bombs away

Lately, life has just been hurtling one bombshell after another at us. And so, an inordinate amount of time seems to be spent discussing how we deal with the stress.

How we do not, you know, go crazy.

(Note: Quite a bit of time is also spent discussing how we solve the actual problems too, mind you. But right now, as far as I'm concerned, the problems are on their own. I'm leaving them out in the cold, at least for the night. That oughta teach them a thing or three).

So, how do you deal with your stress?

This is how I deal with mine:

• Reading - I've devoured thousands and thousands of words in the last few weeks. Other people's problems are so much more interesting than mine.



• List-ing - I am an obsessive list-maker. I know that the sense of control it gives me is probably false. But, whatever.



• Buying things - OK, this is probably not a good solution - whether we're talking about that Lush splurge or just stocking up on Target brand toilet paper as if it were Y2K all over again.



• Eating - Again with the not-so-good solutions.



• Exercising -At least that sort of counteracts the eating problem.

Things I should be doing:

• Writing - Besides the work writing, I mean. Lately even my journal stays blank. It's like I'm afraid of the vast blankness of it all.



• Cleaning out the garage - I should know by now (and after 2 years in this house) that those boxes aren't going to unpack themselves.



• Cooking - Only, most days it takes all the energy I have just to open up that jar of peanut butter.

Here's to a four-day weekend. May I fight off the crazies with grace.

la la la

For the record, I, too, pretty much sobbed like a baby during last night's Gilmore Girls series finale.

Cried. Through. The. Whole. Episode.

I can't even blame it on hormones or anything. It's just that after last year's bummer of a season and then finally ramping back up to awesomeness this season, I found it very hard to say goodbye to a stupid TV show. A stupid TV show that I've watched for seven years and I guess I really do care about these two, totally made up people.

So sue me.

scrub, rinse, repeat

Sometimes when I'm staring down the barrel of my To-Do list, I long for the Zen simplicity of The Retro Houseweif Daily Cleaning Schedule.

Then I remember how much I hate to clean.

anatomy of a stupid show

The New York Times pretty much nails why I hate Grey's Anatomy.

I get irritated every time I even see a commercial for that show.

May, take 2....

Last week was on one of the worst on record.

This week has to be better, right?

I’ll just pretend it’s not going to be 90-plus degrees today

I bought tons of fresh fruit and veggies at the farmer’s market yesterday and practically gorged myself on ripe, sweet strawberries. I also made dark chocolate-cherry cookies.

Those two things alone have to point to signs of a better week, right? A better month than how we started? I mean, right???

no, really WTF?

So, seriously, Placerville. WTF?
Saturday night we headed up north to catch Kepi & Dan Janisch’s show at the Upstairs Gallery but we got there early so decided to bide our time in a nearby pub. Can’t remember the name of the place now, but it was about 5 storefronts down (past the Doggles place).

Seemed nice enough at first. The bartender was friendly and we found an empty line of barstools, ordered our drinks and set about to chatting.

Then Cory came back from the bathroom and reported on the swastika sign he saw above the door. OK, random enough. But then we noticed the inordinate number of skinheads in the bar. Again, could just be random. Could just be that fresh summer ‘do.

But then, mid-conversation as we (randomly) started talking about “Hustle & Flow,” some freak who was already breathing down our collective necks, dropped the N bomb.

And well. OK, time to go.

I heard the bartender apologize as we, en masse, placed our bottles on the bar and filed out. But I’m still not really sure what to make of that scene.

Then, post-show, we found another bar – on the same street but a ways down. Seemed OK at first even if the jukebox was stocked with excessive amounts of David Allen Coe. But then we noticed how everyone was seriously tweaking – this was clearly meth central. Nice. Finished our Bud Lights and high-tailed it outta Placerville.

Is Placerville really that way? I’ve never really spent much time there and now I’m thinking: So many cute little storefronts, so little chance I’ll ever want to go back. One nice thing, however, was the group of teenagers who just seemed to wander into the gallery apropos of nothing and then really enjoyed the show. So maybe Placerville isn’t any more screwed up than Sac – which of course on some nights, isn’t saying much.

Rest of the weekend was fabulous though. Seriously. The Haints CD release party at Capitol Bowl was super-fun and I didn’t mind spending $12 on a pizza that tasted like frozen Stouffers. We also did yard work, watched trashy TV, enjoyed some dinners out and basically just had the kind of weekend where you have a lot of fun but also get tons of stuff done and end up feeling like you’re capable of just about anything as long as it involves laundry and a Katie & Peter marathon.

Also: I danced my ass off at last night’s !!! show. Almost too awesome for words (the show, not my dancing, natch).