Surprise! More rain...

OK, the rain is really starting to get to me. We've had more than 20 days of rain this month. And if you believe the online forecasts, it's not going to get any better in April. I believe the weeds in my backyard now outnumber the actual blades of grass. The biggest ones are about three feet tall. The yard hasn't been mowed in six months.

But the worst part is the depression...when the weather is like this, all I want to do is crawl back into bed and snore the day away. Seriously, who has energy when it's overcast and cold and rainy all the time? Well, I guess people in Seattle do...but I live in California for a reason. And that reason is: NO RAIN. Or at least not much of it. You know, maybe two or three months of "winter," where it rains for a few days and then we get two or three weeks of sun before the next "storm." This year, we've shattered rainfall records, and the Sierras have gotten dumped with feet upon feet upon feet of snow. I guess I could be happy about it if I liked skiing or snowboarding or something. But what I like to do is go out and drink with my friends. Or maybe go dancing. What I don't like to do is sit on my couch moaning about the fact that we've got yet ANOTHER rainy day and if I go outside my hair is going to frizz like crazy and so why even bother blow-drying? And my rainy day coat is an ugly light-blue hooded parka thing, which is not in any way, shape, or form able to be construed as "cool." So if I wear the raincoat, I am fugly. If I wear the black wool coat, my head gets soaked, and see above re: frizz. Not to mention the loveliness that is non-waterproof mascara when you're slogging through a downpour.

God, I'm just freakin' DONE already. Bring on the sunshine, dammit!

Dammit

The Tamiflu has given me a yeast infection. Arrrrgggghhhhh!

Mama-san

Mom came to visit this past weekend. We had a nice time, although the weather suuuuucked and Rugrat was being a pill. But we still got to have some nice chats. Mom, citing a need to not sit on her ass all day, ended up doing my dishes and laundry all weekend. While it was certainly welcome, I did feel just the teeensiest bit guilty at her doing all the scut work around here. However, I didn't spend the *whole* weekend on my butt -- I made dinner Saturday & Sunday, and whipped up a luscious maple cake for Aunt L, who came over to visit for a little while Sunday night to celebrate her birthday (actual b'day was a few days before).

I'm done with the sick thing now, except for a lingering dry cough occasionally. I did manage to spread the love though - Babydaddy came down with it last week and was looking like hell. In fact, he didn't even take Rugrat to school on Friday because he couldn't drag his ass outta bed. Rugrat hasn't gotten sick (knock on wood) although he did have a weird pink rashy-thing around his eye Friday night. I thought he might be coming down with pink eye since that eye was all watery and drippy. Of course I had to drag him to the airport to pick up Mom at 8:30, and damned if he wasn't the whiniest thing on two legs. "Mommy, I'm cooooold." "Mommy, I'm thirsty." "Mommy, I can't walk." Blah blah blah. Yeah, OK, so it was bedtime - but still! He was in TEARS at the airport, and I was feeling like the world's worst mother. And it wasn't that cold. I knew he was feeling really crappy when he fell asleep in the car on the way home - only ten minutes into the drive and he was out like a light! So Saturday I decided to try Benadryl for the drippy pink eye, and lo & behold, he was cured. It must have just been an allergy thing. Very weird.

What happened to February?

It's been over a month since I've posted...I can't believe how time flies.

The house remodeling is nearly done (well, at least the downstairs). The bathroom is done, with everything new except for the toilet. The kitchen is almost done as well - new lighting, flooring, paint, sink, and...almost all the countertops. Stupid IDIOTS keep screwing up the bar. We ordered the bar countertop at home depot, along with everything else. The bar was to be 80.75 inches long. They delivered it (along with rest of the countertops) several weeks ago...but the bar was only 80 inches long. Even though it said quite clearly on both the original order AND the shipping manifest: 80.75 inches. So Babydaddy & I went over to Home Depot and told them that they sent the wrong size. Of course they got all confused and it took a good half hour to straighten them out, but they sent off the order again. Two weeks later, the new bar was delivered: 80 inches AGAIN! Are those people on dope? And if they are, can they get me some? Because it must be some good shit. So they called again this last Tuesday, wanting to ship it out (only a week later this time) and I asked the girl, is it 80.75 inches this time? And she's all, let me check. So I hold on for fifteen minutes while she putzes around, smokes a doob, and gets back on the line to say, "Oh, sorry, I was looking at the old manifest; yours should be in next week." Sigh.

Also done: new fireplace surround (slate tile - yay!) and mantel custom-built by Babydaddy. New six-panel doors - painted & almost all new doorhandles installed. Bought some tumbled stone mosaic tile for the backsplash in the kitchen, which just came in yesterday at HD. The end is in sight....I'll just take a break for a while and then we'll tackle the upstairs bathrooms, which should be fairly quick & easy.

Last month there were two birthdays: Babydaddy's, and my friend K's. For Babydaddy, I made him a special dinner. His requests? "Something with cauliflower, some asparagus, some pasta (so Rugrat will have something he'll eat), and some meat." He bought some delicious pork chops from Kinder's and I seared & roasted them. I made roasted asparagus with sea salt & pepper & olive oil, and cauliflower au gratin (which was super-yummy), and pasta with sauteed crimini mushrooms and olive oil & spices. Oh, and I got him a cheesecake too - his favorite.

For K's birthday, last weekend, we went to Vegas. We drove out and stayed at the casino where her mom works, and went to a couple of clubs. We had a bunch of stuff comped - free dinner one night, loads of free drinks, free hotel room. We also got VIP entrance (no line, no cover) at the clubs we went to. It was awesome (and cheap!). The club we went to on Friday was amazing, too - Body English in the Hard Rock casino. I have never seen so many gorgeous people in one place - that casino was just CRAWLING with hotties! Oh, and I saw Z & N (my step-siblings) at the Hard Rock -- they live in Vegas so they came out to meet us for drinks. The club on Saturday, Jet at the Mirage, sucked though. The DJ was awful, and we were tired and sore from the night before. Oh well, can't be fabulous all the time, I guess.

Unfortunately, between the super-dry air of Vegas and all the alcohol, I ran down my immune system pretty hard and when I came back home I got hit with a vicious flu bug. With a temp of 103, I went to the Doctor's office on Tuesday afternoon and got a prescription for Tamiflu. This is my new favorite thing. I took some that night, and by the following morning I had nearly recovered. Little to no fever, body aches all gone - just stuck with the stuffy nose & cough that sounds like I'm an emphysema patient. I decided to try & do some work today since things are so busy, but I'm feeling really beat now. I'm definitely going to shut down early and take a long nap this afternoon.