These things are totally pointless. That is, unless you are grossed out by the idea of your butt cheeks touching where someone else's butt cheeks touched, in that case they have a point. Really though they don't protect you from anything. And yet, if the public bathroom I'm accessing (only in a seriously desperate situation, trust me) has them, I use them. Hmm.

Let me explain why I started thinking about this. I just read this article about whether it's really necessary to stop using paper towels to save the planet and the author said that she found more information on the impact of toilet paper on the environment than paper towels. I won't take you down my trail of thought at this point because, really, it just gets gross.

Anyway, toilet seat covers. Completely pointless. Trust me on this - someday I'm going to be a nurse.

p.s. it's the summer. I am working all the time (what's all this full time baloney?) and I have nothing to blog about. sorry.

I have been reading apartment therapy's kitchn blog and it has made me want two things:
1. a clean kitchen ALL the time
2. to eat outside
I'm working on the kitchen thing (sort of) and now that I scored this awesome craigslist find I'm working on the eating outside thing too. I've been wanting to get a picnic table for a while and I've been shopping around a little bit. This one is all taken apart and it's a total wreck but it was free and the lady we got it from said it was from St Anthony's seminary in Santa Barbara. Cool, huh? If it were up to me, we would paint it, put it together and eat outside already. But I needed Russell's help picking it up so now he's going to make me sand it all down and stain it and everything. I think he's just looking for an excuse to buy a few new woodworking tools.

I think most of the people that read this blog are familiar with Russell's propensity to hang on to articles of clothing. Please do not be so silly as to think that socks are not included in the category "articles of clothing." They most certainly are. I give you Exhibit A:

I can't believe I haven't showed you this yet. Did I happen to mention that Russell totally broke a rib at ninja practice? I didn't really think it was broken until I noticed this. The deformity. It was weird actually, because I was just learning about how bones rebuild themselves. This would be an excellent example of a callus. I will be sending this little picture to my teacher - she loves the really exaggerated examples.

Russell has been a much more willing subject as far as the camera is concerned. I've got another good one of him for later this week - one that includes his face.

Today is National Ride Your Bike to Work Day (or something like that). I rode mine. How about you?

I want this.

Russell's birthday, maybe?

I was reading this little article and it made me think about my fridge and how mine is different from my Mom's and how it's different from Russell's Mom's. Before I knew it I was thinking about every fridge I've ever seen (instead of thinking about beta blockers and anticonvulsive meds for my final in, lets see, 5 hours) and then I was thinking I wonder what so and so's fridge looks like. Indulge me, will you? 

Something happened to me when I came into my own house that I never would have guessed that I would care about someday. I want the perfect yard. 

One time, I think I might have been in high school, my Dad rounded us up and announced that it was Saturday, aka chore day, and we would be pulling the weeds. I only have a specific memory of having to do this job once, twice at the most (once in the back, once in the front - could've been the same day) but that memory is burned on my brain. It was THE most torturous chore EVER. The sweltering Las Vegas heat, the rocks, my brothers fighting the whole time, the smell. I swear to you I can remember the smell of those weeds. 

Anyway, yesterday Russell mowed the front yard and it looked pretty good. But not great. We have rocks between the edge of our yard and the street, and the weeds, well, they grow like weeds. Stupid dandelions. I don't know what came over me. I started pulling and I was on a roll. Neighbors came and went, Russell even went to his ninja class and came back - I was still out there going crazy on these weeds. And I didn't stop with the rocks. I was all over the place. My yard looks immaculate. 

But I still haven't started on that final project that's due tomorrow. I get so much done when I'm avoiding doing something else. 

P.S. This summer, I will have the perfect yard. 

What do you think? Everyone that I know that has these Dansko clogs swears by them. One catch. They're kind of ugly, huh? But they are sort of more professional than sneakers. Another thing (I guess there is more than one catch). They're like, $120. Should I get them? I need help deciding. Just decide for me. Okay? Okay.

I have a hard time starting things, therefore, when faced with an interruption, a difficult time re-starting things. When I know I have something that needs to get done, I wait and wait preoccupying myself with the things that could possibly interrupt me. 

I have a paper to write. You know what I just did? Cleaned my wedding ring and painted my fingernails. Because if I am in the middle of a paragraph and I notice that my wedding ring is dirty or my fingernails are not very shiny, it's over. 

What do I have to do to get someone to medicate me for this? 

Tonight I saw someone's coccyx, their tailbone, through a tunneling ulcer. I saw a bone. Through a wound. And that's not even the messed up thing - I stayed late to see it. Maybe I'll be a wound care nurse...

Officially, I am hanging my "summer" banner in the hopes that doing so might make it hurry up and get here already. Are you listening to me? I am ready to skip over Spring! It's overrated. So variable. Will it rain? Won't it rain? It's hovering right around freezing it could actually be snow. Forget it. Summer? I'm ready for you.


Wish me luck with these raspberries. If I get enough of them, I am going to make black raspberry ice cream - my all time favorite flavor. (I hope I get enough)

This is what we managed to get done this weekend (the list was quite a bit longer). The plan is to start these seeds inside (check) and transplant them once we can be sure we won't have to suffer another freak snow day. Did I already complain to you about the snow on Friday? At least it didn't stick. It could be worse. Does it sound like I'm trying to convince myself? You might be right.

Hugh Jackman is hot and I will go to the movies for him. So he can make a lot of money. So he can make more movies. So I can go to the movies again. To see him. Plus, you know, it's good for the economy. 

Today was an interesting day at the hospital. I took care of someone who was on hospice care at home. When he had some significant alterations in his mental status, his family freaked out a little and called 911. And they brought him to the hospital. And we started a bunch of aggressive medical interventions. Remember when I said he was on hospice? Anyway, it was an interesting day. 

I came straight home and put on my favorite tennis skirt because I have a match tonight at 5:30. Wish me luck. 

Did I tell you that in a matter of a little over two weeks I managed to lose one cell phone and break another?
Russell couldn't resist the urge to completely disassemble the broken phone. Just to see.

I had a pretty laid back Spring Break week. Unfortunately, the weather was not very spring like which is pretty messed up, I think. Tease me with a little good weather the week before the break and then get right back to winter as soon as I'm available. I knew I should have skipped class that day.

Anyway, I have a bunch of pictures from my trip to Vegas and other random stuff, too. I'll try to make a marathon of it and post something everyday this week. Item #1: the only productive thing I did all week - painted my kitchen with chalkboard paint. (That pale yellow was terrible, wasn't it?)

I have my menu for the week on another wall and a grocery list on another.
In all fairness, this wasn't the only productive thing I did. I baked like a crazy person. A butter cake, frosted sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and today? A chocolate cake with white frosting and bagels. Yes. I am making bagels right now. If that isn't totally hardcore, I don't know what is.

It is almost my favorite time of the year. Time to leave the back door open! All winter long Otis sits just outside the dog door and cries. He cries because he wants to be outside, he cries because we are inside, and he cries because he wants to be where we are. The life of a dog. So tortured. Anyway, when it starts to get nice out, I leave the back door open and let the sunshine and the fresh air in and the best part? I don't have to listen to Otis whine anymore. He runs around the yard and checks back in every once in a while to make sure the door is still open. I don't know how I ended up with a dog like this. 

P.S. If you're curious about the game I played with my nieces and nephews down in Vegas, check this out. More about that (& pictures) later... 

J.Crew has completely and totally brainwashed me.

First, they tracked me down somehow (2 1/2 years after I moved out of state) and mailed me a catalog. Then they included in said catalog a big photo shoot with Lauren Hutton. And then they had to throw in the comment that Lauren loved those matchstick jeans and took two pairs home with her.

It is NOT my fault that I bought those stupid skinny jeans yesterday. I'm telling you. Brainwashed.

WHY?