So, um....pretty much the only thing I've seen on my friends page about the LJ-Strike is how frackin' dumb it is. Honestly, the only thing that irked me about the recent controversy was the censoring of the "popular interests" page (I am, after all, a bisexual who thinks faeries are pretty and likes boys and girls), but they had already fixed that before I even heard anything about the strike.

I dunno, maybe it's because I've had a paid account since about my second day on livejournal, but whatev. Strike on, strikers. Strike on.

In real news, remember how I gave you all permission to jump for joy about spring again? Well, I take it back. The first day of spring brought with it a blasted Winter Storm, and now all my green babies are hidden under a blanket of cold, white, devil spawn. Although the ultra-confused look on Sadie's face when she saw the snow this morning made it almost worthwhile. Almost.

So, those of you that have posted about getting things started in your gardens, and about sunburns, and how you've been hiking, and how nice it is outside, and how YAY SPRING and all that stuff?

Have a little respect.

Some of us still have a foot of snow on the ground.

*pouts*

Yesterday was glorious. GLORIOUS!!

I didn't have to work, and the weather was perfect. Emily came over, and we completely re-did the rock border along the garden that spans the length of my backyard to incorporate the big pile of holy boulders that I scavenged last year. If you know me, you know that a day that involves Emily, sunshine, and playing with rocks, is heaven.

I got a nap in during the afternoon, had a sweet rehearsal with my band (we wrote our second original song!), and then went and had a glass of wine at a schwanky martini lounge that a friend's jazz trio was playing at.

Delightful.

( In other news... )

Dear Wisconsin,

It is spring now. Enough with the snow already, eh?

None of my love,

Joella

There are green babies in my garden, and the sun is shining.

Happy Spring, everyone! :)

Like many of you, my weekend was filled with snow. There has been some form of precipitation nearly constantly since about 3:00pm on Friday. (Last I checked, it was of the freezing rain variety.)

Ryan decided to go out and shovel around 10pm Friday night, even though I informed him that by the next morning, we would have just as much snow as everyone else either way. (I was right, btw.) While he was shoveling, I was watching the local news, where they were reporting that some areas were having thunder and lightning with the snow, which is like, unheard of. I ran out to tell Ryan about it, at which point I took this ( picture ).

When he finished shoveling, we snuggled on the couch to start watching movies, (which we proceeded to do for the majority of the rest of the weekend) until we saw the first flash of CRAZY ASS INTENSE lightning followed by the first boom of CRAZY ASS LOUD thunder. At that point, we spent some time just marveling at the fact that it was snowing so hard that we couldn't see 2 feet in front of our faces while simultaneously THUNDERSTORMING.

Despite my strong aversion to all things winter-weather related, this was a moment where I was completely in love with weather in Wisconsin.

( The other thing I love about blizzards is... )

Am I the only grown adult who still acknowledges my Half-Birthday? I'm 27 1/2 today. 6 months from 28. w00t. I think once I hit 28, I'll have to officially claim my age range as "late twenties". As it stands, I still consider myself early-mid twenties. :x



I've owed dzuunmod interview answers for over a month now, and taterbug160 since last week.

( Interviews )

*blink*

The Winter Solstice is already upon us?

Christmas is in 4 days?

*blink*

Where did this month go? Screw that, where did this year go?

I'm just not feelin' the holidays this year. There's no snow on the ground, and as nifty as it is that it's warm enough to rain in December, I really do prefer a white Christmas. I didn't decorate my house nearly as much as I usually do, and I still have most of my holiday shopping left to do. Bah humbug.

Ryan will be hittin' the road within the hour for a jam-packed weekend of out of town gigs. He'll get home on Sunday, Christmas Eve, and we'll have to rush off to my mom's church (I hope I manage to get through the door without bursting into flames again this year) and then to her house for our annual festivities.

Last year, Ryan was gone on Christmas day for a gig. That was a little bit of a bummer, but since he and I normally have our celebration on the Solstice, it wasn't the end of the world. This year, he's gone for the Solstice, and I'm bummed. :( I'll be celebrating by my lonesome, I guess. He told me I should open my present even though he's gone. Ummm....NO. He wasn't supposed to get me anything anyway. My new coat and trip to Kansas were supposed to be my gifts. He's a stinker.

I haven't heard my favorite holiday song ONCE this year. Can't a girl get a little "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" to brighten her day? *sigh*

( In Other News )


Well, that was nice and whiney.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you're celebrating any holidays, I hope they're filled with love and joy.

I'm confused. When I left work last night, snow was falling, and had dropped a very thin blanket of white glittery-ness over everything.

This morning, no more glittery whiteness. Everything was brown again. It wasn't anywhere near warm enough between last night and this morning to melt anything, so what gives?

Winter is by far my least favorite of the seasons, but I always figure that if it's going to be THIS cold out, there may as well be a pretty layer of white sparkliness over everything, instead of all the brown. :(

My new coat can get here any time now, too!

*tracks package*

Oh good. It looks like it should get here before I leave for Kansas to visit adudeabides next week. (*SQUEE*)

Edit: 'cept it looks like it will be in the upper 40s when I'm there! Double Squee!

This weekend was weird. I guess they can't all be awesome.

( Cut for unpleasantness... )

On the up side, there was plenty of sunshine this weekend, and I spent lots of time soaking it up. Saturday brought a trip to the Crazy Farm. I brought Ed along, and when Ryan was done with work, he came out with Sally (the cute drummer girl). It was a gorgeous day, and a gorgeous night. The sunset was beautiful, and the starry-sky that followed was perfect as well. It was an extremely relaxing and pleasant day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been me trying to like, talk to some people.

Yesterday, Ryan and I took advantage of the nice weather and got some yard work done. There are still a TON of leaves on our big tree in the back yard, but I raked up those that have fallen so far, and dug up my calla lilies to preserve the bulbs over the winter, and did some weeding and such while Ryan disassembled the make-shift fence and piled up all the rocks from the border, to be re-arranged come spring.

Last night, Ryan and I tightened up the heads on our hand drums, and decided we need a djembe, so he's gonna price them out at work. Yay hippie drums! We drummed a little bit (damn, I'm rusty), and then put on some music and I taught him a couple of basic yoga poses, and we enjoyed stretchy goodness. He said he's be willing to try a yoga class, so I'm going to check into that. I pulled out my yarn and crochet hooks last night and started a scarf to get back into the groove. I want to get better at knitting this winter, too. I'm getting bored with crocheting!

Last night ended with some very nice, very connected, very tender love-making, so all's well that ends well. :)

Today's word of the day is "Cuntastic", brought to you by kitchenwitch's man, Matthew. I dare you to use it in conversation today. I plan to. (BTW, the word means TOTALLY AWESOME.)

(BTWX2, does Matthew have an LJ? Anyone cool enough to come up with the word "Cuntastic" needs to be on my friends list.)

I'm surprisingly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for only four and a half hours sleep. I guess being up until 2 am NOT drinking is better for the next day than being up until 2 am, well, drinking. Also, did you know that it's possible to go into a bar and not order a drink? I didn't. But now I do. It's far less expensive that way, too!

Ed & I hung out at his house for a bit last night, drinking hot cider (for which we were sad we had no brandy) and baking cookies. After taking Hayley for a walk, (Oh, how it broke my heart when he asked how much colder than this it gets in Wisconsin, and I had to answer "double digits below zero".) we went downtown to meet Ryan (who had just left, but then turned around and came back) to check out Ryan's cute drummer friend's band. She's really adorable and sweet, and it was only very mildly strange to see another woman being all playful and cute with my husband.

We haven't turned on the furnace yet, so we let all 3 dogs sleep on the bed with us last night. There's a chance it was Deo's last night in our house, we'll see, but it was funny because Ryan and I were spooning, sandwiched between Deo on his side, and Anka and Sadie on my side. Ryan observed "If either of us wants to roll over, we're screwed." It was nice and toasty, though!

Okay, I only have to be at work for three more hours, so I should probably be productive now. Have a great weekend, all y'all.

That white stuff hitting my windshield was not snow.

Really, it wasn't.

It wasn't snow. It couldn't have been.

IT. WAS. NOT.

This past weekend was the third awesome weekend in a row. When did I start having such fun weekends? No wonder you people always look forward to them so much. They rock!

The weekend actually started off Friday afternoon with a minor medical scare for Ryan. He came in to the clinic, and was worried and scared, so he wanted me to go in with him. I got to watch another woman (of the doctor-ly variety) stick her finger in his butt. I guess he hasn't been putting me on all this time when he says he's REALLY not into that. :x Turned out it was nothing serious, thank goodness.

( Read more... )

Yeep! That got really long!

As we drove out of town this weekend, we noticed the leaves are already starting to turn to vibrant shades of red and yellow.

When we pulled up to the house yesterday in the chilly rain, I saw leaves from our own tree on the ground.

Today, in more chilly rain, I'm catching up on my friends list wearing a sweater, with two huge pots of chili simmering on the stove. (Super-Spicy for me, Not-so-Super-Spicy for Ryan.)

I don't care what the calendar says. It's fall in joellacritterland.

And I'm actually kind of happy about that for a change.



Edit: This means I get to pick out and plant new tulips soon! w00t!

-Started drinking at 8 am.
-Got to meet and hang out with iam_misbehaving, who took lots of probably awesome pictures!
-Saw lots of Ryan's family that we don't get to see often.
-Watched the guys put on an AWESOME show.
-Got DRENCHED, windblown, and hailed on in the severe storms that slammed us shortly after the guys got done playing.
-Had an interesting bus ride home, with everyone (including me) shedding as many articles of wet clothing as possible.
-Stopped at a bar half way home and watched various band members/groupies sing bad karoake.
-( cut for sexual content )

I'm going to lose it if the sun doesn't shine its face upon mine SOON.

Yesterday was a lovely day, so I spent the majority of it out working in my yard. Yard/Garden clean-up 2006 is nearly complete. My spring/summer/fall 3 inch strip of sun tan/burn right above my butt crack is already in full effect. :)

I was thrilled yesterday to find (  that my first tulip had bloomed. )

If you know me, then you know that ( THIS ) makes for a very happy hippiecritter.

My father in law informed that a guy down the alley from him had a pile of rocks out behind his house that he needed to get rid of, and maybe I was interested? Um...Hello?! Is rain wet? I will be interested in piles of rocks that people need to get rid of until the day I die. There are still more for me to go back and get, including one I need help with, because it's too big and heavy for me to lift myself. (And believe me, I tried.)


Stuff that made my day totally awesome:

1. Today was my half day at work. Done at 11:30, baby!

2. See "rock pile" blabbering above.

3. Got to chat with adudeabides for about 10 seconds on a chat program I didn't really know how to use. Even 10 seconds of interaction with him brightens my life.

4. It was easily the most GORGEOUS day so far this year.

5. I wore a tank top outside, and didn't freeze!

6. I had to put sunscreen on my tattoos, since I was going to be outside playing/working in the yard/garden for HOURS!!

7. I got to play/work in the yard/garden for HOURS!!

8. Emily stopped by to check out the bathroom and the rock pile. (hugs emily)

9. Playing with the dogs outside.

10. Ryan is at the store buying charcoal, so we can grill out! Yummeh!


So, yeah. It's a good day in joellacritterland. Hugs and good wishes to all y'all.

Not only does no one in the tri-state area have school today, but I got sent home from work!

They called a "Code Grey" at the clinic, which means all staff who are non-essential for patient care (That would be me!!) have to hit the road. You'll hear no complaints from me on that.

So, a few minutes ago, there was a knock on my door. I opened it up to four rosey cheeked little boys asking "Can we help you with your snow?". My first thought was that even if they shovel now, with the amount of snow coming down, I won't even be even to TELL that they shoveled an hour from now, but I just smiled and said "Sure! What's your price?" They asked if 2 Quarters each would be too much. I said "Why don't you go ahead and get started, and I'll see if I can do better than that."

I came back out with a dollar and a quarter for each of them, and they looked like they'd won the lottery.

Now, the length of sidewalk in front of my house is...oh...maybe 30 feet long? (I'm guessing) With four of them shoveling, it took all of about three minutes, so I'd say they got paid pretty well for their time. Maybe they'll come back when the snow's done falling and finish up, lol.

The temperature is supposed to fall to 39 degrees by dinnertime. Yikes!

Even in the afternoon sun, the chill of fall is in the air. I'm trying SO hard to embrace it, and not think about the fact that it means winter will be here, like, TOMORROW and stay until, like, JULY! The trees are starting to turn all sorts of lovely autumn shades. That part I really appreciate. I'm always awed by the beauty of the bluffs in the autumn. They're stunning!

Soon, it will be time to purchase mass quantities of hot cocoa mix. *sigh*

I came home from DC with a souvenir of a total of 6 blisters on my feet. (Walking around in new shoes all over the city. Duh.) I thought today would be a good day to start wearing shoes with backs on them again. I was wrong. I've been wearing shoes with out backs, clogs and sandals and such, and I thought I was healed up well enough to go with actual shoes. Mistake. It’s a good thing I'm not on my feet much today!

My current assignment for work is to get one of our regional vision centers up on our scheduling/registration/billing software. For some reason, they're unable to convert all the info from the system they're currently using to the "new" system. This means we have to re-book all the patients from Monday into the future manually.

So...I'm sitting at an extra computer in an Ophthalmologist’s office booking away. He's very friendly, and occasionally engages me in conversation. (Much more friendly than most of the doctors at the main clinic, which is quite refreshing!) He's also doing dictation for his patients, and occasionally I forget that, and he'll start speaking (into the dictation recording thingamajig) and I'll be like "Pardon?", then he has to pause to tell me he's dictating and then go back and figure out where he left off. But he's really nice, so it's not irritating him at all. (Or at least, if it is, he's not showing it.)

He dictates in a hushed tone that sounds almost sexy. Words like "macular degeneration" and "retina" and "glaucoma" have never sounded so provocative. ;)

In other news...Ryan had a good time with the ex last night. I was in bed when he got home, but he said that it was really nice to see her and catch up with her, and that now it's "out of his system". Whatever that means? He also said it made him realize how much he loves me and how perfect I am for him. *swoon*