The Eagle has landed...

This morning was the morning. It was the morning that we sent off our 8 year old daughter to San Diego to spend the entire summer at my mother in law's house (we call her Nanni, pronounced nonni, don't ask me why she spells it with and 'a' because it annoys me to no end). This was not, by any means, the first time she's been on a plane. It was, however, the first time she went unaccompanied. Nervous parental breakdown much? Why yes, yes it is time for that. My hubby and Nanni thought she was perfectly capable of doing this and I agreed. I do not, however, trust other people. I just don't. I don't know the people who will sit next to my child on a (3 hour 9 nonstop of course) flight to the west coast. I therefor do not trust them to be near my child.

The bonus of this was that she was given incentive to do this flight on her own. The bribe? The cell phone of course. She got it last week (see previous post) and has spent the past few days becoming acquainted with it. It's not as easy to use as the iPod that she's been making documentaries with (how scary is that) but she got the hang of it. I was not going to get her an iPhone so don't even get me started. Her daddy is just tickled that he can text his child and I think the phone was worth it just for his entertainment alone. She's been very good with it, texting mostly which is what we want her to do. It helps with her spelling (yes, she spells out her words on the phone, none of that short hand crap) and her reading. Plus we can always get a hold of Nanni who doesn't like using a cell phone herself. Again, one of those old dog new trick that isn't going to happen things.

So the hubby gets the kid on the plane this morning. He gets there early since you have to do a bunch of paperwork with an unaccompanied minor. Could not have worked out better. 3 people sit in a row on Southwest flights to San Diego. There are 3 unaccompanied minors to her flight this morning. The hubby spends the wait chatting with the mom of one of the other minors. The plane boards and the kid is happily making new friends with the other 2 kids she's sitting next to and so they all go and board together, just an off handed wave to the dotting parents. I think she'll be in her own apartment before she hits high school at this rate. Really, why does she even bother keeping us around? Cash? Maybe but only just.

To add to the 'perfect' flight scenario the plane lands early (gotta love those SW Airline pilots, they haul ass) and she calls us as soon as her Nanni meets her at the gate. She's a smart girl, she knows who pays her phone bill. But wait, there's more! She's going on a ton of camps this summer. San Diego Zoo, Museum of Natural History (bug camp, once again, jealous), swimming, gymnastics, constantly going to the beaches. Oh and BTW, during this phone call Nanni mentioned that they are going to drive up to San Francisco this weekend. Going to hit up the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the way. Have any of you ever been there? It's a fav of mine. Like if I had the opportunity I'd move there just so I could go every single day. The place is amazing. I have a thing for aquariums ya know. Seriously, a thing. So I mention this on Facebook (my instrument gacked up a hairball last night, my work day is hosed and I consequently have nothing to do, HELLO Facebook) and our old neighbor lets me know that HEY, she's on that drive and we should have the kid meet up with them while she's up there. This neighbor has 4 kids and my kid has been missing them something awful. They are a super sweet family. Except the ex-husband (hence their move away from us), my dog didn't even like him.

So I gave the friend the kid's new cell phone number with instructions to txt my child. She's going to vacation in San Diego all summer starting with a drive to Nor Cal and maybe even a visit to some old friends of ours. Isn't this right out of the book of vacations you should have as an adult? WTF? I'm having coronaries just telling people to txt my child to have lunch or some yuppie shit.

How does one come to terms with the fact that their kid is now all that and we are so not that anymore? Sooo beyond my prime, swear to gawd.

The up side? The hubby and I have all summer to ourselves. To , you know, make another kid. Hell, maybe this one Nanni will vacation to Hawaii with or some such. Hey, wouldn't it be nice if she took us along to like, babysit or something?

Twitter, and those who follow....

I'm on a couple of these 'social' (a 4 letter word in my vocab) sites. 2 actually and I actively participate in 1 forum. I think that's a new social max, I just don't need anymore. Add this poor neglected blog to it and yeah, I may have to hole myself every once in awhile just to recover to my normal level of bitch. I'm pretty uptight about these sites though, my comments on this blog are moderated. Some freaks followed me back from commenting on P Dub and told me not to be so negative. I told them to get of my piece of the net. Specifically, IT'S MY PIECE GO FIND YOUR OWN FUNDY. Short and to the point. Then I moderated the comments. Facebook, yeah I don't actually 'friend' everyone who asks and then I block all the updates from you losers who need brown cows in farmville. Ya, I don't need to know about it. See? Social, it's all relative. Mind you these jobbers are all accessible via iPhone so it constantly updates. That and my email. No, I don't need to do this but there it is. I pay enough for the damn phone plan, might as well squeeze it for all it's worth.

Twitter is one of those things I started and would probably not have it at all if it weren't for my friends Alison and Jason in San Diego. Alison is kinda insane about it and about 15 times a day it updates her status to where ever she is standing in the city. Because you know, we all need to know where Alison is. It's important right? I follow 16 people. Only 4 of which who regularly post. Which is a good number. Probably too much if they all posted but they don't so I continue to have it as a kind of back ground. Plus it does help me keep in touch with Jas and Ali and any disasters they have going on. Don't make fun, we can help from halfway across the country too. Really!

Now what I don't get, seriously, are these people following me. I have 25 followers. Dude I don't think I have 25 friends, wtf are these people? I mean I have a few fellow bloggers who follow me (Hi Steph & Lisa!) and I know who they are. And a few (yes few) friends that are up there but the rest. I dunno where they came from. I even found that I have a 'list' that's following me. A list? WTF is that? And why do they give a hoot what I tweet? My tweets are mostly a back and forth conversations with someone (Alison 99% of the time) that I could just as easily do texting. It's one sided for those that aren't friends with the both of us too so it must look...odd?

So yeah, Twitter. I think it would have worked better if Facebook hadn't come along. And with all the security issues with Facebook have you noticed it's not like we stop using it. People just put up a note that bitches about it? We're all a bunch of semi-social losers.....

P.S. if you are just that nosey my sign on name to just about any site (including Twitter but not Facebook, you need my full last name for that) is MichelleSG. Not saying I won't block you but there it is, in all it's antisocial glory.

*Note that within 3 hours of writing this post I had 3 more complete strangers follow me. I'm not sure if they were individuals or businesses of some sort. Curiuos to see if there are more by days end.

Parental preferences

There is much debate with parents about modern day gadgetry and how old a kid needs to be to own certain things. Last Christmas I asked if y'all thought my kid (age 8) was old enough to appreciate an iPod Nano. We decided to get one for her, it was also the Christmas she found out the Truth about Santa. She was thrilled with the The Truth BTW, she now gets to be Santa and it delights her so. Really, she always exceeds my expectations in departments like these, I had no idea she'd take it so darn well. The Nano was a great hit. She sometimes uses it for music but mostly she makes documentaries. They are so damn cute, especially when she puts her face in front of it while holding it, all you see is from her nostrils up to her forehead. Hilarious moments to be sure. She was totally old enough to appreciate this complicated gadget, I don't know why I question these things anymore.

This year is a whole new level though that I am uneasy about. Every summer she goes back to San Diego and stays with my mother in law and goes to a bazillion different summer camps. It's awesome in one way because there's no way we could afford all of these camps (mother in law pays for them) and child care costs over the summer would kill us. Really, kids are stupid expensive. The down side is we don't see her for 3 months. She, of course, is so busy busy busy that she barely notices our absence which is as it should be right? This year is going to be a huge step though. Previously someone would accompany her on the flight out there. This year she's doing it solo. Am I uncomfortable about this? YES. But my hubby and my mother in law think its fine so really, what I think is irrelevant. Yes, I'm going to catch shit about that statement from the hubby but I'm not really into lying to y'all and he hasn't noticed I've been posting again anyway.

The bribe to get her on the plane by herself was a cell phone. She goes on like a big girl then she can have a cell phone. No, we did not get her an iPhone. There was a lot of research done by the hubby on line to see what kind of phones would work best for young kids. There seems to be a helluva lot of young ones out there will cell phones. Yes, we did take into consideration the maturity of our child (not just other kids her age, but our child by herself) and whether or not she was old enough to handle that kind of responsibility. There really is no doubt in my mind that she can handle it.

Then choosing of said phone was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. We had been looking at the pay by minute phones, we wanted to minimize monetary parts of this and that seemed like the logical choice. Today we were shopping next door to an AT&T store (our carrier) and I suggested we stop in and see how much adding a line onto our plan would cost. If it was less than the pay by minute ones then I wanted to know. It was. Not only that but family mobile to mobile is free and we have unlimited texting. The hubby and I never use the phone minutes, we have like the least amount of minute plan but text all you want. We also have over 4000 minutes in our cache of minutes. I'll be surprised if the kid even puts a dent in it. One of the biggies that I liked about us getting her on our plan with this phone (the LG Neon, internet connection disabled) was that it had a QWERTY keyboard on it. If we can get her to text we can get her to read and write more. The sales guy was all kinds of impressed with this selling ploy, apparently he'd never heard of that 'bonus' yet. There are lots of parents buying young kids phones, I'll bet he'll be pulling that one out of his bag a lot.

So she now has her own cell phone. And we're just trying to start having a second kid. Age gap much? Dude, she has her own cell phone, we're old....

About that obsession 'thing'

(Pic 'borrowed' form the Dendroboard forum, these froggies aren't mine, they belong to a woman that goes by Elkdreamer on the board. They did, however, inspire me to get this particular coloration of dendrobate.)


This most recent one is frogs. Yes, I know, you now pity the poor hubby. He'll survive but it probably won't be pretty, poor tolerant dear. The kid is totally with me on this one even though I won't let her get one of the main frogs she wants, a tomato frog. They are weird looking, even for a frog, and they are poisonous if another frog eats them. Some you have to worry about when mixing in the same tank. I'm not setting up a whole tank just for those ugly things (don't worry, I didn't say that to the kid). I just told her no poisonous pets. Then explained that the poison dart frogs momma is getting aren't poisonous in captivity. No, no one knows why that is but I will still use gloves when handling them. I'm a chemist and therefor more careful (ie paranoid) than your average herp geek.

The vivariums I'm having built are still not done yet which is fine. I think I've mentioned before that I'm kinda a research geek when it comes to diving into new obsessions right? So I am planning 2 froggie vivariums, 1 for mossy frogs and one for poison dart frogs. The mossy frogs are still kind of hard to find and I'll only go to a reputable breeder (picky much? Uh yeah) which I was able to find. They are still in tadpole stage right now and I won't be getting them until they have sucked up their tail and can be shipped. In the meantime I call up the breeder every month to check to see how they are progressing. Yeah I'm totally serious. The word I am using is obsession right?

The dart frogs are turning out to be even more convoluted. There are an amazing amount of variations and 2 sizes, damn small and minute. The minute ones are called thumbnails and not because they are the size of your thumbnail (that's closer to the 'damn small' size) but because they can stand on you thumbnail. With room to turn around. Yes, that small. They eat flightless fruit flies. That you have to grow/culture yourself. Then dust with vitamins before you feed them. Are you starting to understand why you should pity the hubby yet? Mind you this convoluted pain in the ass may seem insane to most people (don't ask how much these wee frogs cost, you'll just get a coronary) but it appeals to the scientist in me. I live for this kind of crap. I also view it as a great learning experience for the kid, seriously, how many kids get to culture fruit flies and springtails before they are 10 years old? Yup, I run an odd kinda household.

I finally decided which variation of dart frog I wanted. Newbies like myself are not recommended in buying the thumbnails as a starter frog. Smaller is more fragile. I never followed the rules beforehand I don't think I'll start now so thumbnails it is! I did not, however, start out with my favorite morphology (colors in laman terms) because they cost $105 each plus $50 shipping. I may be adventurous and overly confidant but I'm not a screaming moron either. FWIW you can't find these things in your local pet store normally. And even so I wouldn't trust them to live. Stress kills. Instead I found an individual on the main dart frog forum who had some froglets for sale. Upside? Great price, $35 each. Downside? He won't ship. Hasn't done it before. Upside? He lives in San Diego and my dad wants to fly me back out to visit him. I haven't seen my dad since 2007. So I gave the guy a deposit and I'm (hopefully) going to fly halfway across the country to visit my dad, bring my kid back from her summer in San Diego (she visits the mil and does camps out there all summer), and bring back froglets. Whole new level of geeky huh? Again, obsession is the key word here.

This is my youngest froglets in San Diego, notice it hasn't absorbed it's tail yet. It'll be a few months before I fly out anyway.

Without obsession, life is nothing

A quote By John Waters that I found in an anthology. My hubby makes fun of my obsessions. Not that he doesn't have them too, he just sticks to the same ones. You know, guns, paintball, knives, gaming, and motorcycles (the only one I don't let him indulge in), the usual boy forms of entertainment. He's basically had them all since oh, puberty, maybe even since school age. My obsessions tend to come and not really go but fall by the wayside. Kinda. I have relapses of all of them when it suits me. He finds this odd, I see it more as a Jack of all trades type thing. Animals tend to play a background to the obsessions starting with parrots (yes those big, loud, messy, expensive birds) way back in high school. Fourtunately this was when I was a teenager and lived in San Diego. There's a flock of parrots, yes a flock, that lives wild down there. When those parrots were done being domesticated they flew off out the door and joined the flock. They were not the most domesticated of avains to begin with. Next was the chinchilla. The hubby was dating me then too so he was well acquainted with Sketcher, the first of all the chins I owned. He lived in my room. Sans cage, free wheeling in my bedroom. Don't ask, it involves a bad size wire that he ripped his back leg off with so no more cage for him. Ah the sacrifices we make for the pets in our lives.

Chinchillas are long lived and I think he lasted maybe 8 years? Through my first marriage (which may have lasted 4 years?) and the 2 bird dogs and 2 cats that I collected while married to the putz. I've never been into cats but we somehow ended up with 2, they left with the ex as did 1 dog. I was then left with the Labrador. Yes, I survived living with a lab, a reactive one at that. I've always been stuck with the animals that no one else could handle and I'm ok with that, they give enough love that they're worth it (yes, I'm talking about my present spaz Jayne here). After I moved back to San Diego from MD I left that lab with a loopy ex-boyfriend, soul mates that they were. Both a little far left of center. I had also acquired more chinchillas with that boyfriend, he kept most of them and even the ones that were born the morning I left him. I took Smidge and 2 of his sons. Both sons died within a few years (mutation colored chins don't tend to last long). Smidge is still with in in the most insanely large cage you just don't even know. A side affect of the obsession thing. When we moved to this house I was tired of all the crappy cages I had either bought or built and wanted something impressive. Researched it for like 2 months before buying this ferret cage that is essentially a modified parrot cage. Stupid expensive but it rocks. He's old so he doesn't use it nearly as much as a young chin would but he's happy so I don't care. I suspect he won't be with us too much longer, I bought him when I was in college and I graduated in 1999. He's more than 10 so it won't be long before he's gone. We have a local chinchilla rescue and rather than trying to sell the behemoth of a cage on Craigs List I'm going to donate it to the rescue. I figure I got what I wanted out of it so it paid off, might as well let some homeless rodents enjoy themselves in it when we are done.

Present animal obsession count: 3 dogs, 1 chinchilla, 1 snake. Present animal count that is a direct result of my obsession: 2. The hubby might debate me on that but it's accurate. The chinchilla is mine from before present hubby days and Corbin, I wanted a frenchie something awful. Roxy was our first dog together and that was because the hubby wanted a dog and I was totally on board. But it wasn't me that initiated that one, that was all him, Jayne was him too, I wanted a 2nd dog yes but Jayne, the hubby wanted a brindle boxer. He would not have been my first choice, we knew what he was (reactive) from the first moment he came to our door. It was a good thing we took him though, he'd be dead by now with just about anyone else. The snake is the kid's deal, I'm cool with it but I made sure the hubby knew that he's responsible for it's care though. I take care of her on occasion but if he's home and she poos I tell him about it. I keep track of her food though and make sure we have the frozen mice on feeding days and I'm also now getting her a monster cage since she's so dang active that the 20 long shes in now is just not all that entertaining for her.

Yes, I said entreating. Sarah the snake is one dang active snake, you wouldn't believe how much she moves about. Total acrobat. So I've located a new tank for her, 70 gallon, on Craigs List, that I'm having my minion at work build up for her into a lovely vivarium. And here I move into the newest obsession, vivariums. You remember that Vietnamese mossy frog that I babysat for the minion when we borrowed the day gecko for the kid's presentation? I've decided that I need one for my birthday (28th) and of course need a vivarium to put it in. Over the last month I've researched the breeders of mossy frogs and what type of vivarium they need. Joined forums, sent emails, made phone calls, the usual research I do when getting into something new. Yes, an obsession. But if you want to get into a new animal species I think it's wise to know what you're getting into. Call me obsessive.....

So as of right now I have a total of 4 terrariums, that's including the one Sarah is presently living in which only kinda counts because like I said, I'm not responsible for that particular acquisition. I have a 18x18x24 that I am having the minion build up for the mossy frog that I intend on acquiring. The mossy frogs are currently in tadpole form with a breeder in Ohio and I have 2 on hold. The 70 gallon I got for Sarah needs to be picked up this next week and eventually that will be modified by the minion for Sarah's climbing entertainment. I also got a 12x12x18 and I think I'm going to put poison dart frogs into that one. No, the captive ones are not poisonous so don't worry about that. They are also not something one handles often, they are very very small and delicate. Not really the novice frog owner material but I am not your average moron so we'll see how well I'm able to do. They eat fruit flies (the flightless variety) and sometimes Isopods (pill bugs), woodlice, and spring tails. You have to actually culture all of their food (ie, raise/grow it yourself) and dust it with vitamins before feeding. And they only eat live, moving food. Sound like fun? OK I suppose only to a geeky scientist like myself and a bunch of crazy dorky herp people but I know for a fact that the kid is going to find it wildly entertaining, don't you think? And lets face it, this is like the ultimate for an OCD obsession ridden geek. The husband may go off the deep end but thankfully after so many decades he's totally used to it. He was there when I bought my first chinchilla, nothing really surprises him anymore.

PS, I'd include more pictures and links but this is my first foray into posting from the iPad. It's not all that easy since I'm not used to the lack of a mouse and right click/highlight is totally beyond me. I can copy paste but it's kinda sporadic. The autofill is infuriating and inconsistent but that's true in the iPhone too so I'm used to that. If there are any glaring typos I'm sorry, it'll drive me nuts but eventually I'll get the hang of it!

The wonders of Apple

I've never really had the money to be a true Apple/Mac person. I love their products but they are still too much $ for me to be a solid Mac person. Jason traded me my Blackberry Pearl for his old school 1st gen iPhone when he traded up for the 3G. That was my first intro to Apple. I love my iPhone, I learn something new on it like every month. Which is a a sad thing to admit I'm sure but there you go. I use it mostly for the iPod which I listen to while working by myself in my lab. It's loud in there and I'm all by myself with the door locked, Pandora Radio is my friend. I figured out the mapping feature too (not the most accurate but if you zoom out it tends to make more sense) and the search function. See, these things I should have learned a year ago huh?

When the hype about the iPad started I thought, cool, nifty toy! I didn't for one minute think I'd own one as soon as they came out, not in my price range. Which is somewhere around, oh, free. I was still not willing to put out the $25-50 for a new power cord to my laptop. You know, the 7 year old Dell that eats power cords? Yeah, it has the larger battery on it but it doesn't actually hold a charge anymore so it has to be plugged in. After about a year the wire in the cord breaks. Apparently this is not uncommon in Dell power cords. Yay. Now you know why I'm never on line any more, I refuse to by another freaking power cord.

So as luck would have it there is such thing as a free iPad. Well, ok, more like free gift with purchase. Which is nice as long as it's not my money doing the 'purchasing'. Which it wasn't. I buy most of my consumables at work from a company called Phenomenex. I love them, they are so insanely helpful and they always have specials or are giving me free product. They have old fashioned customer service and if I call with a problem that my rep can't figure out he passes me on to a specialist in the company who can. And they have figured out some seriously strange ass problems out for me. All my instrument engineers are scared of me, when I have a problem it's just so damn obscure. I think the people at Phenomenex have some sort of strange affection for me. They may be sniffing chemicals in their free time but that's ok, they're my kinda peeps.

Plus they were having a special for a new product they were launching. One of those buy 3 and get 1 free or buy 5 and get 1 free plus a free iPad. Yeah baby sign me up. As it turns out it was a product that I had already started using. Since I am kind of one of their test monkeys I had worked with them for a few months to put this product in line with our normal procedures. Ordering a boatload was no problem, I knew I'd be using them all, it's a consumable. Sad part was that since I was already a regular buyer of it I was ineligible for the buy one get one free. My rep loves me though so instead he finagled me a free iPad 3G. Thank you Rob, I love you more than my luggage! Of course I don't travel so I don't actually have any luggage but I won't tell him if you don't.

So as soon as the first iPads were released they sent me one. And I though "Ooo pretty!". I could hook it up to my one lone surviving desktop at home (remember, the lap top has no juice and the hubby jacked his desktop with a virus) and downloaded stuff for the kid. Plants vs Zombies being the main entertainer but we had Spore too (originally for the iPhones). The kid was the only one who was using the iPad for a good month, Plants vs Zombies really is an entertaining game. We had some issues with the wifi in our house though, I had no idea what the password was. We had to wait for a friend of ours to come over and basically reset the thing and make another password. Which we wrote down and taped to the back of the unit. Or else, you know, we'd forget it again. So 2 nights ago we discovered the wonder of Apple. Dude, they rock. I will never ever buy another laptop cord for the rest of my life. I may never even buy another laptop. Unless I can afford a Mac. Or someone is giving one away for free.

The iPad? It's so lovely. I mean I don't think I'd use it for word processing or anything but we have a desktop for that. Even blog posting isn't too bad. I happen to be at work right now though so I'm on the laptop my awesome wonderful kick ass minion brought in and bought Clear for but if I were at home I'd be doing this from my iPad. We only ever used the laptop for sitting on the couch and flitting on the net, we never used it for it's full computer capabilities. The iPad takes care of that need. Plus it's small, light, you don't have to wait for it to boot up, you just push one and only little round button and "poof" internets baby. You don't need antiviral software, if you want sopmething from iTunes you can just download it from the icon. You don't need to attach it to a desktop for that stuff (like I did for the iPhones) unless it's time to back it up. It doesn't need to stay attached to a power cord, it holds it's charge forever, and I can use it at other free wifi places or, if I want to send AT&T more money (oh hell no) I can get wifi access where ever I want it. I don't see the need for that though, the iPhone does just fine for whatever I need when I am out and the AT&T plan for that thing is an obscene amount of cash anyway. I'm not sending them anymore of my paycheck thanks anyway.

When I first saw what the iPad was did I think I needed it? NO. But I think that had a lot to do with the fact that $500 was just not in my price range. Free is. I'm not giving this sucker up, it rocks.

Strawberries and computer issues

So yeah pictures. I have 1 million 457 thousand of them. And all were stuck on the memory card of my Canon. I have an 8G card that I had never used but sent with the hubby (he took my camera) when he and the child went back to San Diego for Spring Break, you know on March 15th. Freaking Texans and their jacked dates for Spring Break. Regardless that didn't matter here or their when it came to the pictures. The point is I don't do anything fancy to get the pictures off of the camera. The cord that attaches to the camera is always attached to the computer, I just plug it into the camera and download them. Simple, that's the only way I can function. Of course this time, and I don't know if it's because it was a large memory card (8G, we normally use the 2G) or what but 3 different computers kept telling me that the camera was busy. Yeah the camera should be busy, downloading my damn pictures. But it wasn't, it was just busy ignoring me. Modern technology, it will be the death of us all.

I broke down and admitted that I may need a fracking card reader not long after I tried hooking it up to the 3rd computer. And did I buy one? No. I lag, what can I say.

Yesterday I took the family to a place called Marburger Orchard to pick strawberries. I had a friend who posted on her Facebook that she had taken her boys there on Friday and I thought it'd be a nifty way to do a family day on Saturday. It's a wee bit north of us, just 5 miles south of Fredericksburg. It's a really popular little tourist spot, kinda like the uber Hill Country spot. I knew it was a bit of a drive. Like 60 miles. I didn't tell the hubby exactly how far we were going and he was starting to bitch by around 35 miles. Of course I had never been so I was hoping at this point that it wasn't going to be lame. Not that the drive wasn't beautiful (it's wild flower season and if you've been to Texas and seen them well, you know) but the hubby drives 180 miles round trip to work 5 days a week. His patience for any sort of driving is very thin. His patience for me is not that much better. But look, it's bluebonnet season!



Now I knew I'd want to bring a camera so I took the trusty older point and shoot so I knew I'd be able to get the pictures off of it. And I did. They aren't as awesome as they could be but you get the idea. We made it, it was AWESOME. The hubby was very pleased with the result. The weather was absolute perfection (a rarity in Texas, seriously) at about 72 degrees and bright blue. Today it's 86 degrees and very BRIGHT. Painfully so in fact. So we hit the right day and there were only about 8 other people there. I'd hate to go when it's crowded although I don't know if they actually get crowded since it's so hella far out there.

These were the fields, just gorgeous



And just beyond that row of strawberries were the cows. Because, you know, a drive to the country is nothing without the cows right?



I didn't actually realize they were even there until they moo'd and it sounded like I was standing under a cow. Seriously, my subdivision used to be a ranch and there are still cows where the ranch owner kept land at the entrance. You know, to sell after all the subdivision was built so that it could be turned into a strip mall. Crying shame, it's lovely with that ranch land there. But I've never actually been close to cows, we just drive by on the way in and out of the subdivision. Over the Hedge, that movie is us, seriously. Except ours isn't flat, it's Hill Country. And it wasn't a forest, it was scrubby ranch land with lots of oak trees. But the cows at the orchard, surprised me. I was cool though, I didn't panic because I knew that those strawberries would be long gone if cows had access. I can understand why they were grazing right there though, it must have smelled like heaven to them. Cruel and unusual punishment huh?

That first picture is one of the poppies that they planted at the end of each strawberry row so it looked pretty. And lordy were they gorgeous, blooming like nuts and the flowers were like tissue paper. That little point and shoot did me right, I would have taken a ton more pictures had I the other camera but it was not to be.

So you know what I got today, the day after we go to Hill Country? A card reader. More pictures to come, I just took 30 minutes to down load 2 months worth of pictures. Don't get too excited though, you know I never edit. The only thing I took out was the top of the hubby's head that was in the bottom of the cow picture. Bad composition, totally my fault, had to edit.

Coming up next post, spring. We have it and it's got some astounding flowers this year!

Babysitting Mossy and Fatty

My kid (2nd grader) had a huge (for a second grader) class project. She normally has homework every night and the teacher stopped it for 2 1/2 weeks so that they could concentrate fully on their "Woodland Animals" project. I love these projects, the kids get so creative with them. She was assigned lizards, not a specific one mind you, just lizards in general. Um, ok, that's kinda widely varied but we can work with that. She had to know things like where they lived (it was easier to point out where they didn't live of course), what they ate, life cycle, predators,etc. The basics that an 8 year old would know, then build a either a poster or a diorama (which is what my kid opted for, she loves her crafts).

I have a guy who works 'for' me, we call him my Minion. I really don't consider myself a boss, he's supposed to be an assistant of sorts but since I taught him everything about mass spectrometry he considers me his boss. Whatever. He's actually a biology major with a chemistry minor but since he's damn smart and very intellectual to boot (those don't always go together, trust me) I forgive him that minor infraction. He's very into plants and reptiles and in his free time he builds terrariums. Big, huge frig off beautiful ones. I knew he has bunches of lizards so I asked him if we could borrow one to bring into the kid's class during her presentation. It just so happens that he was going to be on vacation in Seattle at the time of her presentation so we ended up borrowing the lizard for 2 weeks which was fine and happy for me. He made is a 12x12 temporary terrarium that was BEAUTIFUL like the day that I called him to pick up the lizard. Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice since I couldn't get one of the whole thing. I had to keep the humidity up so the walls were fogged over and made pictures nigh impossible to take. I took one with all of the orchids I got on clearance at Lowes. Since their flowers were gone I bought them all for $2.50 and $3.50. They are put in his terrariums often so I just went and bought them all, a total steal since they were so healthy.

My Minion gave me Fatty, a seriously plump and durable Gold Dust Day Gecko. He and his family went to Hawaii awhile back and since they are not indigenous to Hawaii and have basically taken over, the Hawaii government doesn't care if you take them out as long as you fill out the paperwork. So he came home with a bunch. Apparently there are even some loose in his house. I spent the last few years of high school with a free range chinchilla in my bedroom so I don't find this odd at all. Not all parents agree with me though I'm sure. We called fatty Fatty because, if you notice, his tail is where his fat storage is. See how it hangs down like it weighs too much for his body? Yeah that's because he's Texan. Just kidding! Kinda. He is a bit on the plump side. All of my Minion's terrariums are huge, like 4'x4'x6'. Fatty had been in one of those and free range ate the plethora of crickets that were in there. Apparently my Minion feeds well huh? He had just purchased a mossy frog at a reptile show and had him in a wee little terrarium so that he wouldn't get eaten by all the other larger lizards and whatnot in the full sized terrariums. The one he was in was so small there was no place for a light so my Minion put the mossy frog in the terrarium he built for the kid, just in case if got cold while he was gone. So we ended up with Fatty and Mossy for 2 weeks. How cool is that?

I was barely able to get a decent picture of Mossy, his toes are in the top picture, but he is just the coolest thing ever. My Minion said he wasn't sure Mossy would survive at all. Dude, I'd have been seriously bummed if the frog had died. Obviously the gecko wasn't anywhere near fragile but he said even if he had kicked off it'd be no biggie. I must get over these attachments to all living things....

I know this picture is not the greatest but I had to have the hubby slide the top of the cage open to get the pic and hold his hand over the part where Fatty was since Fatty, for all his fatness, could and would take off at the speed of light and provide waay too much prey entertainment for the dogs. Do you see Mossy's eyes in that photo? You have a very clear view of them. They are the exact same mottled green and black of his body with just a little tiny black center dot that I think is his pupil. I could be wrong though, they change often and are just way uber cool looking.

I totally fell in love with this frog. Yes, I know I have strange taste in pets. My dogs are all severely brachycephalic and chinchilla? Pink snake? Why? Yeah, I know. Next on the list is the mossy frog. Which, apparently, is new to the market, rare, hard to get a hold of, and kinda expensive. Sounds like something every woman wants huh? No, not really. It's ok though, I have a minion that knows the hobby well and can steer me in the right direction. Even better, he can build me a mossy terrarium! It's the little things in life now isn't it?

Oh and ya'll probably want to know how the kid's project went huh? She was the hit of the day in class. I taped the terrarium shut (because yeah, 22 8 year olds and loose reptiles oh hell no) and got permission from the VP to let them in the classroom. Ah the lengths we parents go to for our kids. I'll have you know though, all the info and research she did all by herself. We quizzed her incessantly until she had it all memorized. Oh yeah, she kicked butt. Which is good since she knows that's the only reason her mama goes to all that trouble and gets the real deal for show and tell. Really, the things these crazy parents do nowadays, freaks!

Calorie counting fail. Or not?

You know how I mentioned that I'm trying to get into better shape because damn, carrying around an extra 20 is just not right. Right? In December I started going to a gym. And have gone faithfully (not counting when I got the cold from hell. I opted out while expelling that much phlegm) and feel really good. I was told that I needed to count calories too because "You just don't realize how much you're eating until you count them". I ball parked my calories in the past. Best estimate by doing that I averaged a bit under 2000 calories a day. People said, "No that can't be right or you'd be losing weight" (I'm not btw, still rock steady at 20lbs too much). Sure, ok, fine, I'll do the 'official' calorie counting. Downloaded the Lose it app. It was (is) an awesome app for such things. It told me how many calories to eat if I wanted to a)maintain my current weight or b) lose x amount of pounds in x amount of days. It has all these grocery store foods/brands preloaded into it along with many many restaurant foods. It told you how much you could eat and calculated (added more calories you could consume) depending on your exercise (also something it had pre-programmed in). It also had a place to put your weight in and you could share with your friends and keep track of each other. Nifty.

I did it for a few weeks. Had a friend who was doing it too. Turns out, yes, I was normally eating well under 2000 calories a day, just like I thought. People who can't ballpark their daily intake aren't paying attention. You don't need an app to tell you these things you just have to pay attention. People can't even pay attention when driving, I don't know why they'd pay attention with their eating habits. According to the app in order to maintain my current weight I couldn't consume more than 1800 calories a day. No problem, I don't eat more than that in a day. I'm just not that big peeps. If I ate more than that I'd explode. Or I'd be making Paula Dean meals all day every day. I grew up in So Cal, my diet just doesn't include that much pork fat, Crisco, or butter. According to the app if I wanted to lose 1 pound a week (a goal I found to be totally practical) I could only eat 1300 calories a day. OK. I figured that was challenging enough that I could use the app and count my calories. Does 1300 calories sound horrible and totally non-do-able? It's not. I found after 2 weeks that I thought entering things in the app was too tedious. I never ever went over, even on days I ate cake or a huge snack in the middle of the day. I only lasted like 2 weeks. After I got sick and was eating very little and exercising not at all I stopped bothering. If I never ever went over my allotted 1300 then why waste my time with the app?

My gym took away the scale they had there that I was using too. I believe that you should only use 1 scale to weigh yourself since they all read a bit different. Of course I don't have one at home though. So now I don't count calories and I don't weigh myself. I feel great, my body looks better, I don't fit into any of my clothes any better. By my best guess I am more tone but haven't lost any weight. Oh also, I don't really care as long as I feel good. That's the important part right? Eventually, if I keep at it, app or no app, I'll get my fat gone.

This months sounds and the confusion that ensues....

So for the last year or so, since I've discovered I like it, the child is exposed to country music whilst riding in my Jeep. She has her favorites and is smart enough not to voice her opinion about her not so favorites. Her first was "I'm a country boy" by Alan Jackson. Then came "What was I thinkin" by Dierks Bently. Please don't ask me to explain that first name, as far as I'm concerned there is no excuse for jacked first names, it's a voluntary choice and some parents are just stupid. This last month I finally found a female country artisit that I liked and got a cd by Miranda Lambert. She's like pretty white trash and her songs are a scream.

The child has latched onto the first song on the cd, Gunpowder and Lead. Funny song, about a woman who got beat up by her significant other and is waiting for the man to get out on bail with a shotgun and a cigarette behind the front door. OK, not the usual topic of conversation for 8 year olds but it is a good segue for the less than stellar boy friends a girl can run into. She's been sheltered and has no idea what nasty relationships are like. She really had no idea that men hit women and though it was just some sort of made up story. Me being the odd parent I am I went into the rights people have and how legal (or illegal) it is to shoot someone if they are attacking you. I told her about Texas' castle law too and she thought it was the coolest. Hey, we're a gun totin' household, we practice our rights in this home. As soon as we can talk her into it she'll be at the gun range with her own pink pea shooter. Priorities, we gots 'em.

None of this was what really surprised me about her choice in songs. Well not so much surprised as entertained. We were on the way to school one morning (ya know, the 3 minute drive) and she requests her song. Then she asks why everybody in country music sings about shotguns. So I explain to her that when you live out in the country you often have to shoot wild things you don't want about like snakes and skunks and then the occasional shotgun wedding but I told her that I'd explain those later. The ride to school is too short to explain shot gun weddings when I have yet to explain sex or where exactly babies come from. We've gotten away with vague descriptions so far but we'll get to that conversation. Eventually.

Her answer to my response to why country people all own shotguns was soooo funny. She though they were country fashion accessories. Shit you not, my kid thought shot guns were fashion accessories. How cool is that? Not totally misguided mind you, I've seen some seriously beautiful shot gun stocks but damn, a fashion accessory. I think that getting her on the gun range will be simpler with this as a basis for it don't you?

Still here, all by my lonesomes

I'm also still breathing. Kind of. Labored but still alive.
This week, in the Great State of Texas (I know, sarcasm is hard to pull off on the 'nets, it's there though), is spring break. Yes, I know, the rest of the US knows that spring break should occur during Easter week but Texas, in it's infinite wisdom, thinks it should be the second week of March. Freaking retards that they are. Some states still have snow for crying out loud. Texas? We're celebrating spring here. Now mind you, it is in the 70's but that's just luck. We have had ice still in March, just not this year.

Lucky us, the mother in law volunteered to fly the hubby and the child out to San Diego for this event. Which leaves me here to tend the whiney ass dogs. I keep telling them they should be happy that I feed them and let them out and that I don't love them. Their loving owners left them with me and they need to suck it up. They, being of indeterminate (i.e. very little) intelligence, just have yet to catch on. Dumb asses. The hubby was nice enough to leave me with his absolutely violent cold and I have yet to sustain a full day at work this week. Tomorrow I'm going to try for it. I have gone in every morning though. And by noon been on the brink of death. I try! There are things that just need to be done so I go in and do them. If I'm really lucky I've diseased a few co-workers in the process. If they are really lucky then I haven't. It's a really sucky cold, I got the shakes at one point and it freaked me out. Don't you hate that? I'd have thought it was the flu but I never got a temperature. Plus I did get all the flu shots, not that is any sort of guarantee or anything right?

So last Tuesday the hubby and kid left on a plane, both recovering from this cold that I was yet to hit the peak of. Today I got a call from the hubby that he missed me. Only took 2 days and some kinky dream he had last night. He had gone out drinking. And this is what it takes for the husband to miss the wife...at least the dream was about me right? In the mean time I am bored senseless at home. Bored enough to actually turn on the desktop and catch up on other blogs. I think the last time I was on was 2 weeks ago. Maybe three. When was that last blog post of mine? 2009?

For the sake of being honest, I'm still going to the gym except for this week. Because ya know, when you can't breathe and you've got muscle tremors getting on a machine at the gym is just not a wise decision. I may not even be breathing well enough until next week. Gawd I hate being sick, good thing the family is gone because I am super bitchy when sick. Just ask the dogs....

The reality of getting old

Yes, yes, I know, it happens to everyone. It's just that I wasn't really paying attention. There's a first time for everything right? What, you say I consistently don't pay attention? Isn't that the reason why I ended up with a kid? Sure yeah but this is different. OK well meybe nosomush huh?

A few months ago I realized that not only was I feeling creaky, slothful, and a wee bit less flexible (that last one really shouldn't count, I've never been flexible and at best can only sit cross legged for a minute) but I was getting a little plump around the edges. After the brain explosion fiasco of 07 I was down to a whopping 120lbs. Which put me at slim in pictures size, i.e. stupid skinny. Mind you, I've been skinnier (haven't we all?) like as in 104 lbs at my towering 5'1". 104 was post high school and lets face it, no one gets back down to that size. That's like pre-depression of adulthood and child birth. Not gonna happen, never ever again. Which is fine, at that point my head looked too big on my body. But I popped on the scale one day in, oh, December? And I was fast approaching 150. Like at break neck speed. WTF?

That was like 25 lbs in one year. Time to bring that train to a screeching halt, no? First came the evaluations. I couldn't fit into any of my clothes. Good thing I wore scrubs to work every single day. Wait, no that was probably a bad thing. It made me notice the belly roll much later than I should have. MUCH later. So I took a look at my exercise. 1.5-3 miles a day of walking the dog. Should have helped. Nope. Eating? Hasn't changed in years, I've never been a big eater. Growing up in So Cal does that to a girl. Anorexia is our friend when in a bathing suit. Went to the doctor, told her about the fast weight gain. She didn't find much problem with the weight I was at (good thing I do though) but was alarmed at the rate and the lack of any lifestyle change. We did thyroid and lipid testing. All great. Still fat. Not happy.

So I sucked it up and joined a gym. I used to be a member of a gym. I hate exercise but when I did belong I kicked ass. Went in every single day. Back when I was young and durable. I was also working at that particular gym (biding time after college graduation, prior to moving back to San Diego) and had just broken up with my last boyfriend in Maryland. While we were still living together(awkward much?). I didn't want to be around him so I was either working or working out. It was the best shape I had ever been in as an adult. Too bad I dropped the habit once I left the state. I am not against gyms at all but I hate paying money every month to go to them. Some are sooo expensive! I've found some super cheap ones but, ew. Mine is middle of the road but I figure if I go 5-6 times a week it'll be worth it.

The end result I had is probably not a gym I would have gone to in my younger years. It's small, clean, very new, and only staffed like 4 hours a day. There's no pool (I wouldn't use it anyway) and they only just rented space next door to think about having classes. They have 3 Treadmills, 1 Tread Climber, 4 Elipticals and 2 recumbent bikes. There's a weight area and a boat load of Nautilus machines. At any given point in time there are maybe 4 people in the gym. Many times I've gone and been the only person there for all 2 hours of my work out. Not something you're going to see at most Gold's or Bally gyms. I've found that I prefer to be left in peace when I work out. I know lots of gyms have a 'womens' area where it is small and secluded. My gym is like that in it's entirety, I LOVE it. That's saying something mind you, I hate exercise.

So here's what I've been doing while I haven't been on the net, exercising. Seriously folks, to get a good workout in and have time to spent a wee bit of time with the family is almost a joke. There isn't enough time in the day. I've been doing the gym thing 5-6 times a week for 3 months now. 45-60 minutes of cardio and 25 minutes of weights each time. The results? I feel a lot better. When I'm not in pain. Weight loss? NONE. I'm sure I've lost fat and gained more muscle because I've lost an inch off the belly roll. Now if I was just looking at numbers though I'd be depressed. I've concluded that my body just likes to bulk up muscle and coddle the fat. It took at least a year to put on, figure it'll take at least a year to get off. It's ok, I'm still going to work out regardless. Hence the lack of blog postings. Sorry, once the days get more than 24 hours in them I might be able to pop on more. In the meantime, priorities ya know?

And for those of you that think I'm obviously eating too much (I can't tell you how many people go on an on about this no matter what I tell them I eat) I downloaded an iPhone app called Lose It. You tell it how much you want to lose (or maintain if you want) and it gives you a certain amount of calories you can eat per day based on your age, height, and weight. I log in all of the food I eat and all the exercise too. My calorie allotment, if I want to lose a pound a week, is 1367. Yes, that's right, I get a whole 1367 calories to consume per day. If I exercise that allotment goes up accordingly. You know what I figured out? I ate about that much even without recording it. On a really super splurge day I'd maybe go up to 1500 or 1600 but never 2000. So you know what? I still don't know why in the world I gained 25 pounds in about 1 year. Age? Who knows, my doctor doesn't think so. All I know is that I am never going to get this close to 150 again. It may take me a year but this spare tire is on it's way out.

See ya on the flip side of 150!

Excitement!

OK truth be told I have none. Excitement that is. The most exciting thing going on is that I'm actually on the computer this evening. I had something specific I needed to do hence the visit. I've missed ya'll have you missed me? I didn't think so. That's ok though, I'm still not leaving. Ya want an update? I've been doing the same ol' same ol', the hubby is still in prison (as a corrections officer, still), the kid is kicking ass and taking names as usual. We had the mother in law out for a visit (that would be the hubby's mom who lives in San Diego) and I behaved. Seriously I totally did! Or at least the hubby didn't yell at me so I behaved well enough to avoid divorce and that's all that really counts right?

I'm still only visit the web by iPhone and it loads hella slow (I don't have a 3G and don't feel the need to run out and buy one either). So unless you are Twittering or friends with me on Facebook you probably think I've dropped off the face of the earth. This is my life, it's pretty bland but I'm old enough to know that not all excitement is a good thing. I'm still reading an average of 300+ pages a day. Which is probably something I should seek medical treatment for since it's not like I'm reading the Iliad, more like romance trash. Judge me if you will but the bubble gum fort he brain works for me.

I have plans though! Yes I do. I am going to a concert next weekend. You notice as you get old (oh yeah, I'm old) you never go out to concerts anymore? As a teen and young adult I went all the time. Now the last pop/rock one I went to was sometime in the 90's and I went to see No Doubt. I was in college and I swear me and my boyfriend at the time were the oldest people there not including all the parental chaperones that is. And now I remember why I don't go to concerts anymore right?

Well now that I've become a country music fan I have wanted to go to a concert. First it was Billy Currington who came to town. Kid you not, I didn't go because I couldn't find anyone who listened to country and was free. In Texas. OK obviously that is just beyond weird but regardless, I didn't go and to this day am bitter that the one and only girlfriend I have that listens to country didn't go with me. I heard on the radio that next week Chris Young was coming to the Cowboy's Dance Hall and I texted that same girlfriend. Told her that she was going with me and there was no bow out option. I also found a co-worker that is probably going (after I told her about it) so if all else fails I can always hang with her. Either way I'm not missing out on Chris Young. And after looking at his website I just realized he's a whopping 24 years old. Good lord he's a baby. And I'm sooo freaking old.....

Down to the bare minimum

I've been a bad blogger, have you noticed? Oh wait, you have given up on me because I never post anymore? That's ok, I totally understand. I'm barely on the web anymore at all, apparently if one wants to get anything done in life the computer makes you forget. I also (as you recall) killed my Dell laptop power cord so I can no longer flit across the web whilst sitting my fat keester on the couch. Yeah, that pretty much sealed the internets fate in my book. Eventually I'll get on ebay and get another but I'm not all that motivated. Depending on my mood different things motivate me. Apparently the wwweb is not it this month. Plus my iPhone keeps me up to date on anything terribly important. NOTE if you post it on Twitter (my id is MichelleSG fwiw) I pay attention. Facebook is too much of a pain to look at and comment on using the iPhone so I don't deal with that nearly as much.

I have been on occasionally though and let me tell you, I only seem to do the bare minimum. I only visit like 4 blogs and I check my bank account. But only because I am not rich and I have to. I hate money, it's so...elusive.

So there it is, no real excuses. I just suck as a blogger now.

Oh yeah, and I'm still doing that gym thing. 5-6 days a week minimum. Sometimes it even hurts. I haven't lost a pound but I've got guns now so it's ok. Fair trade right?

Where have you BEEN?

OK, name that movie. I know ya'll know it, *hint* BEEN is pronounced bean. It's the British accent.

I have been remiss in my blogging duties. Sorry. No, really I am. Swearsies. It's my laptop. It's a Dell and it's ancient. Like older than 5 years and I don't even know how much older than 5 years. In the world of computers I'm pretty sure that translates to something equivalent to B.C. right? The thing just keeps on trucking though and it's a friggin miracle. The problem? The damn power cord. I've talked to other Dell laptop owners and apparently I'm not the only one with this issue. It's sad though, I mean the laptop is fine other wise. It's like the laptop equivalent of a Honda or Toyota. SOLID. The cord? Ford. Ha, it even rhymes! Damn I'm good.

Nah, not really, just high off an hour at the gym. Ya know if I'm not slovenly sitting on the computer at night it turns out I'll go to the gym. Friggin NOVEL! I'm kinda hoping it'll payoff. Somehow. I'm not getting my hopes up though since I've well and good passed the 30 yr old mark and it seems my body really has a special bond to cellulite. Special bond. Like a Labrador and it's tennis ball. It's not pretty folks, not pretty at all so 3-5 days a week at the gym with light weights (yes, light I bulk up like you would not believe) and 45 minutes of cardio. Elliptical, no running. My knees can't take it.

*PLEASE NOTE* this gym thing is NOT a New Years resolution. This was the time at which all they gyms had the best sign on deals. Reality peeps, this was the point at which I was sure if I didn't do something drastic immediately I would pass up a point of no return. I saw a couple come in and work out this evening and I looked at the chick (who was at least 5 years younger than me if not more) and thought "Huh, that is the next step of chunky I was going to be at my previous rate of weight gain.". The thought sent chills up my spine. I had been on the elliptical for 40 minutes at this point, heart rate in the 150's so I wasn't exactly cold.

Texas has put 20 extra pounds on my ass and I'm hoping to take it all off. And no, I'm not expecting miracles or doing any crash freaky diets. Check back with me in 6 months. If I haven't lost it there may be talk of more drastic measures.