Less Irritated

I am somewhat less irritated today, which I suppose is a good thing. I'm still ticked off that some random guy stole Bruce's MP3 player. But whatever. He has already replaced it. Between it being on sale at Best Buy, and the Best Buy coupons he has earned buying all of these Garmins for the kids (and for ourselves) for Christmas, he got it for a really good price. That makes us less angry, I guess.

And the Body Flow class was less crowded today. It was full, but noone got all up in MY space, so I was extremely happy about that. I struggled more with it today though. Its funny how some days the exercise is just harder than others. It was the exact same routine we did Thursday (maybe on Thursday I was fueled by my fury at that stupid woman who was all on top of me). But my leg muscles were on fire today, and I was sweating bullets during the whole class. Diana (our favorite instructor) told us to be grateful for the pain. It means we are getting stronger. And so I got through it, tried to be grateful, and hoped that I was gaining something from it. At least I didn't die, even though I swear I felt like I might fall out at any moment there for a while. And I didn't slack off, even though my muscles were screaming. I wanted to, I thought about it, but I figured that since I had gotten up early on a Saturday morning to do this, I might as well do it right.

And then I came home to start the work on the fence (again). Bruce was already getting everything ready. We reset the posts so they were not only more secure, but we raised it a couple of inches. We added the full-height gate instead of the pretty, ornate one with the lower curved front. And that took us almost all afternoon. After that was done, we came inside and watched out the study window.

It took Chaucer less than 3 minutes to jump over it. Yeah, thats right. He barely cleared it, but he got in. Poe is too short and fat, and I don't think he can manage it. Ok, so at one of the ag-supply stores, the sales guy had told Bruce that goats CAN be trained and sometimes they respond to loud noises. Bruce got out his stash of firecrackers, and set off a round of those. So far, that seems to have done the trick. Chaucer hasn't attempted jumping over again....yet. We are keeping watch, and the firecrackers are sitting right beside the door just in case we spot him getting ready to jump. If this fails, we have 1 more option. Just 1, and then its bye-bye goaties.
And that is the electric fence. I hate to do that, but I might have to.....I am already horrified by having to scare them with firecrackers. I just went out and fed them corn chips to apologize. Goats LOVE corn chips. They will jump up and practically knock you down if you walk outside with the corn chip bag. They don't even mind that its the healthy baked kind. Ok, I gotta go check out the goat situation. I wish they were snuggled up and sleeping peacefully in their little shed, but I have a feeling they are out there stalking around and casing the fence again. I just don't see what the attraction is about this little courtyard area. They have a nice shed full of hay, and a whole yard to romp and play in. But they only want to hang out right here by our back door. Stubborn goats!

Notes

-To the woman in the green buick on Arlington Blvd. this afternoon:

I understand what it feels like to NOT know where you are going. Believe me, I am extremely directionally challenged. But Bitch, Please! Go and buy yourself a Garmin because seriously, that creeping along, braking at every single cross street, weaving into the turning lane only to dart right back out into a lane of moving traffic....You are going to KILL somebody. Unless somebody (like me) kills you first. It took every ounce of self-restraint that I had not to run you down and beat you like a red-headed step monkey.

-To the creep who stole my husband's MP3 player:

I hope Karma serves you well. It was out of his sight for less than a minute. Hopefully you won't have the charging device and it will die before you have a chance to enjoy your stolen bounty. Also? I hope you hate every single song that was uploaded onto it.

-To the new supervisor at my office:

I know I try NOT to discuss work on a public forum like this, but seriously.....making us all wait for you to scan that crap ON A FRIDAY, after we ALL watched you play stupid video games on the computer all morning. Not cool. I need to tell you that you look like Uncle Fester from the "Addams Family", and I want nothing more than to shove a light bulb in your mouth. Also? I hope you lost every single game that you played today. I have a feeling that you aren't going to be around for too long.

-To my little goat buddies:

You are adorable. Seriously. I love you to pieces. But if you manage to jump over the new gate that we are going to spend our whole weekend working on, I have a feeling that you are going to find yourselves in the back of that truck heading for a new home. Or worse....Bruce might just fire up the grill and have some people over for a cookout. Goat burgers anyone?

-To the woman who got on my nerves in Body Flow class last night:

Bitch please!!! Hannia and I got there in time to get a decent spot. We did NOT appreciate your wedging your yoga mat right there in our faces, leaving us with barely enough room to get through the routine. Also? I HATE having strangers touch me. If you are touching other people during floor exercises that means that you are too damned close. MOVE! And....if you stomp all over me again because you are too rude to stay for the meditation at the end, I swear, I am going to grab your foot and trip you. And I am going to laugh about it, too.

And now, I've vented and I feel better. Hopefully this weekend is going to be more peaceful than this week was.

Snow Day

My Goats...? Not loving the snow so much. In fact, they positively hated it. In the heaviest part of the snow, they actually left their coveted spot on my porch stoop (by the tasty door), and went willing into their hay-filled shed. The shed they never deem worthy of their presence except for feeding time.

But anyway, I wish I had some cool snowman pictures to post. But this snow was so dry and powdery that it wouldn't stick together enough for a decent snowball. Much less a whole snowman. I really wanted to build a lovely snow goat, but it just wasn't going to happen. We tried.

But even with the snowman/goat failure it was a good day. I was off work, and I got to play in the snow, watch my goats hate it, and I had the opportunity to watch the Inauguration. Michelle Obama was wearing a beautiful dress, wasn't she? I thought the speech was inspirational. The whole thing was pretty emotionally charged. I was grateful to be able to watch it. But the fun is over and tomorrow I have to head back to work. I can't tell you how much I dread it. Mainly because its going to be so cold tonight that all of this slush on the roads is bound to freeze and make driving really sketchy. I am SO not into snow/ice driving. But I have no choice, so I am going to take it really slow and pray for mercy. Wish me luck. By Thursday, the temps are going to be up in the 50's, so this white stuff won't stick around for long.

On another note, we joined Netflix today. We have been members of the Blockbuster mail-in thing for a long time. But my husband is excited about this instant play feature with Netflix. In fact, he has already hooked up a computer to the television and has spent the better part of this afternoon watching stuff from that. I foresee him never wanting to leave the house again. Or worse....playing his video games on the tv. He can even pull up my blog and read it on the big screen without ever having to leave the couch. Yikes!!! Its a good thing I rarely watch anything on television, because my access to it is going to be severely limited. The only thing I WILL NOT miss are the new episodes of House, MD. Gotta get my "House" fix or I go into withdrawal!

Snow Storm

The forecast is calling for a "snow storm" here tonight and throughout most of tomorrow. Storm here meaning 4-8 inches. I'm sure that is probably insignificant in some parts of the country. But even a dusting here causes widespread panic. Folks are probably already crowding into the grocery stores for milk and bread. After the first couple of snowflakes fall, people won't remember how to drive. Its insane, but its always like that on the rare occasions when we have a bit of snow.
I actually like a little snow every once in a while. I probably won't love it so much when I have to go back to work on Wednesday. The roads will still be ugly, most likely, due to the fact that snow is so rare that this county doesn't have enough equipment or personnel to clear anything except for the most major roads. But until then I am just going to sit back and see what happens. Honestly, we usually get bypassed by the snow accumulation most of the time. It won't surprise me at all if we wake up tomorrow morning to nothing but a cold damp day. Oh well, we shall see. If by chance we do get a decent snowfall, we will be out there building snowmen all day long. And there will be pictures, so.....stay tuned.

Winning the battle

I have given up on the fence/goat situation for the moment. I don't even bother to close the gate because I am afraid my goats are going to hurt themselves jumping over it. They are so determined to sleep on that porch stoop no matter what we do. So....we let them. For now. Its so cold that I really feel sorry for them anyway. We have been using some old blankets to cover them up like babies. If they had better manners, I might be tempted to let them sleep inside. But they don't and I can't even imagine the chaos and destruction that would undoubtably happen if they came in. I think they have won this battle. But they have NOT won the war. We will eventually figure out a solution that will keep them in their place. I hope.......

We just heard that ALL of the Circuit City stores are closing. Apparently their website has closed down already. Bruce ran out there today just to see whats going on. At the moment, they are just offering a 10 percent discount, but he said that the place was a madhouse anyway. Most of the laptops have been bought up. By the time they start to offer deeper discounts most of the good merchandise will be long gone. Oh well, I honestly can't think of a single thing, electronic-wise that I really need or want right now. Its sad the number of stores that are in trouble. The whole financial situation is depressing. I heard that Old Navy, Gap, and even Macy's are having problems. Where in the world will I be able to shop if all of these places go under? What about Target? Does anybody know anything about them? Because if Target closes I have NO idea what I will do. I try to avoid our Walmart like the plague. I hope things turn around soon.

Newbies

Our gym is chocked full of "newbies" and its making me unhappy. Last night, we showed up for our regular Body Pump class that we have been going to since August, and we COULD NOT get in!!! You have to get an entrance ticket at the front desk because space/equipment is limited, and ALL of the tickets were gone. I was so disappointed. Of course, let me point out that I had been telling hubby all day that we needed to get there early because of the newbies that have invaded our gym as of the first of the year. Damn those New Years resolutions!!! Hubby got distracted and didn't get himself ready to leave until our regular time and by then it was too late. I walked upstairs to stare into the window of the studio....just to see all those new people taking MY space...haha! I know....they paid their fees, and have the right to be there, too.
I ought to be supportive and understanding. But I am feeling resentful instead. I need to be a better person, I guess.

My daughter tells me that its the same every January. And by March, the fitness-craze begins to die off a little. Maybe some people just get tired of it, or maybe its the nice weather and people do more things outside...? I don't know. I hope her predictions are correct though. This hassle of having to worry about a parking space, a spot in the class or whether or not there will even be any of the elliptical machines available is so not cool. If its still this bad when our membership comes due again in July, we might have to rethink things and try out another place.
I hope not, because the beauty of this gym is the location. Its close enough to home that I would feel guilty if I didn't go.

In the meantime, I guess I will just have to show up earlier than usual for classes, schedule cardio/elliptical times in off hours (between 5 and 7 pm is the absolute busiest time of the day), and just bite the bullet and see what happens. I want to make the yoga class at 6:30 tonight.
On Saturday that class was so full I had to turn sideways at an angle just to have enough space to do my thing. Of course, the new routine we started that day was so much harder than usual that maybe it scared a few people off....HA. One can only hope. And for the record, even though we didn't get into the class last night, we did stay and do some cardio on the bikes just to get some kind of exercise in. I think cardio is pretty boring, and I really prefer the social aspects of the classes, but it was better than nothing I guess.

The new fence

The new fence.....completely useless. We could have just flushed that cash down the toilet for all the good it has done. Well, no, I take that back. I still kind of like having it there so I don't have to go chase down Scotty (the blind/deaf dog) early in the morning, or in the rain. So at least there's that. But as for keeping the goats out of the courtyard.....not happening. Chaucer figured out how to jump over it sometime early this morning. By this evening Poe was leaping over it as well. I have no idea how to solve this one. I am at a complete loss.......

I spent some time this afternoon outside playing with the goats. They are cute and playful (when they aren't doing some evil fencing jumping/door chewing deeds). I do love them. Poe can rare up on his hind legs and walk quite a ways like that. Its hilarious to watch. I really hope we can figure out some way to coexist. They are mine, and I don't want to give them up. Maybe I can just keep feeding them a whole lot, and they will get too fat to jump....?

On other note, I am dealing with some really inconvenient carpal tunnel syndrome thingie. My hand keeps getting that pins and needles feeling. I bought a wrist brace, and that helps. It really helps a lot at night. The pain in my wrist and the tingling in my hand has been keeping me from getting much sleep lately. Its been going on for at least a month or more. I've been researching it on the internet, just hoping to figure out some way to avoid going to the doc. I really don't want to take time off work again right now. And I really really really do NOT even want to consider surgery. So, keep your finger's crossed for me. I am using the brace, taking ibuprofen to reduce swelling, and being really diligent with a whole arsenal of hand/wrist exercises that are supposed to help.Apparently that is the first course of action that the doc would prescribe.

Ok, I'm frustrated, tired and a little bit stabby. But seriously, no matter how annoyed I am, I still know I am a lucky woman. It will all work out......right?