Ok ok playtime's over...actually not really, it's just bad weather

This was the first New Year that I didn't have an illness looming over me and all kinds of anxiety over upcoming appointments and it's been such a good feeling. I guess I've been celebrating my freedom a little too much. I do have bloodwork a few times a year that I'll have to stay on top for the rest of my life and routine body scans(luckily no body scan this year yay!) but that's the wonderful thing---it's just routine. I'm so thankful that I was able to start the year out that way. It truly felt like a new start. Especially since we're in a new house that we love and feel comfortable in.

It's storming outside and any minute now I might have to grab the Peanut, and run to the downstairs bathroom because there's a tornado watch. I found a really big tiger shark tooth the other day as well as other things that I wish I could be on the beach looking for....sigh. I feel like a little kid whose mom is forcing to stay indoors. I didn't even wish anyone a Happy Holiday, I was having so much damn fun. I've been gallivanting and frolicking on my now, just across the street beach. And I've been so effing exhausted from this move. I do have a peace offering. Take a look at this peeps:

See? I found this last week. ON THE BEACH! This is why I'm always gone. There's always something new to discover. I've never found a spearhead(I did some research, an arrowhead would be smaller so this is a spearhead. Likely used for hunting deer) or any man made artifact before. On the beach or anywhere. I was just walking my dog, not even really paying attention to the ground. The sea and sky were way more interesting and I can't look for shark teeth if Peanut is with me. My eye just sort of fell on it and I thought to myself,"wow that looks like a.....omigosh it is!" Someone made this. A person. Who had a life and a family and skills enough to make something that a little shark tooth huntress would find hundreds, possibly thousands of years later. I would love to know the story behind it. I find myself holding it in my palm often thinking all kinds of happy thoughts. Isn't it beautiful? I won't fool myself into thinking I'll find more. I've never heard of arrow and spear heads being found around here. It's highly likely this one fell in the river north of here and washed out to sea only to be washed back in by the tide. I'm still the Queen of shark teeth so even if I never find anything more than this precious piece of history, the happiness of this one will last a life time. Of course I'll share if I ever do. So we're still friends right?

There's a reddish Hawk that perches on the highest dead palmetto behind my house at least two or three mornings a week. He's wonderful and I'll get a picture of him for you guys. I can identify him as soon as I get a good bird book. I've been referring to him as Eric the Red. I'm scared to go back there because of the marsh and there's all kinds of snakes and varmints lurking about. MrPea bought some really strong binoculars that will come in handy for my birdwatching.

I can't wait til spring.

I live on my secret beach now and I'm still in bliss so just get used to these posts for a while

I didn't dare walk on the beach for Peanut's morning walk this morning. The fog was too thick and scary even for me. Usually I like a scary ScoobyDoo episode kind of fog. Today was the scariest I've ever seen and I wasn't in brave mood. But yesterday on my walk I came upon the biggest effin Portuguese Man O'War I've ever seen in my life. MrPea says he's seen and been stung by ones this big but it was a first for me so I took a pic. I used my foot as a size guide. I wear a 5 and a half and the thing was almost as big as my damn foot. I didn't touch it. Their stingers are still venomous even after it's dead.

stuff

I had no other title for this post. And I've really been into list form lately so just put up with it until it passes.

1. I'm moving. About a mile away so I'm not really sure why I'm stressed out about it. Especially since I'm so in love with our new place and I have plenty of time to get everything ready(30 days). Something about moving just STRESSES me out. We've been in this condo for 4 years now and it's been great. I'm really happy for whoever gets to live here because it's the sunniest window-est place we've ever been in. But we've been wanting to move for a long time and it's taken us this long to find something we like. I'm superstitious so I won't go into details about this new place until I'm moved in. Keep your fingers crossed for me for the next 4 weeks, I don't relocate very well. I should be an expert at it since we've moved so many times but I get more stressed out than a bridezilla when I move. Under all the anxiety is a huge YAY, though. Details later.

2. I haven't looked for shark teeth in what seems like ages. And it feels like all is not right in the world when it's been this long. I can't blame it on the weather, the Florida fall makes me feel sorry for anyone who doesn't live here. It's because ever since I hated my July vacation pictures of myself , I've made a commitment to make exercise a priority in my life again. Exercise is really good for my self esteem even if I don't notice any change in the mirror so I've been jogging just about everyday and I don't jog on the beach like every other sane jogging person around here. As I've said before, this is torture. I cannot jog or do anything at the very place where thousands of shark teeth are waiting to be picked up by me. No I can't. So I jog in my neighborhood fitness room or at a park down the road. I would go crazy otherwise. I can't explain it, that's just the I am.

3. I hurt my neck today. I was driving and trying to take off a jacket at the same time. Suddenly my neck got mad at me. It hurts.

4. I realize most people wouldn't dream of moving during the Holiday season but strangely it makes me more excited. It will be a tight squeeze but I look forward to unpacking my Christmas decorations and celebrating a New Year in a new home. A home that I don't have memories of being sick or "radioactive" in. Does that make sense? Does to me.

Everyone is posting about how to cut costs

I'll admit I'm not the best at it. Some of these are pretty much common knowledge but in a community like mine where people have not/will likely not ever feel any kind of economic slow down, what I do might sound a little radical.

1. I buy store brand products. Dish soap, laundry detergent, paper towels,lotion, even shampoo and soap. Target brand oatmeal soap costs 2 dollars less than Aveeno and my hypersensitive skin doesn't know the difference. Walmart Claratin works for me too. I've never been obsessed with name brands anyway. And that includes clothes and shoes.

2. I do my own nails and toes. People where I live assume that everyone just has loads and loads of money on their hands. I sometimes get asked where a good place is to get a manicure. I always get a surprised look of disbelief when my reply is," I can't really say because I do mine myself." The response is always,"Well I just don't have the time to do them myself." Yes you do! You have the time to get dressed, get in your car, sit in the salon for at least a half hour and then 15 to dry so don't tell me you don't have the time. I can do my nails and toes in less than 20 minutes and if I do them at night while I'm already winding down, I can let them dry while I watch tv without worrying about messing it up. So the best place for a mani-pedi? My house for free.

3. When I buy meat, I'll buy the family size even though I only cook for 2. I cook what I need and take the time to portion the rest out for the freezer. It takes just a few seconds.

4. Library Library Library! There's a GREAT library a five minutes walk from my house. They have a take-leave magazine shelf where I leave all my old magazines(old meaning from last month) and there's always a few National Geographic Mags I can bring home. There's hundreds of DVDs and I might have to wait a couple weeks before I can read the newest books if I don't get there before everyone else but I don't really care. I see a lot of smart moms/dads with kids when they have story reading(I do better voices than the lady they have but she does ok) and what a great place to bring a kid . My favorite part-it's FREE! I used to spend so much money on books I'll never even read again. They also have a used book store where I can get great art books for 5 dollars.

5. I am not snobby about going to the matinee movie on a rainy day. It's raining anyway! I have friend who won't step foot in any theatre before dark for fear of looking like a senior citizen at 32. The whole idea of spending more to please other nameless faceless people who care more about themselves than 'you' is a whole blog post for another day. I will stay mum on whether or not I sneak in my own drink.....

6. I commented about this on another blog and I'm sure I've posted about this before. I hang dry most of my own clothes. That goes for the husband's clothing too. I have pieces that I bought years and years ago that still look new because of this. This is not practical for everyone but, I live in a condo so I use my shower curtain thingy(I can't think of the right word) as my clothesline. I only use my dryer for towels and blankets. Well socks too. So imagine this saves a little on the electricity but I can't really say because I live in hot Fla and it costs a fortune to keep our 3rd floor place bearable in the summer. But my clothes last a long time and I don't always need to run out and get something new for this or that. Obviously the shopping part is more fun but I stay away from trendy clothing so I can wear anything in my closet when in a pinch. I'm moving to a better place in the near future so hopefully our elcetric bill will go down. For real this time. I take really good care of my shoes too.

7. I got asked this question last night(by someone like me whose husband works and they don't have kids) so I feel like I need to tell everyone about it: "who walks your dog?" I DO. Um yeah.

My nook

I am not an organised person. MrPea is an organization freak. I'm a creative dreamer. He's an analytical thinker. Most creatives are kind of on the messy side. And most engineer types are pretty OCD when it comes to organizing. Do opposites really attract? In this marriage, yes.

It has taken me a long time to get my little work corner nice enough to actually do some work in. It started out like this when we first moved in:





Then somehow I figured out that I needed to clear some things away. As if this looks any better. Obviously this was still not a space conducive to creativity. Who in the world would want to sit there and work? Not I.

Finally, I have just the way it needs to be. MrPea bought me this on Valentine's day. Are you imagining all the masterpieces that will be created in this space? Eventually I will get a new desk but until then, I feel like I can sit there all day without getting irritated at the way everything is falling all over the place.

If only I could get him to clean up after me everyday. Is there a button for that?

No thanks....

Sunday afternoon we had an appointment to see a condo for rent. Condo is just a glorified word for apartment, I'm not quite sure why people still get all excited over those kinds of words but, ok. Anyway, the lady showing it to us described it over the phone as spacious, immaculate, gourmet kitchen, sunny and honestly she used the word beachy at least 4 times. So she opens the door and the first thing I noticed was a smell. No it did not smell like dog, I have a dog. It smelled like spoilt milk. The "spacious" rooms could all fit into my living room and the "gourmet kitchen" was well.....let me put it this way. If you're reading this, stand up right now. Put both your arms out all the way. Spin around. That's how small it was. Yeah, it was beachy. Meaning you would want to spend all your time at the beach and not in this tiny, dirty, smallest kitchen in the world, overpriced condo.


Oh and by the way, she said it was on the first floor. It was not on the first floor, it was on the second floor.

Oh heaven help me now

MrPea thought it was a good idea to buy a deep fryer. The home fries were good but good lord this is a dangerous thing for me to have in this house. Because I could eat fried chicken with gravy everyday, 3 times a day until I fall over from cardiovascular disease.....

I'm ok with the Random

*That new med made me nauseous last week. Everything was gross. Food was gross. Trees were gross. The sun was gross. Rain, also gross. Watching tv, gross. The vultures outside, gross. The car, gross. Even Peanut was gross. But this week is better. Peanut is off the gross list. Actually he has a doctor appointment today and I'll be feeling sorry for him because of the invasive things they'll be doing to his derrière. But he doesn't want me to talk about that.

*A lot of people made fun of me in high school for taking French not Spanish. "When the hell are you ever gonna need that? People here speak Spanish, dumbass!" They said. Well jackasses, if you read here, and I know a few of you are, I use it all the damn time and none of ya'll even remember one friggin Spanish word. So sit down!

*Sometimes my husband will do something and I'll think to myself, I have the best damn husband on Earth. Like lately he's been turning on the heating pad my Grandma bought me and putting it on my side of the bed under the blankets. He knows how sensitive I am to temperatures now. So when I go to bed, my side of the bed is warm. It's these little things that keep me from screaming at him when he splashes water all over the sink and 'forgets' to clean it up.

*Speaking of sinks, we have separate bathrooms. This is the key to a healthy marriage, I am convinced of this. I use the master bath because it has a bigger closet. We don't use the master bedroom connected to the master bath because I hated the tiny window in that room when we moved in. So we sleep in the smaller room with the big eastern window and I trod, or I should say stagger every morning across the living room to my bathroom and closet to wash up and get dressed. And since I'm on the topic of closets and healthy marriages, I have to say that separate closets are also essential. At least, in my marriage they are. He can splash to his heart's content all over his bathroom and I don't have to look at it. And I can fill my closet with all kinds of shoes and be as disorganized as I like and we don't have to argue over closet space. We're closing in on our 11th anniversary(in March)so I think I may be onto something....

*And since I'm also on the topic of my upcoming anniversary, a snowbird lady I talk to sometimes who didn't know I was married said to me when I told her about my anniversary ,"Damn girl, you musta' been born married! Girls in the south still get married too damn young? You southerners, I swear!" I was 20, not 12. 20 is a bit young but still though there's a difference. And anyway, I'm not from the south. I just grew up here so I'm a southerner by preference. He's not my cousin for crying out loud. So I don't know what all the shock was about.

Good Help Is So Hard To Find

Mr.Pea has really been doing a good job helping me out around the house lately.
When I came in from checking the mail yesterday he said,"don't worry about the sheets and the rest of the laundry, I put everything away for you." I remember thinking,"he folded all that stuff so fast!" Last night when I went into the closet to get some clean sheets, this is what greeted me.

Martha Stewart would have a stroke. I don't feel like folding either so I just say thanks.

Thrift shopping

I saw this at a thrift store. Tell me it's not the creepiest self portrait you've ever seen.....

and the price! My Lord the price!! $11.99 Are they crazy? No I didn't buy if that's what you're thinking. As if I'd be able to sleep knowing that thing might come to life and stab me to death.

I used to go to all the thrift stores and hit all the garage sales I could find. I could even be seen at the Salvation Army and Goodwill(but don't tell anyone lest they start shopping there too and all the prices will go up and there will be nothing left for the rest of us) looking for vintage clothes and digging through the housewares and paintings. For some reason when I lived in the Palm Beach area I stopped. I think it's because I'm so sick of moving that I didn't want to add any more stuff to all the crap we had to drag around already. Then I found Madge's thrifting blog and for a little while now I've been living vicariously through her. Her finds are so good and I'm always jealous because she picks out exactly the same things I would. You could say she re-inspired me.
I used to collect dainty-old-prettypretty-girly-Grandma's house style- tea cups , saucers, dessert plates, cream pitchers and sugar bowls. I had an entire set and nothing matched but that was the beauty of it. It was for coffee or tea with the girls. BUT after our 8 month stint in Hawaii,(when the dot come bubble burst and we moved back to the mainland dammit) my boxes arrived and my little plate collecting heart broke. Every. Single. Piece. WAS BROKEN Dammit! So I've decided to try again and here is the first piece (from Germany):

Someone put this in the dishwasher a couple times too many but there aren't any chips.

I've been bitching for months how sparse our home is so I just have to jump in and do something about it before my husband does. The last time I let him pick out our home 'stuff' we ended up with the furniture from Star Trek that I'm forever complaining about. He's just so retro like that. I still don't have any salt and pepper shakers. A girl's gotta start somewhere though.

Procrastinatin' and Slackin' Off

As I mentioned yesterday, my house needs some help. This is supposed to be my own nook for me to paint and create priceless masterpieces. So far it's just a pile of crap that gets in the way of Peanut's sunbathing. It's actually a really nice area that I had to bully my husband into letting me have. He thought we should put the computer desk there-I disagreed. I said I needed the lighting and view for my inspiration. I have an easel I stored in my parents' attic while I was in Canada and I keep telling myself,"I'll go get it this weekend." Do you see an easel here? I will go get it....I will go get it.....today....pinky promise.
I also keep telling myself," I'll get to organizing so I can start painting again today." But, see, the problem is the computer is in the same room. I come in here with the full intention of getting it together. But it beckons to me, it says in it's little voice,""Angel!Angel!Check your email, don't forget your blog,you should read all the interesting things everyone in your cool people section wrote while you were out,check out these shoes you should buy, read the news, there's some really cool viddys on youtube and by the way isn't there a song you wanted for your ipod ???Comeeeer hunneeee, just for a minute....I missed you....yay together you and me...la la la la luvyou"
I ended up spending this afternoon downloading a bunch of disco songs (hot-hot-hot-hot-stuuuuff plus she's a superfreak-superfeak-she's superfreakay-- yow!) and making up playlists for all my activities(disco is for my work outs). I will get to it! I will-I always do, but right now, I'm thinking I need some more reggae for my ipod because summer is coming........yeah!

salt and pepper shakers and all that stuff

I think I should go back to college. Then at least I can have an excuse for living in a college kid's apartment.



I used to be a little enthusiastic about home decorating-HA! The dot-com boom/burn sucked that right out of me. We moved about 9 times in 6 years for my husband's job during the boom(or what we like to refer to as the Golden Age). And 4 times when it was over. It was fun for about 5 minutes. Now, I'm afraid of boxes and just the word relocate can put me into the crazy lane. Now that we're sort of(hopefully-knock on wood) feeling stable I'm beginning to realize how sparse it is around here. I have a hard time "making pretty" for a home I know I'm going to live in for a year at most. Come to think of it, we've been in this home for a little over a year now and that's the longest we've ever lived in the same place since we met. I've tried to keep our 'things' to a minimum and every time we move, we get rid of tons of stuff. So at 30, I'm looking at my home and it's like looking at a college student's apartment. All the 'stuff' that normal people have won't be found in this house. The most grown up thing I have in my home is the damn coffee maker. And I'm trying to have a home that looks like grown ups live in and I sort of don't know where to begin. I don't even have any salt and pepper shakers because the nice ones I had were lost during the last move and I hate to just buy something I don't really like all that much just because I don't have them(there's a run on sentence for ya). I go to the store and I hate everything-I think I might be looking for something that doesn't exist. I just last month bought some kitchen towels and (gasp) an actual comforter and set of blankets that won't exfoliate me to death. Is it hard to believe in the 10 years(almost) I've been married I'm just now getting domestic? It is for me because I used to be so good at all that. Now, I think about hanging up curtains and candle sconces and I want to gag.