What the El!?!

Since I am a regional employee, working from my home office, my employer issued me a notebook (aka laptop) computer. My personal computer is also a notebook.

I have only one lap.

Granted it’s a wide lap, but it is not wide enough for two computers. So Hubby hooked me up with this cool switch thingy that allows both computers to sit closed, side-by-side on my desk, sharing one large desktop monitor, mouse and keyboard.

It’s cool, really. Except that the poor keyboard and mouse get used twice as much.

My keyboard is suffering. Even though it is only a year old.

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed that the “L” was being worn away slowly. It eventually disappeared. But I got used to it. It wasn’t as bad as when the en on my last keyboard quit working.

Until yesterday, that is. That’s when Eric stopped by. (He’s been staying at his Dad’s so he doesn’t have to listen to me nag him about job hunting. But that’s another story.)

While here, he needed to use my computer.

“What happened to the el?” he asked.

“It wore off.”

“Why just the el?”

“I don’t know. I guess I type a lot of words with els in them. Like ‘clinical’. That’s got two els and I type that one a lot (for work).”

He managed to figure out where the el key was. But he screwed me up. The key may have been blank, but I knew what it was. I’d never thought much about it. Until Eric had to go and point it out. After he left, I couldn’t stop thinking about my missing el.

I thought for a nanosecond about buying a new keyboard. But I decided to fix this one instead. All the other keys are fine, after all.

Those Sharpies are handy little tools.

The fix worked. But now the el really stands out!

Passive-Aggressive Easter Bunny?

I am not a Blogaholic. That means I do NOT obsess about posting something new to my Blog every day. And I do not read a gazillion other people’s Blogs.

I do read some, though. But it’s easy ’cause I have a reading list. There are six Blogs on my reading list. Whenever someone posts something new, it pops up there. Which is cool, ’cause it means I don’t have to waste precious time navigating around, Blog to Blog, to see if any of my faves posted anything new.

Anyway… one of the Blogs on my list is Passive-Aggressive Notes (WARNING: they use the “f” word there… don’t say I didn’t warn you, Moms!).

It’s not always (not usually) rip-roaring hilarious. But it’s almost always interesting, in a semi-sick sort of way. Today’s post in particular struck me funny because the picture so totally looks like it could be the inside of the refrigerator of someone I know. Some family member. One who lives south of me, and a little east.

I’m not naming names, though.

For the record, the refrigerator I pictured above is mine. It has nothing to do with the passive-aggressive post. I just hate picture-less Blog posts.

Strange Day

Yesterday was an odd day. I was sick. I say it was strange because I was very nauseous, kept getting dizzy and having hot flashes. And all I wanted to do was lay flat so the world would stop spinning.

I hadn’t felt good the previous day either. But I had attributed that to post-party malaise (aka a hangover). Hubby was confused because he felt fine and had imbibed much more than I.

But then my body can be weird like that.

I never got sick, sick. No hugging the porcelain god, if you know what I mean. But I sure felt lousy.

Maybe it was my body reacting to my brain’s assertion that I plan to run a 10-mile race in October.

“You’re going to do what? Ha, think again! Take this…” my body said.

Today I feel much better. So far anyway. Of course, I felt fine on Monday morning, too. It hit all of a sudden.

Hopefully, today will be different. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

On another note, I’ve worked out a plan to train for this 10-miler. It doesn’t start with a three-mile run either. It starts SLOWLY. With walking. So my muscles and bones can get used to the added stress before I try to run. It seems logical enough. And way more realistic. I’ll let you know how things are going.

Playing Catch-up

My life isn’t super-exciting, but it is a good life. I really can’t complain.

After all, I have a super Hubby. He’s a bit abnormal, but in a good way. The other day, he came home from work and I said, “Hey, by the way, if you need something to do since I am still working…”

“Um,” he replied. “Who says I am looking for something to do?”

“Well, if you are looking for something to do, how about getting my bicycle out of the basement and airing up the tires?” I said before going back to work.

Not five minutes later, the air compressor was running. I peeked out of my office and saw this…

“Aw, you really do love me. Thanks,” I said.

“Yeah, I love you. But that’s my bike,” he replied.

I could have been upset, I guess, except back to the basement he went. A short — VERY short — time later, this is what I saw…

Both bikes aired up and ready to go, being inspected by Meg, of course, as Belle watched the backyard for squirrels.

Not twenty minutes had passed since I asked Hubby to do this. I told you he was abnormal. Most men would have put this off for weeks, or at least until the wife nagged some more.

On another note…

Spring in Maryland is weird. One day it will be sunny and warm, the next day rainy and cold, then hot and dry. And so on.

One rainy morning I was tickled to see this guy walking around the neighborhood during a downpour.

My guess was he had serious cabin fever and needed to get OUT. Love the boots!

Yesterday, after the bit of morning exercise I reported on in my previous post, I planted this shade garden.

This one corner behind our house is always shady. The grass won’t grow. All that will grow are noxious weeds that would, of course, spread into the rest of the yard. To combat the weeds, I made a little shade garden. The larger plant is mountain laurel. There are also some ferns and a couple of hosta. It may look small, but it required a good bit of digging, two trips to Lowe’s (I never seem to buy the right amount of mulch, it took 6 bags!), and several trips back and forth to the rock pile on the opposite end of the yard.

I still have one more thing to plant.

That’s mint. Is it wrong when you’re inspired to plant by a fabulous mint margarita recipe? The recipe isn’t really the inspiration. You can buy mint, after all. But it is expensive. Usually about $2.50 for a little plastic container that only holds a tiny bit of mint leaves. Once I plant this, I’ll have all the mint I need. Unless the dogs eat it of course. We’ll have to wait and see, I guess.

My Girlfriend Tried to Kill Me


Running Shoes
Originally uploaded by Artsi~Annie

Last night, Hubby and I spent a wonderful evening with two dear friends and eight of their closest friends. A real dinner party where we got to meet not-quite-strangers. I say “not quite” because we’ve heard so much good stuff about these folks that it was just a matter of meeting them in person and putting faces to names.

It was really very nice. The food — paella made from scratch, salad and bread — was fabulous. There’s was lots of wine, too. Including a bunch of sangria, which I consumed far too much of as usual.

It was really a fabulous evening. Except for the part where Kathy (the dear friend/hostess) asked me if I would run a 10-miler with her in October.

“Um. Maybe?” I replied.

“Great, we can start tomorrow. We’ll just do three miles. It’ll be easy. Are you in?”

“Um. I guess so,” I agreed. I hate peer pressure. Of course, I’d already ingested quite a bit of sangria by then.

So, by the end of the evening, I’d somehow agreed to go to Kathy’s house and run three miles this morning. When I woke, I thought it was a bad dream. Then I remembered it was real. And if I didn’t get my ever-widening ass out of bed she was going to call me and say, “Well, are you coming?”

I actually got up, got dressed, drove to her house and attempted to run 3 miles. I think I succeeded in actually running three feet. But she was a good sport. I wasn’t the only one drinking sangria the previous evening after all.

And it is a gorgeous morning. Spring has definitely sprung here in Maryland.

I did not run three miles. But I did walk with her. I am just so horribly out of shape that I couldn’t do it. I WILL run the 10 miler in October, but I just can’t start with an “easy” three miles. I need to take baby steps, work my way up to it.

I can do it, though. I am determined. I have to make some serious changes and get this aging, out-of-shape body back in the swing of things. Shed some pounds and MOVE. Not doing anything is what will kill me.

It’s still pretty early. I need to plant some stuff I bought at the nursery yesterday. And Hubby and I may take a bicycle ride later. For now, though, I think I might need a nap.

Nation With a Sense of Humor

I was on a friend’s Blog today admiring her brand-new baby, when I realized I hadn’t poked through her list of “Blogs I Follow” lately. So I looked. The first one to grab my attention was One Big Yodel, subtitled “An American writer living in Switzerland muses about a lack of Cheddar in the land of cheese…”

Even more intrigued, I started reading the posts. The second was titled, “Switzerland Tourism Fools Me.” It was all about the Swiss scrubbing their mountains clean, with a link to this cool video, which I have embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

How can you not love a country with a sense of humor?