Saturday, October 20, 2007

Update this blog! As dear Maxine would say. I lied, the inappropriate crush rages clumsily on. My poker face is being perfected. It's so painful. And now he has a girlfriend that he talks about. And even more painful, I ended up giving her a piece of furniture without knowing I was doing that... I couldn't get rid of some of my stuff in the yard sale, and nobody seemed to want it on craigslist. But as soon as you say, "FREE!" everybody wants it. So I sent an email around work asking if anyone wanted my old dresser or vanity. And he took me up on the vanity, and told me later that it was for his new girlfriend. My vanity -- the one I painted purple myself -- symbol of youth and beauty that I'm now unloading as I turn 50 and realize I don't want it any more because it makes me feel foolish and old -- goes to the girlfriend of the young guy I have the inappropriate crush on. Ouch. Another new guy at work with a new baby took the cute dresser and said his wife loved it. Well, I scored some points with peeps at work and that never hurts anything. Except in this case my poor ego. I made it through my colonoscopy OK, no polyps found. It was weird though. I've never been in a hospital before for any procedure. The facility I went to is amazing. Everything was new and high-tech. They whisked me into the prep room and did a lot of paperwork, asked a lot of questions, briefed me and got me all outfitted with a patient ID bracelet. I realized that they do this so that patients can't be mixed up or receive the wrong treatment. The things you read about hospitals these days are frightening. I am lucky to be able to go to this state-of-the-art facility. They put me on a gurney and wheeled me into the procedure room. The doctor said a few things to me and then the nurse injected my IV with a sedative, which worked immediately. I was unconscious throughout, and when I woke up back in the prep room, I was surprised when they told me it was all over. I didn't really believe it. They made me come with someone else who was to drive, but I didn't feel out of it at all. I could have easily driven home. They have those drug dosages figured out perfectly, to last only as long as they need it to. Amazing. The entire experience, including the laxative business the day before, was much less difficult than other people had led me to believe. So if anyone out there is worrying about their colonoscopy, don't. It's really not that big of a deal. You have to drink lots of this liquid stuff and take a laxative, which makes you poop water all night and cleanses your colon. People make it sound like a horrible ordeal but it really isn't that bad. It's like having the runs real bad when you go to Mexico but without the cramps and other bad symptoms. It ain't nothin. And my home improvement projects have grown in scope and expense, much more than I had imagined they would. I didn't think I'd get into this so deeply but the more I did, the more I wanted to do. After dealing with yet another unreliable drunk handyman (this time my next-door neighbor, who I was trying to be nice to by giving him some work), I did some shopping around and interviewing and found a guy who said he could work sober and wasn't flakey about time commitments. He came right over and really got a lot of stuff done for me. It was great. He's coming back tomorrow and going to help out again. He's a big middle-aged schlub with a family to feed and he works weekends to make ends meet. A nice east-coast guy with a baseball fetish who is really into the Rockies. All the baseball guys around here are going nuts right now. Tomorrow we will finish most of the work I wanted to do, including painting the horrid little bathroom. I even decided to try and beautify the bathroom. It's going to be painted a caramel color. That's about the best I can do, repaint and get a new shower curtain. There's not much to work with in there. But it should make things a little less horrid. And we will install the new window coverings in the bedroom, which has been completely overhauled, with all new furniture and mattresses. I totally love it. I was so sick of my ratty, shabby place. It just feel so much better to be home and not be driven crazy looking around at all the projects I wanted to do but didn't feel I had the energy to. I just suddenly got up off my tush and decided to do ALL of it. It has taken much longer than I thought it would but the change is amazing. And I took my dog to day care and he doesn't like it. He's lonely but not for other dogs. They told me he doesn't socialize. He only wants his mommy. I am still so in love with my dog it's insane. I'm just so happy to have someone to love. He's so smart he's like a little furry person. I told him last night that he's a person and he licked me lovingly. Today I had my hair cut and at the salon someone's Great Dane was relaxing on the fabulous 50s kidney shaped couch. What a noble beast. I had to wait a few minutes before my stylist was ready for me so I sat down beside "Otis" and made friends with him. His legs were just as long as mine. He was a big sweetie. Then I went shopping down the avenue, into all the cute little boutiques that have sprung up downtown in the last couple of years, none of which I'd ever set foot in before. It was a fascinating excursion. I bought a few things. One shop was selling all fair trade goods, many of them made by women and kids in third world countries. They were also having a coffee and chocolate tasting! I sampled some and then bought some beans. When I got up to the front to pay, I noticed the cutest little "friendship" pins, three little female figures made of body shapes cut out of aluminum soft drink cans and wire coiled up to make arms and legs and heads. I thought how much my friend would like one of these. So I bought her one, feeling a little bit weird about it. "Why am I buying her a gift?" I wondered. Later tonight I went to a special event downtown that she organized and worked on very hard for a local nonprofit org. And I found out: today is her birthday. Before I left home for the event, I struggled with the idea of taking the gift to her. I thought, "No, don't take that now. She might think it's weird to give a gift for no reason and be uncomfortable or something." I'm glad I didn't bring it because the shock of showing up with a wrapped gift and then finding out it was her birthday might have been too scary. Anyway I told her about it and she laughed. I got to sit next to a politician I'd wanted to meet who's running for US congressional rep. She turned out to be a great gal, a regular person with a good sense of humor who made self-deprecating jokes, drank her wine and ate her dessert. I told her that for those reasons, she had my vote. I so can't stand those perfect women who never drink and pretend like they don't want dessert and act like they can't say anything funny out loud. Bores! While at the table she mentioned she thought that the problem with congress is that they're "compalcent." So I piped right up and said in a voice loud enough for everyone at the table (of 10) could hear: "Oh, you think that's all it is? I have a hard time believing that the problem with congress is mere complacency." Someone else said they agreed with me. I said "I think people in congress are being threatened and bribed." I think the gal I'll vote for and anyone else who wants to go up to DC to be in the congress is either really brave or really foolish -- or both. I do believe lots of those people are getting death threats, subtle and overt. I think that's what's going on. She'll find out... But anyone who finds out is sure not going to tell us. She's running for the seat that rep Mark Udall is currently holding, and he has stopped talking to constituents. He used to have town hall meetings but not any more. He won't talk to anybody. What's up with that? And our other new Dem senator, Salazar has disappointed the hell out of everyone, after that last bastard Nighthorse Campbell switched parties and we had to suffer six years with him, now we send up Salazar to fix things and he's going along with the administration on a lot of things. So what is up with this shit? Anyone who goes up there now ends up unresponsive and unaccountable. I was thinking to myself about the lady politician at dinner tonight: "If she goes up there, it will happen to her, too." I sneaked out of the event early because I was exhausted. I wanted to get home to my doggie, with whom I hadn't had much quality time today. He was really glad to see me, and did his little snorting dance that he does. His toenails click on the kitchen floor and I call him "Tap Dancer." 11:46:51 PM    comment []