Deet?

Apparently perfume has a shelf life.
Who knew?

I had a change of routine today and went to the gym during my lunch break.
I do so love a shower in the middle of the day.

I had with me an old but not quite used up bottle of my perfume*.
Evidently it was too old.
Kinda reminds me of bug repellent.
I am trying to pretend I am camping here in my dark, warm cubicle.


*I have been wearing Opium every day since sometime in the early eighties.

And the beat goes on...

For anyone who may be interested - I am still going to the gym.
I also continue to watch what I eat.
My weight... remains the same (actually its a little higher today).
My personal trainers* tell me I must be amassing muscle.
I looked for this muscle this morning.
Standing buck naked in front of a full length mirror.
I didn't see any muscle.
Tho I feel my head is getting smaller.




*thin people that i work with

While we're out...

We were going to Target to buy more lights... my luminescent wife requires ALOT of lights -

on our way we picked up this for my rugged wife:

stock photo - I will take actual photos when we go pick it up later in the week.

Oh, and we got the lights too - only 1.99 each!

Saturday

tip-o-day

I was still all juiced up on tryptophan yesterday... couldn't post.

You're Black Friday shopping tip of the day is...
If the '40%-off toy' you were looking for seems to be sold out - circle.
Keep returning to the place where the toy used to be.
Sometimes, more will appear.

yay.

Let the holidays begin

sprakling wine... not just for breakfast.

Eat, Drink and...

Enjoy!
Happy Thanksgiving.

My frugal wife and I love to participate in the Black Friday festivities.
It's not that we have a long list of purchases, on the contrary we buy very few items for Christmas. But we just love the excitement that Black Friday whips up.

We will be up and out by 6:00 - starting out with a Grande Caffè Latte of course.
We usually stick to a couple stores in the mall, snagging a few items from the list. Often times - we wait to purchase items we need around the house - to take advantage of the super deals and early bird specials. I mean, if you already need a new coffee maker - why not get it at 60% off.
When things really start picking up around 9:30 or 10:00, we head home.

One of the things we enjoy the most - is going out of our way to be courteous, friendly and helpful in contrast to all the mayhem.
So if you're shopping on Friday take the opportunity to give up a prime parking spot, hold open a door, wait patiently in line and never loose your cool over something as shallow as shopping.
You will not only come home feeling great about yourself and your experience - but you just may make someone else feel that way too.

Clothed Captains?

At the gym, while doing my time on the 'thing that I hate*', I usually have the TV on and tuned to Ellen.
The TVs at the gym always seem to have that closed captioning feature turned on. I have a hard enough time changing the channel with the remote while bobbling around on my 'fitness machine from hell*', so I just leave it.

Have you ever tried to follow a show using the closed captions? Not only is there a long and wildly variable lag time but the spelling is at time almost incomprehensible. Who the hell types this stuff in? Clearly English is a second... possibly their third language.




* otherwise known as the Elliptical

And the dieting goes on...

In addition to going to the gym 4 times a week, I have been recording my intake online using FitDay.com.
This journaling type method works for me. It's not for everyone for sure. But for me, I feel it makes me more of an active participant in my own progress.
I can also look back at the day, or the week and know that I am on track. Instead of just 'thinking' that I am.

The other great thing about FitDay is that it allows you to enter your activities and shows the calories burned.
I like to put in my gym activities and I also include any heavy yard work that I may do. I figure that counts.
FitDay has all sorts of stored activities to choose from. For example under the Lawn and Garden selection I can choose from raking, chopping wood or digging in the garden. If I put in how much time I spent at a certain activity it will calculate total calories burned.

While browsing through these lists I noticed that I can also include Sexual Activity.
There are three levels of activity to choose from:
- Active, vigorous effort
- General, moderate effort
- Passive, light effort, kissing, hugging

Moderate effort? I am still trying to get my head around that one.

Friday

tip-o-day

It's going to be a warm here in the NorthEast this weekend. Why not take advantage of the temperature and put up your holiday decorations.
You can leave your lights off if you like until its closer to the holiday... but why wait to string them up until the mercury dips below the freezing point.

I have an inclination

Well, HAL_LAY_LOOO-YAHH.
The Catholics have published new guidelines on homosexual outreach.

''Mini stry to P ersons with a H omos exual Inclin ation''

This is a wonderfully helpful 'training' document put together by celibate Bishops to assist Catholic priests in guiding their homosexual parishioners spiritually.
It's so much easier to minister to a homosexual once you understand they are suffering from a disorder.
And... further good news - Gays and Lesbians can now enjoy taking the Holy Communion-- guilt free, as long as they are abstaining from any of that unholy gay sex.

But just so heterosexuals don't feel completely left out - the document also reinforces the churches ban on artificial contraception, promoting their tried and true 'rhythm' method instead. So, you folks who toss out your condoms, rip out your IUD's or flush your birth control pills are also welcome to join those celibate gays at the alter for your tasty piece of the Body of Christ.

Abusing the system

You know those prolific 20% coupons from Bed Bath and Beyond and Linens and Things?
Well over the summer we had been stock piling them to buy supplies for Ferris big Freshman Adventure.
He turned out to be a pretty light traveller.

But this worked out well for us, since we are in desperate need of new curtains. Yes, we are desperate for curtains. I can't fathom to think what would happen if we didn't acquire some soon.
So we found some at Bed Bath and Beyond that we just love.

As you know, the coupons are good for 20% off an individual item.
Yup, you guessed it - so far my frugal wife and I have made 4 trips to two BB&B stores.
We each buy one panel, with one coupon.
4 more trips to go.

Friday

tip-o-day

We have hardwood floors in the living room, and a sofa that is positioned somewhat in the center of the room. Since there is no rug under it every time you sat on it, or espcially when Ferris flung himself on it - it would move.

I tried cutting small pieces of those rubbery rug underlayments - but the sofa still moved.
Finally, I put some duct tape on the sofa feet - no... not sticky side down, I simply stuck a piece of tape on each one.
The sofa hasn't move since.

I didn't know him well...

I took the day off today - to get some fall clean up done around the place.
While I was sweeping out the garage this morning, I came across a dead mouse.
Looked like a recent death.
I didn't have the heart to just sweep the little guy up with the leaves and toss him out in back.

So I gave him a proper Christian burial.

Mice are Christians right? I think I read that somewhere...
My benevolent wife would tell me not to make such assumptions.
So just in case I also said Shabbat Shalom and Namasté over him as well.

It's all about how you look at it

As you may remember, I have embarked on a weight loss program.
This program is strongly based on exercise.
This will actually be my first week where I will go to the gym to workout at least 3 times. I am looking forward to this regularity. I do so like routine.

I rushed out of the office today to fit in my full workout in before it was time for Wednesday Wings Night (for anyone who doesn't know, this is our family dinner night at our local sports bar - we get a pitcher of beer and 20 cent wings).

I arrive at the well appointed women's locker room and begin unpacking my workout 'gear'. My 'gear' consists of sneakers, a pair of Old Navy sweats, and a loose T. Let's just say its more functional than fashionable.
Aaanyway... I start up packing and find that my 'gear' is drenched. I mean really wet, like 'there is no way I can wear it' wet.

Hmm.
It's pouring out, my bag was in my back seat ... and I have a convertible.
Uh o.

So I pack up my soggy stuff and go back out to the car. Upon further inspection I notice the backseat is also wet.I spent some time trying to find a leak. Oddly the roof seemed dry. The water must have leaked from one place and run along a seam or something. I decide to wait until tomorrow and test it with a hose to find, and hopefully patch, the leak.

So, I go home. Sad about missing my workout.

The phone is ringing as I walk in. It's The Daughter. Poor little thing is sick, and the 'bo' is coming down with it too.
So we cancel wings night.

No workout, no wings.

It was then that I started to unpack my gym bag to toss my soggy stuff in the wash - when I found my leaky water bottle.

YAY!
true - no wings, no workout... but more importantly - no new convertible top!

Did you vote today?

In our town they have 'new' voting machines.
Gone are the levers and pale green drapes. Frankly, I miss them.

But wait… these were not the ‘touch-pad’ voting machines I had seen in the commercials.
This was more like… the SATs.

Once I had given my name and been manually crossed off the list by pencil and ruler, I was handed a BIG sheet of paper. This paper had the names of the candidates, in large text, with an oval to each name. I was then directed to a 'voting station' which looked sorta like a cheap restroom diaper changing station. Evidently this was supposed to make me feel like no one could see my selections. The privacy concept is sorta lost by the fact that you can see over the walls and there is a constant stream of people walking back and forth directly behind those who are voting.
I was told that I would find a marker at the station and I was to 'color in' the oval next to the candidate of my choice. Hmm, a black dot test.

Then I was to take my completed ballot and cross the gymnasium to a machine that greatly resembled a small copier. There were optional, and inadequately sized manila folders provided to afford some semblance of discretion for my trip across the gym.

At the machine, I simply placed my ballot in the feeder – and it got sucked in.
Done.

How this is more advanced than the old trusty lever selection method sorta eludes me.

Oh, and I did not use a manila folder.
I was actually reading the directions on the back of my ballot as I crossed the gym, making my boldly colored ovals plainly visible.
I have reasons for my selections, and they are not a secret.

The Cone

Look at this!

Its one of my birthday presents from The Daughter. Isn’t she clever.

I have it right next to the wood stove. It's dashing... and no more messy wood bits, dirt, or ash.

Just not up to it

I know I know... this will be the second friday with no tip.

I have been feeling woozy on and off for just over two days now.
I can't blog like this.

Go off and start your fall cleaning - we'll catch up on a tip next friday.
(yes, fall cleaning... its like spring cleaning - but better. fall cleaning is not a cleansing of the season. it's the preparation for one. winter is a healing time, a time to regenerate and rekindle. it's a time for us to rest our spirits and souls... the house needs to be clean for all that)

A picture is worth a thousand words

I thought of this on my morning commute.

We had a light rain last night but the sun was out this morning. While it was a cool morning, it’s still mild for November in New England so I was comfortable in only a light jacket.

I opened my car window as I drove into the office around 7. The air smelled thick with freshly fallen leaves, and there was a heavy dew rising- creating a mystic fog. The ground was littered with these brightly colored fallen leaves but the trees still clung to many of them, their color made more vibrant by the low morning sun.

I passed my friends, the cows. They stood together at the crest of a hill, their breath coming in big puffs of cool morning air, the sun behind them… a bovine silhouette.

Closer to my office complex there is a small town green I drive through each day with requisite churches ubiquitous here in New England. It’s a lovely green, typical of the area, though my daily passage has made me numb to its quaintness. Today tho, the sun was positioned perfectly behind a comely white church – making its long stained glass windows glow as if from within.

Right then, I wished I had my camera - noting that I should probably toss it in my backpack when I got home.

But as I thought more about the picture I would take, I dismissed the idea of a photo. I am certain that, with the light and the mist and the amazing fall foliage, I could capture a fantastic image. But what I was feeling tactilely and emotionally was not going to translate to pixels.

A picture is a great way for me to show you the wood bin I built, or a snapshot of our kids, or perhaps my new car.
But sometimes a handful of words are worth a thousand pictures, and sometimes only the memory….