I spent the entire afternoon and evening at Harriet Island. We picnicked, played badminton (I beat the boys, because I am quite the jock you know), ate a lot of junk food, and watched the fireworks. I am lucky to have such a cool bunch of friends.

In today's most frightening moment... sheesh! Being Nancy Drew, girl detective, like I am - check out his name. There's your first clue.

Good news - NOT - for people on the east coast. It's going to be an active hurricane season.

Someone needs to tell me again why I care that Paris Hilton is engaged?

This is today's "there's justice in the world" story. Try to hack into the school's admission files to see if you got in? Well, guess what - you DON'T get in. Ha!

I don't understand how the vatican can change the rules about when they can start the beatification process (to put JP2 on the road to sainthood) - but yet it WON'T change the 'rules' about women, gay rights, abortion, etc. etc. etc. Seems pretty arbitrary, if you ask me.

Let's see... what else is happening today? Oh yes:

I'm buying a house!

I drove by the place yesterday, and the guy was moving out.. I saw his moving truck. Even as I type/think about this, I'm one big pile of emotions - happy/sad/nervous/scared/ecstatic. In my journal (the one you don't get to read... not until after I'm dead, anyway!) this morning, I wrote "today, my life changes forever". After I wrote that, I realized that technically that's every day. Life goes on and on, and it's never the same. What I did, who I knew... so much has changed in one year. It was tough getting here - but totally worth it. Well... here I go. (say it with me: eeeeeeeeek!). I'll talk to you later. Ciao!

The party was fun, and I rolled back into the house at 3:00. I'm too old for this, I think. Heh.

I packed over half my clothes yesterday afternoon.. and that's when it hit me again: I have a house. And then I went into full-blown panic meltdown and called Dame! and cried "WHY did I ever think I could do this? I won't know how to fix anything!" Sweetheart that he is, he got me all calmed down again, and I know that I can do it. Over the past two days I've also gotten the phone and electricity set up. I have to call about the rest of the utilities on Tuesday. Internet connection. Very important.

And now I'm off to do - something. I don't know exactly what yet. But I'll be sure to tell you all about it. (hey - it's your own fault. you keep coming back!!) Ciao, Bellas. Have a beautiful day.

Welcome to the fabulous four day weekend (for me, anyway. and it's all about me, dontcha know...). It was a most interesting day yesterday. I tipped over - twice. Literally. I passed out in the shower and woke myself up when I conked my head against the tub wall. I figured that was weird, and that I should probably go get it checked out. (yeah - ya THINK?). Anemic, with a touch of hypoglycemic thrown in for good measure. Back on the vitamins, iron, and I have to eat real, actual food instead of just crap all the day. The second tip-over was when I got home from work, and I didn't tip over all-the-way that time.. but I did knock my head so hard into the cabinet that I saw stars. What a mess. The important thing is to keep some food in me so that blood sugar doesn't dip too low. I should have known this. But I was finally getting to the point where I wasn't thinking about health stuff ALL the time (what's that lump? is that a lump? why does my head hurt? oh my gosh, that's a lump! etc. etc. etc.) and it was kinda nice to just relax about it.

No need to lecture me about it.. I got the lecture THREE times yesterday and yes, I will start taking better care of myself. I don't want to have to walk around wearing a bicycle helmet and looking like I have to take the short bus to work.

(Not the best image.. but see where I'm going with it?)

Today I have to do some cleaning and laundering, and (say it with me) packing. I'm going to barbecue and play games with friends tonight, assuming that the weather cooperates (and maybe even if it doesn't). Mostly I just want to not worry about closing. It's going to happen, and I'm going to have a house. Whooop!

Have a good day, kids. Ciao.

The first closing was easy. Signed a few papers, that was it. Wish I would have found out about that bank first. I've got 30 years to change things around, though. (eeek. 30 years. That's a long time to pay for something, isn't it??).

I have the cool new Tiger operating system on my computers now. All manner of little toys and stuff to play with! I am, truly, just geeky enough to be dangerous. It's gonna take a long time to figure out how all this stuff works, but what I know for sure is that I am now a huge widget freak.

And... I got nothin' else. Not right now. 4 day weekend coming up, lots to do, people to go, place to see - er - that's not right, but you know what I mean. I will talk to youse all later. Ciao, Bellas.

Yesterday, all this house hoo-ha ceased to be fun. It feels like everyone is just yankin' my chain, making me jump through too many hoops, and the deal is NEVER gonna be done. Long and short of it - in essence, I'm going through two closings.. the first of which is at 8:00 this morning. I don't know what else they can possibly make me do, and I probably shouldn't have said that, since now they WILL think of something else. Give a little blood, maybe? Or run a marathon to prove that I'm worthy of a house? Sheesh. Okay, maybe a tad melodramatic (I think I'm just a little crabby... damn those hormones!), and we're down to just five days. The goal is in sight.

And I succumbed to peer pressure ( ::waving at jenni and bertine:: ) and started really REALLY updating my Live Journal. It's cool.. I can click over to it during the day at work and leave all my stray random thoughts. I put a link over in my sidebar as well. You'll definitely want to bookmark it. (see how I am?)

The runaway bride is back on the news pages.. Now they've indicted her for lying to police and want to make her pay for the search. Remember how they were all on TV hoping that she was just a runanway bride and that she hadn't been kidnapped? Now they're all mad at her. It's just like when your kids come home late... You pray that they aren't dead in the road somewhere, because when they do get home safely you just wanna kill 'em yourself! She's offered to pay restitution.. just let her be. (plus, I'm tired of looking at that scary picture)

Aww, I'm kind of sad that the rocker boy didn't win American Idol. Nope, didn't watch, didn't TiVo. I went to chicks with sticks instead. (no, it wasn't as much fun as my SnB group... you guys are the best).

Not that I care about this anymore, but the Vikings deal is done.

And I'm NOT sorry that I stopped watching Lost. GAH! I'm frustrated even while reading the synopsis. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? This is why I can't read mysteries. I want to know how things END! (sorry, CuzGirl. I'm just that way).

Why, Burt... you little b*tch! (is it just me, or does he look more and more like a claymation puppet everytime you see him?)

Sometimes, there are just no words.

Oh for the love of God. Time for a little sabbatical there, teacher. They're fourth graders, for cripes sake.

Okay, kids. Off to closing (well, in a little while). Have an adequate day. Ciao.

I woke up and though "Ahh. Thank God it's Friday." Then I realized - just Wednesday. Shoot. It's been a long couple of days, I guess. We went to a new (for me, anyway) Italian place for a little post-car-fixed dinner. Not too expensive, and way good food. And then I worked on the balcony. It's a little weird to be de-constructing it rather than planting. I hauled 4 fifty pound bags of dirt down to the dumpster. Holy heavy, Batman. On the trip back upstairs, I smacked the cart directly into my ankle bone. Yeah. That felt good.

I started my LiveJournal up again (because I don't have quite enough places to write - HA!). I will try to be more consistent about writing there.. but for now, you have to go look at the Italian ways entry. If you know me at all, you will laugh and laugh (and point and mock, too, but don't do that. It isn't nice). And if you don't know me at all, well, you will after you read that. (and if you don't know me at all, how did you come to find me on the internet, anyway????)

Okay, okay, okay... MAYBE I will have to TiVo the last American Idol. Maybe. Just for reporting purposes.

Awwwww. Aren't they sweet? (I'm only sort-of-gagging. Who does she remind me of, though? I can't quite come up with the name...)

What. the. hell. is. with. that. HAIR?

Sheesh, Gramma. You might want to just calm down a little. Take the nice medicine.

Holy God. If I ever get like this just take me out, would ya?

My favorite new breakfast-y type food (as breakfast-y as I get on weekdays, anyway): Luna Bars. While they look all healthy and everything, they're probably terrible in some way. But I really like 'em. Especially the chai tea flavor. So there. Now you know every single thing that's in my pointy little head this morning. Off I go! Have a good day. Ciao, Bellas.

Good Morning...

Quick trip through the news... And first of all, if this happens, I'm never getting on a Northwest plane again.

I read the quick low-down, and now I'm all caught up on Desperate Housewives again. Will I watch it in the fall? Eh.

When I first read that Ken Jennings was getting a game show, I thought of "Win Ben Stein's Money" (which I loved). But they say this one won't be like that.

What a great idea - gyms at airports. A great idea for other people, not me. No working out. I might sweat or something!

Lots of little stresses in the day yesterday, and when I woke up this morning, it felt like my stomach was in knots. Like I said - I'll believe this whole house thing is REALLY real when they hand me the keys. I'm lucky to have some good folks watching my back on this one.

So - Let's get this day started, I guess. Here's hoping for some calm. Ciao, Bellas. TiAmo.

The day was just crazy busy... and I'll have one more like that tomorrow. And just so you know - just when you think the closing stuff is all over - well - PSYCH! - it really isn't. Honest to God... I'm not going to believe any of this is happening until they physically hand the keys over to me. Sheesh. One week from tomorrow. Please God - just get me to and through that day.

Eh.. that's all I've got for now. I'll read the news to ya tomorrow morning, I guess. Sleep well, Kids. Buona Sera.

I have to be up and out of the house by 6:30 tomorrow morning (the joys of dealing with a broken car - not mine, his.) so I'll post tonight. When I write in the mornings, I tend to dawdle a bit.

It was a GREAT weekend. Did the yarn store tours on Saturday.. We had a blast, I now I have several new places to add to the list of fun stores to shop. I did really well until the last stop, where I found some soft, fuzzy yarn (can't remember the name, and I'm too lazy to get up and look) that I couldn't resist. I re-purpled my hair that night, because I was too tired to get up and leave the house again.

Today the SUN finally came out - well, in and out, really. It was a perfect day to play outside. So we headed over for some deli food and sat on the lawn at St. Kate's for the afternoon. My nose is incredibly sunburned.

Back to workday life, now. I have a busy week.. there's something on the calendar almost every night, I think. And (as of tomorrow) just one week and 1 day until I'm a homeowner. In case you didn't know. Heh. Have a great day, bellas. Ciao.

You know how I can never resist a good meme once in a while. Here's one from fantastic Jenni.

1. First name? Michele
2. Were you named after anyone? My dad.
3. Do you wish on stars? You betcha.
4. When did you last cry? Monday at knitting (yeah, whenever we talk about Smellen's baby-to-be, I tear up a little!)
5. Do you like your handwriting? yes, but only I can read it.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? honeybaked ham.
7. What is your birth date? 11/29. No, I'm not telling you the year.
8. What is your most embarrassing CD? No CDs.. but I have a vast Partridge Family collection on iTunes.
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with yourself? I think so. I'm pretty funny and easy to get along with.
10. Do you have a journal? Yes, since I was 8 (and I still have all of them).
11. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Who, ME?? Never. Oh, maybe so.
12. What are your nicknames? chele, chelebel, that b*tch facilities girl..
13. Would you bungee jump? Nope. Not a chance.
14. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No.
15. Do you think that you are strong? 5 years ago I would have said no.. but now I realize how strong in spirit I am. Although I'm not strong enough to push anyone down.
16. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? That blueberry cheesecake one at Nina's. There's gotta be crack in it - it's WAY addicting.
17. Shoe Size? Um.. 4... (freakishly tiny feet).
18. Red or pink? Pink. Did you doubt that for even one moment?
19. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I'm a little stubborn sometimes..
20. Who do you miss most? My dad.
21. Do you want other people to fill this out? Sure.
22. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Grey shorts, no shoes.
23. What are you listening to right now? Tom's Diner - Suzanne Vega.
24. Last thing you ate? Wheat toast.
25. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink. Again - did you think otherwise?
26. What is the weather like right now? Grey and misty. Because evidently the weather here has been replaced by Portland's weather without my knowledge.
27. Last person you talked to on the phone? My boy.
28. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Sense of humor.
29. Do you like the person who you got this from? Yes, even though I've never met her in real life!
30. Favorite Drink? COFFEE!
31. Favorite Sport? Hockey.
32. Hair Color? Purplish reddish brownish. A color not found in nature.
33. Eye Color? Brown.
34. Do you wear contacts? No, but I have fabulous cat-eye glasses with rhinestones!
35. Favorite Food? Gnocchi.
36. What was the last movie you watched? We watched "Bruce Almighty" last night.
37. Favorite Day Of The Year? The day after Christmas.
38. Scary movies Or Happy Endings? Happy endings.
40. Hugs OR Kisses? BOTH!
41. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Creme brulee
42. Who's most likely to put this in their LJ? The only people I know who have LJ probably already have it on theirs.
44. Living Arrangements? In just one week and three days I WILL OWN MY OWN HOUSE! I will let the kitties come with me, and the occasional guest. :-)
45. What book are you reading? For the first time in forever, none. All my books are packed, so I'm knitting a lot.
46. What's on your Mouse Pad? Nothing - it's just plain blue.
47. What Did You Watch Last night on TV? We watched a DVD.
48. Favorite Smell? Laundromat by Demeter.
49. Favorite Sounds? My friends' voices on the phone.
50. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Beatles.
51. What's the farthest you've been from home? Honolulu.

All right - now I'm REALLY going to start the day. Tell me about yours...

Good Lord, the sun is just NEVER gonna come out again, is it? Is it possible to get seasonal affective disorder in the Spring???

Busy day coming up. The knitty girls are going on to yarn stores! (now, this sounds geeky to the rest of you.. but we're quite excited about it.) I'm remembering that whatever yarn I BUY I will have to PACK.. so I will shop accordingly. Just a few skeins couldn't possibly hurt.

I just don't know what to think about this pictures of Saddam thing. One on hand, he was an evil, murdering psycho who killed hundreds of people. On the other hand... well.. now that I say that, he pretty much gets what he deserves. I'm thinking that if he had caught one of our leaders, he'd be dragging him through the streets. So yeah, I guess a picture of him in his underwear isn't that big a deal...

Holy cow. $50 Million in ticket sales in a single day. That's getting some major geek on.

Ewwww. Just ewww. Stop talking about this now.

Along with everyone else, I love Raymond. He's not jumping back into a TV series. Just leave a legacy alone.

Sometimes, it's just too easy to go for the laugh. So notice how I'm just leaving this one alone. It's killin' me, but I'm leaving it alone.

And with that, I'm gonna go. Have a most excellent day, kids. Ciao.

Whoo hoo! And we're back around to Friday again. We had Jucy Lucy's last night (because sometimes you just NEED a burger). And then all the tupperware got packed. Seriously... Pretty soon I'm going to be done - for now, anyway. This is teaching me how much less stuff I can live with in everyday life, though. But it will be nice to not be surrounded by boxes.

Onterrio is out for the year. Or maybe forever.. how do you come back after that? What an idiot. This football season, I'm all about the Lions! (No, I don't know why I picked them. Just anyone else except the Vikings..)

I was going to watch ER, because John Carter is leaving..but then, eh, not-so-much. I caught a couple of glimpses, and realized that they weren't going to kill him (what a surprise!). It just isn't the same show anymore.

Why must I know this? And because I have to, now so do you. Ha!

Can it be? Reality TV is coming to an end? We can only hope...

It looks like a whole lot of people got their geek on on Wednesday night/Thursday morning for Star Wars.

And now, for equal time's sake, here's the kitty that sits on the chair next to me and whines until I give her a saucer of milk:


(Yes, it's a tiny little picture. She's a tiny little kitty)

Happy Friday to ya! Have a most excellent day. Ciao.

I spent a majority of the evening in the scary, scary front closet. To quote Frank Barone: Holy Crap. I hauled out two garbage bags full of stuff to the trash, and the garage sale pile is getting bigger. You know, maybe I won't be so short of closet space after all... I mean, now that I've thrown away all the stuff I don't use, those closets really aren't as filled-up any more.

I can't believe it, but my condo insurance is LESS than my renter insurance was. I made the agent go back and check it like 4 different times. A big part of it, I guess, is the moving to a different neighborhood. He's guessing that my car insurance will go down as well. I'm with a different company right now - I'm going to fax all my info over and see what kind of rates I can get.

And to quote Frank Barone once again - holy crap! Someone was asleep at the switch there.

People everywhere were gettin' their geek on at Star Wars last night. Someone just tell me how it ends, okay? Thanks.

Awww... RIP to the Riddler.

Oh noooo! Buried in the middle of this story - they're cancelling Joan of Arcadia???? Shoot. And while I will admit that the second season wasn't as good as the first, it was still a pretty good show. And now I'll never know how it ends...

I finally watched the Raymond finale last night. I'm glad they didn't get overly sentimently and mushy about it.

Here is the kitty that I have to type around every morning, as he takes up all the room between my lap and the desk. But honestly... how could you resist this face?


Ciao, Bellas. Have a good day.

Hey, good morning.

The days just fly by right now. I think it's due to the fact that I have a lot of good stuff going on, and I'm just in a better 'place', if you will, than I was 6 months ago. In less than two weeks, I will own my own house. I'm hardly even scared when I say that anymore! As long as there are good people around me, people who've got my back, I know I can do this. Whoop!

Oh my lord. These Star Wars fans have to just calm down a little... otherwise, they'll all be out there drinkin' the kool-aid someplace. People! There's a whole other LIFE out there! Go buy a house or something...

30 Days sounds like it's going to be interesting. When I saw Super Size Me I was horrified, but fascinated (and I can literally count on one hand the number of times I've had MacDonalds hamburgers since then..). This show is taking it to the next level. Definitely time for a season pass to this one..

Going to see the insurance man tonight to get the renter's policy turned into a homeowner's policy. From what I understand it should be about the same cost, since it's condo insurance and I'm still insuring the same STUFF, just in a different place. I'll bring the huge folder of stuff along with me - it'll tell him exactly what I need. I remember the first piece of paper that I put into the "My New House" folder a little over 2 months ago. Now the thing is the size of Wyoming, and weighs about as much. Thinking back to a year ago - never in a million years would I have guessed that I'd be doing this now. Life changes a lot. Usually for the better.

Have a good day. Ciao.

That day went by very quickly, didn't it? Now all my pots and pans are boxed up. My poor, sad pans. Someday, I'm going to have all good stuff, instead of the hodgepodge I have now.

Don't spoil the ending for me! I haven't watched it yet!

Best line in this story? "Give me the f--king cheetos". I'm going to use that one all day.

She's really young to be diagnosed. PSA: Self Exams! Mammograms! They'll save your life. /PSA.

Note to self: never have a Stitch & Bitch roadtrip to Colombia. We'll all end up in jail.

Now, give me the f--cking cheetos. Oh, sorry....

Gee, I always thought ginormous WAS a word. You mean it's not??

All right.. I've gotta get some stuff done here before work. I'm in a mood to start packing the rest of the coats into a big box, and it'll be a while before that mood strikes again. So off you go, and have a good day. Ciao, Bellas. Oh, I almost forgot! Here's a farmers market picture for you:


Mmmm... dahlias....

I got on a roll last night, and suddenly, there were 6 more boxes packed. I was fueled by caffeine and Mom-M's cookies, so I was flying around. But now it's Monday, it's early, I'm up and I don't really want the week to start yet.. but I have no say in the matter. So let's look at the news, shall we?

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I won't be seeing Star Wars this week (or probably anytime soon... I'll wait for the video). But I will admit it sounds pretty good.

This story proves that I don't even have to watch the show to be in-the-know. I followed the whole thing in the news and now I know who won. This is much easier and takes far less time! (No, Dame!, I'm not gonna watch it next year, either.)

I'm Gumby, dammit! (Please tell me you remember that bit from Saturday Night Live...)

Interesting article about Narcolepsy.

And in your stupid-guy story of the day.. It's okay to boast about not paying your taxes when you're on Howard Stern's show, because no one listens to that. Idiot.

I just glanced at the weather button. It's 37 degrees.   ::bursts into tears::

The farmer's market was great, if a little chilly, yesterday. Mom-M was on a mission, and got some beauty-full flowers. It was hard to not pick any up myself.. I'm used to starting my garden now, not two months from now. I'm going to miss being able to roll out of bed and walk down to the market. I'm not going to miss getting in the elevator with punk-a$$ kids who smell like geef, however. God, I'm glad I'm moving. This place is going downhill quickly.

I was going to try to put some farmer's market pictures up here...but stupid freakin' iPhoto is not cooperating. I love every single Mac program EXCEPT that one. There's gotta be a better way...I'll work on that later. And with that, I'm outta here. Have a good day! Ciao.

One of the guys showed up at Chicks with Sticks yesterday, with no needles, of course. We let him stay and observe. It was such a grey and icky day.. it really was a good day to just be inside with cocoa and knitting needles. Did two hours of that, stopped and picked up some corn and crab bisque and headed home to pack more. I ended up on the couch for most of the evening, however. I enjoy being a girl 99.9% of the time.. but that other .1% is just the worst. As long as I had someone calling to check on my well-being once in a while, though, I was just fine.   ::awwww::   He's so sweet...

This morning CuzGirl and I are taking Mom-M to the farmer's market. It's our annual trip! I'm not going to buy any outside plants, because I don't want to move them. But maybe a couple little basil plants for inside would be okay.

After that, I'm taking the rolltop desk apart! My living room is almost totally dismantled. The dishes are getting packed up this week - time to stock up on paper plates.. I just want this to be done. It's going to be here before I know it. Yesterday as I was driving to knitting I passed what will soon be my new exit on the freeway, and it hit me like a ton of bricks - This is where I will be living soon! And it's my house, it doesn't belong to the landlord! (well, it belongs to the bank, mostly, but eventually it will belong to me..) There are days when I can't believe this is all happening.

So I will read the paper and get going. I will talk to you later, I'm sure. Ciao, Bellas. TiAmo.

I am quite the card squid. Er.. card shark. First Blackjack in Vegas, then Poker last night. I won $12.25. Soon I'll be at Canterbury Park, playing the ponies and rolling with the high rollers. Or not-so-much.

It's the monthly Chicks with Sticks group today (as opposed to the weekly Stitch 'n Bitch - does knitting take up a little too much of my life?). Two wise-guys (literally - guys) have signed up to join us. They best be showing up with knitting needles, or I'm tossing them outta the group!

Then there's a karaoke party that I could go to.. but I'm thinking I should stay home and get some packing done. I had a dream last night that I packed up all my clothes and only had my Hello-Kitty sweatpants and my eighth grade softball jersey left to wear. So I take back the knitting thing. Packing takes up entirely too much of my life.

Okay.. gotta go, kidlets. Take it easy. Ciao.

Happy Friday the 13th. You're not superstitious about that or anything, are you? Here is a little more information about why people think this is bad luck day. Pretty interesting.. and yes, in the building where I live there is no 13th floor.

I'll probably go see the next Star Wars movie at some point. But I don't believe I'll be paying $500 dollars to do so. Nope. I can think of better ways to spend $500. Like this. Or this. Or maybe even this...

I don't understand how they can just break the rules like that. I'm going to make Issy a saint, I decided. St. Issy. Patron saint of fur.

I will miss Everybody Loves Raymond. So thankfully I can still catch the jillions of reruns on TBS.

And is it totally wrong that I want to see this?

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Please. No.

Oh, my word... Look at the tiny baby. Except for Smellen. Smellen, don't look. Well, you probably will anyway.. but don't say I didn't warn you.

What is a lava tube? Well, this is.

Note to self: when I go to closing at the end of this month, don't do this.

It's freakin' FREEZING in here again, and this time I refuse to turn the heat on. It's May 13th, dammit! I'll walk around with sweatpants and 3 sweatshirts on if I want to. It's 41 degrees and raining.. someone needs to explain to me once again why I actually bought a house HERE instead of Santa Barbara. Oh, probably because I can actually afford one here. Yeah, that's right. I remember now...

I'm going to a poker party tonight. I should probably just walk in, hand him all my money and get it over with, but I'm going to try to actually learn some new games. Eh - what's $10 lost between friends?! So that is what I know. Have a most excellent day, kids. Ciao.

Q: What in the world is better than a nice filet with two of my favorite people in the world?
A: Not hardly anything.

Yesterday was the whirlwind day. Went from the BOMA meeting to the airport to pick up a co-worker to work for a conference call to another meeting to dinner. So the first time I got to just really unwind a little was at about 9:00. But then I did calm down a little... so by the time I got home I was actually relaxed enough to sleep. Today is going to be just as chaotic. It's all good, though.

And the very last piece of the puzzle falls into place.   ::falls over from not-surprise::

I didn't even know that Dennis Miller's talk show was still on the air. Well, not-so-much anymore.

Oh for the love of God. Issues! Issues all around here, people.

I love the Onion!

Time to get on with it. Someday I might do laundry. This might be the day. Ciao, Bellas. TiAmo.

Most days, I don't even need the alarm. I wake up at 4:30. It almost reminds me of the airline days.. those great days when I don't actually ever remember SLEEPING. I know I must have at some point, but between all the working and teaching and school... I don't know when I did. Even now, sometimes I think I get up early and stay up late because I'm afraid I'll miss something when I'm sleeping! Like the little sign at the coffee shop says.."Coffee! You can sleep when you're dead!"

In the news today:
What the hell is wrong with people? Death. Penalty. Now.

The Rolling Stones are touring again.


Well - how's THAT for a scary picture to start your morning?? (Sorry...)

Some bad news for Delta Airlines, and United as well. Maybe I'm not missing the airline days quite so much...

The more I read about this guy, the more I think he's just a mean little toad. If you can't start up your own music career without all this hoo-ha, maybe it's time to consider a different path..

This is excellent. This would have made a huge difference in my dad's life toward the end. Well, maybe not the Busta Rhymes stuff.. but he enjoyed his TV shows so much, and when he lost his sight, TV just became a frustration for him.

Hi Mom. You're crazy. Suddenly, my family life seems surprisingly normal!

I have to go to a meeting at the Mall this morning. I figure if it's boring, I can sneak away and do some shopping.. heh heh heh.

And so that, mi amici, is what I know today. I will talk at you later. Ciao.

And what do you know this fine day? I know that I MUST go buy kitty litter tonight, and that it has to be a little bit about vaccuuming in here sometime soon. Also, I haven't packed anything in 2 days, and I'm starting to have withdrawl. I think the dishes are going to start to go away soon. Paper plates are okay for a while...

Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney got married... what an unlikely pair.

More pieces of the Chappelle puzzle falling into place.

Hold on, while I fall over from NOT surprise. Show of hands: is he guilty? Of course he is.

Whoops! Maybe not-so-much with the bump and run there, Tony.

Interesting - and not at all surprising. Dame! and I are a lot alike... But we always knew that.

Here's another interesting study. And I believe this one, too. Oooh, some of the girls I went to grade school with were SO mean. There are still times I'd like to look them up and do the "nyah nyah" thing at them. Of course, I'm not mean, so I wouldn't do that.   ::smiles angelically::

Whoo Hoo! Let's go to Esperantina, Brazil!

I've clicked through everything I need to click through, and it's only 5:30. I may just have time to do a tad more packing before I had to work. So off I go, and Happy Tuesday. Talk to you later. Ciao.

Fifty THOUSAND people turned out yesterday for Race for the Cure. It was incredible. Overwhelming. Empowering. I got my pink hat, shirt, and 3 ribbons for 3 years - my 'badges of honor'. It was one of the best things I've done in a long time. I was WAY tuckered out by the end of it. We did grab a quick Snuffy's burger while I was on my way home, but then I was done for the day. I slept really well last night.

I dreamed last night that I was on vacation with the family (no - my REAL family. the one of my origin. go figure), and while I thought our plane left at 4:30 in the afternoon and we should be packing, they told me it left at 7:30 in the morning. And then I went and sat on the hood of my car. What the hell does THAT mean? I've gotta get a dream dictionary...

I don't feel like cruising through the news this morning, so I will leave that to you. Or go look at the meme from Saturday, and tell me your answers. I'm going knitting tonight, and then out to grab a quick dinner. And so the week begins. Have a good one, kids. Ciao.

I was just going to stay home last night... get some packing done, watch a little TV. So tell me how, exactly, did I come to be out playing darts until 11? And then on the phone until 1??? (well, the last part was nice, truth be told..). The only good thing about this - When I took that first sip of coffee this morning, I literally felt the caffeine SHOOT thru my body. Whoop! See that list below: I love my friends and my boy, but coffee remains first on the list of everyday essentials.

I'm up this early because this is the day we Race for the Cure (well, we're walking for the cure... but it all counts).

Oh what a tangled web we weave... Holy cow. Why not just rob a bank and run to Mexico?

This makes me want to go rent The Graduate. I haven't seen it in a few years.

I didn't get home early enough to catch Paula Abdul on SNL.. Was it good? Lame?

You know... If the Virgin Mary was going to come back, would it really be as an image on an underpass? Seriously? I can't even see the image. Well, maybe.. but it's a stretch.

And with that, I'm outta here. Happy Mother's Day, if you're into that sort of thing. Ciao.

And I really DID get out of there at 3:00. Well, 3:15, but close enough. And we went to one of my most favorite places in the world for a little dinner. Molto bene!

It's Saturday, so I thought I'd throw another pointless meme your way (via the wonderful Jenni, among others):


THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Michele
2. Chele
3. Bella

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. chelebel
2. dlgrrrl
3. issysmom

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. eyes
2. hair (I like the purple now. What can I say?)
3. freakishly tiny feet

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. tummy
2. hips
3. thighs

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Sicilian
2. Nothing else of note, really
3. Okay. That one tiny swedish part. Barely worth noting.

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. dying alone
2. bats
3. horror/slasher movies

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. coffee
2. friends
3. my boy

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Princess shirt
2. black shorts
3. my tattoos

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
1. (according to my iTunes play counts:) Indigo Girls
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Liz Phair

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS:
1. (again, according to iTunes:) "Closer to Fine" Indigo Girls
2. "California" Joni Mitchell
3. "Diamonds and Rust" Joan Baez

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Love
2. Laughter
3. Honesty

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
1. I've ridden a Harley
2. I was married at 17, divorced at 20
3. I want to be a great painter

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE PREFERRED SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU
1. eyes
2. shoulders
3. hands

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. knitting
2. gardening
3. reading

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Snuggle up with my boy
2. Move into my new place
3. Go to Day by Day and have french toast

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING/YOU'VE CONSIDERED:
1. Teaching
2. Law
3. Retail (thank God I got over that one)

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Santa Barbara (always first on the list!)
2. Any place tropical with a beach
3. Vegas, Baby!

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Go to Sicily
2. Be completely and totally debt-free
3. Know that my existence mattered

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:
1. Pink! Pink! Pink! Could I have MORE pink clothes??
2. My vast and awesome collection of shoes
3. My equally vast and awesome collection of Hello Kitty stuff

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A GUY:
1. I love hockey fights
2. I can belch with the best of them!
3. I want someone to wait on me hand and foot

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. James Spader
2. Liz Phair (hey! I'm an equal opportunity crusher...!)
3. Andy Garcia


Yes, pointless... but send me yours! (You know you secretly want to do that anyway...) I'm running out of things that I can easily pack, so now it's time to tackle the harder stuff. Like the front closet, that should have gone on the list above as one of the three things that scares me most. But first, I'm going to have more coffee. Have a good day, kids. Ciao. TiAmo.

Oh my God. It's far too nice outside.. why am I inside working, anyway?

Oh yeah - that whole 'purchasing the house' thing. That's right. But at 3:00, I'm outta here. Or maybe 2:30. Do I hear 1:15???

Welcome to Friday. Good God, has this been a long week or what? I tackled the linen closet and some of the scarier drawers last night. Made umpteen runs to the trash bin. Almost everything that's left in the drawers is now in ziploc bags, so that when the time comes to pack it all up, I can just throw it in boxes and go. I'm going to be a professional mover when I grow up. Er. Wait.....

WTF???? This has me so whipped up this morning. The FDA is about to implement a new rule stating that any man who has had homosexual sex within the previous five years cannot be an anonymous sperm donor. These quotes from the story sum it all up:

"Under these rules, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with HIV-positive prostitutes would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay man in a monogamous, safe-sex relationship is not OK unless he's been celibate for five years"

and

"The part I find most offensive, and a little frightening, is that it isn't based on good science,"Cathcart said. "There's a steadily increasing trend of heterosexual transmission of HIV, and yet the FDA still has this notion that you protect people by putting gay men out of the pool."

I can't believe this! What year is this again?? This is the FREAKIN' FDA, for God's sake! Base your screening on BEHAVIOR, not ORIENTATION. Have they learned nothing in, oh, say, the last 15 years or so???
I have to go have some coffee and calm down....

Honest to sh*t... that just p*sses me off beyond belief. Whew... Anyway...So then I turn to this story... which gets me all whipped up all over again. How about this, mr. man-who-kicks-a-child-in-the-head? Let's send you to jail FOREVER so all KINDS of people can kick-you-in-the-head, you b*st*rd.
That's it. I'm thinking about not reading the news ever again...

In good news today... maybe this show will just go away now...

But if you really want to laugh, just read this headline.. Bwah ha!!!

And that's all I have to say about everything. Until tomorrow, that is. Ciao.

Didn't we just do this yesterday??

Between packing and laundry, I watched the ABC report on "Fallen Idol". Whatever... blah blah blah. Maybe it would be okay if this were all brought to a screeching halt.

What IS this Golden Palace Casino place, and why do they keep buying weird things?

I didn't watch it often, but Chapelle's Show was sometimes funny. All done now, though... thanks for coming.

Proving that I DO respond well to pressure... the flower pictures are up.

Here's your political quiz of the day.. and just in case you were wondering about me:

I am: 41% Republican.

Congratulations, you're a swing voter. When they say 'Soccer Mom', they mean you. Every Democratic ad on the TV set was made just for your viewing enjoyment.Don't you feel special?

Although, geez.... I don't know about the soccer mom thing. It's not like I drive a mini van, wear sweater sets or, gosh, even have kids....

Yes, more packing. It's my new hobby. When I get moved into the new place, my new hobby will become UNpacking, I'm sure. And we are SO going to have the best garage sale come June.. I might even stand a chance of making some money this time.

It's still early.. there's time to pack one more box up before I go to work. Talk to youse all later. Ciao.

I eat at au bon pain about 473 times a week (and I'm only exaggerating a tiny bit). But yesterday I had some grilled chicken gorgonzola thing that was possibly the scariest thing I've ever eaten, and I'm still feeling slightly not-right. Ewww.
Mare called it exactly right. I'm now addicted to packing. Half of the glasses and coffee mugs went into a box last night.. the stuff from the top shelf, which I rarely use (because I'm too short to reach). I scheduled the moving guys - those huge angels that will lift all the furniture and heavy stuff so that I don't have to. It's all coming together quite nicely. In less than 4 weeks, I'm a homeowner!

Whatever! So very, very tired of all this American Idol hoo-ha.

Note to self: don't move to Florida.. the state where they have no concept of personal freedom.

Show of hands - anyone surprised? No. I thought not.


Laugh of the day (via the most lovely Megan): the Advertising Slogan Generator. My first three:

nobody does it like chele (ain't that the truth)

all chele, all the time (that one actually sounds like something I'd say)

out of the strong came forth chele



Umm - I think that's the sum total of what was in my brain. I'm looking around the room obsessively now: what else can I pack up? I want to just take the entire contents of the roll-top desk and throw it into one big box, but I think I should actually go THROUGH the stuff first. And maybe the top-shelf cups and dishes... and.. and...

All right. I'll stop this nonsense now. Have a beautiful day. Ciao.

This is the first morning in ages that the alarm woke me up. I dreamed that I was playing championship ping-pong. Obviously the crack-smoking before bed has to stop (kidding, kidding. Some of my family members read this!)

I'll bet he still wants to marry her. Because he gets paid to go on TV shows and show of hands - do we see a book deal??? They need to go away now. I'm bored with them.

I'm so glad I never got into American Idol this year. (however, Dame, we are watching Big Brother.. don't you even THINK we're not!)

I'm bored with all these people, too.

I'm TOTALLY watching Martha's new show. Because I'm just.that.way. Mock me if you must.

This is funny. TV Land is giving a salute to the final Raymond episode.

:::Sigh:::   Remember when they used to show music videos on MTV? Back in the day...

Oh for the love of GOD. I'm never eating out ever again. Ever. Ewwwwww.

Buuuuuuuuuuuurrrrpppppppp. Er... Um... Excuse me.

Here's a good little life lesson for me. Turn that radio down.

Yesterday was one of those "I did a million things and yet my desk is still full" days. It makes the day fly, but I don't feel very productive. It was also the first day in over a month that I didn't have to talk to anyone about my new house or my mortgage. It felt odd... is this all still happening? Perhaps it was all a dream. A very expensive, 30-year dream. Heh. I'm outta here! Talk to you later. Ciao.

Heh. Well. Where did THAT weekend go?

Like I said, I took some lovely flower pictures yesterday.


Almost perfect yellow rose


Almost perfect pink rose


I love pansies. See their little faces?


You wouldn't believe how good and spring-like the lilies smelled.


Quickly through the news:
Now they're saying that they might charge the runaway bride with something. Funny how during the first few days that she was missing they were all hoping she had just run away... and when they found out she did, well, now they're all MAD at her! Would they have RATHER that she'd been kidnapped and killed???

I want to go see Hitchhiker's Guide. Word is that I might not get it because I haven't finished the book yet. Hmmm. Maybe I should just read the last page?

You know what? Oprah just isn't every woman anymore. She's a freakin' bazillionaire. Sorry, girl. You have nothing to say to me.

Well, I have no words for this. And no pictures, either.

Note to self - don't go to Cape May while on vacation.

What else? I colored my hair again on Saturday... I must learn to pay closer attention to the name that's on the box, I guess. Or else just get used to the fact that it will be a different color every single month. I actually like this one, although it's way darker than last time. (rushing to write down the name). I just know that one day I will be one of those little old Italian ladies with the jet-black hair and the red-red lipstick. All glamour, all the time. (stop laughing. right now.)

I'll talk to you later, Bellas. Ciao.

More packing! More packing! More packing! Truth be told, I'm sick of it now. But I've definitely made a dent in it.

I went to the Conservatory for about an hour this morning, and took eleventy-million pictures of flowers. When I'm done with the next box, I'll import 'em off the camera and put some pretty pictures up for you. Because even in the midst of all this packing, I'm still thinking of you, my loyal fan(s).     Heh Heh.

Ciao Bellas. TiAmo.