers.

this communication will having me considering a switch to another service provider.

Posted by bekee at 5:47 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this week feels like it's taking forever. it's sooo hard to wake up when it's dark out, i just want to sleep. i can't wait til next weekend to set the clock back.

i don't think we have a whole lot planned for this weekend...

i can't believe it's almost november.

Posted by bekee at 7:10 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i stayed home yesterday cuz i couldn't sleep all night; i thought it was due to a migraine, but this morning my sinuses are clogged and draining in an alternating fashion that makes my head feel heavy.

i can't stay home again though, there's too many little things going on at work... i feel like i've been piled upon for a while now, but not sure there's much i can do about it. it's the nature of our business and the medium on which i work.

i am looking forward to this weekend. i took monday off so i can enjoy halloween without people. it's one of the top three amateur holidays... i wish matt didn't have to work. he's probably going to hate it. we still need to get supplies to make a severed head necklace. maybe we can do that on friday... i wish there was a locally owned crafty-type store on atwood; maybe that's my calling. not a yarn-only or fabric-only, but all sorts of crafty stuff; like a miniature wisconsin craft market.

Posted by bekee at 6:35 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i got my car fixed on friday... the front flex pipe had a tear in it and i took it to mex muffler on park street. they welded it back together, gave it a 1 year warranty and it was only $60! they don't take appointments, so the length of time you're there will vary, but they were nice and quick.

we were finally motivated to clear out the garden and buckets and yard of tomato plants... also, a neighbor was gifted way too much composted soil so we got to top off our garden for next year. we also drained the rain barrels, so this winter won't result in my cringing every time i pull into the driveway.

all of the animals are doing well... alex has fully acclimated and has taken to sleeping in the bed with us most nights.

matt and i have been knitting more and watching more movies... we started and finished across the universe this weekend. it was pretty good!

i wish i were cozy on the couch with all of them right now.

Posted by bekee at 9:48 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i try to wake up early enough to enjoy my weekends, but they still seem to speed by without my noticing. this weekend started out with a trip to an old friends' automotive repair shop, dutch's auto, because my check-engine light came on... there has been a sound of an exhaust leak for about a week. it was determined that there's a flexible hose-like thing that had torn and the light was likely triggered by a co2 sensor. so, i'm taking my car back this coming friday and hopefully it won't cost a billion dollars.

we grocery shopped while the car was in good hands, after we got home, we picked some more tomatoes but forgot to compost the rest of the plants. i think we've hit our peak in fruit.

we were supposed to go to gallery night, but got distracted.

saturday, we mostly lazed about, but had a really nice fire later on and had some friends over to enjoy it with us.

sunday, i slept in a bit longer than i wanted to. the dog walk was exceptionally nice. they were very well-behaved and the weather was just about perfect. i got breakfast at the tavern while matt worked; we didn't stay much past his shift and came home to fix up the rest of our tomatoes into a nice pasta dish and watched the rest of trollhunter, which is a really good movie.

now, without wishing time away, i hope for friday again.

Posted by bekee at 6:26 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

another weekend went by much too quickly. on friday, matt was great and mowed the lawn and then we decided to give the harmony another try for lunch, their portabellas are just perfect. friday night was our first girls night out (at the inferno) in a long time... we slept in a bit and headed to mickey's for breakfast on saturday; it was pretty slow so it was nice and relaxing, that made it hard to motivate to leave for woodman's, but we managed.

i made some banana muffins in an attempt to get rid of the ones that would fall out of the freezer onto my toes... so i brought a bunch to a going-away party. some friends are traveling the world and leave tomorrow!

sunday was relaxing... so much so that i deftly avoided putting the dishes in the dishwasher.

all of the things with feet in the house are doing well. the kitty still uncovers marco and polo's cage but doesn't seem to want to do much more than stare at them.

Posted by bekee at 5:59 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

another week is almost over... tomorrow is the 17th of september; it would have been my 9th wedding anniversary. i'm glad it's not.

the willy st fair is this weekend... i think we'll make an appearance on saturday; hopefully the weather cooperates. it's been so cold! i don't remember it getting to frost in september in a long time. we've covered the tomatoes for two nights now, very few of them are changing color. i hope we don't have to can green tomatoes. i am not much of a fan.

i'm excited for the cold nights and cuddling on the couch... the chilly bike rides and trying to decide if it's not too icy to bike, the dogs "swimming" in the snow.

i'm *not* excited for shoveling.

we caught our neighborhood green heron (fondly nicknamed "steven") hanging out by the bridge recently:

Posted by bekee at 6:40 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i have been having a panic attack since i started getting ready for work this morning. i can't concentrate and i keep getting waves of nervous warmth followed by slightly sweating and shaking. i can't identify specifically what the problem is, but it's triggering a flight instinct and i really just want to go home. i'm feeling completely unproductive and useless. i keep clenching my jaw which is giving me a headache. my back is tense and my left thumb and pointer finger are tingling.

in other, happy news... we went out for sushi on friday and ended up getting free sake and some extra sashimi pieces. i don't know if it was in error, but it might have been because i pointed out a hair on one of the hand rolls that was on its way to the dining room.

the weekend went much too quickly.

Posted by bekee at 10:15 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we've got nothing planned for tomorrow, so i'm looking forward to sleeping in. i've been having a heck of a time waking up all week... just wishing for 30 more minutes with my eyes shut. i have developed a snooze habit that i'm not sure is working any more. i used to set an alarm and wake up, shoot out of bed, and get ready for the day. but now i snooze at least four times every morning. i don't think it's good for my mood.

but! it's friday, making me a little more tolerant of the day.

the birds are tweeting along nicely. i think davinci is happy just hearing other birds up close. i'm not sure if we can even get any of them to stay on our fingers long enough to put them all in one cage. maybe some day, we can take the tops off and let them fly about and see if they end up cohabitating.

Posted by bekee at 7:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's settling in again... it's been a while, so i guess that's ok. i'm feeling pretty unfulfilled at work. i feel like we all (the three of us that share a job title) just move content from excel spreadsheets and word docs into html files; it's mind-numbing and disappointing.

this morning, i woke up thinking about all the different types of projects we work on and the 800 interfaces we have to deal with to get any one of them completed... and how no one else really understands the tedious complexity any one little thing ends up turning into.

ok, i'm done with that.

on a better note, tomorrow marks my first annual divorced anniversary. technically, it wasn't final-final until i filed the last bunch of papers, but it was the day i faced a judge in the courtroom by myself... matt came with me, and for some reason, i wanted him to stay in the hall and wait. i kinda regret that decision now, but i think i was embarrassed and didn't want him to see me being granted the freedom that i had waited 6 months (plus a lot more) for.

*shrug*

in any event, we'll be celebrating with some sushi tomorrow, hopefully.

Posted by bekee at 6:37 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i should make more of a point to write in my blog... i really have no reason not to, other than i'm not sure i have much to say of interest.

the storm on saturday morning took down half of one of our trees... stacy (the tree) had split near the base form a storm last year, and george kindly came over to bolt her back together, but it wasn't enough to withstand the winds from the storm.

the labor day weekend party went really well, considering the weather. a friend brought over a tent that we all sort of huddled under until around 5, when the rain finally let up. i had baked a cheesecake but had to cool it in the fridge and forgot to bring it out, so mickey's kitchen got a gift on monday. braulio put it in the walk-in and had attached a note, "feel free to eat, becky made it so it has to be good."

in other, unrelated news, the dogs have been pooping in the livingroom for the last three days. we can't figure out why... it was abnormal the first day, but doesn't seem to be that different recently. jones knows what he did was wrong cuz he looks embarrassed, but that doesn't seem to keep him from doing it. :/

also, the cranes came back to work again yesterday:

Posted by bekee at 7:34 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it has been a long, busy week at work; and we're not even into the holiday stuff. at least it helps the time go by... i built a seven-page website from scratch in three days, and even had to use a little jquery.

the cucumbers seem to have stopped producing. all the leaves are dry and brown. we are going to have tomatoes coming out of our ears in a couple weeks... i'm excited to learn how to can! matt's mom and dad gave us a bunch of jars, so all we need to get are the lids (and rings?) and we can have yummy tomato sauce in the middle of the winter when we're ornery about getting no sunlight.

also, here's our new feathered friend, davinci:

Posted by bekee at 7:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

sorry, i haven't been more chatty. i don't get much time to sit in front of the computer to pour my feelings out. i also haven't been very crafty or anything. the dogs are doing great and the house is in a decent state.

we're planning for our labor day party, so some more cleaning will happen in the next couple weeks. we have the menu down, i think, but it's in matt's notebook so i can't share it with you cuz i don't have it memorized.

we might be adopting another budgie this evening. a friends' friend has a new cat in the house and it's tormenting their 5-year old green parakeet... named davinci. so, we'll have three birds named after two dead italian guys. that's kinda neat.

luckily, we just got marco and polo a new cage that they've settled in nicely. they took about a week to warm to it, but that seems to be the length of time for them to warm to anything. hopefully the older bird doesn't get annoyed at the young whipper-snappers.

Posted by bekee at 6:26 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this past weekend was nice. i cashed out my stocks before the market took a digger, and got the checks on friday. i promptly spent too much on clothes from kohl's, old navy, and ragstock... i also dug out from under a pile of bills, which decreases my stress level quite a bit.

the kombucha is coming along nicely. i have two batches going opposite each other, so it's basically a constant supply. my scoby hotel has three mothers ready for use, if needed. i think i'll now start letting them get thicker instead of retiring the mother to the hotel. upon matt's suggestion, we flavored one bottle with a slice of cucumber (from the monster in the garden); it is really tasty and refreshing! i think i want to try making a savory one for salad dressing... with garlic and onion and maybe a pepperoncini.

we also got a new bird cage for free. the guy at mounds forgot to ring it up and i didn't look at the receipt til i got home. i felt bad but was convinced by others that it was unnecessary.

moving the birds from one cage to the other was going great until polo jumped out while marco was on his way in. she squawked around the bathroom while matt tried to catch her and she ended up digging her beak into his finger. we finally got her calm and into the cage. they're slowly getting used to it.

Posted by bekee at 7:13 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's been a while since i rapped at ya.

i haven't had a whole lot of exciting news... other than we've spent the last two weekends in a car; i'm looking forward to not doing that this weekend.

however, there is proof that i can wear a dress:

i'll try to think of something to keep the blog more exciting, thanks for sticking around while i'm in a rut.

Posted by bekee at 7:07 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

without coffee. i kinda miss the smell in the mornings... maybe i should get (make?) a coffee-scented candle. i can't say i haven't had caffeine in that time; matt frequently likes to celebrate little occasions with jaegerbombs.

we bottled batch three of my kombucha and now i have a scoby hotel started in the event of mold or vinegar eels (don't even ask, it's gross). when i brewed the two batches last week, i didn't realize that i hadn't enough sugar for the second one, so it "got done" more quickly, but it has a different ... texture. it's not as thick and tasty. it's like it's watered-down cuz the scoby didn't have enough to 'digest'.

i guess it's a good learning experience.

also, we have too many cucumbers. i might have to deliver some to the mickey's kitchen this evening...

Posted by bekee at 7:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i've been really busy at work for the last week and a half... i've finished 12 projects of varying sizes and feel kind of exhausted about it, and i still have two more things to knock out before the end of the week.

as a benefit, i'm surprised it's already thursday. i'm looking forward to the weekend and being with my sweets. the two things i want to accomplish this weekend/friday are mowing the lawn and super-scrubbing the kitchen floor. taking care of the lawn is a requirement but the floor... well, that may accidentally get overlooked.

Posted by bekee at 7:16 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

a year and a half ago, i quit smoking; haven't looked back once.

four years ago tomorrow, i became a bona-fide homeowner.

also, my third attempt at kombucha and growing a scoby has been highly successful:

jones found a bunny:

and, although we did not make it over the waves in the lake, we had a marvelous picnic on the canoe:

Posted by bekee at 7:12 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the long weekend is over... jones is very sad this morning, he can tell when i have to go back to work and always looks forlorn.

my third attempt at kombucha is going well. i got new tea and am using gt's to start a scoby, so hopefully that'll do it.

this weekend, matt cleared an area of tiger lillies and planted his vining flowers, and we fixed the front porch... resulting in a bonk on my forehead. the story is much better told audibly, so i'll leave it at that.

also, i got a drum:

Posted by bekee at 6:55 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's been a month since i've had coffee... i don't really feel that differently, but i do think i'm sleeping better. at least, i'm sleeping through the night instead of waking up at midnight and 4am for no good reason.

my second attempt at making kombucha resulted in mold again. it's made me frustrated... apparently the water for the tea needs to be boiled in a stainless steel pot, which i don't have. i also read that a coffee filter should be used to cover the brewing vessel instead of a recycled shirt. luckily, i have a bunch left over.

in other news, after the work day is over, i'm off for five days.

Posted by bekee at 7:10 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

my first batch of kombucha got the dreaded mold... it's kinda frustrating since i had to wait so long for the mother to come out of dormancy. i think i might try growing my own scoby and starting over.

also, here's the view of the train tracks by olbrich from the canoe:

Posted by bekee at 6:44 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we have some friends who are leaving the country to experience europe for a year (or more?) and they have a canoe that obviously can't go with them... so they're giving it to us! with life jackets and everything! we can just hop in the creek and canoe over to lake monona and have a picnic in the water! i'm not sure if nora will enjoy the trek, but i think jones could handle it for a little bit.

maybe this will be the excuse i need to get myself a pair of vibram shoes.

i'm not sure where we'll store the thing, but it might fit nicely under the deck.

Posted by bekee at 6:27 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

during one of our outings this past weekend, we happened upon this guy... for scale reference, his head is about as big as the pad on my pointer finger.

i've been kinda frustrated at work lately, so i'm glad we (hopefully) get to play kickball tonight. it might help work out some tension.

also, the not-drinking-caffeine is going ok; i kinda miss it for the flavor, but once i get my kombucha brew in full swing, i'll have that to play around with. maybe i can even use hazelnut syrup on a couple jars.

Posted by bekee at 5:44 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i survived a week without coffee at work. it really wasn't too difficult... tho, i think it's affecting my metabolism, so i'll be happy when i get a batch of kombucha going. i also just read that you can grind up a scoby and a little kt to make a paste for your skin!

i just hope my mothers cooperate... they've been dormant in a fridge for a while.

i've also been diligently taking my multi-vitamin, an extra b12, and potassium pills this week. i can't tell any difference, but maybe i'm not supposed to.

i forgot to share this when it came out, here's the first peony. i finally remembered to support them with cages this year so they don't topple over.

Posted by bekee at 7:03 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this could become a little confusing due to all my holiday/sick time over the last few weeks... essentially, i stopped drinking coffee on thursday, may 26 some time in the mid morning. i had a four day weekend, during which i didn't have any. i was sick on tuesday the 31st and came to work on the 1st, mug in hand.

i had more days off from the 2nd to the 5th and decided that my anxiety may not be helped by the caffeine, even tho i barely drink any, and figured it wouldn't be terrible to cut it out of my diet for a bit.

so far, it's been fine. we'll see how i feel in a couple weeks. if anything, i could probably stand to only drink coffee on the weekends when i can really enjoy it. it doesn't hurt that it's 102° out right now... the mere thought of anything very hot is grimace-inducing.

speaking of heat... i hope our plants are handling it. they just about doubled in size over the last couple days, but it looks like a lot of work for them to keep upright, especially the mustard.

also, here's marco, demonstrating his acrobatic abilities:

Posted by bekee at 5:43 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

need to start photographic evidence of plants with date stamps.

we had a really nice, long weekend.... thursday, we went to the lazy oaf for lunch. my catfish sandwich was obviously frozen and thawed, not sure what i expected; matt got the wrong blue cheese burger. the bloody's were ok, tho a little strong on the pepper.

we then spent an hour at the dmv so matt could become a bonafide madisonian (after how many years here?). so, now he can vote.

on friday, we went to the cupcakery for lunch and then to see x-men: first class. it was a pretty good flick. afterwards, we went to the tornado room for matt's bday dinner. an old friend is the host there and he bought our first round of drinks. my sockeye salmon was really yummy, it came with a sauce of sweet potato and apple puree. i think i might try to replicate that.

matt made quick use of shiny things to pull apart and devour his crab legs.

we headed to mickey's to say hi to some friends and then to the inferno for girls' night out + matt. the djs i wanted to see (gene ferris and delta9) hadn't even gone on stage at midnight, so we came home.

saturday morning was slept away and we had "breakfast" at mickey's. we took a break for grocery shopping and then went back to wait for no one (ok, very few) to show up for kickball.

we called it an early night and grabbed some orange roughy from jenifer st to do up on the grill; i also made the best mashed potatoes ever in the universe.

sunday, matt had to go back to work... so i slept in a little and met mom and geo around 11 for some noms.

today, i go back to work after almost 10 days off (lots of holiday/sick/vacation time in the last week). i've decided to stop caffeine all together... just for a little bit. i only drink it at work, so it shouldn't be too hard. we'll see if i doze off in my chair this afternoon.

Posted by bekee at 7:11 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

our memorial day soirée was a success! lots of food eaten, marshmallows roasted, dog begging, and laugh sharing.

except there's one thing that's been bugging me. our yard is adjacent to a shared yard of about five houses on fair oaks, and we've not had a (complete) fence separating the two since last year (it's the responsibility of the closest adjacent neighbor). so, some kids took advantage of the usually unused greenspace to toss a ball around. after some time, a woman who lives five houses away (with whom i've had a pretty good rapport) announced that she was feeling violated and would they stop playing in her yard.

of course, i thought it was a reasonable request and attempted to apologize at the time, but she was no longer outside when i heard the news. so, we just kept everyone inside the invisible fence line.

i ran into her yesterday while walking the dogs and said "sorry about the kids playing on saturday." she responded with, "i was about to ask them for their addresses so i could hang out in their yards!", to which i came up with nothing; i couldn't even formulate a fake laugh. i finally said we'd keep them reigned in next time and sorry again.

i wanted to tell her that most of those kids have barely a quarter of the size of the shared yard that no one uses except five four-legged poop machines, and i wanted to ask her if it's such a terrible thing that some kids were playing one time in a yard that she doesn't even maintain?

it kinda makes me sad cuz we've talked on dog excursions and now i feel like she's a mean, selfish person. whotf would threaten to ask a four-year-old her address so they could "hang out in your yard"? kinda creepy.

i hope my feelings go away.

Posted by bekee at 5:55 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

so we totally blew off planning the menu... and i realized on monday when i left the house that it's in a mildly embarrassing state of cleanliness. i should have been more selfless on sunday, but i was feeling lazy.

so, we need. to. plan. the. menu.

we were also talking about driving to the badlands the following weekend to camp, but it seems like a hasty decision since i haven't camped in about 5 years, i've never taken my car more than 4 hours away, and it's the weekend after the party so we'll probably want to relax.

it's also matt's bday in june *shh*. i haven't come across anything worthy of his ownership since his birthday ... wow, was that three years ago? i gave him my chain wallet that i'd had since i was 16. i bought it at the cat's meow and it saved me from ever locking my keys in my car. also, i never got my wallet stolen at any raves.

Posted by bekee at 6:18 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

sorry i've been so quiet! life's been grand lately, but there's been nothing out of the ordinary to talk about. we do, however, need to hunker down and get the party planning committee going full-steam. i hope to make things simple... but i always come up with too much and spend all the time in the kitchen; which makes some people fussy.

also, our little seedlings are explodinating! we need to get some dirt for the buckets in order to repot all the tomatoes. i also should get to tilling the raised bed and throw in the cukes... this weekend, maybe.

additionally! not enough warm bodies showed up for kickball on saturday, so we hopped the fence at the wisco (not really) and played some sand volleyball.

*proof*

Posted by bekee at 7:17 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

for some reason, today, i'm feeling inadequate. that's the only word i can think of to describe it. i can't concentrate and i don't want to be staring at a computer. i wish i were riding my bike down a hill with a picnic lunch, following matt; being unsure of our destination and not really caring.

i feel like i need a change of scenery.

Posted by bekee at 11:40 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

friday was nice and relaxing... we had to go to woodman's, so we thought we'd give pan y pan a try. that's the mexican bakery/restaurant in the parking lot where popeye's used to be. they have tortas, quesadillas, burritos, and tacos with all sorts of different insides. my (vegetarian) burrito was pretty good, but missing something... a salty flavor... like it needed pico de gallo or something.

after the woodman's run, we freed our tomato seedlings from their tiny little living spaces and replanted them in little paper pots made from a pot maker. i bought that thing almost three years ago and finally got to put it to use. we can then just throw the whole thing in some more dirt and the newspaper will decompose.

we celebrated another annual milestone on saturday; it marked one year from my filing date. matt made an awesome fire in the back yard while i cooked up some tuna on the grill.

sunday morning, the dogs thought i should wake up around 9... i made it til about 10 before they insisted. we had a nice walk; two neighbor dogs showed up, as well as a high-school acquaintance who seemingly just moved into the neighborhood.

i visited matt at the tavern for breakfast and then came home to dye my hair and make my weekly lunch. it started out as sauteed seitan and zucchini with noodles; but it turned into a seitan-noodle soup. later, i met back up with matt and we grabbed dinner at ha long bay and it was perfect.

also, i had some really strange dreams this weekend involving people from the past, finding lots of money on the ground, and work.

Posted by bekee at 7:17 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

my birthday week was great. i didn't use my car for 10 days; we biked everywhere. on friday, we got our fishing licenses, visited the jade monkey and matt learned how fun shuffleboard is.

we also determined that a fish tank is in our future.

we played lots of bar games, most of which i've gotten worse at.

we also got stuck downtown on my birthday proper, waiting for the weather to stop being weather.

but, not before biking in the rain to have yummy sushi.

and when we finally could enjoy the outside, matt and nora shared a moment.

we also installed the second rain barrel; and got tattoos.

it was a splendid week.

Posted by bekee at 7:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we started a lot of seeds this year... we've buckets and a raised bed and pots; hopefully enough to support our endeavors.

we also need to install the second rain barrel. it'll have to sit where some peonies are, so those need to be either dug up or sat upon. luckily, after 5pm tomorrow, i'm off work until the 26th.

Posted by bekee at 7:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

eight years ago, mayor dave won.

seven years ago, i bought my first 2nd gen ipod, and was one of two lone people in the movie theater to see eternal sunshine on my birthday.

six years ago, i was in nyc for my bday week. though, it seems like a million years ago.

jones came into my life five years ago this month.

four years ago, i found my first grey hair.

three years ago, i installed a front walk, built my raised-bed, and had the bathroom redone.

two years ago was kinda boring, it seems.

and last year, well, you know.

Posted by bekee at 6:44 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we've started planning our memorial day party while still retaining the goal of utensil-less foodstuffs... though, that might become too lofty; sometimes a good pasta salad is worth the plastic fork or space in the dish washer.

we're also organizing a mickey's intramural kickball league... games will be played every first and third saturday either at o'keefe or o.b. sherry. we still need to get facebook up to speed on our endeavors.

Posted by bekee at 7:14 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we had a really nice one; lots of biking around and general tomfoolery. matt took down a misplaced tree that eventually would inhibit the building of a garage...

we skipped girls' night out for the first time since november... i just wasn't feeling it.

birthday week is coming up; i think it'll be a good time to get the soft-craft room set up upstairs.

Posted by bekee at 7:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i've been sleeping through the night for about four nights now, which is a welcome change to waking up anywhere between 1 and 4 and not being able to go back to sleep until 30 minutes before the alarm. i'm not sure why it is, but i will not question such good luck.

i did, however, wake up with my right ring finger and pinky tingling in that familiar tendonitis way that my left hand used to do years ago.

i hope that's just temporary.

Posted by bekee at 7:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"anything you want to post about"

we have some great plans for the back yard, including more raised bed gardens, a rock/gravel patio sort of area for the fire pit, and something i'm becoming more and more excited about, a chicken coop!

my goal has always been to get rid of grass-lawn and the addition of these things will take care of almost half.

also, we're having a very nice friend come over to see if he can pull the cemented-in, iron clotheslines out with his bobcat. we already have someone else who'll haul 'em away, too.

i've never really been a fan of line-dried clothes... they usually come out stiff, especially towels. i've heard that drying on the line saves 3¢ per load over machine drying, so i don't feel too bad about losing the two eyesores.

additionally, we're reducing the number of places for hornets to nest.

Posted by bekee at 7:14 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"picture of yourself"

blurry pic of new earrings and long hair.

Posted by bekee at 6:56 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"do you wish for anything at 11:11? if so, what do you wish for?"

i usually wish that my dogs will behave so well on the next walk that i'll faint from surprise, or that i'll continue to have the most awesome time in my life.

if i get any more specific, it might not come true.

Posted by bekee at 7:24 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

Posted by bekee at 1:24 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"what are some little things that make you feel warm and fuzzy?"

cuddling in the morning
feeding my dogs carrots cuz they crunch just like when humans eat them
the drive home from work
sleeping in on sunday mornings
bike rides on 64° days
solving a problem at work
kombucha

Posted by bekee at 11:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"would you rather date someone plain with an amazing persona or someone beautiful with a plain personality?"

this is trying to be profound and deep... i don't like it.

Posted by bekee at 7:14 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"seven things that cross your mind a lot"

1. my sweetie
2. my dogs
3. workstress
4. my debt
5. weekend plans
6. the past
7. the future

Posted by bekee at 6:48 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"a letter to someone. anyone."

how about a letter to my 18 year old self...

dear you,

go ahead and take out that loan for a decent car, it'll help build your good credit. but you should start paying off your student loans before you graduate, even though it seems impossible; the next 20 years of consolidating them and paying more interest than you can imagine will be kind of annoying.

try not to be so hard on yourself but push to do something great. you never know, you could come up with the iphone and be a bazillionaire by 40. you may have an opportunity to become certified in braille a couple times, try to get it right the first time cuz it will make you feel bad about not finishing later on. twice.

don't stop making good design when you find yourself in an environment that doesn't really foster creativity... you might find a lucrative use for it in your recreational activities later on.

also, your aunt once told you that high school contained the best years in life and you should enjoy them; you will think for a long time that it was the silliest thing you've ever heard anyone say, but eventually you'll realize she was referring to the absence of responsibility (*real* responsibility), the carefree nature of being a teenager, and not really having to worry about money or problems... there will be plenty of that later.

lastly, don't settle. you're worth more than you think, and eventually someone will show up to appreciate and love you with everything they have; just be patient.

fondly,
me

Posted by bekee at 6:23 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"a picture of what you wore today"

i don't have time for this! and the lighting is bad today.

"boyfriend pants" from kohl's, a yellow/orange shirt from ragstock/a grey hoodie from old navy, brown skechers.

Posted by bekee at 5:54 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"turn ons and offs"

really? i don't think that's for public consumption.

Posted by bekee at 2:04 PM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

"concerts you have attended"

black crows, reo speed wagon, digital underground, def leopard, nin, 311, no doubt, and a bunch that i can't remember anymore.

Posted by bekee at 12:13 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"a list of the places you've lived at"

384 florida ave, oregon

500something ingersoll

2100something west lawn ave

401 s park st

409 rogers st

2027 east washington ave

509 dickinson st

1334 rutledge st

3313 ivy st

all but the first were over the course of the last 14 years.

*edited later due to memory issues; added links to google maps.

Posted by bekee at 10:53 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"name the tv show you have become addicted to"

that's kind of a weird one... i've been without a tv for a year now, and i rather like it.

the office.

Posted by bekee at 5:17 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"what do you want to be when you get older?"

i think people try to answer this question with a career. the first thing i thought of was, "still happy."

Posted by bekee at 6:56 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

just want to mark this date down so i can reflect years from now. last night and this morning, i became acutely aware of how old i feel. i imagine these feelings will increase with time... and it's not really news to anyone, but i just remember being struck by the realization.

that is all.

Posted by bekee at 7:26 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"if the world were to end tomorrow, what would do you do with your remaining time on earth?"

i usually hate these cuz you're supposed to be like "bungee jump! travel the world! sky dive!" and those are not realistic activities, nor do they add any value to the last 24 hours of life as we know it.

i'd probably cuddle with matt and the dogs for as long as we could stand it, then maybe go get a drink with friends and enjoy their company.

Posted by bekee at 7:06 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

oops, i did days 14 and 15 out of order... which is ok cuz "provide pictures of 5 celebrity crushes" isn't likely to happen; i don't commonly dote upon celebs.

i suppose i could pretend i was 12 again and tell you that i crushed on corey feldman, river phoenix, and wil wheaton (thanks stephen king!), or even balthazar getty. i can't think of a number 5...

Posted by bekee at 6:48 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"a picture of someone you fancy at the moment"

Posted by bekee at 6:54 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"three confessions of your choice"

hmm, we'll keep this light.

i like jones just a little bit more than nora.
most mornings, i'd rather sleep til 10 than get up for work.
even tho i dislike the house to myself on sundays, i (usually) always feel like i accomplished something.

Posted by bekee at 4:13 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"screenshot your desktop"

no.

Posted by bekee at 2:12 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"what is your favorite quote?"

that's easy:

we may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. in fact it may be necessary to encounter defeats, so we can know who the hell we are, what can we overcome, what makes us stumble and fall, and somehow miraculously rise and go on. - maya angelou

Posted by bekee at 7:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"if you could only live off one food and one beverage for the rest of your days, what would they be?"

if it's just one of each: spicy tuna hand rolls and water.

if it's a type of food/beverage: sushi and vodka+soda, then sometimes i could just drink the soda.

Posted by bekee at 7:07 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"pet peeves"

• incomplete sentences.
• things out of order.
• a messy kitchen.
• poorly kerned type.
• fake enthusiasm.
• people who hang on to their cart while reaching to the opposite side of an aisle to grab something.
• meetings that don't start or end on time.
• clocks that aren't correct.
• when people leave that snowhawk on the top of their car.
• the royal we.
• people who talk about giving up things for lent.
• meddlers.

i'm sure i'll come up with more.

Posted by bekee at 6:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"three things you want to say to different people"

are these things i want to say but can't? cuz that seems unlikely. unless, of course, the person is famous, fictional, or i otherwise don't know them personally; in which case, i don't know that anything i have to say would be of import to either of us.

that said:

there's a lady that i see most mornings who drives a black monte carlo with orange racing stripes and a big number 3 on either side... i wouldn't mind telling her that she looks like my 5th grade teacher and she should quit smoking.

i was chatting with a friend last night at the tavern and a guy at the other end of the bar bought both of us a drink; i'd like to ask him why... i'm reasonably wary of unsolicited beverages.

i'd like to ask my 33 year old dad for some words of wisdom.

Posted by bekee at 6:24 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm not really sentimental, but i do try to track personal progress and achievements by the repitition of 365 days, give or take.

that said, this time last year was the beginning of a very poignant and personal shift in thinking and feeling. it will mark a huge milestone in my life that i'll never forget and learned a lot from.

soon, i'll have the distinct pleasure of sharing an anniversary with someone close and special to me, and i can't wait.

Posted by bekee at 6:13 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"do you read? what are your favorite books?"

i don't read nearly enough; but old stephen king and nicholson baker are two of my favorite authors.

my favorite book would have to be james and the giant peach. second best is alice in wonderland/through the looking glass.

Posted by bekee at 11:59 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"what band or musician is most important to you?"

i like that this question doesn't ask "and, why?".

i think, as cliche as it might be, i'm going to have to go with janis.

Posted by bekee at 11:45 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"five places you want to visit"

toronto
new orleans
amsterdam
australia
portland

Posted by bekee at 5:25 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"the meaning behind your tumblr name"

i don't have a tumblr name.

to be honest, i don't even know what tumblr is. is it for blogging? is it for sharing images with followers?

Posted by bekee at 1:51 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"your day, in great detail"

i woke up at 6:36, dreading the sound of my alarm... i had remembered to prep the coffeemaker, so i took advantage of my snooze button. after i'd had enough of that, i got up and dressed, power-cuddled with matt, and went downstairs to get my daily snacks together.

i'd run out of carrots, so the dogs were confused (normally, they get a baby carrot every morning). i uncovered the birds and said hi, and put on my shoes and coat. i headed out, thanking myself for filling up the tank the previous evening since i was running right on time and wouldn't have wanted to stop.

i took my usual route, up 30 to packers to northport to m to k to 12 to 14... nothing unusual. i got to work and quickly ate my yogurt and banana since we were all bussed over to the middleton performing arts center to hear about our great performance last year.

we got back to the office around 10:45 and i worked on a website update for a little bit before getting lunch. i didn't really feel like subway, but couldn't think of anything better/easier/cheaper to get, so i drove over there anyway.

after lunch, i plugged in my noise-canceling earbuds and got to work on a different website update... the afternoon passed slowly and i was unreasonably excited to get home. the drive was faster than normal, i got behind a few slow-pokes, but was able to leave them in the dust right before turning onto hwy m.

i got home and said hi to matt and the dogs... we donned our coats and took them for a walk. we decided to get some drinks and dinner at wilson's, so we prepped for a bike ride and got ourselves bellied up to the bar. jessie and maggie were working (they always work thursdays); once hunger struck, we ordered our custom burritos and proceeded to fill up.

once we'd had enough, and it was time for matt to go to work, we parted ways and i came home. i tried catching up on dead like me, but wasn't feeling it... so i grabbed the ipad, downloaded the adult swim app and started frisky dingo before passing out.

Posted by bekee at 7:39 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

"10 likes and dislikes"

likes: orange things, cuddling, dog walks when they listen, sushi, girls' night out, weekends, attentive listeners, my awesome hair, good vodka, sundays.

dislikes: my alarm clock, acrylic yarn, arguments, really cold mornings, car troubles, busywork, bills, debt, cramps, ingrown toenails.

Posted by bekee at 6:25 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

of someone else's idea: "write some basic things about yourself".

i'm 5'5"'
i only had three wisdom teeth
i'm pretty anal retentive, but have been getting better
i do drastic things quickly and with gumption
i knit pretty well
i memorize numbers and dates in a strange fashion

Posted by bekee at 6:20 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this looks like an interesting exercise, maybe i'll start it on the 1st.

Posted by bekee at 9:06 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this week has felt particularly long... i've been trying to stay up later because i kept waking up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back to sleep. i think it's working, but i do feel more tired when my alarm finally goes off. maybe it's just cyclical.

i've found some new music recently, as suggested by a friend whom i met when i was 16 while working at hardee's in stoughton. the group is called beats antique and they sound really cool. they'll be coming to the majestic in may and we'll probably be in attendance. additionally, murder by death will be at the annex in a couple weeks, so we'll be seeing them, too.

here's to friday, and another nice weekend. *clnk*

Posted by bekee at 8:42 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

another long weekend behind us... i hung out at mickey's on thursday night while matt worked; resulting in a sleepy-in friday. after a dog walk and some errands, we biked downtown to exercise our right to assemble. the sight was amazing. the capitol rotunda was packed full of people who had been there since tuesday... there were balloons being popped about, and someone was playing a bucket as a drum. we warmed up at the 'dise a couple times before giving up waiting for jesse jackson to speak... we biked to the wisco and then to mickey's before heading home.

we spent most of saturday in lazy seclusion, watching dead like me and knitting.

i was really sleepy on sunday for some reason; nora eventually gave up and shook me out of my slumber. they're so patient.

also, a neighbor reminded me that they're going to begin our street project soon... i'm not sure what that will mean in regards to parking, hopefully i can still get in and out of the driveway. so, by mid-april, we'll have a real street with curbs and two rain gardens at the creek. apparently i can pay the bill in its entirety without interest by october, or annually over the next eight years... i should reread the fine print.

Posted by bekee at 8:51 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

by 2pm yesterday, my kidneys were throbbing every 3 seconds and i could barely sit upright. i stuck it out until 5 and headed to urgent care after work. the dr and i determined that the sulfer-based antibiotic dulled the infection for a bit, but did not completely clear it... so it came back with a vengeance. he put me on something stronger; ciprofloxacin, which i couldn't take until 2 hours after eating dinner last night, which meant it didn't kick in until midnight and my kidneys and fever didn't stop being present until 2am. needless to say, i slept in this morning.

i tried taking the second dose on an empty stomach, which they suggest, but mine is a weird one and didn't like it so much. so, after only two of 14 doses, i've already become extra sensitive to sunlight and heat. i had to take my coat off in the car on the way to work.

in even better news, i get my annual review today...

Posted by bekee at 11:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we ran errands and generally got stuff done on friday and had a fairly regular evening. i did not awake on saturday covered in hives, so that was nice... we hopped over to wilson's cuz i wanted a bloody but we were 30 minutes late for breakfast; so we had lunch. i was able to snag a moment in time when matt was agreeable to playing scrabble, so while everyone around us was shouting at the badgers' basketball team, we were hunkered over the ipad while i tried to make sense of a crappy rack:

after having had just about enough of the screaming red and white, we went to mickeys to be among regular people. we had a near-issue when we were accidentally too close for my comfort to a certain person walking in the opposite direction, but luckily all parties remained civil.

sunday was extremely lazy, on my part. well, i did finish a scarf, but i did not vacuum, as was a glimmer of a plan earlier in the day.

Posted by bekee at 8:38 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i feel worse today... not "down there", but in general. i'm nauseated (note: i did not say nauseous), tired, and generally irritated. that last one might be caused by other cyclical events.

i just realized that a uti is not covered by my list of rules... maybe it's just grandfathered in because it's "obviously broken".

as i stated previously, i'm allergic to most antibiotics (the 'illins and 'oins), and am now taking a sulfur-based anti-b. of course, i had to look up side effects and the internet told me i'd likely turn into a walking hive with vomiting and gas.

all i know is that 10 minutes after taking this morning's pill, i almost leaned over my cubeville garbage can.

Posted by bekee at 8:57 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

about once a year, i fondly recall a very nice young man driving all the way from madison to oregon to pick me up. we hung out on state street and i remember that he bought a new cd from the exclusive company. we listened to the whole thing while driving around the country and i remember the awe that i had for the noise involved.

every year or so i just can't pry that band name out of the annals of my grey matter, now that i have, i need to blog about it at once in order to stop this brain problem. it was negativland, and i have yet to procure my own ear candy; it's been 18 years.

Posted by bekee at 8:01 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

¡¡tmi warning!!

if you're a female who's ever had a uti, you know immediately what's going on. the wrinkle of the nose at the slightest inkling of needing to use the bathroom, the desire to curl up in a ball and sweat, the sleeplessness of having to get up every hour.

that was me last night. i had some red pills left over from last time, which at least allowed me to sleep for a couple of hours. i woke around 4 and, with some convincing, took a some aspirin. i described the feeling that i was trying to suppress as, "a balloon coated with sandpaper inside my bladder."

my sleep was fitful until 8 when i decided i'd better get up and get things taken care of before sitting at urgent care; little did i know it would take the better part of 2.5 hours (from door to door to door). i had good company, so the time wasn't intolerable.

the dr. i randomly got was really nice, and i don't have a primary physician (i know, i know); but he only works at urgent care and not as a general practitioner.

additionally, i'm allergic to penicillin and nitrofurantoin, so we're trying a sulfur-based antibiotic. hopefully i don't wake up saturday morning covered in hives, cuz that would mean we've run out of bug-killing pills.

in other news, because of the urinary analgesic, my pee matches my hair color; orange.

Posted by bekee at 12:34 PM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

just got an app with which to blog.

Posted by bekee at 9:06 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

a debaucherous weekend, for sure.

on friday, we grabbed lunch when i got home, went to woodman's and got a bottle of kahlua to thank our neighbor for taking care of the street and everyone's driveway on wednesday afternoon.

it was girls' night out, so i freshened up my hair color and we headed out to the inferno for some chicago house. it wasn't quite as i remembered (fewer strong, black, female vocals), but i was able to get my groove on. the crowd wasn't as big as months past, but i think it's cuz of the weather.

on saturday, i awoke with a craving for la hacienda. whenever i tell people that's my favorite mexican restaurant, i usually get boos and hisses and am told precisely how stupid i am (i love it when people get that defensive over cuisine). i also thought it would be a good use of our time to host a two-person pub crawl. so we cabbed over to the restaurant and proceeded to walk our way back home, while stopping at a few select places. our notes are as follows:

pubcrawl feb '11
the echo: really drunk kid with his mum, barely successful sober cribbage (i lost), "perfectly satisfied f&$!ing customers" (bartender quote).
the 'dise: pool (i won), playboy (it was being passed around for comment), bathroom idea*.
up north: good music, good bartender, a free beer.
wisco: darts (i won), the dark night, tshirts(?).
mickeys: tony, jaeger bombs.

*our million dollar idea... more to come.

sunday was a lazy one, at least for me. i slept in late and got tired very early. unfortunately, my early bedtime resulted in a not-so-sleepy night. i think i woke up at 2, refused to look at a clock, and couldn't fall back to sleep til 6. of course, that was minutes before the alarm was to go off. oh well, we can sleep when we're dead, right?

Posted by bekee at 8:38 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it feels like a monday cuz i've had the past two days off work...

my check engine light popped on on saturday and i promptly ignored it, stating, "those go on and off all the time." well, come tuesday, i had about 20 miles worth of gas in my tank and figured i wouldn't make it home if we were going to be crawling along as anticipated.

i stopped at my usual gas station and proceeded to pump gas but was surprised when it stopped at $1.45 and spit gas back at me. i tried it again and it happened again.

i had to leave my car there for service and couldn't come to work.

wednesday was self-explanatory (a foot of snow and 5' drifts), thankfully the office (and most of the rest of madison) decided to close.

much fun was had by all.

Posted by bekee at 3:36 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i want to read the irrational knot, people seem happier today (about the packers' win) than the day after obama was elected, and parking in the carpool spot when you're by yourself makes you seem egotistical and falsely superior.

Posted by bekee at 9:20 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

friday, we enjoyed lunch at michael's frozen custard; they serve a decent veggie burger. then we tooled around town getting errands done. we made it an early evening as matt picked up the saturday open shift, so he had to be awake quite early. my day was unproductive... but i had planned for it, so i don't feel too bad.

on sunday, i met george and mum at mickey's for her birthday breakfast. mom and i had the special: a chile relleno stuffed with cheddar, gouda, and squash. it was enormous and delicious.

i was going to try to learn entrelac, but the hat i want to make requires needles that i don't own. this fact surprises me, as i have about six billion needles, i just don't have two sets of us8 dpns.

the dogs are doing great. one of our trips on friday was to mounds... matt thought jones would enjoy a new stuffed squeaky toy, so we got pengui the penguin. within minutes, jones learned the name and was able to fetch it without hesitation; he's smart.

also, each morning i have to weed through comment spam on my blog... sometimes there are some real gems. i will share a couple with you:

Depending on the situation, fanny packs are probably pretty useful DAMN YOU CARGO PANTS YOU ARE A GATEWAY DRUG.

It's hard to fart in every room in your house at the same time. Well with my new Spiced Ham scented candle, you don't have to!

Posted by bekee at 8:52 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

in the same vein as my plan to save, i need to pay off a credit card. i just calculated the monthly finance charges+insurance and it's going to take me a million years at this rate. literally.

Posted by bekee at 8:49 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i made the conscious decision to stop smoking. i can't even believe i did it. it was one of the best decisions of my life because it resulted a sense of pride and a realization that i didn't have to settle for other situations i was in; it made me stronger.

it feels good.

Posted by bekee at 8:46 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend felt a little shorter than it should have. it's likely due to the fact that i slept in later than necessary both days.

friday was nice and relaxing. we cleaned the dining/living room up a bit to make way for my super awesome gift from matt. he got me a greenhousey shelving system and herb seeds so we can start growing plants indoors either for planting outside, or having fresh herbs at our disposal. then we got lunch and went to woodman's for some supplies. i made some pasta salad (for saturday) and then we celebrated january with girls' night out at the inferno.

having stayed out kinda late, we didn't get up before noon on saturday. before doing our weekly grocery shopping, we again attempted to find something comestible from dairyland but were unsurprisingly unimpressed. matt says he's willing to give it a third chance... i'm not so certain it will matter either way.

we then headed out to middleton for the moen family christmas where lots of good times were had. we got home around 9 and i was plum tuckered out, so we stayed home and warm on the couch.

sunday was quite lazy (for me, at least). i biked to breakfast, came home and made soup and pasta salad and walked the dogs on the ice.

there was a bit of frustration this morning when the alarm went off. however, i couldn't justify calling in...

Posted by bekee at 12:54 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

bills stress me out. i use my gmail inbox as a to-do list and sometimes it just fills up with bills. i recently changed the label color from red to yellow in an attempt to reduce the visual presence therefore reducing anxiety. i think it worked.

i'm also committed to rebuilding my emergency fund this year. it took quite the dive (from at least one mortgage payment to zero) during my recent life-changing event, and it scares me to not have a back up plan in case something comes up.

eventually, i'd like to have three 3-month cds, each with enough cash for one month of bills and just roll them over every three months. a guy i work with does this and it's genius. it's a daunting task that i'm sure will take me a while (especially while attempting to reduce my debt). hopefully i'll accomplish it before anything happens.

that said, my inbox currently has no bills, so i'm feeling good today.

Posted by bekee at 8:47 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i don't normally resolve to do anything differently just because it's the beginning of a new year; i have enough trouble motivating myself to make small improvements any other time. but, i did find this quote while trying to catch up on my daily reads and thought i'd share, at least so i remember to recognize:

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." - Roald Dahl

Posted by bekee at 8:36 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i had intended on not letting the blog go while i was on vacation, but it appears that i failed at that. i barely touched the computer except for to watch the office on netflix.

i just had a really bad panic attack standing in line at subway... it took everything for me not to leave the building but i knew if i did, i'd have to explain tomorrow because they know me by sandwich.

i didn't do a whole lot on my list of things, except for finishing the sweater. now i have to find an occasion to wear it.

we had a great holiday... probably my favorite in a long time. oyster stew and lots of fun time with friends, a house guest for a couple nights from new york, lots of dog walks and celebratory shots, and sushi. i tried crab legs for the first time, slept in a lot, ate out a lot, spent a lot of money.

i told a friend at work that we didn't get around to painting the room and he said, "you know what? that room ain't going anywhere." it made me feel less guilty.

i started getting this weird zappy feeling in the pad of my thumb... it actually started before break... i haven't felt it in a couple of days, but should keep track of it.

i've been lax in writing down my dreams; a couple i need to jot have to do with a blue sundress, a really old used toothbrush, and not being able to work a shotgun in my grandma's house in fennimore.

also, my scalp is really dry from the weather/furnace being on and it's annoying me.

and, this is the 16th entry i've titled "sorry".

Posted by bekee at 10:55 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

only two more painful mornings leaving my sweetie and dags behind before i don't have to extend beyond a 1 mile radius of my home unless i want to.

while not responsible for work-work for 11.5 days, i intend on completing the following:

• reorganize contents of bookshelves
• finish that damn sweater that i keep talking about
• hand-and-knee-clean the kitchen floor... it's been an embarrassingly long time
• clean the fridge (and freezer?)... also embarrassing
• paint the bedroom (if we can get the logistics/time straightened out)
• enjoy my time

Posted by bekee at 8:53 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

on friday, we packed the dogs up to stay at my mum's while matt and i took off up north for the night. his brother had planned a little shindig and it seemed like a good time to hand out holiday gifts. the nephews loved their light-up moon and insisted on taking it to grandma and grandpa's (where they stayed) for the night.

the next day, we visited with matt's parents for a bit and then went to see his grandma (who's in a nursing home now). she was a sweetie. she tried to give us a bag of sugar packets that she had collected from the lunch room... it makes me wonder what kind of quirky things we'll do when we're 90 that are reminiscent of the times in which we grew up.

on sunday, i slept way in again... took the dogs on a long walk, headed to woodman's, made some lunch, and worked on some knitting while watching the office. that show cracks me up.

here's nora after the walk:

Posted by bekee at 9:55 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i keep writing really boring blog posts and then deleting them.

we're planning on painting the bedroom during the week that i'm off work. i'm not sure exactly when, but i'm a little nervous about how long it'll take and what it'll look like when it's done. i've never had a bad painting experience, but i'm always unreasonably nervous about it.

i finished a pair of bittens for liz in about two days, but that's all the knitting i've done. i really want to finish that sweater.

nora's nail is doing a little better; we took her to the vet a week ago and she was such a good sport. she's not been favoring it or licking (very much) and should be fine.

work's been really slow and mostly boring.

Posted by bekee at 9:47 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was enjoying some knitting on sunday... sitting on the couch watching the office on my ipad with a dog on either side of me. i heard a plow-like thing outside and got up to look out the window. upon my return to the couch, i realized that i had no idea where my needle went. i looked *all* over. i tore up the blankets, made the dogs leave the room, i even questioned whether or not i had left it in the kitchen.

i couldn't find it. still haven't.

Posted by bekee at 8:52 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

they've been going by too quickly lately. on friday, when i got home, i had a strange hankerin' to walk around hobby lobby. so i got a resistant matt off the couch and we headed over to south towne (why are they all spelled like that?). i didn't find anything worth buying, though there was a skein of yarn that i eyeballed for more than a minute. we proceeded to la bamba for a couple of burritos not quite as big as our heads.

saturday didn't roll out as intended, but we managed to get to woodman's before the rain started. it turned out a sloppy evening; we grabbed some neighbor friends and walked to mickey's, luckily the sleet turned to snow almost in front of our eyes.

on sunday, i couldn't be arsed to get out of bed at a reasonable time. my brain seems to work overtime on sunday mornings... i should record my thoughts when they're racing. they'd probably seem silly in retrospect.

the dogs were digging the snow until this morning... it's much too cold for their tootsies.

Posted by bekee at 8:54 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

since i've had a cigarette. i could smell a cigarette from the car in front of me at a stop light this morning and it made me scrunch up my nose.

i really can't believe it's been almost a year.

Posted by bekee at 8:46 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

after 4.5 days off of work, it was *really* hard to come back this morning.

wednesday was my biannual dentist appointment which was highly successful. i had admitted to the hygienist that i had been a little lax in my tooth care during the previous six months... we agreed that i should probably floss more.

the next few days were very laid back and low key and it was probably one of the most relaxing weekends i've had that didn't involve a hot tub hotel.

i neglected to make this week's lunch yesterday; i just wasn't feeling up to it. i even left the kitchen a mess after making dinner on saturday night.

three and a half weeks until i get another week and a half off.

Posted by bekee at 8:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

normally, i'd joke about mercury being in retrograde and that it's to blame for miscommunication and expectations being unmet and general malaise... but it's not. even if it were in retrograde, it would be silly to blame a planet. it's more likely just human behavior.

i think i'm just antsy...

also, here's photographic evidence of the before-kitchen-fix:

after a trip to menards, where the guy wasn't quite listening to me when i showed him the broken plastic piece that i intended to replace, and a visit the following day to ace hardware, where the two guys working practically tripped over themselves to help me, i finally ended up with two 3/8ths butterfly nuts with which to secure the faucet.

Posted by bekee at 8:21 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it doesn't really suit me. but, i've been trying.

on friday, we went to the west side antiques mall (it used to be much further west than it is now) and i managed to escape only spending $15 on a book. unfortunately, it is not brand new nor would i sell it if it were. it's an analysis and explanation of all of carroll's puzzles and riddles in his writing.

after spending two hours weeding through treasures, we went to menards to get hardware to finally fix the kitchen faucet. it'd been unattached from the sink for a while and i jb welded it which only lasted a month so it seemed time to fix it for good... especially after the mess we discovered under the sink. :/

we stopped at jeni st o the way home saturday night and got two huge lake perch. they were a pound a piece. the butcher-guy was surprised that we wanted two, but we saved one for last night. i made instant mashed 'tatoes and vegan chicken gravy. we watched the book of eli but i didn't make it much past the bar fight before zonking out.

yesterday, i whipped up this week's lunch: a huge pan of lasagna. i've come to love bags of frozen vegetables, for some reason. i just cooked 'em up and threw them in with some cheese and spaghetti sauce and noodles and baked it. $5 worth of ingredients for over a week's worth of lunch. i'm hoping to get matt to try some so he can experience vegetables in a yummy way.

side note: i want to get some more pin-making supplies and come up with a cute design to attach to a pair of bittens (or anything, really) when i knit them for someone.

Posted by bekee at 9:00 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

after having last friday off, being sick monday, having next thursday and friday off, it makes the rest of the days kinda tolerable.

i think we have a good start on ideas for colors for the bedroom; we're going to go look at paint chips tomorrow. after that, i think we'll have to get really good at finding decorations and accessories at second-hand stores.

i haven't rapped about the dogs lately! they're doing really well. they're both tons happier and have calmed down a lot since the beginning of the year. we haven't gone to the dog park in a while, tho. we've talked about going a couple fridays a month but haven't yet.

also, i need to get knitting again but can't think of anything i want to knit. i had started (months ago?) what was going to be a scarf, but the yarn is this crappy synthetic that i got from ebay a million years ago and it doesn't slide off the needles very well, so i frogged it.

i keep thinking colder weather will be a motivator, but all it's done is gotten me to buy cold-weather bicycling gear. :/

Posted by bekee at 10:02 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i woke up last sunday with what i thought was a uti, but after a visit to dean urgent care, i was diagnosed with a bladder infection. past experience has alerted me to my allergy to penicillin, so i've avoided that pretty easily. they sent me home with a 'scrip for nitrofurantoin, which i took mostly diligently all week. my last pill spilled over into the 8th day cuz i got lazy...

sunday night, i was radiating such heat and shivering at the same time that i thought i had caught some flu bug and called in sick to work. later, upon waking in daylight, i noticed all of my tattoos had swollen and the skin around them had turned red. there were also hives all over my legs.

a trip to walgreen's for benadryl (why i don't keep any in the house at all times, i have no idea) and a 3 hour nap later, i was still pretty out of it but way less itchy.

i'm back at work today, but my brain isn't. i'd much prefer to be in the comfort of my bed.

Posted by bekee at 8:34 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i just haven't had anything significant enough to pen publicly. aside from becoming very lazy in my don't-eat-out endeavors... i do, however, think i'm ready to set a serious budget. now that my finances are pretty much as regular and stable as they're going to be (getting divorced isn't the cheapest life activity...) and now i can focus on rebuilding my safety net and maybe even starting a fun-fund for vacation or toys.

the annual lutefisk dinner went off without a hitch. matt came with and tried it for the first time with much success! we, then, hung out at the local bar playing cribbage until a wedding party showed up that sorta scared us out.

sunday found me at urgent care with a bladder infection... it was entirely my fault for not going earlier. i tend to try to wish things away for a day before giving in to my defenses. so, i'm on antibiotics for a week...

back to work today, but happy that i have friday off to look forward to. it's kinda nice to use up vacation time on fridays because they only count as 5 hours, so it ends up being more days off.

Posted by bekee at 9:58 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i made it an entire four weeks of making my lunch and bringing it to work. tho, i did go out once, but that was to meet with an old co-worker. that means i saved about $100 from not going to subway three times a week and hubbard ave once a week. i've spent way less than that on the food i've made.

also, the weekend was pretty great; i'm exceedingly happy in almost all aspects of my life right now.

Posted by bekee at 9:56 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

things have been mildly stagnant... i think it's the fall air. i can barely get up for work because my body wants daylight saving time to have started a month ago. and i have lots of ideas running around in my brain of things to start working on and projects to plan for but can't work up the gumption or don't have the money for supplies. because whenever i think of a new craft to produce, i always feel like i have to run out and buy every last tool required.

i have, however, begun week three of not buying lunch. i made crock pot goulash last night for this week. it's kinda nice not having to bother but once a week (especially using a crock pot).

matt and i have also gotten pretty disciplined in dinner-making, as opposed to eating out. we've had catfish tacos, pan-friend tilapia, and tuna steaks in the last week. i wonder if we'll turn into fish. i also wonder if we shouldn't worry about mercury poisoning? i fear if i google the symptoms, i'll convince myself that i've contracted lupus or something.

maybe this week i'll pull out my stash of dmc floss and make some bracelets; it's been a while.

Posted by bekee at 8:35 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we saw merlin mann last night at the union theater.

he had a lot of poignant remarks about managing time, *really* considering priorities, refraining from doing things that a monkey/robot/shell script could do (even suggesting building a robot/shell script or buying a monkey to do said things).

one thing he pointed out was that outlook, entourage, and mail.app are set, by default, to check for new mail every 5 minutes. that means you could have been interrupted by email 24,000 times last year; this is only applied to an 8-hour work-day; and with the advent of iphones and blackberries and push notifications, you can be inundated with email in real time.

he had another interesting observation... when you get an email from someone asking you to do something, the sender considers it a little pebble, "here is a pebble, deal with it. it's just a pebble, jerk. why aren't you doing something with it right now?" the sender has no idea (and maybe even doesn't care) how many other pebbles (or rocks and boulders) you're dealing with at that moment. and that's the problem with email; you can compose an email and expect it to be dealt with just because you hit [send].

he also said that prioritizing email is like alphabetizing your recycling bin. and a priority isn't really a priority unless it's dealt with and done; a list of tasks is just that. and no one cares what's on your list.

Posted by bekee at 9:50 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend went too fast... matt's brother, jeff, came down friday afternoon and we hung out for a bit and had some drinks. i passed out around 11 or something and i think they stayed up quite a bit later. i tried watching shutter island with them, but got too sleepy.

saturday, we headed to mickey's for brunch and then a couple retail stops later, i became the proud owner of the movies saw i-vi for $35 and some change.

it was another early evening (am i really getting that old?), and before i knew it, i was at mickey's getting brunch again. the owner has, twice now, expressed to me that i should be trained as a super-emergency sub for the waitstaff.

a trip to woodman's and an afternoon of roasting poblano peppers followed and, all of a sudden, i have lunch for the week.

last night was wisco monday; brooks makes $1 tacos for the football game. it was a lame one last night, so he left one of the tvs on for us to watch pawn stars and american pickers. i think we're addicted to both (and *of course* they're on watch instantly).

tonight, we get to go see merlin mann at the union. i'll take notes and let you know how it goes. my synopsis won't be nearly as poignant as skip's usually are, but i'll give it a try.

Posted by bekee at 8:44 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i totally missed my 8-year blogiversary.

i can't believe i've been chronicaling my life for the past 8 years. sorry it got so lame for a bit... there wasn't a whole lot of excitement for a minute.

that has changed and i promise the next 8 years (and beyond!) here will be more entertaining.

Posted by bekee at 9:56 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend was pretty great. we slept in a little bit on friday, and in lieu of breakfast, i had a craving for fraboni's... so we headed over to the monona drive location (when *will* they finish the construction?) and then proceeded to black earth to check out what the shoe box had to offer. we found some nice shoes for matt in the bargain room; as well as some fancy wingtips, and i found some merrell shoes that are really comfy.

on our way back to madison, we stopped at the main street tavern in cross plains for a couple games of cribbage. it was kinda weird to have been in a small-town bar... but they were really nice and didn't treat us like aliens.

then we headed to yue-wah for the ultimate (as far as madison is concerned) in ethnic shopping experiences. i got a bag full of poblanos for $1.99; that's how much they are *per pound* at woodman's. we filled a shopping basket and were surprised that it was only $30 for everything.

saturday was pretty mellow; we didn't do a whole lot, which was nice. we tried watching team america world police, but i can't seem to stay awake when presented with a movie anymore...

sunday, i slept in too late (as far as i'm concerned) and headed to mickey's for lunch... it was an hour wait for food (thanks to the beautiful weather) so i didn't even eat til 1:15. i managed to get to woodman's while the game was still going on and got my daily snacks.

i made my tortilla fillings for the week... rice, roasted poblanos, onions, and fake meat crumbles. if i alternate ingredients, i might not get sick of it as quickly as i did the manicotti.

Posted by bekee at 8:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we had a nice weekend. friday was girl's night out; the music was awesome and i was able to dance my back pain away... tho, my knees hated it the next day. maybe i need to start taking glucosamine. who am i kidding? i can barely remember to take my multi-vitamin.

saturday, we slept in kinda late and declared it "lazy day". we had breakfast at the diner, and then i spent way too long trying to find a way to save text messages from my phone on my computer. eventually, i succeeded, but i could feel my stress level rising.

we happened to end up at woodman's while the badger game was going on, so it wasn't too bad; tho i bought more than i had intended.

sunday, i slept in again :x and headed to mickey's for breakfast... came home and made manicotti; enough for lunch for the whole week.

i'm in a slightly better mood than normal for a monday morning... mostly cuz i have friday off and already have fun stuff planned. we're going to head out to black earth to the shoe box and on the way back into town, we're gunna stop at yue-wah to play around with all the fancy, cheap, ethnic foodstuffs that we can't pronounce and have no idea of the taste or flavors.

Posted by bekee at 9:28 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

remember when i found the image of those awesome brown boots? and i was all "i'll never wear them but i want them" and then i realized how expensive they'd be because of all of the grommets and leather.

well, i found these on ebay and wore them on monday:

my feet *still* hurt.

in other news: i've brought my lunch each day this week, for a total savings of at least $20.

Posted by bekee at 3:59 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's been six months; sometimes it feels like it's been years, and sometimes it feels like minutes. thank you.

Posted by bekee at 10:00 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i had another panic attack at lunch today. i know they're totally gastro/blood sugar related cuz i haven't been consistent in my evening meals lately, and my hormones are askew cuz of, well, you know, life.

i had gotten about four bites into my tuna gyro when i started shaking, unable to hold my fork. so there i sat, sweating, shaking, and tapping my foot (the only motion i can seem to muster as one is occurring), while my dining partner looked across the table, concerned and helpless. oh, to boot, there was a VP from work sitting at the table right next to us, too.

there's nothing that makes them go away except time. well, one thing did help a little. i texted matt, "i'm having a panick attack at hubbard :( please say something nice." and he came up with lots of nice things for me to think about and eventually, i was ok enough to slide my uneaten food into a take-out container without dropping my plate on the floor.

i guess it's likely to be stress-induced as well. i've been mildly freaking out about money lately (i really should stop that), and work has been uninspired and boring, and i'm sleeping too much or too little, and i don't feel like i'm being very productive.

thanks for letting me vent.

Posted by bekee at 3:40 PM | permalink | licks (2) | tracks (0)

i get almost all of my bills electronically... and i use my inbox as a to-do list. once a month, the only things in my inbox are bills... it's like a virtual nagging pile of paper. it kinda stresses me out.

jones met up with a skunk on monday night. it was, quite simply, awful. it will be the topic of my next comic (today hopefully) over at alsotooaswell.

also, the ennui at work is on the right side of unbearable.

Posted by bekee at 8:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

that last post was kinda depressing; sorry about that.

we had an awesome weekend, albeit a little more nappy and sleepy than i'd like. we had a pretty lazy friday and a couple friends over for poker on saturday. we were supposed to go to a housewarming party but ended up napping til 9pm(!).

my deck attacked matt's rear bike tire, so that's at revolution waiting to be repaired. it might have been luck, tho, since his derailleur has been giving him grief for a while.

i didn't plan well for lunch today, so i'll likely be getting subway again.

Posted by bekee at 10:20 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

i woke up with a boy in my bed after seeing a show at the okayz corral ... it was the first of many willy st fairs that i would attend; it would become the hallmark of our anniversaries. i remember my mom and george coming to pick us up as i sat on the front step with my 32oz jug of coffee and a cigarette, mildly embarrassed at my hungoverness. we dropped him off at his house on morrison before looking for a place to park the car. i'd meet up with him at the fair and have to excuse myself for a nap later on because i was exhausted. we'd plan to meet up at mickey's for the simpsons at 7 (that was when the show was relevant and good).

we'd move in together and drink boxed wine and sit on the floor to watch movies cuz neither of us had a couch. we'd have model club at joe's and experience 9/11 together. we'd sleep in separate rooms because of our different schedules. he'd hate that i did the dishes when there were only two or three plates. i'd watch him play softball for mickey's, and scold him for driving without a license.

we'd get married and have a really nice tuesday wedding by the lake with parents and friends and we'd go to vegas for our honeymoon and get in a huge fight on freemont street at 5 in the morning.

we'd eat out to celebrate anniversaries and attend the fair and go to magnus a lot, stay at friends' parent's, be underimpressed by dinner, and finally degrade.

ten years ago today.

i can't decide if it's fate or irony that my divorce was final last week... i know i haven't taken time to grieve but i think that's cuz i did a lot of it before everything went down.

i feel taller; more confident. stronger. i can't believe i did this... not *really* by myself, but i did it. the only tears to come lately are out of joy and happiness. what an awesome feeling.

Posted by bekee at 8:42 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this blog is going to revert back to being mostly personal. i've started another blog for the comics and will be removing them* from bekee.com and rebuilding them over on also, too, as well. this is your final warning.

*nvm, this will take too long. i'll probably just start posting them there from now on.

Posted by bekee at 1:19 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

just changed my w-4 status... i think that means they'll take more taxes out, which sucks, but i also got to reduce my health care cost by about $100 a month by only covering myself.

i didn't reassign a beneficiary for my life insurance yet; not sure what to do about that one.

in other news: i haven't been brailling at all and i'm kinda sad about it. i think the cooler weather and decreased sunlight may encourage me to remain indoors and work on that soon.

Posted by bekee at 8:57 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the divorce hearing was yesterday morning at 9. we got there at 8:30 because i am notoriously early for everything. i told the bailiff that i was highly doubtful that kurt would appear but the judge wanted to wait til 9:10 anyway. he asked a few questions about the stipulations in the settlement agreement, asked if i was comfortable settling without seeing kurt's financial disclosure agreement, and all was done in less than 10 minutes.

i have one more form to file and will work on that today.

Posted by bekee at 9:54 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

sorry, gentle reader. i was supposed to stick to a tues/thurs update schedule for the comic, but after the weekend we just had, i am simply drained of all creative output.

friday, we spent flailing around woodman's (along with everyone else) getting food and booze for the party. we spent almost twice as much on the booze than the food. :x and where did woodman's hide the canned pumpkin? i *always* make vegan pumpkin cheesecake and didn't this year because i couldn't find it. :/

we made a couple dishes on friday that were very simple... garlic knots, caprese salad on-a-stick, flour tortilla-green onion-creamcheese rollups, and stuffed baguettes.

saturday, we got up and proceeded to put together an enormous spread of awesome food. it was mandated that i not spend the entire party in the kitchen, as i am wont to do, so i was allotted 15 minutes in followed by 15 minutes out. fortunately, this was not strictly enforced. i didn't stay in much after all the food was distributed across the patio anyway.

sunday was laze-around day. i don't think we did a whole lot, other than bring in dishes and general straightening of things. we headed to mickey's for a bday celebration and i was lauded by the previous day's attendees. i was also scolded for raising the bar for any other host of a casual, backyard party ever in the future.

monday, i cleaned up the kitchen and we had an awesome dinner: tuna on the grill, salad, salsa from the garden, and little bruchettas.

this was a pretty epic weekend.

Posted by bekee at 1:27 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

almost four months ago, i told you about my filing for divorce; in just a week, i'll be walking out of the dane county court house an unmarried woman.

this fact is still foreign to me, which is probably why i have no desire to overtly celebrate.

this summer has been a crazy, awesome, scary, exciting, sad, thrilling, adventure from which i've learned a lot about human nature and myself. i couldn't have gotten through this without the help of someone very special and important to me.

it's amazing how much more me i am now. i love it.

Posted by bekee at 9:40 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

on sunday morning. i knew something was off... i should have stayed home but went to mickey's for breakfast anyway... i couldn't eat my waffle for at least an hour. it's mildly embarrassing and annoying. the second suckiest part about suffering from panic attacks is the pain of waiting for the next one. it's in the back of your mind all the time.

so, monday morning when i woke up at 3 in a panic and tried my damndest to go back to sleep and by 7 i was certain i could not come to work, i called in and could finally fall back to sleep.

today's been ok... i've kinda felt like i'm about to freak out, but i haven't. hopefully i can stave off the next one... according to my records, it's been almost 2 years since my last attack. i thought i was done with 'em. oh, well.

Posted by bekee at 12:29 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

look around the internets for jobs for a friend
help a coworker with a link
get distracted by a phillip glass thread on a message board
see someone's 8-bit gremlin's print
search for giclee, cuz i had no idea what that was
wiki gremlins
learn that howie mandel did gizmo's voice
add a feedjit thing to my blog
test some web pages
watched brett domino do a lady gaga song
watch said lady gaga video (she's nuts.)
find a list of top 25 disturbing videos
disagree with some
a comment reminded me of kids
learned the buggy-glasses'd boy in the club is the writer of the film
off to lunch

Posted by bekee at 11:15 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was trying to have today's comic ready by now, but got caught up in sandwich shadows and perfect yogurt containers. tomorrow, i promise.

Posted by bekee at 4:51 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

a pretty epic weekend was had... friday, i closed on my refi and am now the sole owner of a house. we then had an excellent time at girls' night out plus aaron plus matt... i was still a bit banged up from mud wrestling so my efforts at rocking out were kept to a minimum.

saturday was fairly uneventful; just a bit of this and that. then came sunday, a friend's final day at mickey's ... i was awake much longer than i ever should be and proceeded to get ornery cuz i forget to eat and it makes those around me suffer.

i ended up calling in sick yesterday and, after biking to michael's for lunch/breakfast/sustenance and woodman's, we spent most of the day being lazy and relaxed and calm and happy.

tune in later for my next comic, as soon as i think of a subject.

Posted by bekee at 10:14 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i doubt i'd ever wear them, but i want to find a pair of the brown boots:

Posted by bekee at 1:27 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i left work early because the dogs hated me on tuesday for leaving them so long. we hung out in the park with neighbor david and his yellow lab, emma for about 45 minutes with the chuck-it.

then, i grabbed my bike and proceeded to tool around, but noticed my back tire was almost flat... so i biked it over to revolution and it was determined that i needed a new one. :/ so i waited a short 15-20 minutes while he installed it, and $42 later, i am the proud owner of a shiny new rear tire.

i hung out with some friends at mickey's and came home around 7 with the goal to not eat out because i had moved a bag of shrimp from the freezer to the fridge. i was successful in my endeavors:

i also finished alice in wonderland; helena was starting to annoy me by the end but it was entertaining.

Posted by bekee at 8:24 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i got home from work at 5:30 and the dogs were visibly unamused that they'd been cooped up for 10 hours... we took a nice walk and they were fine. i then hopped on my bike and sweatily made it to the wisco to meet a friend for some chats.

i had planned on making dinner at home, but decided that the wisco's veggie burger was just cheap enough to fit into this week's eating out budget, and i'm glad i did. it was yummy.

i stopped at mickey's on my way home and saw a couple other peeps and tooled on home to finish the girl with the dragon tattoo. i will say that it's an excellent movie, but the beginning is not for the easily shocked or disturbed.

also, i really enjoy the sound of rain hitting the air conditioner.

Posted by bekee at 9:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

no, not the stupid show.

i'm by myself for the next three days; julie is house sitting and matt is camping. the dogs will be by themselves for the longest they've been since being in my possession. i'm going to see if i can't use this metime to my advantage.

also, julie moves out this weekend, so we're going to turn the downstairs bedroom into a craftartcomputer room. hopefully this will inspire some creativity.

also, i think i need to find a long, skinny, bar stool-height table for the dining room.

Posted by bekee at 8:09 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend was positively splendid. we biked around downtown on friday; i had some things to file with the register of deeds. then spent some time at home getting ready for a show at the inferno; we were out kinda late playing pool and biking around in the sprinkles.

saturday, i met a (new) friend at the park behind the goodman center to throw some balls around for the dogs. it was kinda funny, he had one dog and five or six balls, and i had two dogs and one ball. i grabbed some grub at mickey's and proceeded to tool around downtown again. met matt back at mickey's when his shift was done; we retired relatively early and i slept in until 11(!) on sunday; the dogs weren't too excited about that.

i made my way to breakfast and then woodman's and the greekfest and back downtown again (i'm getting really good at biking the hill up king street), stopping to look at lake mendota a couple times. i thought to myself several times that i should have been doing this every nice, summer weekend of my entire life.

also, i have really cute photographic evidence of our escapades last weekend:

Posted by bekee at 8:44 AM | permalink | licks (2) | tracks (0)

since i'm just waiting for 1 o'clock to roll around to leave work, i'll pull out a fridayfive from december 2003.

1. List your five favorite beverages.
coffee, water, absolut mandarin&soda, a good bloody, orange juice?
2. List your five favorite websites.
(these are all kinda cheating) google reader, facebook, yayhooray, iphone.alltop.com, and mine?
3. List your five favorite snack foods.
yogurt, banana, baby carrots, apple, granola bar
4. List your five favorite board and/or card games.
euchre, hold 'em, cribbage, solitaire, chess
5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games.
(this is more fun since the invention of the iphone) fieldrunners, the creeps!, sudoku, mybrute, terracore

also, i want to thank the ipad for letting me watch/listen to the x-files in the kitchen as i prepared dinner last night.

and, here's the iphone background i made:

Posted by bekee at 12:23 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i want to get back into making hemp chokers and bracelets. and more peyote stitch rings:

and i just found this lolcat meme that i submitted to some website three years ago:

Posted by bekee at 10:04 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

hopefully it'll stay dry enough to permit the use of two wheels to get around.

this afternoon, matt and i are going downtown to run some errands and get some more threads from ragstock. tomorrow, i have a dogpark date in the morning, and a possible bday party in the evening. not sure what sunday will have in store, but hopefully the next 72 hours don't go by quickly.

Posted by bekee at 9:15 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i start my day with morning coffee, which opens up several tabs in firefox.

on the list are gmail, facebook, twitter, dictionary.com's wotd, woot, google reader, alltop's iphone and user interface articles, uxurls, and a blank blog entry for me to pen if i so feel like it.

today, i've had the tab with a blank blog entry open for almost eight hours and haven't come up with a single thing to say. i just wanted you to know that i tried.

Posted by bekee at 3:08 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

if you don't like where you are, then change it. you are not a tree.

also, i did not have nachos last night; someone kept me out playing darts and i got to have a veggie burger at the wisco. it's ok, they're not expensive.

also:

Posted by bekee at 10:41 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

a project i've been on for over a year went live today.

also, i successfully procrastinated the act of sweeping/vacuuming for another week.

also, i want these all over the place:

Posted by bekee at 8:38 AM | permalink | licks (3) | tracks (0)

the trip to milwaukee was nice. we made it to the airport pretty quickly and then headed downtown to grab some food and drinks. then stopped off at the public market to see my cousin at the wine bar.

saturday was mellow... i biked to the echo and stopped at the caribou on my way home through downtown. i wanted to check ragstock for a replacement shirt (from my bike wrestling experience) but they were out of orange. i had also forgotten that it was art fair on the square... which means pedestrians think they can cross on red all afternoon.

also, my two favorite boys:

Posted by bekee at 9:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

we're taking roommate #2 to the airport in milwaukee this afternoon/eve so i'm trying to come up with something short and sweet to do so it's not just a two/three hour excursion in a car. i haven't been to milwaukee for fun in a long time... when i was littler, we used to go visit the godparents in brown deer every year for summerfest and/or brewers games.

being a kid was fun.

Posted by bekee at 8:59 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

life is going ok.. i'm still getting paperwork together for the mortgage refinancing. i think i did this process a little out of order since the divorce won't be final til september. i can't say i knew/know wtf i'm doing.

the house is calmer but still a little akimbo. i've been antsy but working through it... i'm trying to communicate better .. i've always relied on written communication to talk, update, vent... it's more difficult for me to get my thoughts in order to orally verbalize them; i always feel like i'm going to say something stupid or wrong or not precisely what i mean to say.

in other news, i took a digger on my bike on monday and have a myriad of bruises to show for it. my derailleur is crooked and it makes the chain come off the front gear sometimes... so while i was staring down and pedaling, trying to will it back on, i lost balance and tumbled over; it's currently mildly amusing.

Posted by bekee at 8:53 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm currently addicted to reading this guy: michael zuschlag.

Posted by bekee at 2:46 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

lots of biking around, hanging out, and napping. i didn't do any of the cleaning that i had intended, but we won't discuss that.

i did acquire some new duds from ragstock. i hadn't been inside that store in what seemed like forever, but it was exactly the same as 20(ish) years ago when i put together my halloween costume and then proceeded to leave it on the steps at the memorial union; not realizing until we got to the car and walking all the way back to find it missing. it would have been an awesome costume, too.

also, our own personal darts were obtained, and i got an exact bullseye while practicing cricket:

Posted by bekee at 8:27 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was thinking i should hop on one of those "write something, anything, once a day" bandwagons; but that seems kind of forced, and trite. a haiku a day would be less forced, but it's been done.

maybe i should paint something-a-day, or draw, or photograph.

or maybe i should stick to trying to roll my ass outta bed and get to work on time.

Posted by bekee at 9:02 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i totally forgot to blog about the lottery yesterday. and if you've never read it, you should. right now.

also, i'm in a good place today... even tho getting up and out of bed was the opposite of what i wanted to do. we're given quite a few vacation days here at work, so i'm going to add to the long weekend by taking thursday off as well. i'm determined to enjoy this summer as much as i can, since the last one was spent largely in a car on weekends to kenosha and back. i'm not saying i regret the time spent, just glad i don't have to do it again.

Posted by bekee at 3:41 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

things i need to accomplish at some point:

obtain ramones and calexico music for my ears
pick up finnegans wake again
talk to ben about my roof
get a replacement tube thingy for the grill
get frontline and heartguard
re-grout the tub!

also i have to start thinking about colors for the bathroom.

Posted by bekee at 11:13 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

probably in a response to my previous entry, my mom sent me this excerpt:

... i would like to beg you, dear sir, as well as i can, to have patience with everything that is unsolved in your heart and to try to cherish the questions themselves, like closed rooms and like books written in a very strange tongue. do not search now for answers which cannot be given you because you could not live them. it is a matter of living everything. live the questions now. perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, one distant day live right into the answer.

—rainer maria rilke, in letters to a young poet

i need to continue to live today and not wish time away.

also, having recently read an article about curbing spending, i think i need to recognize when i become hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, and make adjustments to rectify that in order to continue to have clarity in thinking and judgment.

Posted by bekee at 1:43 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

it's 3pm on sunday and i haven't napped yet this weekend. i guess i haven't felt like it.

friday was spent biking around, visiting a couple favorite establishments. i had a moderately early night; but not before watching as much of shawshank redemption over netflix on my ipad as i could. but i went and did something mildly embarrassing... i fell asleep with my ipad on my bed, next to my head. :x

saturday i spent almost 5 hours at a family reunion. it was a great time. i hadn't seen most of my extended family in at least 10 months, if not more. there was a feeling of calm as everyone offered their support and encouragement for my recent choice.

when that was done, i headed to the tavern to see matt and was promptly swept up by kate to go to the victoria's secret semi annual sale. i had mixed feelings since a) it's in the mall and b) the last time i went to "the secret" was to get intimates for my wedding.

(sorry, i got distracted by the internet and also took a shower)

so i ended up finding out that i know my bra size (most women wear an incorrect size) and walked out with two fancy new bras.

today's been spent at the dog park, woodman's, and laughing hysterically at hyperbole and a half. oh, i also got to barter with a neighbor who is a massage therapist.

Posted by bekee at 3:01 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i'm reaching here, but a billion years ago, i used to participate in a fridayfive blog content generating thing... it's been a while since i've reused one, but i'm taking one from june of 2006. so, here goes:

1. what's one thing you've done this week to help someone?
i tried making someone less crabby last night. it didn't really work, but i tried.
2. what are two things you've eaten recently that you don't normally eat?
veggie burger (from the wisco--they're quite good), sauteed veggies and soba noodles (from the efforts to eat at home)
3. what are three things you've tried doing better?
living, eating, loving
4. what are four things you do habitually every day?
wake up, cuddle, smile, laugh
5. what are five things you will do this weekend?
more cuddles! family reunion, dog park, nap, laugh

Posted by bekee at 8:46 AM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

i have slowly come to realize that for the last (nearly) ten years, i've ignored myself because of who i chose to be with; i got complacent.

whoah. that stings, bob. reading that sentence makes me exhale deliberately.

recently, i've been antsy and anxious and feeling like i need to do something; make something beautiful, create anything, keep up with this blog so in ten years, i can look back on someone who made a decision (with help and support) to be happy and did something with that energy.

i went to college to design things and i haven't done anything remotely visually interesting in at least 8 years. knitting doesn't count.

bah.

side note: i discovered today that i can go down a watchband hole. it reminded me how skinny i was/got when i left my last serious partner.

Posted by bekee at 3:48 PM | permalink | licks (2) | tracks (0)

it went by pretty quickly; there was lots of tooling about town.

we went to a play at mercury players (at fair oaks and east wash) on saturday. it was actually really hilarious, then had friends over to watch slc punk, which was also quite amusing.

the dogs were tolerant of our guests, for the most part.

also, matt and i are attempting a personal goal to not eat out for dinner... it's going to be difficult, for sure. i'm betting i'll last a month and then convince myself that i deserve some crappy takeout.

also, darts.

and cat:

Posted by bekee at 9:27 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

not the fun, sexy kind... but things are getting better. there's a little more calm in the house, and i'm not freaking out as often or with as much volume.

also, it's a small sample size, but i have noticed that i have a lot fewer possessions than my current roommates. i wonder why that is.

Posted by bekee at 8:25 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

matt and i went to see a couple friends play softball last night. it had been two years since i'd attended a local sporting event; i forgot how entertaining it can be. i didn't know many people on the mickey's team last year so i didn't go to any games.

p.s., if a restaurant closes at 9, don't be that a-hole and walk in at 8:55; no one likes that.

Posted by bekee at 8:57 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this entry started out as one complaining about work, but that's neither helpful nor necessary.

the weekend was ok... i think i need to spend my saturdays in parks and coffeeshops again, because i get quite antsy by myself.

also:

Posted by bekee at 8:34 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i forgot to tell you about the great things in my life. i have someone wonderful very close to me who has helped me immensely and without him i would be a crumbled mess. i owe him my sanity and so much more.

i also have my home to be thankful for and, although it's moderately messy right now, it's still standing and it's still mine. and the dogs really aren't that stressed now that they have a couch to lay on.

i'll be more comfortable when there's order and regularity.

Posted by bekee at 8:28 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i've been on the verge of throwing up all day.

you don't need the details*. i just need to remember how this feels so when it's all over i can look back and see that it was worth it.

* i have $151 to my name, i am losing a roommate, i have to come up with $550 to close on my refi, i have 4 months to pay kurt another $2,000 for the house, my dogs are stressed out, my brain is being very tricksy with logic and reality, i feel like i'm drowning.

Posted by bekee at 1:34 PM | permalink | licks (1) | tracks (0)

i was so distracted yesterday that i parked my bike outside of the wisco and proceeded inside without even locking it up. :/

the roommates are all about to head across the street for some greasy breakfastfoodnoms and then we're going to go bike shopping for matt.

also, my poppy tattoo is almost completely healed... there are a few big scabs that i'm trying really hard not to pick at. this friday, i'll be getting the water lily on my right side.

also too! the ipad is awesome.

Posted by bekee at 10:08 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i just explained, in fairly specific detail, the events of my life recently to a coworker, and it occurs to me that i may be in my current situation because i have years of complacency to make up for.

i'm considering the possibility of further change that, just maybe, will be added to the list of the best decisions i've made in my life; and they'll all have happened in 2010.

i will not get my hopes up or hold my breath. but i will feel a little giddy for a moment.

zomg.

Posted by bekee at 10:15 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this morning, i remembered a work dream that involved me yelling at a coworker.

when i sat down in my cube, the mairzy doats song came into my head and i recalled how annoying it was to a certain someone when i would sing it.

i also wish they'd release twisted metal and super metroid for the iphone.

that is all.

Posted by bekee at 1:52 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

this weekend marked the end of a near 10-year drought involving tattoos:

i go back on the 4th to get a water lily on my right rib. i'm kinda glad he had to reschedule cuz i wouldn't be able to sleep on either side if we'd done them both at the same time.

also, we successfully moved all belongings of one roommate into the house. i have to move my clothes and things from upstairs (i even gave away a whole big apple bag of clothes to vinny's!). the bed frame will be dis- and reassembled on friday.

Posted by bekee at 8:35 AM | permalink | licks (2) | tracks (0)

i had a pretty good weekend... it started with a last-minute visit to the crack doctor. i have a knot in my back/neck the size of texas and it's not getting a whole lot better...

then, i had a tattoo consult. you'll get to see pictures, i'm sure. that was followed by girls night out + aaron + matt. most everyone but matt and i left before the music got *really* good (when will they learn?) but even we only made it til shortly after midnight. i was a sore cookie the next day.

saturday was spent rearranging the living space to accommodate my new life change... and saturday night brought with it my favorite madison band, el valiente. the opening bands (vampire hands and daughter of the sun) were pretty good, too.

sunday, i had breakfast with mom and george. then proceeded to throw together a suitable garden. i planted pepperoncinis, cucumbers, radishes, tomatoes, and basil. i also finally got the snow in the summer situated atop a stump in the front yard. hopefully it'll get enough sun.

i didn't mow the lawn, tho... and since i'll be out of town this coming weekend, it's going to be quite a bear to deal with when i finally can. i might have to mow after work some day this week :/

my ipad is still "prepared for shipping". i had hoped it wouldn't arrive on wednesday (i had it shipped to work and i won't be here that day), but i'm betting i could sweet talk a coworker to bring it closer to the east side if it does.

k... that's enough out of me for now.

Posted by bekee at 8:33 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was struck and amazed by the fact that in october, i will have been blogging for eight years.

Posted by bekee at 11:28 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

since i often rely on my blog for documentation, this entry is to record facts and feelings that i have otherwise left out of cyberspace because it's really no one's business but mine.

i'm pretty sure all three people who read this blog already know what's been going on, and the other two whom i don't know personally will find out that i filed for divorce on april 30 and kurt moved out on may 1. i have two roommates moving in this month, matt and julie.

i am keeping the house, just as soon as i visit a complimentary attorney for 30 minutes (through work's employee assistance program) to make sure i don't eff anything up in the process. then i have to get the deed in my name, refinance and become solely indebted for a very large sum of money for the next 30 years. tell me that's not fecking daunting?

work has also been moderately stressful. we have a *giant* project launching in july; a small part of which i've been working on since september of last year. it's part of the reason i have a pinched nerve.

so, because of all of this, i've treated myself to an ipad and a tattoo, neither of which are yet in my possession but will be soon.

Posted by bekee at 8:34 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

in just a moment, this blog will become moderately less lame. there are just a few technicalities to work out and i promise, i'll have lots of fun stuff to share.

also, in even fewer moments, i'll own an ipad.

Posted by bekee at 9:42 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

as crappy as some parts of my life are right now, this week has been the most awesome time i've had in a long time. specifics aren't necessary, because those who helped make it a success know who they are.

i did spend a lion's share of money on adult bevvies and foodstuffs this week so my bank account will be very happy to have me back at work being productive in other areas of my life.

Posted by bekee at 2:47 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

weirdly, my 33rd birthday falls on the 2000th entry to my blog... this year has already been amazingly strange, so i guess i shouldn't be surprised at the coincidence.

i'm about to go walk around the town celebrating at local establishments and eateries until i just can't take it anymore.

thanks to everyone for your celebratory condolences and happy thoughts.

Posted by bekee at 11:54 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

so i'll stop apologizing for my lack of updates. i promise you, by june/july, this place will be hopping again.

speaking of hopping... jones found something in the park by our house that puzzled him. i was about 20 feet away when i couldn't get his attention to come with me so i figured it was something amazing. i walked over and looked at the grass with the same curiosity that he appeared to have and saw:

also, this graffiti is on a light pole in my new favorite place to sit and think:

Posted by bekee at 9:12 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

without going into too much detail, this weekend was filled with a massive swing of emotions. i got a lot of reading done, drank plenty of lattes, enjoyed the company of friends, had many adult beverages, went to the dog park a million times, laughed and cried.

thankfully, this is a short work-week and i can maybe do it all over again.

also, if you were a psychic, do you think it would improve your ability to spell?

Posted by bekee at 9:10 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

putting a monthly budget on paper can be mighty humbling; and a little frustrating. it does make me realize, however, that i'm awfully glad i'm not any *further* in debt.

i'll leave you with this picture. it's not great, but i was having a great day by myself when i took it:

Posted by bekee at 10:37 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i haven't been feeling very "sharey" lately. some personal biz is consuming my thinker and it's really not appropriate content for a social blog.

i have made a small amount of progress on my deck of cards, but nothing to the point of being able to brag about.

Posted by bekee at 8:11 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i seem to have contracted some sort of springtime cold. but i can't stay home from work because i'm taking friday off to spend the day with kurt for his bday (which is actually tomorrow).

and i don't want to get sicker because tomorrow evening i'm going to see v.s. ramachandran speak at the union and it would be miserable if i were snorting and coughing the whole time.

i've been kinda lax in my braille lately. i haven't even opened up my laptop except for maybe saturday mornings to check the weather forecast. i should be more diligent so i retain more.

also, this design*sponge post reminds me that i wanted to design a deck of cards a long time ago until i realized how much it would cost to print. but maybe i can do a block-printed set... which might not be any less expensive but could be more fun. that might be a good summer goal. i remember learning about why some kings have daggers and other have swords, and one-eyed jack (which made the "gentleman's club" in twin peaks make a little more sense); this was all about 10 years ago.

time is silly.

Posted by bekee at 8:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

another thing i noticed as a non-smoker is that it seems that i have more time. it's weird, you wouldn't think something so passive would take up time, but it did. another reason to feel foolish about having been a smoker.

speaking of time, i find myself filling a lot of it with tasks that, in the past, i wouldn't care about. for example, this weekend i intend to get an oil change and a car wash, clean the fridge (it hasn't been scrubbed out in an embarrassingly long time), adjust the organization of the computer room (a new desk requires moving stuff around), and finish my super awesome sweater.

also, tonight is girls' night out, which means dancedance revolution at the inferno.

aaaand, i have til tuesday to finish the diary of anne frank; i'm currently on page 11.

Posted by bekee at 8:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i just ordered two more copies of allen carr's easy way to stop smoking to lend out. it is my goal to get as many of my friends to quit as i can without being an asshole about it.

Posted by bekee at 8:22 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i have a lot of packages arriving today; we'll just call it "stimulating the economy".

the yarn for my super awesome sweater is to arrive today, along with my new crock pot and green laser pointer for the dogs. amazon split my order into two packages, so ups and fedex will both be arriving today. i picture them dueling to get up to the door.

unfortunately, joann is where i had to order the needles for the super awesome sweater and it doesn't appear they've even left the warehouse.

in other news, i'm taking a friend to the apple store this afternoon to get an ipod touch and we're going to eat at the food court! that, combined with my recent rocky's trip, and a visit to mcdonald's next week for a shamrock shake, apparently, it's "reminisce about old foods" month.

i'll leave you with this awesome picture of nora:

Posted by bekee at 9:44 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i started working on lesson 7... each lesson reminds me of why i probably never finished my manuscript. it's a very persnickety language. lower sign contractions can't be used in conjunction with punctuation, except for the capital sign, etc, which means you can't use (en) for enough when it's written, "Enough!" because of the surrounding punctuation.

also, i bought yarn for the awesome reversible sweater; hopefully it arrives around the same time as the needles (i had to get those from a different online retailer).

yesterday marked six weeks of fresh air and better health.

Posted by bekee at 8:18 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i had to run to the library over lunch to pick up a book that, if i had waited one more day, would be shipped back to the madison public library. on arrival, i was behind a red saab who was waiting for a short, dark-haired lady and her two little girls to cross the path of incoming vehicles. they cleared the way and stayed right, while i pulled in and parked one median past her honda pilot, or whatever it was.

on my way in, i was reminded of the simplicity of life by watching a boy show his father some snow that he had picked up. once inside the building, i found myself behind a (presumable) grandma and her granddaughter whom i had seen walking in as i was parking.

i quickly made my way to the reserved shelves, isolated the one self-checkout that was out of order, and caught the eye of a librarian to check me out.

on my way back to my car, i noticed that honda lady had not yet pulled out; i said to myself, "yea, i should never have children." i was out of the parking lot before she even got into reverse.

Posted by bekee at 12:58 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

friday night was girls' night out. it wasn't as awesome as in previous months, but i had a good enough time.

i finished stiff in two days. it was well written and entertaining. it may have changed my mind about what will happen to my body when the time comes. as of right now, i'm highly considering donating it to medical education. it beats making family pay $3k to incinerate me.

i didn't do any knitting... i finished my headband and couldn't think of another project to start.

we got our tax returns a week earlier than anticipated, so that's helpful since i seem to be spending more than i am bringing in.

edit: i totally forgot to brag because that's how often i think about it. four weeks smokeless. eff you phillip morris!

Posted by bekee at 8:42 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

in an attempt to save some franklins, i went and became a library card-carrying member of society this past tuesday. so, i used their online service to reserve two books by mary roach, stiff and bonk. thus affording me the opportunity to remove them from my amazon wishlist, and (theoretically) saving me $20.

now i have to commit to reading them.

Posted by bekee at 1:45 PM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i accidentally bought myself a pair of boots. the winter boots i have now are almost on their last leg (hah!), and these were on sale...

my windbreaker should be arriving today. i probably won't get to use it until march, but that's ok. it'll be nice to have for biking around when the sun goes down.

it seems, with all this spending, that i might need to work on another commitment, which would be to knock off the eating out for dinner. :x

Posted by bekee at 8:19 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

the weekend went really quickly. i did a whole lot of knitting, not as much cooking as i wanted to, and not as much cleaning as i wanted to.

we're dog-sitting until saturday. sam's an almost-12-year-old australian shepherd and he gets a little cranky at some of the younger dogs' shenanigans.

here he is about two years ago:

p.s., 3 whole weeks not smoking.

Posted by bekee at 8:05 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i was going to put $50/two weeks into savings because of the money i'm not spending on cigarettes... but i think i might have to spoil myself with this windbreaker instead.

so, i bought the windbreaker. i also ordered a small token to give to kurt for vday.

i would like to make this vanity tray for some reason, but i know i'd never use it; though, it would make a nice gift.

Posted by bekee at 8:57 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)

i took a sick day yesterday... i started getting a sore throat around 2pm on sunday... came into work with sinus drainage on monday, and by monday night, i was hacking. i haven't been go-to-the-dr. sick in five years, and nothing fell into the list, so i decided to sleep it off. i finished another plarn bag (pics to come), and took a long walk with the dags.

back to work today...

Posted by bekee at 8:03 AM | permalink | licks (0) | tracks (0)