Omigosh! It's Thursday!

Holy cow people. It's been, like, two weeks since I last posted and that is mainly due to the fact that I had way better things to do than sit around and try to be all witty and charming on the internet. What is better than wit and charm on the internet, you ask?

WELL.

How about extreme tubing? Or watching bad chick flicks in the car with Armini's sister during a 9 hour car ride? What about making smores over a campfire next to a lake in Minnesota where Armini's family has so graciously allowed me to come and join in the family not once but twice (and the only reason it wasn't 3 times is because my own family guilted me into spending the 4th with them in Ohio last year. LAME.)

(Just kidding. I love my family. However, there isn't much extreme tubing going on in Ohio and I missed it. A lot.)

So, if you found your way over here last week because of a certain Item! Wednesday post made by one of my most favoritest bloggers evar Havi Brooks (seriously, I almost ran around the office in a fit of pure joy when I read it Wednesday morning), I would like to say WELCOME! My Sad Little Ghost and I are not at all sad that you are here and we hope that you will stick around. And just for the record, his ego has swelled a bit since we checked the analytics and the pages that mention him are now the top viewed content. He would like to say, "Thanks for making me popular!"

And for my 3 regular readers: I know what you came here for. And I will not disappoint you. I hope.

Things I've Learned Thursday #3
The Uber-Fun Two Week Edition
{ta-da!}

1. How to get my blog back into Google's Index. Exciting!! Now, I can finally start playing that super fun game where you look at the ridiculous phrases that people use to get to your blog. Literally, I cannot wait.
2. Uncle Bob is the most crazy extreme tube driver alive. My shoulders hurt for two days afterward. And: it was Totally Worth It.
3. If you should ever decide that your tiny dog isn't snuggling you as much as you would like, I believe I have found the solution: just leave them with your parents for a few days until they are convinced that you will never come back for them. When you do ... Snuggle Party!!
4. Sometimes making the right decision for you (personally, at this time in your life) is hard. But you know what's harder? Taking the decision and then making it a reality in your life. I have found that it comes with a lot of guilt, and bad feelings, and stress and stomach upset (for real).
   
5. Even though I hate McDonald's radio commercials, the one with the rapping snack wrap cracks me up. However, I think that may be because it reminds me of Doctor Evil rapping in Austin Powers [I can't remember if it was 2 or 3].
6. Not running for two weeks and then trying to get back into the swing when your half marathon is less than a month away and you still haven't run a whole 13.1 miles yet is probably the stupidest thing that anyone could ever do. I have found that it comes with a lot of bad feelings, and stress, and stomach upset (for real).
   

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July. Did anyone learn anything good?

Things I've Learned Thursday

Holy Cow! It's Thursday again already. And look! I'm making my second Things I've Learned Thursday post! Aren't you just so impressed/proud of me?

Truth be told, I have been waiting for this day all week. So ... there's a chance that this really could be something that happens forever. But then again, this could be last one you'll ever see. Don't get too attached people - you've been warned.

Things I've Learned Thursday #2
{ta-da!}

1. I might have a roommate! To live with! In the future! Isn't that neat? I think so!
2. Being a grown up is still pretty lame (but it's getting better all the time).
3. I am really excited for football season to start (it may have something to do with my irrational desire for winter to get. here. already.) because I saw the Miller Lite ad where the bartender lady is poring a beer into a glass and there is football commentary playing in the background (I tried to find it on You Tube with no luck) the other day and got goosebumps.
• On a related note, I might be turning into a dude. I'll keep you posted on that one.
4. Hilda is 100% officially engaged (never mind that they had the wedding location and date set before he gave her the ring) and I don't even get to be in the room with her when she says "I do". SAD FACE/temper tantrum.
   
• On a related note, does anyone out there know a spy or ninja? I really need some help getting into a wedding I'm not invited too.
• And just so you don't think that my BFF is actually a bee-atch, the only people who will be in the room when she says "I do" are the parents and siblings. They're going to throw a huge reception bash that everyone ever is going to be invited too. At least I have free booze and dancing my face off to look forward too, right?

Woo-Hoo! Another Thursday, another few things learned. Tantrums were thrown. Dudification took place. And the hunt is on for someone to get me into that wedding (seriously).

What did you learn this week?

GiST 16/365

#1. When I got in my car this morning, Sexual Healing was on the radio. Truly, a great way to start the day.

#2. Practicing some awesome procrastination annihilating tactics.

#3. Laughing really hard at The Daily Show and The Colbert Report over lunch and having Armini laugh at me because I'm laughing so hard. It was fun and felt really good.

#4. Convincing myself that being dizzy from the oppressive heat in my office after the air stopped working (for the second day in a row) is really fun and that it's just like being on a carnival ride.

#5. Looking around Etsy trying to find the perfect straw hat for the summer.


Visit Grace in Small Things

GiST 15/365

Because my head is about to spin around Exorcist style if I don't take a second that stop thinking about all the bad things that are happening in my life the challenges that I'm dealing with right now.

#1. The eye drops that the vet gave me for Bing are doing exactly what they are supposed to do (this means fewer vet visits going forward, which, seriously, is totally awesome).

#2. Even though they are half a country away from me, I have some of the best friends that ever existed. (I'm looking at you Hilda and Ashley)

#3. SuperMama didn't yell at me in the frustrated voice-mail she left me yesterday (and I could tell that she wanted too). It's like she knew that my head was going to pop off if she did. I love my mom.

#4. Being pro-active about making meaningful changes in my life (no matter how small) that will hopefully lead me to long lasting (and, as far as I'm concerned, well deserved) happiness.

#5. Last night while watching Doubt with Armini, I recognized the old nun who was going blind as the same lady that played the librarian in the opening scene of Ghostbusters (it's true. He made me look it up to prove it.) Who's the film major now, be-atch?


Visit Grace in Small Things

PS - Armini: while I may have super-awesome, actress spotting and recognizing abilities I still recognize that you are the film major of the apartment. For now.

Things I've Learned Thursday

I think this might be something that I do every week as a chance to look back and think about what I have learned about life over the past 7 days. And I here-do by solemnly swear that not all of the them will be mopey and depressing things (and if they are mopey and depressing things I will do my best to make my misery something that we can all laugh about). However, there's a good chance that I'll forget so it may be something that happens every other Thursday. Or maybe once a month. Or, if we're being honest with each other, you may never read another Things I've Learned Thursday post again.

And now that you have absolutely no expectations of me, let's get to the meat of the matter:

Things I've Learned Thursday #1
{ta-da!}

1. Oreos are best when consumed in groups of 3, 4, or 5 (and sometimes, when the occasion calls for it, 12). Extra deliciousness points are awarded if you are eating them after a good run where you're knees weren't screaming bloody murder the whole time (yay!)
2. Being a grown-up is, at times, the absolute lamest thing in the world. I can't believe that when I was little I actually couldn't wait until I was a grown-up.
   
3. How to embed a You-Tube video! It was awesome. Also, it was a total accident that I'm not sure I will ever be able to recreate. Sad face.

And that's all that I have for you today. Three little things. Three little not depressing or mopey things. And those three little things were quite a bit harder to think of than you might think. I think.

So, what about you? Did you learn anything this past week? Tell me about it! Or if you would rather, write your own What I've Learned Thursday post on your blog and then I'll link to it here. I promise that it will be awesome. Hooray for interactive posts!

Making Hairy Buts Cry is More Fun than you Might Think

Have you ever had a moment (I know, there I go again with the Moment thing - only this time I'm talking about a moment in time not necessarily a Moment in time. Does that make sense? Um ... moving on.) where you walk into [a place], in this case it's my bedroom, and wonder how in the hell you let [that one thing that you always say you're going to do/take care of but never really get around too] get so out of hand, in this case it's the fact that I never clean, that you can feel the vein in your forehead start to throb a little?

No? Is that just me?

This is one of those days where I can hear my Sad Little Ghost screaming at me to get off of my butt and just do something about it.

And I think I may have figured out what was standing between me and my Sad Little Ghost all that time ... I think it's a Big, Ugly, Hairy But, BUHB for short (you can visualize that however you would like).

As I sit here, thinking about it, a whole bunch of Big, Ugly, Hairy Buts are rolling around in my head trying to block out my Sad Little Ghost and his wailing of "Clean your space! Free your mind! Put the vein in your forehead back where it belongs!".

• There's the "But I have to take the dogs to obedience classes tonight" BUHB
• There's the "But I need to spend time working on my budget tonight after obedience class" BUHB
• There's the "But if I put in a load of laundry before I leave for obedience class, it will sit there forever and then it will mildew/piss off another resident and prompt a passive aggressive note that will make me feel bad" BUHB
• There's the "But I won't have time to do my yoga tonight if I start this now" BUHB
  
• And there's the "But I need to blog about this more than I need to actually do something about this" BUHB (which is not only my personal favorite but also what is really happening right now ... sad)

Too bad my BUHB-es (that's the plural, you know) don't know that I still have another 45 minutes before I have to leave for obedience classes tonight, which should give me just enough time to walk the dogs (very quickly), fold the towels and sort the laundry so that when I get back and I do a load and do my yoga at the same time - gasp! shock! awe!

I have to say that I usually don't like to make people/things/figments of my imagination cry, but the vein in my forehead sure does relax a lot when it see my BUHB-es weeping like little babies.

To the folding!

My First Conversation with my Sad Little Ghost

(Just so you know, I originally wrote this post on June 4th but for some reason never hit publish. It's the conversation I had as a result of discovering my Sad Little Ghost in this post here.)

This Scene: It's about 10:00, I'm in bed about to fall asleep when I realize that I still haven't taken the time to talk to my Sad Little Ghost.

ME: I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to talk to you today.
SLG: It's alright. You need your rest (he pats my head).
ME: What? But ... Why are you being so nice about this if I've made you so sad? Now that I know you're here, don't you want to talk about it?
SLG: Well, yes. But I don't want you to lose sleep over it. You know that I'm here, and that's enough for today.

From this very short snippet of conversation I learned a few things about my Sad Little Ghost and his (yes, it's a he) existence in my universe:

#1. My Sad Little Ghost isn't haunting me because he wants me to feel bad about myself. It's a Sad Little Ghost because he's just trying to get me to the things that he knows (and for that matter, I know) would make me happy in the long run. He's sad because I don't listen to him.

#2. There is another something in my universe that was standing in front my Sad Little Ghost; blocking him from my view, making sure that I wasn't paying attention when my Sad Little Ghost would try to speak to me through Armini or SuperMama (or for that matter, anyone who would try to talk to me about this stuff). Something that was providing me with the excuses and tools to think that I was happy not listening to these things. I don't know what this something is quite yet ...

#3. My Sad Little Ghost is very nice and sweet and way, way, way smarter than me. I think that we are going to besties. Especially since he lets me sleep even when we really do have a lot to talk about and catch up on. And plans to make.