A quick one before bed...

Spent a lot of time in front of the TV this evening, burning my brain on Robot Chicken. Seriously the best show on the planet right now... Happened to find Season one at FYE on supersale at the mall. 100% money well spent.

Went out for dinner - that was nice.

I spent some time "sanitizing" the house today... and when I say "sanitizing," I don't mean in the traditional, cleaning-up way. What I do mean is "sanity-izing". I added some nice accessories to every door leading to the outside of the house. I have even more to add tomorrow, but they're a little bit more complicated to do and will take some time. It's just about the only thing I can do for right now, short of running out and buying a pit bull tomorrow. Can't do that though - there would be a couple unhappy dwellers in this castle if I did.

Been trying to check in on Joe all day - but can't seem to get onto any of the sites where I know I can find an upate. I can't even find any comments posted on Digg due to high traffic... Will be checking in early morning.

Since I spent way too much time today in places without windows (isn't it evil how malls don't have them, so you have no clue how much time you've spent there?), my self-diagnosis isn't sure to be exactly accurate. Take it with a grain of salt.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 4
Average Daily Sky: 6
Notable Food Consumption: ribs & coleslaw

Needing to Save My Preoccupied Brain

Yes. I've gone missing for a couple of days. And I won't be catching up on those missing days. Yep, that throws a bit of a wrench in my tracking, but I've been crazy busy the past few days and honestly just haven't had it in me to take a minute and a half and post. Lazy? Perhaps. Preoccupied? Completely.

Work's been nuts and I'm to the point where I'm not quite sure when I'm going to catch up. It better be soon or else I'm going to start losing massive amounts of sleep.

A good friend came over Wednesday and stayed over :) - hence no Wednesday post. The couch also came Wednesday morning, and it's even better than expected! Too bad we've only sat on it twice since it came in... the front room is so ridiculously cold we can't really hang out there at night.

No Thursday post because, well, I spent most of my non-work time sleeping on the couch in the back room. It was freezing out and snowy all day. Nothing like a nice winter's nap by the fire on a day like that.

Which brings us to today.

I'm not going to go into details on this first part because, well, this is the internet and you never know who is reading your stuff, good or bad. But strike it sufficient to say that someone came onto our property and took something that wasn't theirs. Technically wasn't even ours, as a matter of fact, which makes it even worse. Considering this person was about 2 feet from our front door when they did it, it freaks me out even more.

I gave up on the dog thing a while back (I've felt the need for a dog for about 5 years now), but now it's back and stronger than ever. All I can think is that what happened never would have if we'd had a dog. Barks go a long way to turn someone around - and even an alert would have sent us to the window. We could have even gotten a description.

Assholes. I hope you get what's coming to you. Not only for the fact that you took something that wasn't yours, but that you came into my driveway uninvited, dangerously close to my house, and helped yourself to things. Fuck you for making me feel like a complete whackjob in my own house. Every bump of my cat jumping off the bed, every whir and click of the heat kicking on, every ping of the radiators warming up, every car door outside and even the squeak of the mailflap has freaked me the hell out today. Thank you, yes, thank you for turning me into a psychopath in my own dwelling. Is nowhere safe?

Karma, so they say, is one mother fucker. I sure hope you get your fair share.

A completely different topic, but an additional item that has my brain preoccupied: Joe Murphy, of The Kick Ass Mystic Ninjas and Wingin' It fame, went into surgery tonight. While I haven't had the distinct pleasure of meeting Joe in person, I'm an avid Wingin' It listener (even if I am perpetually a few shows behind) and always enjoy his commentary. He has a form of cancer I sure as hell can't spell... and just the word "cancer" is scary enough. Sending some positives your way, Joe. Anyone else that's bothering to read my cheezy little blog - won't you send Joe some love too?

That's it for tonight. Paranoid and worried. Over and out.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: -10
Average Daily Sky: 4
Notable Food Consumption: tortellini and elderberry wine

Warm Cozy by the Fire

Nearly midnight and I'm still at post by the fire - all cozy comfy.

A rather grueling day at work today. My back's starting to hurt again now that my stress level is picking up... It's nice that we moved the old couch to the back room by the fireplace - I can get comfy in a prone position now. Still bouncing around on the bouncy ball as chair - I think that's the only thing that's saving my back at this point and allowing me to keep working.

Made mashed potatoes and hamburger gravy for dinner tonight. My first attempt at this recipe and I really think it turned out pretty good. Lots of mashie leftovers for potato pancakes later in the week.

The baby fish are doing incredibly well. I'm craving a beach vacation.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 5
Average Daily Sky: 2
Notable Food Consumption: Hamburger gravy and mashed potatoes, as noted previously.

#$%&*(#$%!!!! I'm cold!!!

It wasn't terribly cold outside today, but it sure did feel colder inside than out. I've been miserable most of the day today... just trying to get warm. I'm wearing down booties and a hat INDOORS and I'm still cold. Shivering cold.

And when I'm really really cold, I have an insatiable appetite. I want to eat anything and everything I can get my hands on. Good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday, or I wouldn't have had anything to eat and would have consequently been very very cranky.

I was, in fact, so cold and hungry today that I ate oatmeal in an attempt to get both warm and full. I hate oatmeal.

I'm sitting (right now, as a matter of fact) about 6 inches from a roaring fire and I'm still cold.

The new couch was supposed to come today, but didn't. Now we're scheduled for Wednesday. Still excited, really bummed about it not coming today... was so looking forward to curling up on the chaise!

Baby fish update: all 3 still doing fabulously! They're growing like little weeds... two are much bigger than the other, but all seem to be doing well overall.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 1
Notable Food Consumption: In order: granola bar, oatmeal (blegh), granola bar, kielbasa on a roll, chips and salsa, granola bar, pretzels, barbecue chicken, rice, chips and salsa, granola bar. blegh.

Day Twenty-One

Day twenty-one. Working my way through January a lot faster than I ever thought possible.

I noticed that the daffodils are coming up already, and I'm wondering if they'll realize they're up way too early, and hold back their sprouts somehow... or if they'll die off completely and we won't have any flowers this spring. It will definitely be interesting to find out. All the trees are budding already too. Part of me feels bad for them, part of me hopes that the chestnut won't bloom this year. Makes a hell of a mess on the deck - sticky white flowers that turn to goo and glue themselves to everything, including shoes and then any flooring surface in the house. They're not picky.

Grocery shopping was horrendous - haven't been in a very very long time. Groceries over and above the top of the cart - not to mention piled up on the rack underneath.

Saved $42 on the total order, just for having and using the store card and being a coupon junkie. Success!
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 6
Average Daily Sky: 1
Notable Food Consumption: Kielbasa

Days Nineteen and Twenty

Days nineteen and twenty almost blend together...

Day Nineteen
Good work day on Friday. Got a lot done but still can't seem to catch up on everything. More stuff keeps rolling in. And in. And in.

Nice dinner date and a terrific steak.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 6
Notable Food Consumption: That steak I mentioned earlier.

Day Twenty
The weather couldn't decide what it wanted to do today. First grey, then a little snowy, then more grey with some hints of sun... Sun right before sundown. Great.

Cleaned most of the house today in anticipation for Monday's couch "event". Rearranged the furniture and now our old futon has taken up residence in the TV room. Which is really nice, because all we have back there for furniture is three camp chairs. Comfy, but not exactly "classy".

Earlier in the week, we were supposed to have friends visit this weekend. They cancelled. We were invited to a party for tonight... we didn't go. Decided to keep cleaning instead. Not exactly how I prefer to spend my Saturday nights, but then again I'm not feeling all that spectacular and if it really is some sort of bug I don't want to spread it around.

Since this blog is *somewhat* about the weather and its affect on my well-being, I added a super-snazzy weather module off to the right courtesty of Weather.com... check it out - now you can see the weather I'm dealing with at any given time. (Share my pain?)

Sigh. It's past 8pm and I'm still in my pajamas.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 4
Average Daily Sky: 5
Notable Food Consumption: A nice bowl of spaghetti.

Day Eighteen.

It's day 18, and day 2 of the baby fish. They're doing great so far, and I'd swear they're twice as big as they were yesterday. Amazing. They swim, they eat, and clearly they digest. And so incredibly tiny.

Another pretty good day... got a lot done today but with work going the way it is, I kind of need to. Tomorrow it starts all over again, and it has to start early because I have a lot to get done before 10 AM. It's all good though - I'd much rather be busy than bored.

We're 3 days from the couch.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 7
Notable Food Consumption: Honestly I didn't consume one healthy thing today, not even something so delicious I want to rave about it. And I'm a foodie. Gotta work on that.

Day Seventeen. Surprise!

Today was a great day.

Second thing I do in the morning is feed the kids. Kids being one cat, a tankful of tropical fish, and a betta in his own bowl. Wonder upon wonders what did I discover in the tank this morning during breakfast?

BABIES.

Yes, three teeny tiny baby fish. Please allow me to emphasize the ***tiny***. I, of course, freaked out. How incredibly awesome. My sunburst platys are now proud parents. Post-joy-freak-out, I lost my mind in a different fashion. What do I do with them? Having about zero maternal instinct myself, but understanding quite a bit about how nature works, I immediately began to eye all the fish in the tank up as potential predators. At least I have a lot of plants floating around on the top of the tank (some I've put there intentionally, others have been uprooted by Hank, our coelacanth / algae eater), which the little babies were hiding in.

Hoping they would be safe until I could run out, I retreated to my day's duties. I could not, however, keep my mind off of them knowing everyone else in the tank looked hungry. 7 or 8 handfulls of fish flakes for the predatory bunch should keep them distracted...

And it did. One trip to Elmer's and $11.95 later, I am now the proud owner of a breeding tank and "fry food" for baby fish. A half hour's worth of chasing three little swimmies each the size of a 1/8" piece of refillable pencil lead (little guys are fast!) and we're all safe now. And I'm crazy excited about them.

What else? Today was a good work day also. Things are really moving and shaking. I was, and felt, productive. Days like that are always good.

Finally got a bunch of stuff out in the mail that I've been meaning to send for months. MONTHS. What is my problem?

A stellar dinner (thank you very much) of field greens with broiled salmon over top and raspberry walnut vinaigrette. Yum. I then baked up a batch of creme wafers (with purple frosting to boot) - I haven't made those in several years. Boy claims they're like shotgun shells full of sugar. Not sure how I feel about that.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 9
Average Daily Sky: 8
Notable Food Consumption: see salad as noted above

Day Sixteen

Halfway through January and things are going a-okay. Work was killer today - I'm not even sure what happened to each hour in the day. Matter of fact I completely lost track of time from 1:00 until about 8:00.

Nothing to eat in the house. Ordered pizza for dinner, which we haven't done in a really long time, so that was fun.

Company's here and we have a roaring fire going, so I'm off. Just wanted to check in and keep everything on track.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 6
Average Daily Sky: 4
Notable Food Consumption: pizza

Day Fifteen. Not So Bad.

Not bad at all, today was... despite the pouring rain all day. The little fuzzy one hung out with me in the office most of the day.

Balls to the wall work mode - today and for the next few. Looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend.

The stockings are *still* all hung by the chimney with care. At least the tree is down and out.

T-minus 6 days unti we finally get the *real* big boy and girl couch we ordered months ago. Really looking forward to cozying up in my new chaise.
_____________
Average Daily Mood: 8
Average Daily Sky: 1
Notable Food Consumption: curly fries

Days Twelve, Thirteen and Fourteen...

I didn't drop off the face of the earth. Promise. I just got really busy all of a sudden and, well, a few things went to the wayside. This blog being (obviously) one of those things.

Let me tell you about the past few days:

Friday the 12th. Crazy day at work. There's so much going on right now that it's nigh onto scary. Really scary. But I'd really rather be active than bored. If I could just get the feel of my office back on track, I really think I'd be a much happier girl during the course of any day. The balance in there is just awful. That huge hulking desk is so distracting. At least I finally got the floor cleaned up. Just a few more boxes of useless crap to get out of there.

Class at the Mesa was amazing. I learned quite a lot during that one session (a full hour and a half longer than originally planned and /or anticipated). Purchased a few new crystals to add to the collection, and now I have a new book to hunt for.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 6
Notable Food Consumption: lots of peach cream pie
_____________

Which brings us to day Thirteen. Saturday.

Woke up early with a blazing headache - aftermath from Friday night's studies? Perhaps.

It was, however, to my benefit that I woke up early - without the headache it may not have even been possible. It was a really sleepy Saturday, a little chilly, and definitely very rainy and foggy. More suited for snoozing than for jumping in the car and driving for an hour and a half, but drive I did. Up to Meadville to help make product. Always fun. Back in the early evening and then out for ribs and coleslaw. Yum.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 9
Average Daily Sky: 4
Notable Food Consumption: Asiago cheese bagle, ribs and coleslaw. It was a good eating day.
_____________

Sunday was a lazy Sunday, and as a matter of fact, I'm still in my pajamas. It's just past 7:30. PM. No point in changing now. Some laundry done, some finances wrangled, and the Sunday paper plowed through. That's just about it.

Onward and upward into next week. It's going to be killer.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 8
Average Daily Sky: 4
Notable Food Consumption: bacon and eggs, Florida citrus, pizza

Day Eleven - Finally, a day you'll want to read about!

Today was a good day.

Productive work, great client calls, catching up on and with friends, and a peach cream pie in the oven. Lots of good memories associated with that to boot.

The weekend looks promising - I'm signed up for a crystal class at the Mesa tomorrow night, and I'll be headed out to Annadele Saturday morning for product-making.

And oh yeah, Scrubs is on. Beat that!
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 9
Average Daily Sky: 9
Notable Food Consumption: soon to be a slice of peach cream pie

Day Ten

The mailman brought the monster box of oranges I've been anxiously awaiting today! Ithink it took about, oh, 3 seconds for me to rip the box open and dive in... I barely made it to the kitchen!

It was nice that he knocked on the door - not only did he save my oranges from freezing outside, I finally got to pass along his holiday gift.

Sometimes, when there is no sunshine around you, the next best sunshine is imported from Florida in a rind.

I feel like I accomplished a lot today, which is an unusual feeling of late. Maybe that's just because it wasn't pitch black at 4:00 and I could actually focus after 3:30.

It's steak time.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 5 (grey, peeks of sun, snowing... wash, rinse, repeat)
Notable Food Consumption: oranges, oranges, oranges! and a T bone steak!

Day Nine. On time, imagine that?

While I'm dredging up info to cover Day Eight, I figured I may as well tackle Day Nine while the tater tots are cooking up.

Today wasn't bad, nothing exciting. Work, mail, bills, yadda yadda. I'm eagerly anticipating the arrival of some semi-liquid / semi-solid sunshine from the state of Florida...

Two Robins in our chestunt tree early this morning. All huddled-down and fluffed up in their feathers. It was snowing.

Hey, Mother Nature, you know I'm your biggest fan, but would you mind re-sending your email on migration dates back out to the birds? I know it was 60 on Saturday, but 31 and snowing on Tuesday is a hell of a trick to play on our feathered friends. Kinda mean, if you ask me. I can keep filling the feeders for all the Chickadees, Blue Jays and Cardinals in the world, but when the ground freezes over, there's not too much the Robins can do.

With that said...
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 5 (grey, then snowing, then sun, then snowing...)
Notable Food Consumption: Another glass of Camauro's Cagnina di Romagna, some serious burgers and tater tots, as mentioned previously.

Day Eight. What Happened?

Day Eight. Yes, I screwed up again, and the crafty will see that I'm posting this on the 9th. My computer was commandeered yesterday late, and I didn't quite make it to post. That, plus I really didn't feel like I had it in me. A tidal wave of morose crashed in and I was nothing short of grey melancholy.

Frankly, I don't even remember what happened yesterday.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 5
Average Daily Sky: 5
Notable Food Consumption: Camauro's Cagnina di Romagna. I'd bathe in it if I could.

Other affecting factors: nada

Day Seven

Today was, finally, not so bad. Lazy Sundays are always good - sleep in, trundle out and get the paper, cut the coupons, screw around.

Did some holiday returns / exchanges... Like Christmas all over again.

My cousin and her family are considering moving to New York. Having just come from there, I was more than happy to help and point them in the right direction - sent them a huge email with tips. Always gives me warm fuzzies being able to help in a situation where I didn't really have any.

Feels like the fog is starting to clear a little.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 2
Notable Food Consumption: ribs in the crock pot and a killer mango Misto from Rita's

Other affecting factors: shopping (i'm beginning to see a trend here...)

Day Six

Today really wasn't too bad. Slept till noon. Needed that. Did some shopping. Apparently I needed that too; a little time to just go and do and not think so much. Paid the bills. Made some cupcakes, they turned out not so pretty, but they sure are tasty! Ferris Bueller's Day off was on VH1 (go figure?) and so that made for a lovely evening.

I'm still feeling hazy.

Average Daily Mood: 6
Average Daily Sky: 3
Notable Food Consumption: all the leftovers we could find, yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting

Other affecting factors: shopping, I'm still pining for a puppy and it's been particularly bad today since the cat's not feeling very lovey

Day Five

Today could best be described as a typical Pittsburgh weather day - temperature hovering around 60, completely overcast, and raining all day. Although, now that I think about it, that's not typical for Pittsburgh in January. In fact, it's really kind of creepy and surreal.

Today was the aftermath of yesterday's migrane, complete with that sour-stomach-yuck feeling.

I've been in a haze, seemingly, for days.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 2
Average Daily Sky: 1
Notable Food Consumption: blueberry green tea, Stilton Chicken at Pipers

Other affecting factors: migrane aftermath
_____________

High: 61 Low: 50 Precipitation: 1.04"
Moon: Waning Gibbous
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 5:07 PM

Day Four

An earlier post this evening, in a more concerted effort to remain on track.

Misery today, sheer misery. As I wallowed my way through a migrane attack (which is now, thankfully, over) and the haze of the aftermath (never pretty), I stopped to wonder if I really ever got a satisfying look out the window today. I'm not really sure.

By the time I realized it fully, well, it was dark.

Here's to hoping tomorrow shines a little brighter.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 1
Average Daily Sky: 7
Notable Food Consumption: chai tea, french bread pizza

Other affecting factors: blinding migrane
_____________

High: 57 Low: 35 Precipitation: 0"
Moon: Full
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 5:06 PM

Day Three. Yes, I Screwed Up.

Before anyone mentions it - yes, I screwed up. Clearance shopping got the better of hubby and me last night and before I knew it, it was well past midnight. Habits are hard to break, yes, but I'm finding they're even harder to start.

Here's yesterday's stats:
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 8
Notable Food Consumption: cereal, chicken with broccoli and cheese

Other affecting factors: Clearance shopping. Rock on Linens N Things.
_____________
High: 52 Low: 30 Precipitation: 0"
Moon: Full
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 5:05 PM

Day Two

Day two it is. I'm exhausted, so this one's short. Taking down the Christmas tree is a bit of a bummer - the holidays are now officially over whether I like it or not.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 3
Average Daily Sky: 9
Notable Food Consumption: nice turkey sandwich, pork and sauerkraut, chocolate

Other affecting factors: The most ridiculous day at work ever to top off the New Year.
_____________

High: 42 Low: 32 Precipitation: 0.02"
Moon: Waxing Gibbous
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 5:04 PM

And so it begins.

The first of the year. A time for "resolutions", don't they always say? Today begins my own resolution - a study of sorts.

I moved to Pittsburgh from New York a little over a year ago, and what a change that was. 99% for the ultimate good. I've gained time, I've gained sanity, I've had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about me.

That pesky 1%? Well, that 1% is rapidly proving itself to be the complete bane of my exsistence, and it's not something I can control or even really do anything about.

It's the weather.

Pittsburgh has often been noted as rainer, or generally more overcast, than Seattle, Washington. As I get older, and now that I have lived here for some time and experienced this weather phenomenon, I have found that the weather has a profound effect on my mood - not to mention my functionality and eating habits.

So begins the study of myself vs. the weather. To make things "chart-able" I hereby establish the study scale:

Average Daily Mood
1 extremely low --> 10 extremely high

Average Daily Sky
1 dark grey, completely overcast --> 10 bright sun, zero cloud cover

Notable Food Consumption

While this isn't exactly the most "scientific" of studies, these two simple parameters (plus one extra, just to see) will help me establish mood levels vs. Pittsburgh weather, and we'll see if I really am affected to the point of seasonal affective disorder, or if I'm merely losing my mind.

Sipping the dredges of last night's champagne toast.

Welcome to 2007. Let's see what happens from here.
_____________

Average Daily Mood: 7
Average Daily Sky: 3
Notable Food Consumption: pork and sauerkraut, chocolate

Other affecting factors: Company, holidays, shopping
_____________

High: 54 Low: 34 Precipitation: 0.05"
Moon: Waxing Gibbous
Sunrise: 7:43 AM Sunset: 5:03 PM