mountaineer musings

notes...

comforted by booming preachers? i don't know what it is, maybe it's because i grew up around a buncha preachers who all preached hellfire and brimstone with loud, powerful voices... the congregation i visited this morning and tonight seems like a good congregation (recommended by my loud, powerful-voiced GrampaK -- GP, to his grandkids), and the preaching was fine, but for some reason, i couldn't get past the preacher having a friendly, higher-pitched voice. not like a girlie voice, but more of a high tenor than a baritone. anyway, i don't know if i can listen to him every week... so i continue my search. for now. what i really want is a really really small, friendly congregation with a great preacher. i miss Jason, and i miss Northeast. no, Sandy, i'm not moving back.

anyone else watching this show? i started watching The 4400 on USA Network when it premiered. i think it was on when i came home from church one night, so i rewound and watched from the beginning (i heart my DVR). i enjoy it, if it's a bit predictable. oh, and i just figured out who the bearded famous guy is -- it's that smoldering sweetheart from Once and Again or whatever. such a cutie.

fly bites... ugh, i got a nasty bite from a fly yesterday in Palo Duro. at least i thought it was a fly. but now the bite has been oozing, gross, i know. i sucked out a lot of poison with my snake bite kit suction thingy, but oh how it itches and how disgusting it is. can this thing kill me? 'cause if so, i'm taking off for the Canyon early and skipping work tomorrow.

i'm so tired... exhausted, actually. that's all i have to say about that.

random boring post

ah, so there's the weather... so now it's 105 degrees. i knew i lived in texas. i'm happy with the weather change, because it means i'll get a nice tan when i hike tomorrow morning and mow my lawn again tomorrow afternoon. and it's a dry heat. hooray for dry heat!!

sing it, sista! tonight, it's karaoke, which i haven't done in over a year, so wish me luck...

plans, plans... i have much to do, and i'm excited about having to do it. got this little hike to prepare for, and i'm so stoked about my trip that i can hardly stand it, which doesn't make for great productivity in any other facet of my life. but hooray for hiking, and hooray for the Grand Canyon!! have i mentioned that it's my favorite place in the entire world? have i mentioned that it's the love of my life? have i mentioned that i'm totally out of shape and have no idea how i'm gonna hike 28 miles in 2 days? have i mentioned that i love road-tripping across New Mexico and through the Painted Desert? hooray hooray hooray!! fun fun fun. ok, i'll stop my jumping up and down now.

these guys just showed up on my roof... 2 days ago a random roof guy came over and asked if he could give me an estimate, and i told him to talk to my landlord. he asked for my landlord's number, and i took his card and told him i'd pass it along... right after i got home yesterday, i heard walking on my roof and rattling; wha? so i went outside and saw a familiar business card stuck to my door and 2 men walking around on my roof. and why are you here? we're here to estimate your roof damage. my roof is fine, GET OFF MY HOUSE! i was nicer than that, but the message was the same.

nice coworkers... one of my coworkers called me this morning specifically to ask if i'm aware that my hero, Dave Matthews -- he didn't even need to finish his sentence before i told him that yes, i know Dave's a Bush-hata and supports the Johns. but they're the best rock concerts i've ever been to, and i fully intend on wearing either a Nuke the Moon t-shirt or this nice Hippies Smell one, or perhaps the Freedom World Tour shirt, since it'd fit well at a rock concert. it's the least i can do to support my beloved President.

saturday stuff

hiking schmiking... so i tried to go hike at the canyon this morning, no luck there. clouds were hanging low, and i just had these little newspaper headlines running through my head. "idiot hiker drowns in canyon flash flood". so i bought new tires for my sorry car instead, then slept most of the afternoon till the phone woke me.

return of the killer migraines... so i had three this week, including the one i have right now. i must be allergic to phone conversations because i had two long ones... but they were good, and i approve of more like them. that doesn't mean everyone start calling me, because what a beating that would be.

what's your deal with the phone? anyone who knows me knows i hate the phone. the psycho X used to call me on his way home from work, then grad school. it took him the better part of an hour to get home, and he'd want to talk the entire drive home, which was fine when he had something to say. but then we'd reach the lull in conversation and he would just sit there for like 10 minutes, start listening to the talk radio that was on in the background, ignore me. so i, being in my wind-down mode and not wanting to hold the phone to my ear for no reason, would say ok, i'll see you when you get home. well, mr. wussy would get all whiney and wonder why i didn't want to talk to him. beat. me. down. and this is why i hate the phone. so as long as you have something to say, i welcome the opportunity to phone-talk with you, but you'd better 1) be interesting and able to hold up your end of the conversation and 2) not take a breath, because i will consider this a lull and hang up on you.

and what's your deal with dogs? i love cats, love them love them love them, and cats tend to love me or at least tolerate me. dogs are fine but i don't feel like something's missing from my life if i don't have one. that said, i've been thinking about getting a dog for scaring away nosy neighbors and mean people, so i have a question. if i get a doberman or german shepherd instead of a rottweiller, can i still name him Chomps? Bikermommy mentioned a friend who has a Jack Russell terrier, but those are kinda sissy-lookin' and yip-yappy. if i'm gonna get a smelly beast, he's gotta be good for keeping the hippies away and not just making them say "oh what a cute yip-yapper".

someone come clean up after my cat... Minerva killed two crickets in the middle of my livingroom floor and didn't have the decency to eat the carcasses. someone please come remove them from my floor, because i don't do bugs.

about my sister... Spydaddy read both Frank's and my blogs today, including the comments; he especially took interest in all the comments about the Little Sizzle. i would like to pass along his message that that's his little girl y'all are talking about.

i should eat dinner since it's after 11 and i've been saying for three hours that i'm going to eat dinner. ta, musees, have a lovely evening.

little stuff

cuddly kitty... Minerva has always been a cuddlesome little bebe, but she's in my face all the time since Nicole left, it's so adorable. we just lie on the couch and cuddle and purr; some say we need a man to add to the cuddling mix, i agree w/ some.

i heart Fox and Friends... i really should create an "i heart" category, but i have too many as it is, and i think it would be overkill to have a category dedicated mostly to Frank J. anyway, i love love love Fox and Friends, wake up with them every morning, and Steve, E.D. and Brian are all just great, they have great chemistry, they're funny, they do great interviews, etc. plus yesterday they had this moron on who used to be some elected official in some big city, and he was being a muckadoo and spouting off a bunch of muckaisms, and E.D. and Steve just laid into him, and i was laughing and shouting muckadoo and wanted to send fan mail to the non-mucks but i'm lazy and never do that. Bikermommy, send fan mail to F&F for me, will ya?

sleep all day... is what i just might do saturday, but i really want to do a movie marathon. decisions, decisions.

political correctness is stupid... the terrorists are laughing at us, banking on our stupid, stupid, idiotic, American-original polical correctness to help out all of their plots. i'm only gonna say this once, and there is to be no arguing. WE SHOULD PROFILE. PROFILING CAN SAVE LIVES. IF YOU DISAGREE, YOU WANT TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS. GO AWAY, YOU ARE RUINING MY COUNTRY. that said, i don't think you should profile 5-foot tall white chicks, because that would inconvenience me and might hurt my wittle feewings and make me feel like a girly, um, girl.

taught to sing by a muckadoo... when i was a wee child of many fewer years, i used to listen to Linda Ronstadt tapes over and over as i honed my vocal skilz. so thanks, muckadoo, for this singing voice, you helped a flaming Christian Republican to accomplish her goal of standing ovations at karaoke bars; i hope you can deal with that.

promises i don't intend to keep... tonight i should have Bloglib #3 posted, but i have to ask, is it only cool to participate after Frank does it? thanks to all who participated anyway. i also have Part 3 of the Grand Canyon story (wrote it yesterday during CPE, and i think the partners thought i was taking notes, haha), and it's the part with Brian the Most Beautiful Park Ranger in the Entire World, so you won't wanna miss all the drooling and gushing.

okay, have a lovely day, musees, and be good to each other.

tuesday morning

i missed my turn for the office this morning... hey, i've only been at my job for 5 or 6 weeks, i shouldn't know where i go every day, should i?

not gonna let that stupid grass cutter get me down... nosirree. i'm going for it again. i'll print out my very detailed instructions on how to start and use the mower (thanks Drew), go into the backyard and give that dumb machine what's comin' to it; that mower's gonna eat dirtgrass. did i tell y'all that i was so embarrassed by my inability to start the shredder that i rolled the thing to the backyard so i could fail behind the privacy of my fence? i was just sure that all the neighbors in my geriatric neighborhood were laughing, pointing and calling their friends behind the privacy of their miniblinds, ridiculing that silly little girl standing in her driveway fighting a losing battle with a yard tool. ::blushing deep crimson::

my due date is sometime this week... my water broke last night, and labor has begun; my new blogdaughter will arrive as early as today, and when she does, i know she'll receive a warm blogosphere welcome. we learned during our IMing over the last couple of days that we are sooooo much alike and were probably separated at birth; i hope the blogosphere can handle two of meus.

massage time, hooray!!! i wasn't able to see Mary either of my two weekends in Fort Worth, and i'm in mucho paino, so i'm going to a new one tomorrow after work. hopefully, she won't beat the snot out of me and understands that massages should be more relaxing than stressful.

more BlogLibbing tomorrow... low participation in last week's BlogLib, but the result, in my opinion, was pretty funny. so tomorrow we'll play again; don't forget to stop by and leave your contributions, and remember my keep-it-clean rules. i'm still deciding whether this is to be a regular thing...

new photo album later this week... or later today, whichever comes first or last. i've got some fun pics from my two trips hometo my former home, and since i'm a photoshop moron, why don't y'all give me some tips in the comments on how to make my pics look the way they're supposed to but still be small enough that there's no complaining. and for those of you still on dialup -- i'm praying for you and your connection; seriously, it's time to think about upgrading. :)

later, musees.

i'm pregnant... and other news

pick yerself up off the floor, Spidade and Grama! by pregnant, i mean i have a blogchild on the way!! (maybe i should have said i'm blegnant?) this is very exciting, being a first-time blom and all, so stay tuned... psst! it's a girl!

i love gmail, but... tonight i can only receive gmail, can't send anything. wah. why is this happening only to me?? anyway, i'll catch up on email tomorrow night.

in CPE today, i got an idea for another novel... i haven't finished the other 4, but maybe this one will hold my attention. anyway, i wrote chapter 1 in class (yes, i still listened, took notes and learned lots about auditing school districts) and will be posting the draft soon. please give feedback, i'd like to know whether it's worth reading.

going home this weekend... and by home, i mean that place i don't live anymore and probably won't ever again. humid for here is like 10%, so i can't see ever going back to 70% on a good day. maybe i exaggerate, but if today is as muggy as it gets...

jump around, jump, jump, jump... i found my jump drive!!!!!!!! this makes me happy.

who was it...

that suggested i try Garnier Nutrisse for my hair problem???

whoever you are, many kisses (i mean that in a completely platonic manner)! you're right, my hair smells most terrific. we shall see if it helps the hair damage, but hooray for the smell!!

and hooray for working on an emergency audit on a Sunday night. ok, just kidding about that one.

lotsa stuff, and read to the end!!

Frankalanches are kewl... i made Frank's links of the day yesterday, and i gotta tell ya, it made me all giddy. thanks, T-Shirt Boss!

Bikermommy, my hero... seen in an email from Bikey today: "I wrote Michael Moore this morning and told him he was a communist."

i missed Boy Crush's birthday... i know Adam doesn't read my blog, so Perry, would you please tell your son to come here and see this message especially for him: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOY! sorry i'm late... out of sight, out of mind? no way, you just have an airheaded friend. i thought about it on the 13th, 14th and 15th but not on the 16th. bad SarahK! when you move up this direction, i'll buy you some Starbucks and we can serenade the baristas for old times' sake. :)

unstable... it's so unstable for channel 8 to be channel 7, channel 5 to be channel 4, channel 11 to be channel 10 and channel 4 to be channel 14 or 65. 65??? i watch Fox on 65!!! crazy.

Spidade needs a computer... Spidade's 'puter is on the blink. in the comments, please give cheap solutions to getting Spidade a really good computer. thank you, musees!

speaking of thanks... thanks to all musees for the help in the great domain caper. i think i've got it figured out now (uh, just the name part, all this ftp & cgi stuff is foreign), so in 2 or 4 months, i should have my blog moved over to my domain. stay tuned...

boing boing... uh, my rent check bounced, and i had plenty of money in my account... or did i? well, since i'm not sure, you should all give me money. just click that beautiful little amazon box on the right sidebar. thank you.

time flies... it seems the work day here in Amarillo goes by so much faster than it did in Fort Worth, which makes no sense, because everything is slower here. i would say it's because i'm having fun, but ??? i'm auditing. ??? auditing and fun are mutually exclusive.

Mad LibsCons anyone? i haven't seen this on any other blogs yet, so i'm claiming it as my very own idea. if it goes over well, i'll make it a weekly edition. we can have some fun while also becoming more literate. tomorrow morning, i will post a request for various verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns, etc. in the comments section, you musees will leave your input, not knowing where the passage is coming from. in the afternoon or evening, i will post the passage that we have made together; the passage will be randomly haphazardly judgmentally somehow selected from my bookshelf, and your words will be inserted, and we will make fine literature together.

my hair is falling out!!

in clumps!

every morning when i wash my hair, i ask God, "how many now? 'cause there are a lot fewer today than yesterday, and i know you keep up with this stuff!"

i don't know if it's something in the water here or what?? all i know is my once beautiful, shiny, thick hair is falling out, getting dull and sprouting split ends far quicker than normal! uggghhhhh!

i've been using white rain and suave for years and getting compliments on how beautiful my hair is, how soft and shiny. what, am i gonna have to start using shampoo and conditioner that cost more than $1.39 per bottle ($.88 on a good sale day)? say it ain't so!!

thank you, just needed to do my girlie thing and rant about my hair.

epinemic

nope, that's not a word, but look it up for kicks. anyway, little bits and some linkage for you...

i'm not sure the Little Sizzle and i came from Bikey's loins... Bikermommy found an Indian food restaurant right here in Amarillo (hooray!); she and i went there for lunch today (food was good, but i can't make a true judgment until i've had the papad and the masala made spicy), and she had never had Indian food. now, the Sizzle and i agree that Indian food is by far the best cuisine on the planet, so i had high hopes for Bikey... well, she liked the rice and the tomato soup and the naan and the yummy green cilantro-mint-jalapeno-whatever-else sauce, but the rest she wasn't crazy about. was afraid to try the meatballs, not crazy about chicken tikke masala (!!), squinted like she was really takin' a chance on something every time she took a bite of the chicken tandoori... alas, she told me that i would need to find a different partner in town for eating Indian food, which totally stinks, since i have no friends here (yet). lots of takeout in my future.

everyone here is married ('cept me)... yeah, so everyone is either married or coupled; i know there are college boys in this town, but i don't run into them often. this will make for lots of Netflix evenings and many SVU re-runs, and at least i'll be able to snark the rest of ALIAS season 3.

i think Grama has stopped reading my blog... i say this because i talked to her Saturday night and she didn't mention anything about my learning to pee standing up; maybe she was too appalled and embarrassed by my lack of couth to bring it up.

i agree with Frank... he's got a post this afternoon about what we need to do with terrorists. they don't call him a genius for nuthin'. (seriously, pray for all of the hostages -- there are sure to be others, for the leaders of this great country and our allies and for all of the coalition forces.)

don't know if i mentioned it... but i went to Palo Duro Canyon last weekend, and my initial reaction was that it has lots of bugs (for a nature girl, i'm sure not a fan of bugs); after about a quarter mile of trudging through spider webs and seeing big, hairy, nasty, freakishly disgusting beetles, i high-tailed back to the 'Splorer and drove the rest of the way through the canyon, then went home. i'll try again soon and find a trail that actually ascends, since vertical variation is the whole point of hiking canyons.

i hate to keep linking to this guy... but he's somewhat kinda funny-ish and, by my estimation, a bit sarcastic, which always flies well with me. this week Pauly D of WFME is honoring clowns, which gets him an auto-link from the mountaineer, because the Psycho X is afraid of clowns. clowns clowns clowns. yippee! BOO, Psycho!

i take offense... to being called a Large Mammal. but i get over stuff really fast, just ask... um... well... ask Minerva! yeah.

nice day out, idn'it? i love the weather here; we had our company summer party at the park the other night, and they said it was humid for Amarillo... and humid for Amarillo is like 5% or something. nice.

bad sarahk... i feel so guilty; i've been 3 weeks without a massage, and i'm actually working now, so i'm really starting to feel it. my shoulders are so wussy. anyway, i don't know when i'll be in Fort Worth, since i can't leave before the house is in order and would prefer to let gasoline prices drop even more (yes, left, they ARE dropping, and it's not even November yet!) before i make that drive... so i'm going to see a massage therapist here next week, which makes me feel like i'm cheating on Mary. [keep the comments clean or i'll sissify you.] believe me, Mary, it's not you, it's me and my twisted shoulders.

i'm thinking the blogitorium is a little too quiet these days... so we need to have some kind of virtual gathering soon. who has an idea? not me. maybe i just wanted to say "blogitorium" again, because i think it's a neato word.