Just What the Heck Am I Doing??

The tree across the street and kitty-corner from my house is flying a kite. If trees had feelings, I imagine that it's feeling pretty happy right now. Unfortunately, there's some little kid somewhere who's probably feeling very unhappy...

My worms have arrived!!! I'm now the proud parent of 1 lb of red wigglers (won't naming them all be fun!!), which, from what I've read about them, are quick to reproduce. Go, little worms, go! Procreate me some baby worms! The more of you there are, the more you eat and poop!

I am so into vermiculture right now. Could you tell?

It's sunny outside, but cold. Supposedly, it'll warm up a bit tomorrow and then over the weekend, but I doubt that this is the last of the cold. I had some spinach from last year reseed and start sprouting, so I covered them with plastic sheeting the other night when temp.s dipped below freezing. Haven't been back out to check on them lately. Maybe they survived.

Worms and thoughts of garden goodness should give me the boost I'll need to get through the next couple of weeks. The show's coming up, so I'll be at work during the day and at rehearsals at night. The poor dogs are going to be miffed with the lack of attention. As soon as the play is over and the set is taken down, life will get back to normal.

Whatever that is.

I'm off to check on my worms!!

Just how warped an individual am I if I admit that the smell of joint compound makes me happy? Not happy as in buzzed-happy, but happy as in just-plain-happy. I cleared most of the crap out of the front bedroom this morning and have started mudding the walls where I didn't do a good enough job of it the last time. More specifically, I'm trying to build up some of the angles where walls meet walls or the ceiling (trying to bring them closer to a 90 degree angle than the somewhat acute angles they are) so (hopefully) the walls don't look to be quite so bowed out. It probably would be easier and faster to just smash out all the walls and replace them with drywall, but that's more than I want to tackle. I can smear mud in my free time and at some point, the room will be ready to be sanded, then primed, then painted. Oh happy day!

Another olfactory moment stemming from time spent in the front bedroom... I was in the front closet patching a couple of holes and caught a whiff of what the house smelled like before I started re-doing walls and refinishing floors and all that good stuff. Old plaster, old paint, old walls, old house smell... I had a mini-flashback to when I bought the house and was just getting started. To borrow a cigarette slogan (cigarettes are good for something after all!) - "You've come a long way, baby!"

I probably should be getting back into this blogging thing. It's been quite some time since last I wrote. I'm so tired now, tho. Maybe I'll write something tomorrow...

Tummy is so not happy right now... Need to get to dry land...

Urrrggghhhhhh...

(ohmigod - is the emoticon really puking???)

I woke up this morning feeling oddly relaxed and calm. I knew what was ahead, but I'd found a beach last night and gone for a walk which helped me think things over. I knew that when the vet's office called, I could give them the go-ahead to put Aeshna to sleep, if her condition hadn't improved overnight. After laying in my bunk for a while, I checked my watch. 4:55am. Too early to get up. I drifted in and out of sleep, even had a short dream about Aeshna (she was healthy and romping and it made me smile). Finally got up around 7:30 or so. Still was feeling calm - like a weight had been lifted.

Received a phone call around 10 - I was in the middle of measuring these teensy little gobies from our first or second trawl, I forget which - it was Eric on the phone, not the vet's office. Around 4:30 this morning Aeshna started having difficulties and was really struggling to stay alive. When her kidneys went into renal failure (blood work done Monday), her cardio stopped most of her med.s with the hope that this would allow her kidneys to detox and start working again. Unfortunately, her kidneys weren't able to start functioning properly and being off her heart med.s really took a toll. The decision was made to euthanize. She went peacefully.

Eric told me that they were following my wishes - Aeshna will be cremated by herself and I'll get the ashes. He also said that they were making a plaster cast of her pawprint for me and asked if there was anything he could do for me. I've decided that he is the best brother in the world (Aesh's cardio even commented that he had taken extra-good care of Aesh while she was with him, giving her water via the syringe and all).

I'm doing okay. Am still prone to breaking into tears at a moment's notice, but it'll get better. Going home and picking up Maisie and Winston will be hard. The first time I come home from work and Aeshna's not standing there with her tail and butt a-wiggling will be hard. Looking at old photos of her will be hard. Not having her supervising everything I do will be hard (when I was out pulling weeds, she had to be right there, nose as close to whichever plant I was pulling on to make sure everything was in order). Not having her jump at the sheets when I shake them out as I make the bed will be hard. Not having her laying beside me as I type away at my computer will be hard. There's a lot that will be hard. But it will get better.

She was the best dog. Always will be.

Good-bye, Aeshna.

I'm stuck here on the boat, tied to the Great Lakes Water Institute dock in Milwaukee and Aeshna's at my brother's, in renal failure. Spent most of yesterday freaking out and cried on the phone and while I tried to fall asleep. If I'd known that she was headed downhill (she had been doing SO well the past two weeks), I never would have signed up to fill in on this cruise. Now I'm in Milwaukee, and she's dying in Saline. Eric's been giving her water by syringe to make sure she stays hydrated. She won't eat. She's lost 5 pounds since her last appointment in August (most of it recent, I'm guessing, because she had been feeling less bony once she started the Viagra and was feeling better). I don't know how long she can go on if she doesn't improve, but what I do know is that I shouldn't be on this boat! I should be home with her, taking care of her, and helping her pass on when her time comes! I owe her that much. She's an amazing dog. And I don't want her to die. Not yet. Not until I can be with her.

Please, Aeshna, don't die.

Aeshna had been doing really well for the past couple of weeks (hooray for Viagra!) - very little coughing, increased energy, alert - so when I was asked to help by filling in for one of the lake tech.s, I agreed to try to find a dogsitter so I could go on the cruise.  After all, I enjoy working on the large vessels and the opportunity to earn overtime pay both during the week as well as for a full weekend, not to mention holiday pay for Monday the 13th, had me feeling pretty excited (and a bit greedy).

Finding a dogsitter willing to take the dogs for 10 days left me looking in one direction - my brother.  When I asked, he agreed with the caveat that I find other housing for them the weekend of the 11th/12th - he's going to Chicago to cheer on his girlfriend as she runs in the Chicago marathon (go Liz!) and is having a buddy of his stay with Wrigley at his house (and didn't want to impose on that buddy by asking him to watch four dogs - one being a special needs dog - instead of one).  Add to that, finding someone to stop by and feed the cats, check on the house, etc while I'm away.  Add to that, the leaving of many phone messages and the sending of several emails that didn't get answered right away.  Add to that an increasing sense of franticness (is that a word?) as the days passed and I seemed to be unable to work out that sticking point of a weekend.

Finally, yesterday, the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.  Eric will watch the dogs from the 6th through the 16th, but on the morning of the 11th he'll drop them off at my house and he'll pick them back up the night of the 12th on his way home.  My dad and his wife will watch the dogs over that weekend, but not at their house - Dad's developed an allergy to dogs and I think Luann's kind of afraid of Maisie, after Maisie ran away the last time they watched them (which was a number of years ago).  They will stop by my house for pill/potty/and feeding duties a couple times a day.  A former co-worker and friend whom I cat- and turtle-sat for a couple weeks this summer will return the favor by stopping by a couple of weekdays to check on the cats and once or twice over the weekend to help with the dogs (Dad didn't sound to be too keen on having solo duty, so I had to find someone to help with the dogs over the weekend).  Neither my dad nor the former co-worker friend has pilled Aeshna before, so I've arranged for them to stop by this weekend (Graham is Saturday evening, Dad and Luann are Sunday evening) so we can have a mini-tutorial and so I can show them where everything is kept.  Mary Beth, who is out of town that weekend, will also stop by during the week to check on the cats and bring in the mail.  One of my need-to-do's for the weekend is to write out copies of a schedule with contact numbers so everyone knows who is doing what, when, and how to contact the others if there's a problem.

So, I thought I was in the clear.  How wrong I was.  Aeshna started throwing up yesterday even though she hadn't eaten either of her meals (so it was big puddles of nasty bile) and also has the squirts (the kitchen floor has now been completely broken in).  Today, she ate, but when I came home from work I found what she ate in a couple of piles on my bed.  Add "wash bedding" to the weekend's need-to-do list.

I'm worried about Aeshna.  She hasn't thrown up like this before - that I can recall right off-hand, at least.  I'll roast her another chicken tonight and bake some sweet potatoes, maybe she will keep those down and her gut bacteria will settle down.  I can't expect Eric to cook for her while I'm away, tho.  She's going to have to go back to kibble and canned food at some point.  We have an appt with her cardiologist Monday morning, so hopefully they will have a quick fix (I'm trying to be optimistic) so I can get Aeshna to my brother's and make it into the lab by lunchtime when we're supposed to leave for Lake Michigan.

Can you understand the stress?

There are currently 32 eggs (of the unfertilized, chicken variety) stashed in my refrigerator.  When, over the weekend, I bought a dozen eggs to supplement the two in my fridge at the time, I had no idea that an egg outpouring was headed my way.  Had I known of my impending good fortune (they were free!), I would have exercised some frugality and not bought the dozen ($2.59 for local, free-ranging, multi-hued happy chicken eggs) at the produce shop.

So how did I end up with a surplus of eggs, you ask?  Well, there are just some really, really nice people out there.  A teacher I know stopped by tonight to drop off some materials for a field trip I'm helping to organize (they reserved the park and are making the school-side preparations, I'm putting together the stations that the kids will visit - six 20-minute learning sessions that will explore animal groups, basic ecological principles, the components of habitats, etc - and grabbing co-workers and friends to staff the stations) and she brought me 18 eggs because her chickens have been super-productive and she thought I'd enjoy having some eggs.  How right she was!

Yummy fresh eggs!  They sure would make for a pretty lemon meringue pie.  Anyone want a pie?  How 'bout deviled eggs?  Any takers there?  I'm sensing that there's a busy weekend in the still-evolving kitchen in store for me this weekend.  That's fine by me!  Kitchen time is happy time!

I had a really good time this evening.  A few months back I applied to participate in UM's Family Centered Experience (FCE).  This is a program that pairs up an individual having a chronic disease with two first year med students.  There's a two-year time commitment and during this time, you must have a minimum of six visits - including one where they attend a doctor appointment with you.  I was accepted and met my students a couple of weeks ago at a reception for everyone participating in the program.  We had our first in-home visit today.

Bob and Cristina arrived around 4:45 this afternoon and brought with them a bouquet (which I thought was just the sweetest thing to do!).  Despite having the fridge and cupboard contents still stashed away in the front bedroom, we prepared dinner in a pretty smooth operation.  The idea behind the FCE is to give future doctors an idea of what it's really like to live with some of the diseases they might encounter with their patients.  As such, we spent a bit of time talking about what it's like for me to deal with diabetes and food.  I showed them how I calculate carbs and fiber for the recipes I find and then gave Bob the task of figuring out how many net carbs were in a serving of the apple crisp he and Cristina had just made.  It was great - not only did I have assistance preparing the meal, but I didn't have to do some of the calculations!  Dinner was a hit - roasted chicken with onion and garlic, steamed broccoli, Turkish zucchini pancakes, and apple crisp.  Having all of us working in the kitchen removed the possibility of awkward moments of silence (we seem to all get along really well, so I didn't really anticipate this being a problem anyway).

They stayed until 8ish, then left to go study (I'm so glad I'm not a student!).  Right now, I have the chicken carcass boiling and will turn that into Aeshna's "stew".  I should have thrown a couple of sweet potatoes in the oven while everything else was baking - oops, too bad I didn't think about that at the time.  The rest of the food is put away and the dishes are stacked in the sink, soaking.  Now is my time to sit back and relax.  I'd call it a night and go climb into bed, but I threw a load of laundry in - having a clean towel after I swim tomorrow morning would be a good thing - and need to stay up long enough to transfer it to the dryer.  Maybe I'll go get pj'ed and read something.  This would be a good night for that.  Happy feelings, a full tummy, cozy bedding, a good book - it doesn't get much better than that!

What I was hoping were honeybees are not.  They're nasty, pain-inflicting hornets or yellow jackets or something along those lines.  Whatever they are, they have taken up residence in the side of my house next to the water spigot and established quite the thriving community.  Up until today, we had peacefully coexisted.  I could use the hose without upsetting them and things were fine.  However, this afternoon I made the grave mistake of trying to pull the ginormous weeds that were growing next to the hose.  It's fall, I want to tidy up my yard.  You can't fault me there.  As I yanked out the last weed, I felt a sharp prick.  And another.  And then another.  I was bitten by five of those little bastards!  They nailed me twice on my left upper arm, once on my right upper arm, once on my chest (dangerously close to a boob - talk about potentially being very painful!), and once on my throat.  If I were allergic to their venom, I'd be dead.  As it is, I am not allergic - just very sore in places.  And pissed off.  Tomorrow I go to buy nasty toxic chemicals in the form of poison.  They will die.  I will see to this.

Rattle rattle rattle, shake shake shake.

I look over and see two little orange arms with white mitts extending through the mesh of the baby gate I use to block the doorway that leads from the kitchen to the basement.  They paw the air, waving up and down, before being pulled back through the mesh.  With claws now gripping the mesh, CatOne proceeds to pull on the gate, shaking it loudly.

Rattle rattle rattle, shake shake shake.

CatTwo sits the next step down and gives his most pathetic meow.  They both stare at me.  I am their jailer, but couldn't I just lean over and give a scratch on a head here or a scritch on a chin there?  Being a jailer of the warm-hearted variety, I do.  They purr, but they continue to stare.

Rattle rattle rattle, shake shake shake.

They want out.

Let's recap...  I spent 10 hours sanding the living room floor over the weekend.  I did my pre-stain prep-work last night, but only was able to apply stain on a couple of test boards before there was not enough natural light left to finish the job.  I looked at the stain this morning once the sun was up and strong and decided it was too red for the look I wanted.  I drove to the hardwood flooring place and bought a different stain.  A nice, medium-tone brown stain called "special walnut".  I oh-so-carefully applied the stain and did a d#*n fine job of it, if I may say so.  The floor looks amazing (finish-wise)!  However, and this is the kicker, when I stood back and looked at it, and then looked at the floor in the little vestibule thingy (which is the same as what the living room floor used to look like), THEY LOOK ALMOST IDENTICAL!!  I just undid, and then redid, what I had.  Granted, I'm going with a water-based poly, so at least this floor won't become more golden as time passes.  But there it is - faintly yellowish with lots of pinkish/reddish hues throughout.  And you know what else?  When I originally refinished these floors, the stain I used then is called "English chestnut" (or something similar) and was supposed to be a medium-toned brown with faint reddish highlights.  It turned out a pale tan with yellow and a little bit of pinkish/red.  Next time, I'm going with "Jacobean", which is the next darkest stain behind "Ebony".  If I do that, I might end up with a medium-tone brown after all is said and done.

Maybe it'll look better once it completely dries.  Paint on walls changes color as it dries, why shouldn't stain on floors?

Oof.

My floors hate me and will do anything within their passive power to thwart my efforts to change their appearance to something I find more appealing - that's the only thing I can think of to explain why I have had such difficulties with refinishing them.

Finding a positive spin for the situation - the living floor with its weird yellow pinkish/reddish hues contrasts/complements my funky brownish/pinkish kitchen floor.

My DVD player sucks.  It has this problem with recognizing discs - specifically the discs I want to watch.  I have "Double Indemnity" from interlibrary loan since the library here does not own it.  I'm nearing the end of my 7-day checkout period and finally have a chance to watch the movie.  "Yay!" says I, "Finally, a chance to kick back and veg."  I pop the disc in and up pops the error message "No disc in D drive".  Dumb machine, it's there.  I put it there.  Deciding to humor the machine, I removed it and put it there again.  Still no recognition.  Repeated attempts yielded the same result.  Frustrated, I rebooted.  Disc inserted.  BINGO!  The movie screen appeared.  Elation was quickly followed by a loud "Aaaiiiggghhh!" when I realized, however, that I had put in the second disc - the 1973 made for TV version of the original 1944 movie.  I'm sorry, but when I'm in the mood for film noir and femme fatales, a 1970s TV movie just isn't going to cut it for me.  I yanked that disc out and inserted the first one thinking that the reboot had done the trick.  A couple of seconds ticked by (which reminds me, I need to hang my new clock) before "No disc in D drive" once again appeared.  In, out, in, out.  Still nothing.  I gave up.  I'm going to have to get myself invited over to someone's house who has a functional DVD player.  I know from whom I'd prefer to get that invite, but he has out-of-town guests in town this week so I'm going to have to look elsewhere.

While sort of on the topic of men, harkening back to the topic of libraries, and introducing the topic of a friend deciding to end her marriage, let me just say that last week I picked up a book on the library freebie stand entitled "Are You The One For Me?  Knowing Who's Right & Avoiding Who's Wrong" by Barbara DeAngelis PhD (1992, Island Books publishing).  How's that for a segue?  Anyway, it's one of those early 1990s self-help books, you know the type.  Sleek-looking radio talk show host is a regional hit, appears on several national TV shows, writes a few self-help books that will lead you to become a better person in terms of whatever, becomes an international authority on whatever, leads seminars on whatever, yadda yadda yadda.  With everything that's going on in my life and in lives around me, I really need to clarify/define/understand a few things (e.g. love, healthy relationships, respecting myself, emotional well-being, etc).  I'm figuring that if a 432-page freebie book can help me sort out these things, I'm all for it.  Right now, I'm on page 32.  Can't say that anything's sorted yet, but I am gaining some insight.  That's a start.

So on page 12 I found a Love IQ Quiz.  Being a geek for quizzes, I got all excited.  Of course, I want to share it.  Before I reveal my answers, however, I want you to take the quiz and, if you're bold enough (be bold!), post your answers at the end of this blog entry.  You can log in as "anonymous", if that makes you feel more comfortable.  Anyway, here goes!

The Love IQ Quiz

Read each statement and answer using the following responses:  Very Frequently, Often, Occasionally, and Rarely or Never.  Try to answer honestly with how you feel in terms of the statement, not how you think you should respond.

1)  If my partner and I really love one another enough, none of our problems or personality differences will threaten the existence of our relationship.

2)  If I am finally with the right person, I won't ever be really attracted to someone else, because I will be so in love.

3)  If it's really true love, I'd know the moment I see the person for the first time.

4)  The right relationship will always be interesting and exciting.

5)  If it's really true love, I won't feel complete and whole when I'm not with my partner.

6)  The sex in a relationship can't be really fabulous unless it is true love.

7)  My perfect partner will give me everything I need and will fill in all the empty spaces in my life - I won't really need anyone else.

8)  If I'm really in love, I'll feel excited and nervous each time I see my partner; being with him/her will give me goose bumps.

9)  If I'm with the right person, we will be so in tune with each other, we'll always know how the other person is feeling.

10)  If I'm in the right relationship, it will feel naturally harmonious, and we won't have to work that hard to make it work.

I'll share the point values after I've received a response or two - so get busy!

Because I'm not enough of a glutton for punishment, I decided to refinish the living room floor this weekend.  I sanded for about eight hours on Saturday and a couple more hours this morning.  I was NOT expecting it to be such a chore.  The thing is, when Lyle and I first refinished that floor when I bought the house, we used his old drum sander.  For whatever reason, that sander had a way of "skipping" when you ran it.  As a result, I had a somewhat wavy floor, but it looked okay - didn't stain weird or anything - so I didn't think much of it.  When I went to sand the floor this time around (oh yeah, and I put like five coats of oil-based poly on it that time - overkill?), things were going okay until I realized that I had sanded the top level clear, but that there were all these shallow depressions that still had stain and poly in them.  It took a loooooong time to get everything nice and flat.

I thought about staining the floor this afternoon, but, quite frankly, I'm whupped.  My back's sore and the thought of all that stooping and bending and kneeling just did not appeal to me in the least bit.  So I let the floor sit.  Melissa came down and we made a trip to Blissfield to see if we could find any good deals on antiques/junk.  We didn't, but we did have a chance to catch up and chat.  I might take part of tomorrow or all of Tuesday off and finish refinishing the floor then.  I have a sample sitting on my scope that I started on Wednesday - I'm hoping it hasn't dried out, since I'm about midway through it and trying to reconstitute it would screw up my counts (meaning I'd have to start over) - otherwise, I'd consider taking all of tomorrow off.  Oh, but only if it's not going to be rainy.  It rained almost all of yesterday and most of today (not that I'm complaining, we really needed that rain), but I'd like to have a dry day when I finish the floor so I don't have to contend with prolonged dry times.  I want to be able to finish everything (one coat of stain, three of poly - am trying Bona Mega this time, since the living room generally doesn't get as much foot/paw traffic as the kitchen) in one day.

So, that's what's new here.  The house is still in a state of upheaval and I'm sore and tired.  The dryer just finished its cycle, so I'm going to go get my warm sheets, make my bed, and hop in it.  Good night!

So I've pissed off Mom.  Sunk her into a depression would be the more accurate way to describe it.  I am a horrible daughter.  That is how I should be feeling, if I were indeed a horrible daughter.  Or depressive.  Either one.  But I don't think I am a horrible daughter.  I'm not the best, but I'm not the worst, either.

The thing is, she forwards these ridiculous emails to me and I'm not sure why.  Everything from perpetuating urban legends (I don't think she knows what they are to begin with) to smarmy, poetic emails peppered with clip-art, a soundtrack, and at the bottom words akin to "send this to X people before the end of the day or your hair will fall out and your dog will run away" to political garbage (e.g. Obama is a muslim and the anti-christ, we need to write our congresspeople to tell them to make English the national language so all those Illegals running around out country will be easier to spot and maybe some of the Legals will get the idea and go back to their countries of origin - stuff like that).  With a couple of the urban legend emails, I sent a weblink to a site that dispels the legends and suggested she look into what she's sending before she sends it.  Nothing harsh.

Today she sent her second Sarah Palin email.  The first one contained nice photos (including what looked like glamour shots) with some text about this is why we should elect this woman as VP (because she photographs well???).  This second one said that because she's had special security clearance briefings as Alaska's National Guard commander-in-chief (one of the perks of being governor, I guess), she's privy to info more top secret than Biden is and has way, far more experience than Obama has.  As evidence that she was good at being secretive, the original writer added that Palin had met with McCain in February and nobody knew about this until just recently.

Having had enough with Mom's forwarded junk emails, I sent her one asking that she not send any more email of that nature.  I mentioned that I wouldn't be voting for anyone who didn't believe that humans have a hand in global warming and was anti-abortion.  She immediately responded that she had sent that because Palin-was-a-woman and shouldn't-we-be-proud and I-guess-I-don't-know-you-any-more and I-have-tears-in-my-eyes-now.

I then replied that, yes, she is fresh and empowering, but that one needed to look beyond the name and the face and the hoop-la to find out what they really stand for.  No response yet.  I'm okay with that, tho.  I mean, really.  Am I supposed to just delete the emails and let them keep a-coming?  Eric does that - deletes them unread.  I admit that I've done that to a few, too.  However, why shouldn't I be able to tell my mother that some of the email she forwards are not of interest to me?  Why shouldn't I do my part to cut down on the junk email that's clogging up the internet?

Gack.  It's frustrating.  And I'm tired.  Spent the day on Erie (Don asked if I could go out before I even had a chance to take my jacket off this morning - I was totally unprepared for field work today as I thought that Don was on vacation this week and we weren't going out until next week).  I think I'll go to bed now, so I'm more awake to deal with future emails.

I rather enjoy sanding and refinishing floors.  Especially when that horrible drum sander is nowhere to be seen.    =)

Back to work I go.  It's going to be a late, exhaustive night.   I wish I'd picked up more of the 24 grit the last time I was at HD.  Oh well, I still have plenty of the 40 as long as I get most of the poly up.  Lesson learned - Never again will I put down six coats of poly on one floor!

It's not that I'm not motivated (after all, I've already watered the veggie and flower gardens as well as the plants on the porch and prepared leftovers for the week - lamb patties, couscous, green beans, tomato gratin), it's just that I am not looking forward to re-refinishing the kitchen floor.  Once I finish lunch (tomato gratin over whole wheat couscous - the gratin is really soupy and needed something thick to bind it together), I'll wash the dishes (somehow the sink went from empty to overfull in the course of the morning - how did that happen?), debone the chicken parts simmering in Aeshna's "soup" and add the sweet potato chunks (hey, as long as she'll keep eating, I'll keep making her food), unhook the stove and move it into the living room, clear the countertops, and then head to Home Depot to rent the sander.  Or maybe I'll rent the edger first and get that part done.  As long as I can finish the staining and polyurethaning tomorrow, I'll be on schedule.  And it's already 12:30.  Ugh.  I need to get moving.

But first, back to lunch.

Maybe it's just a case of "those crazy Canadians", but in a news blurb on CBC about John McCain's vice-presidential running mate (Alaska's governor) they mentioned that she's fairly new (fewer than three years in office), is known as a maverick for standing up to other Republicans, is a former beauty queen, hunts, is...  Excuse me?  Former beauty queen?  Is that a highly rated credential for getting elected to office?  Apparently it is, as it was like the third thing that was mentioned about her.  I don't even remember what else the announcer said about her.

Crazy.

Interesting, tho.  McCain is really trying his hardest to woo disgruntled Hillary supporters.  It's just that this was such a blatant move.  And his running mate is anti-abortion, so unless those Hillary supporters are way conservative, I don't know that it'll work.

WHY AM I SO FREAKIN' INDECISIVE?!?!?!

I'm trying to decide on paint colors for the kitchen and living room (yet again).  I'm having a particularly difficult time with the kitchen, because the tile backsplash is a bit on the cool side while the countertop has some warmer undertones.  From my stack of colors (ranging from taupe-y beige to beige-y taupe), I've narrowed it down to two sets of colors.  And really, they are very similar.  So why can't I pick one of them and put the other in the reject pile?  Actually, I've done this - a number of times.  Then, I start thinking about it, and pull everything from the reject pile and start over again.  I've looked at the colors in the morning light, in the midday light, in the afternoon light, in the evening light, and at night with the overhead lights on.  For each time, I have a different favorite.

Throw the living room colors into the mix and it gets even worse.  Not only am I judging the kitchen colors by how they look with the backsplash and countertop, but I'm also considering the darker shades further down the sample strip (one of these will be the living room color).  I don't want to go as dark as I did the last time, but I want a color that will contrast nicely with the yet-to-be-determined lighter kitchen color.  One of the kitchen colors that I really like has a rather dark color next in line on its strip.  The other kitchen color has a nice next-in-line color, but I'm concerned that the kitchen color itself might be too light/bland.

Maybe I'll start refinishing the floor tomorrow and put off painting until after the floor is done.  Would that be such a bad thing?  It probably would be better to paint first, so I won't be worrying about dripping on the floor.

Egads.  I am so ready to be done with this.