I don't know that Nick was much on coffee pre-Laura, but nowadays he's good for a cup every morning. Two years ago I remember needing to get more coffee filters for the coffeemaker. I reached for the 500 pack, and Nick cried, "500!? We'll never get through those!" I remember thinking to myself, Oh, Please... I grabbed a piddly 200 pack instead.

We needed coffee filters again as of last weekend. We were at Sam's club to buy salmon and tilapia and we came upon the coffee filters. Eagerly, I reached for the 1000 pack. Nick, predictably, had a fit. "1000!? That's A LOT!" Then, he surprised me, pointing at another location on the shelf. "Let's get the 700 pack instead."

I think he's beginning to realize that, coffee filters in bulk? Yeah, we'll get through those.

Life is just so gosh darn busy! I turned 27 last Sunday, and once again I was lucky enough to spend my birthday in the Florida Keys. Birthdays usually do not bother me, but this one did. You get into traps where you remember what you were doing x-amount of years ago. "Five" was my magic number...five years ago this time of year we first learned, out of the blue, that my mother had cancer...and end-stage at that.

What else is going on with me? Oh, SCHOOL. It's sucking the life out of me. I just finished with a course in accounting and nutrition, and I am in my final two courses (Finance and International Business) for the associate's degree. My bachelor's program begins toward the end of November.

We were going to go on a hot air balloon ride last night, but it was canceled due to weather. The conditions must be near-ideal, so I may have to reschedule several times. I gave the tickets to Nick for his birthday last June, and we have scheduled one more try at a ride this year—the end of September when autumn colors are at their prettiest.

Nick thinks that during this time, when I am too busy, too tired, too spent to blog like I used to, we should turn LL into a site where we post funny things we've heard or said. This came after watching a really pathetic movie called "The Polar Bear King" wherein one royal sighed, "Why can't everything be as simple as.........snow?" and Nick felt my kneecaps after we made a pact that neither of us shave during our vacation and declared that my legs don't feel like his face.

We'll see where this website goes...

Hi, there! Remember when I used to write every single day, sometimes twice a day? Did the days have more hours back then? That must be it.



I discovered on the verge of tears last night that I aced my Economics final. I tried sharing the overwhelming joy with Nick, but he seems to consider my A's a dime a dozen. I'm like an obedient pooch: I'll gladly do my trick as long as you promise to pat my head afterwards.

Last Wednesday was Nick's birthday. We spent the afternoon biking and the evening dining with friends. It was a good day and the bad storms never came. I gave him two tickets for a hot air balloon ride. After I purchased the tickets, I nervously text-messaged Brenda to see if she thought he'd like the gift. She replied that if he didn't, she would go with me. He liked them. Sorry, Bren.

Sophie is becoming such a lap cat. She's panting more often now that the days have grown humid. Nick turned on the air conditioner last week because she's really quite pathetic with all that hair. I've known all along that she's part-dog but a lot less maintenance. It is very nice to have her run to us when we get home at night.

What else? Oh, I've been diagnosed with yet another digestive disorder. I tell ya, I feel sexier as the years go by. Add more foods to my list of what to avoid. Citrus, pineapple, tomato, anything high-fat...and coffee should be there, but I just can't bring myself to avoid that one. So I take my medication like a good girl and avoid most of the things I should.

Last Saturday was Rhythm and Booms. Great show, bit of a storm scare early on when we made a mad-dash to a nearby gas station while the hail assaulted the ground.

That's all I can remember at the moment. Time to head off to work...we're carpooling today. Ciao!

This is my new haven:



A couple weeks ago I decided that the time was ripe to buy a treadmill. Nick had already seen to the purchase of a super-nice elliptical trainer earlier this year in deference to my knees, but after a nasty case of shin splints following a walk outdoors in April, I realized the need for some impact-exercise in my repertoire. Nick spent an entire Saturday organizing the area to be just what the doctor ordered for both of us.

My head is very full right now and I am feeling very overwhelmed. I have developed a thudding ache where I had all of my surgery in 2006/2007. I can't escape it. My nerves are waking back up after a nice long rest…but I so dearly miss that numb spot right now. I suppose I am a little nervous that it could be something more, too.

I can't get this dumb frog out of my throat. I "ahem" until my voice is raw but the crud just won't leave. I have an appointment with Allergy in a couple weeks to see if my sinuses are the culprit. It has been a rotten allergy season for me anyway, but maybe something else is up. I am supposed to be off all antihistamines until my 6/11 appointment, so the next two weeks should be a peach.

I have been feeling dually stressed out with school and work, and mainly because work seems to be in a tizzy lately. I can handle the challenge of full time school, but not when I can't empty my head from work at the end of the day. The home gym offers a nice alternative to sharing a pitcher of beer during happy hour.

There are many things I like about the basement. I like the coolness of the area, the separateness from the rest of the house, and the privacy. Oh Lord!—the privacy! SO much nicer than a gym! I always get ready for a workout being all wussy and all "it's so cold!" but then I start going and I'm being steamed alive in my sweats. At the gym, I just had to live with it. Here? I strip. Mid-stride on the treadmill. It's a talent.

I came up from kickboxing on Saturday in nothing but some sweaty underthings. Nick nearly swallowed his tongue before demanding to know what happened to my clothing. Maybe I'm a closet nudist? But then, that's rather oxymoronic, isn't it?

I had my yearly eye exam on Thursday. My optometrist monitors my hazel-y eye because she says that we should monitor anything on our bodies that change. Good news to report: I still don't have a disease! The coloration is not raised and there is no presence of a tumor behind my eye. She says the hazel pigmentation cells in my right eye are the ones that I would have been given when I was created in my mother's womb—and there is absolutely no presence of hazel in the other eye. Not even tiny cells that'll be more apparent later on. Though, she did see noticeable advancement of the hazel from last year. Whereas her notes described last year's presence as a "quadrant", she says it is definitely fingering out. So, I guess we keep watching that sneaky booger and celebrate that I have another clean bill of health—those get more valuable after receiving several that are still pretty dirty. I am happy. I am just in a conundrum. I "dress" my eyes to bring out the blue...if I become all-hazel over there, do I need different palettes for each eye? Coppers for the blue and plums for the hazel? I find this all very distressing.

After dinner conversation last night, my curiosity grew as to how I spent my money last year. Holding my breath, I downloaded the report and opened the local file this morning. Three things:

1. Sophie leads a royal lifestyle.
2. I am so happy that every Walgreen's visit is classified as "HEALTHCARE"—lord only knows what the absence of yet another eye color compact would do to my delicate state.
3. I've spent more on gas than on either Sophie or "HEALTHCARE"…which I can say, without embarrassing myself on either of the previous totals, is quite a lot.

I am actually very impressed by the completeness and organization of my bank's spending report. The only problem is they don't know how to classify checks—not that I write many. Goals for this year? Learn to teleport.

The past several weeks have been stressful at work as we have be testing a pilot that caused nothing but misery and bitterness. Tammy, my good friend and cube-neighbor extraordinaire, placed miniature candies on her side of the glass. She calls them my personal stash, to be consumed in times of utmost stress. I returned to my desk one afternoon after a tedious day in class to find the above note. SHE IS SO AWESOME.

You know, I'd really like to tell you all to hurry up and stop using Internet Explorer. There are, after all, so many browsers that would suit you better. Besides, does I.E. have plushies? I think not.

Anyway, I am a lifelong FireFox convert, and nothing will ever be quite as grand in my eyes. Especially from a design standpoint. It really is frustrating that some (read "one") programs do not know how to translate pixels properly. I think I have it fixed now. Let me know if things still look wonky to you. Thank goodness that the latest offering from Microsoft now recognizes the 24 bit png—that, I must say was a pleasant surprise during my first foray into html in some two and a half years. I heart transparency! It's super spiffy!

I am writing an essay on an ethnic group to which I belong (can only think of one). I am writing roughly an essay-plus a week in my current block of classes. I am fortunate that word count poses little challenge for me, but it is rather exhausting and I beg you to forgive my sometimes-silence here. Once upon a time I had free time that I didn't spend on sleep! I am confident that I will have that once again . . . years down the road.

Besides, I find it difficult to be cute and clever when my brain is wrapped around credos and xenophobia!

I consumed the better part of a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi Saturday evening as I completed my HIS course essay. For someone that usually hits the hay between 8:00 and 8:30, 1:30 was quite a feat. I got my second wind around 10:30 and was still wired when I traipsed to bed some three hours later—I threw back some Tylenol PM and slept until a shocking 7:30 the next morning!

This has been a particularly harrowing block of classes for me, as I am sure they will all be. It isn't that they were overly difficult or that I did not find them interesting, but that the perfectionist in me is not satisfied with anything but mastery. I know that I could easily spend a fraction of the time that I spend at school and get away with a C . . . BS is a family trait, after all . . . but there is a rush when I see that A and next to it, a 100%. And what's more, I know that I've internalized the information. I feel bigger to have learned (and for the first time in all my life, feeling bigger feels better!).

Today, I begin my next block of classes, and they will be core classes. I have a business course and an ethics course that I am eager to begin, but at the same time, all too exhausted from the wrap up of my previous block. I have scheduled a short break between classes at the end of this term . . . I know I will need it. Grades will be in within the week, though I already know I've received 100% in my biodiversity course . . . a quarter of my history grade rests with the evaluation of my essay. My stomach is in knots.

I often think what I did with all my free time before I began classes. I know I will miss it come summer when the bike trails and rivers beckon, but for right now, exhausting as this double-full-time status might be, it feels good to know that I spend my extra time bettering myself. I have about five chapters to read tonight, so I suppose this post is more to remind myself of that.

On a side note:
Sophie went to the groomer on Saturday to trim her butt hair. Surprisingly, she isn't the least bit upset with us. Small victories.

It is early in the morning and already I am feeling overwhelmed. I am in class all week at work and on my final third of my current two courses. Then there was that pesky Christmas resolution to exercise nearly-daily and this silly virus that simply refuses to vacate my person.

My Biology final (the essay portion) is due on Sunday, and I have a PowerPoint presentation due in History. I filled in my daily planner this morning and think I can manage (providing my brain doesn't overheat) and still make it to 5:00 church Saturday and watch 5:30 Packers kickoff on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Sophie threw up this morning, and I found two whole, un-chewed treats in the mess. Glutton. Nick thinks she's pudgy. I, remembering the skinny ferret we brought home, think she's loved. Besides, she's fluffy!



I bought myself an African love knot yesterday and had Nick put it on the high shelf in the living room. I loved it as soon as I saw it. Later in the evening, Nick asked me, "Do you like your pretzel?" I didn't answer at first because I thought he was talking to Sophie.

Yes, I am serious. He had pretzels earlier while I worked out, and I figured he gave her one to play with. He looked at me pointedly and realization dawned. "Do you mean the love knot?"

"It looks like a pretzel to me."