1.20.2010

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys.  If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.  ~Fyodor Dostoevsky

1.  Big Love-  Man, I love this show!  I don't have HBO at my house, but my folks do.  I got my fix last night.

2.  Roxanne "quick cuts"- My high school friend, Roxanne, is a hair stylist.  We were friends before in school, and now she cuts my hair.  You know what's the best about having a friend for a stylist???  They let you come in for quick fixes!  I have short hair, and it drives me NUTS when the short part in the back starts to grow and gets "puffy."  HATE IT!  Roxanne let's me swing by for quick five minute fix for $5!  If I didn't have Roxanne, I'd have to make an appointment for this silly minuscule fix, and pay someone $50 for it.  Pft!  Yay for Roxanne!

3.  Fred and Stella-  My mom and some ladies are on there way to Santa Fe for my Aunt's 60th birthday as we speak.  Also, my dad's out of town for work in Las Vegas.  This means I get the job of taking care of all their responsibilities while they're gone.  Yay....not.  That means Fred and I packed our bags to go stay over there for a couple days so we can take care of their dog, Stella, and my Aunt's dog, Gus...as well as taking care of Fred.  After a long day yesterday packing up my juicer, clothes, dog stuff, running stuff, and work stuff, I finally get over to my folks to find a big Labrador-size pee on the carpet.  Ugh!  I hate cleaning pee.  And Stella's a puppy, so she has no realization of body space, or anything like that.  It's impossible to drink your coffee in the morning without her literally trying to walk all over you face, spilling coffee all over yourself.  Fred doesn't understand how to play with other dogs; he's a tennis ball man.  Therefore, they just bark at each other thinking that's how you "play."  It's annoying.  So, I know this sounds like a whole big paragraph of gripes, but the point I'm trying to make, here, is that even though dogs can be a big pain in the ass sometimes, I still had two sleeping puppies who unconditionally love me at the foot of my bed keeping me company last night in that big old lonely house.  It hit me last night as I was telling them each "goodnight" before turning off the light that I wouldn't trade this nightly ritual, those two, or any pet, for anything. Pets make a house a home.

4.  Next Door Aunt-  As I mentioned above, my aunt's on this trip with my mom.  Therefore, I have to take care of her dog, Gus, too.  My folks live right next door to my Aunt Cindy.  There are many reasons why living next door to my aunt is awesome, but yesterday the one that stuck out the most was when I simply had to walk across the yard to feed Gus INSTEAD of driving across town to do so.  That made my evening so much less of an hassle.  Yay next door aunt!

5.  Signing up for a gym membership-  Honestly, I'm not sure if this will be a "like" or "gripe" in the future, but having this event in the mix of the day yesterday was nice.  I'm excited about having stronger legs for running (once I start using the weights), and access to a treadmill when it's wet and cold outside.  I get so anxious about signing up for stuff, and how this new expense will play out in my monthly budget, so actually DOING this yesterday was the final step in something I've been talking about doing for a while.  I'm glad it's done and over.  Next!