I have got to get over my grumpiness. Seriously.
So…five good things:

• New Order. My love for them will never die.
• My co-workers. They are most awesome. I want to give them all big sloppy kisses. Like, figuratively, you know.
• My contacts on flickr. Daily they provide me with such entertainment. Photos of great beauty (or photos of great beauties), photos that make me smile and laugh, photos that make me squeal and squirm and scream wtf?
• Tings. I took a break from them for a while, and now the vegan cheetos are somehow even more addictive.
• A satisfying back-cracking. Sometimes it’s the simple things in life.

Bonus: As a long-time Amy Winfrey/Making Fiends fan I was pleased as punch to hear the news…that Nickolodeon has indeed picked the show up. Hopefully the move to teevee will work out swimmingly.
Plus: A couple of shout outs…a big welcome to shilly-shally in Chicago! And a crafty Canadian librarian? Hell yeah!
And: Tomorrow I’m taking the day off. Not just to decompress, though I could use that, but to (attempt to) finish painting the living room, by the light of day, whilst the little man is safely away at school.

Frustrations abound this week, and have been exacerbated by a deadly combo of sleep deprivation and hormonal issues.

• Yesterday I was so exhausted at work - I was actually annoyed that my lunch wouldn’t heat itself up and float over to my desk. So last night I went to bed early. Things were going swimmingly until about 4am…when J was paged by work. I finally got back to sleep just minutes before I needed to get up for the day. Sigh.
• I’ve had my Powerbook for about a year. It’s already been sent off for hardware problems once, but now the optical disc drive has died. I can’t even back up my data before I hand it over to be repaired (but Apple will do that for me, for an extra $50). Oh, and the latch is completely broken too.
• That vegan whipped cream I was so excited about? The freaking can is defective. I was able to squirt some soy whip out just the once, but not since.
• A package was delivered to the house today. It wound up on the back deck, soaking wet (it was raining all day). The contents were dry, thankfully, but mmmm, soggy mail. Yay!
• The little man’s teacher announced a last minute field trip. Reeeeeeally last minute. I found out yesterday afternoon, and the trip was this morning. The school had scored free tickets to a performance at Orchestra Hall. I totally would’ve chaperoned if I could have. But it was such short notice and work was really busy so I was kinda sad. But then I found out mimes were involved. So maybe it was for the best.
• I got a later start on the living room painting project than I would have liked. Now it’s half-finished (ok, maybe a little more than half) and the living and dining rooms are in complete disarry and it’s already dark when I get home from work each day and all I want to do is collapse into a pitiful little heap. Hoping to be done by December. Or maybe the new year. With the living room. And with the pitifulness.

Bonus: Not only is Vlog Santa back, he has his very own site now. And there are rumors and rumblings about personalized video greetings being offered soon. Vlog Santa will do anything for a buck (or 25 bucks).
Plus: I’m loving the Wall Dolls by Mia Hansen. Sadly I can’t make it to the Wall Candy event in Vancouver, but this Saturday is the second annual No Coast Craft-O-Rama. This time around in a bigger and better location. Sadly my budget is smaller and suckier this year.
And: A Final Explosion of Street Art…on Spring Street.

Sometimes I have bad ideas. And then I make them worse by acting upon them. Like, earlier today, when I made more than one carafe of French press coffee. And I sucked the second one down late in the afternoon. And then, when I couldn’t fall asleep a little bit ago, because of all the coffee, I got up and made a cup of Green & Black’s. Mostly so I’d have an excuse to bust out my vegan whipped cream in a can. And now I reeeeeeeeeeeally can’t fall asleep. Even though my body is dead tired and achey all over…my brain is in maximum overdrive.

Bonus: If I could sleep right now I might just have dreams of…socks. Yes, I have a sock fetish, ok? Especially knee-highs. With Mary Janes. Dreamy.

Thanksgiving was pleasant enough. A nice visit with my folks early on, followed by the annual vegan potluck in the evening. But I didn’t quite have my fill. There was a distinct lack of mashed potatoes and gravy at said potluck (the only gravy to be had was in the tofu/veggie pot pie). So today J and I whipped some up, along with batter fried seitan. Looks like we did the same thing after Thanksgiving last year. Sadly I didn’t have any cranberry sauce this time around.

Other than that, we’ve been doing a whole lot of nothing. And that’s all right. I’m still in my pajamas, though I’ve done a few loads of laundry. And the little man did play out in the backyard for a bit. I’ve also been picking out paint colors for tomorrow. This weekend I intend to make good on my plan…to finally paint the living room. I’m leaning towards Appletini. Or Pepper Grass. Or maybe even Caterpillar. Now it’s time to get back to the extreme lounging. I could start reading the sequel to the book I just finished. Or get sucked into watching LoTR, on J’s fancy new monitor.

Bonus: My NetNewsWire trial ran out yesterday and I’m debating whether or not to purchase it. I can’t do it today, because it’s Buy Nothing Day. Oh well.

It’s easy to tell the holiday season is upon us. For one thing, we’ve been inundated with catalogs in the mail lately. Many for places and things I’ve never heard of. Who knows how we wound up on these mailing lists, but I feel guilty about all the dead trees (at least we recycle). Today I was alarmed not just by the sheer volume of mail, but also by the thud of something heavy falling through the mail slot to the porch floor. When I went to investigate I found it was a very large catalog, for things I do know about and really do want, but shouldn’t be spending money on. It was the B&H Photo and Video catalog. This only added fuel to the fire of my internal debate…new lens(es) vs. new couch. Unfortunately I can’t have it all, despite what those lousy catalog pushers seem to think.

Bonus: I know, I know…I need to Rise Above It, as the Zenta says (and Black Flag too).

Over the weekend I got very little accomplished…aside from having some seriously good times. And that is exactly what I was needing. Friday night we kicked things off at the YWCA. The little man’s swimming lesson went exceptionally well. I’ve discovered the key. Mom has to kick back, out of sight, in the hot tub. No complaints here. Afterwards we had dinner at Midori’s Floating World Cafe. We’ve become regulars, since I came across their all-vegan menu. Oh, speaking of Friday…while I was chillaxin’ in the hot tub I thought fondly of my happy place, the Blue Lagoon. In Iceland. And only then did I realize what I was missing out on. The Sugarcubes reunion show in Reykjavik. Sigh.

Speaking of shows, Saturday I spent about seven hours at the 7th Street Entry, in split shifts. And I’m so glad I did. Too many highlights to name, but the fourth annual lunch show included a surprise performance by Shellac. Steve Albini was freaking hilarious. The ID show later on was fabulous in different ways. Of course my camera battery died right when my friend’s band, Signal to Trust, took the stage. But that was almost for the best. I was more in the moment that way, rather than separated from it by trying to document it all. Oh, and in between the all ages and ID shows I managed to squeeze in a birthday dinner party with friends, at Fuji Ya.

Lack of sleep had me lazing about Sunday, but I did make it to a showing of For Your Consideration with J and his mom. Followed by dinner out, again, this time at Everest. An all around excellent weekend but sadly we don’t have a Wii. We could have had one. If certain persons were a bit better with the communication. Ahem. So now we wait (in the mean time I’m going to go watch BSG 3.8).

Bonus: How cute are Klops and Klong? Oh, and the Bunny too. I want.
Plus: Tomorrow will see the release of the first Thomas Pynchon novel in nearly a decade. “Now single up all lines!“
And: I’d come across this before, but had forgotten about Overheard in Minneapolis. Also on the local yokel tip…The Minneapoline, street fashion in Minneapolis and St. Paul (via Girl Friday, of course).

Somehow this has turned into my week of Hugh Jackman. Recently J and I went to see the The Prestige. Tonight we have free passes to catch a screening of The Fountain (a film I’ve been looking forward to for some time). And the little man saw Flushed Away with his grandma, and would like me to take him for a repeat viewing soon. This isn’t a problem. I like Hugh Jackman well enough. But if we ever, like, hung out I’d have to ask him to stay in character. He is way hotter when he is Wolverine. Is that so wrong?

All the talk this week has been of the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii. Folks are already camping out around town, in the cold, for the former. But the people I know are only interested in the Wii, and attempting to come up with plans to acquire said console. I’m not quite so compelled. But I’ll admit I am looking forward to Twilight Princess. Oh, and…of all things…tennis. Weird.

Bonus: How bizarre. Refrigerator trousers. Be sure to read the explanation.

When I was making dinner last night the little man sauntered into the kitchen and handed me something. It was a tooth. That’s the seventh one that has fallen out of his head. It seems like he’d only started wiggling that one earlier in the day. I first noticed it at the car dealership. Where I got one very big item crossed off my To Do list. I took possession of my new vroom vroom. It goes zoom zoom. I felt so relieved afterwards that I was finally able to quiet my busy brain, kick back, and catch up on Season 3 of BSG. I am seriously sleep deprived, but it was well worth it. And now to continue the forward momentum…

Bonus: Speaking of BSG, I’m with Eve. I’ve been going to the gym twice a week since last March, but I’m sure not dropping the pounds like Apollo. What is his secret? Maybe I need the old man to chide me.

Some excellent times this weekend were offset by too many heart-in-my-throat anxiety attacks. Lately the big life issues have been looming large. Like this morning, when the little man casually declared “both of our brothers are dead.” I replied, “yes honey, yes they are. And that is sad.” He chewed on that thought for a moment before announcing “I’d like to have a new brother.” Wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. I’m pretty certain my baby-making days are over, but I’m not going to be so blunt with the lad. I fear this could turn into an excuse to adopt another cat, but not until after the oh-so-allergic husband moves out. Speaking of which, I guess I should really go back to calling him J…

So the weekend wasn’t all bad. Between panic attacks J and I managed to get an evening out. I swear, we’ve been getting along a lot better since we decided to split up. Anyhow, our favorite Indian restaurant, Udupi, was shut down a while back. Then it was sold and eventually renamed. It’s not the same at all now. But a new vegetarian Indian restaurant has opened up in the same area. And it is oh so creatively named The Vegetarian. But it was pretty good. I’ll be going back to sample other dishes. After dinner we went on to see The Prestige (and arrived at the theater early enough to get in two rounds of air hockey beforehand). We’d both read the book a few years ago and, from what I recall of it, the film adaptation was fairly faithful. And it managed to keep me awake past midnight. That’s saying something considering how dead tired I’ve been.

Saturday’s highlights included brunch with the in-laws, some afternoon napping, housecleaning, and then, the best thing ever - taking my Dad to a MN RollerGirls bout. What a blast. I knew he’d love it. Though we felt awful for the away team from Ohio. Those girls got creamed! Seriously.

Sunday was filled with minor accomplishments. Getting my ass to the gym. Washing a few loads of laundry. Finishing the book I’d been reading. Realizing that car dealerships aren’t open on Sundays. Obsessing over used cars on the internets instead. Hopefully that’s one stressful To Do item that can be crossed off the list soon. Today I test drove a car and put down a deposit to hold it. Now I’ve just got to finalize the financing and get some car insurance set up and that baby will be mine. Along with the headache of monthly payments. Yay, back to the anxiety attacks!

Yesterday was full of strange and off-putting frustrations.

We realized there was a pigeon trapped in the attic. After someone had been paid to clear out the pigeons and seal the attic off. Apparently they sealed one in. Poor thing was stuck up there for nearly a week.

Yesterday I received not one but two phone calls from the little man’s school. The first was to let me know they’d lost some crucial paperwork that I’d filled out and turned in weeks ago. And yay, now I get to do it all over again! The second call was even worse. I was informed that my dear sweet child had been jabbed in the eye - with a pencil! Thankfully it was the eraser end rather than the pointy tip. And his face was, get this, “protected” by a piece of paper he happened to be holding up at the time. I feel like sending him back to school today in protective eyewear and full body armor. Armor not made of paper. Well, maybe if it was cardboard.

My car search seems to have stalled out. The credit union told me they’d have two guys on the case, doing the footwork so I wouldn’t have to. And I did hear from one of them. On Tuesday. Nothing since. So I guess it’s up to me. I used to be a VW girl, but I’m thinking I should do the right thing and go with a reliable used Toyota or Honda. Though I am powerfully intrigued by the 2002 or 2003 Mazda Protege5. Yes, the sportwagon. It’s sweet! Any opinions out there about this?

Oh, and speaking of VWs…my crazy friend Dave is flying down to St. Louis, to buy a Jetta and drive it back up to Minnesota (because it’s diesel and he’s all about the bio-diesel). Though the idea of a road trip right about now is seriously tempting. At least it’s nearly the weekend. And I do have plans within plans.