Red Velvet, Red Velvet, Let Reffie Get Older

My blog looks a bit lonely.  Oreo Cat is not being cooperative.  He's tired of writing.  He would rather eat, sleep, poop, and play with his favorite toys.  I think he fully understands how to be a cat.

I have a birthday coming up.  It has a zero in it so maybe I should do something special.  

Evil Twin is telling me that she has bribed the aliens to stay away on my special day but she is having some kind of problem with the robots.  I told her there are no robots to worry about. She just gave me that "you're an idiot" look.  She just watched the movie, I, Robot, and she is very impressionable.  I watched it, too.  DANG that Will Smith in his underwear!  He sizzles.

I don't know what I want to do to celebrate except that I want to make these RED VELVET COOKIES!  Hubby told me I could make them right now.  Why wait?

No, there will not be any left for any of you.

Sorry.

Not really.

Oh, BTW, I wrote a little story using five sentences with five words each.  I stole this idea from the Saturday Centus group.

 

The TV blares boring ads.

Why do we pay attention?

They numb us, closing minds.

Easy Zombie fodder, we are.

Fascinating, right?

"Evil Twin, quit snorting.  It's rude."

Spring has come early around here.  Bluebonnets are in full bloom and the irises are opening.  There are weeds everywhere.  I need your help pulling them.

 It's a bit wild right now but I don't want to mow the bluebonnets!

Oreo Cat surveys his wishful outside kingdom from the window.

If I see you out there pulling weeds, I'll save a cookie for you.

"Evil Twin!  Put that cookie down!"

Geek Survives Ides, Welcomes Spring, and Dreams of Nut Meat

Wow.  I found my blog!  Cool.

Spring has sprung here in Texas and Evil Twin and I are suffering from spring fever.  This fever must have affected my sleep patterns as my dreams have been incredibly strange lately.

One night I was having the typical "fear of failure" dream where I signed up for college courses, somehow forget to attend them, and it's time for the finals.  Ugh.  While I'm having this dream, I'm telling myself that I have this dream a lot.  Within this dream, I've lost my car in the parking garage.  I approach the stairs to go down to the parking area and when I emerge, I'm in a youth rally.  I repeat this process over and over again, visiting non-functional toilets along the way.

I finally got up and took care of some business in the loo and at least that non-functional toilet dream went away.  I don't know what to think about the other dream (s).  WAS it spring fever?  Or was it the wine?  Or was it the wine and the banana nut bread?

Ugh. Never again. Not a good mix (nuts).

Later in the week I noticed the conflict between my running shoes had escalated.   Sheesh.  You can't let them rest anywhere near each other without them fussing over who has the best heel or laces or shine or....

Big-Heel-Silver-Blue sticks out his tongue, 

mocking Shiny-Lower-Heel's attempts at punching.

HOLY KEEP YOUR LACES ON!  I wish they would get over themselves.

With all this craziness, I think I've lost my nutmeats gone nuts.  I received this photo in an email:

Yep.  That explains the lapses in thought and coordination I've been having.  I havn't gone "nuts".  I am nuts and I'm a light snack.

Sigh.

Or maybe it's just that my birthday is Wednesday.  

I've decided that I'll be 35 instead of quite a few years older than that.    You can do that, right?

Photo credits:  Shoe fight: Reffie,  Zombie Nuts:  Bent Objects

Geek to Prune in Only Three Days!

Oh my oh my.  I must learn to be careful what I say on Facebook.  I teased Mother Nature and once again she spat upon me.

No really.  She did.  All I did was notice the lack of wet cats and dogs pouring out of the sky with a relatively humorous post on Facebook:

"I want to know if you've ever seen the rain, I want to know if you've ever seen the rain, coming down on a sunny day." Hum.....how about "I want to know if you can send me some rain, I want to know if you can send me some rain, let it rain for awhile today." Please?

This post yielded the following comment and video link:

"LOL. I just viewed this video clip yesterday and sent it to some friends....check it out...."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHIop4mhRro

I know that ALL of you looked at the video, right?

Then, the following day, Mother Nature opens a cloud and lets me have it.  She kept this up all weekend.  Rain, rain, freakin' rain.  That WITCH!

Actually, I was glad to see it.....for awhile.

The folks out at the Texas Motor Speedway weren't too happy, though.  The big race, scheduled for Sunday, was postponed due to the uncalled for emptying of Mother Nature's stomach contents.  The event is re-scheduled for this afternoon.

Later this afternoon, I will step outside and listen for the horses circling the track.

Sorry.  I mean race cars.  That's horse power, right?

Lucky me.  I'm only a few miles, as the crow flies, from the racetrack. 

I was at a swim clinic this weekend. I spent four hours shivering in the pool Saturday and another three with chattering teeth on Sunday.  I feel like a dried plum, a perfect prune marinated with chlorine, served with an essence of oak pollen. 

My instructor was a fun guy and I laughed at a few of the phrases he used often during our workshop:

Arm next to your ear hole!

   Excuso?  The WHAT hole?

(Oh.  I get it. Arm next to your ear. Hee hee.)

Looking at bandaids and hairballs!

Ew.

(In other words,  head should be down, in line with the spine, looking at the bottom of the pool, or even towards your belly, instead of up or at an angle.)

I want to see butt cheek and upper thigh.

Sheesh. What a pervert.  

(No.  Not really. He was looking for balance and proper rotation during a skating drill.)

It was a great workshop. There were only five of us so we got plenty of attention.  The instructor filmed multiple videos of us swimming both days so you really got to see what you were doing/not doing.  I made some progress and I have things to focus on at the pool. 

Earlier in the week, I went out in the yard to take a few more photos.

My columbine is already blooming! 

If you click to enlarge, you may see the second columbine trying to push its way through.

I'm proud of these white irises for brightening up the yard once the oak trees came out and hogged the sunshine:

Enjoy!

Of Winds and Wings and Bluebonnets!

This week the winds of March have not only arrived but settled in nicely.  DANG IT!  Why can't they get the month right?  I go out for a run and come back in covered in dirt.  A squirrel tried to bury nuts in me.

Ew.  That sounded awful, didn't it?

Don't answer that.

Earlier in the week, Evil Twin handed me some wings and was trying to teach me to fly.  She told me I was a kite.

I couldn't quite get the hang of running and flapping and I kept kissing the ground causing Evil Twin to break out in uncontrollable spurts of laughter.  Sheesh!  It wasn't THAT funny.

To distract her, I let her play with the garden tools in the shed while I got some yard work done.

If it's April, it must be time for bluebonnets.   South Texas wins again this year for bluebonnet beauty but D/FW is starting to show some color.  Personally,  I think our seeds blew down south last fall, or maybe it was the migrating gnomes that pooped them out on their way to Mexico.

I'm happy I have a few a diva that somehow managed to survive over the winter.  I found this little guy trying to nap (or hide from Cat) in my pretty blue Lupinis texensis (click to enlarge and get the full benefit of Reffie aiming the camera).

Then I walked out to my shade bed in the back where I'm trying some new ground cover and look what I found:

OK.  I'm impressed.  Not only is it alive, it bloomed. 

 

Best of all, it's baseball season!  That's right.  Another season of Hubby cursing at the TV when our local team pitches batting practice for the other team during the game.   

I think the Texas Rangers are currently in last place.

Sigh.

Have a bloomin' good weekend!

It's Bullocks and Discombobulation!

It was just another week in paradise or maybe it was in Geekville.  I can't remember.  I do know that it is Friday, the weather is gorgeous, and a busy weekend awaits!

The rude and obnoxious alarm goes off this morning making its usual repetitive chirping noise.  Hubby stirs and then lets out a big bear groan.  Unfortunately, I don't think he was awakening from a dream involving the potentially available Sandra Bullock.   I reminded Hubby that it was Friday and the bear calmed and started to purr. 

Yes, I know that bears don't purr but maybe they vibrate when they sigh.  Hubby did get up leaving me for another hour of precious snore time.

Then, Ms. Spring redeemed herself.  I woke up feeling all out of sorts.  I didn't sleep well.  Hum....maybe I was wrestling Sandra Bullock for my husband's attentions.

Anywhatsit, I felt discombobulated, my head no longer attached to my body but floating around like a gaseous ghost high on paint fumes.

Driving to work, I was greeted with this, which only intensified my out of body experience:

Yeah, I WISH!  Those are from Yellowstone, courtesy of rickz on flickr.com but our local ponds were steamy and with pink and orange from the morning sun, I now know what SERENITY looks like!

And me without me camera.

For shame.

I'm better now.  My class is done.  Nobody died and my CPR skills were not needed.  PHEW!    My swim is over.  I'm glad I did it even though I felt every inch of the pool and was struggling with my breathing.  I took a few shots of chlorinated water when the guy in the next lane started his butterfly stroke.   

Thanks, Dude.  That's not the drink I really wanted.   Could you have gotten me a coffee or at least a green tea?

This swimmer attended my class prior to his swim so we know each other.  I think he may have been picking on me or paying me back for that last set of push-ups.

Sigh.

In other goofiness,

One of the swimmers in the recent triathlon mentioned she was going to wear a swim cap to keep her hair dry.

Um, no Sweetie. It doesn't work that way.  I certainly wish it did.

A friend of mine was almost stopped in the middle of a half marathon BY A TRAIN CROSSING!

What idiot designed THAT route?

A woman leaves her baby in her SUV to avoid it being repossessed.

Words cannot describe....

People make such great blog fodder.

Have a great weekend!

Ms. Spring, You Owe Us an Apology!

While folks up north and to the east enjoyed our warm Texas weather this past weekend, spring came to north Texas with an attitude, or a hangover, or both.  It must have been some party Ms. Spring attended.  

We had rain, and some more rain, and then snow, and some more snow.   Also, saying that we had a bit of a breeze would be an understatement.  The squirrels adapted by sprouting wings.  They gracefully flew through the trees when they were brave enough to come out of hiding.  Rabbits were getting a little extra air on their hops, easily avoiding Cat while he slept on a warm binkie snuggled up next to me in the warm house.  

Hum...maybe my twisted view of local "wildlife" was caused by a different kind of hops.

Although the snow blew away by mid-afternoon on Sunday,  there was enough of it in some areas to cause some serious issues with our roads. Texans with spring fever hit by a freak snowstorm in the dark is not a good mix.  It would be similar to rednecks in tuxedos singing opera.

Yeah.  I know. That's enough whining.  It's Texas.  The weather changes quickly.

TODAY IS BEAUTIFUL!  I'm having a bit of an issue with lead foot.  I have to drive through numerous 30-mile zones to get to my part-time job and I try to keep it under 40.  I'm having a hard time today.

Maybe I was in a hurry to get home and write this post.  

I know I was in a hurry to get out of the cold water at the gym.  Maybe Ms. Spring left some of her blasted frigid white stuff in the pool?

Sheesh!  I did a lot of full-stroke swimming this morning eliminating some of the drills that I normally do because they don't keep my heart rate up high enough to stay warm. 

Yeah.  I know.  I'm whining again.  LOL.

Have a happy Monday!

I have some photos from my St. Patrick's Day Triathlon.  Enjoy!

 Slithering up the ladder

 Loving the sunshine

 Where's the finish line?

 Satisfied finisher!

Photos:  Your Sporting Image by Karen Thibodeaux, purchased by Reforming Geek

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

Uh huh.  If you believe that,  for only $19.99, you, too, can have this adorable beast to keep you warm on these chilly spring nights:

 Don't EVEN think about it.

Um....Reffie, that thing doesn't look very friendly.  It looks more like me when I have PMS.

Yeah, well.  He is what he is and he just puked so get over it already.  I'm going on with today's post, 'K?

Suit yourself.

I know you are probably tired of me talking about awards.

My apologies.

SNORT!

Give me a break!  I'm trying to keep their attention for a few more minutes.

...

If someone takes the time and effort to give me blog bling, I want to take the time to thank them for it.  I know I'm slow to do this sometimes and for that, I really am sorry!

I received the Sunshine Award from a relatively new-to-me blogger Ivy over at Unscriptedlife.com:

What a sweetheart she is.  Her multi-featured site has uplifting offerings of humor and inspiration.  It's just what you need to start or finish your day. Please visit her and leave witty comments from all of your personas.

What?  You mean most of you don't have multiple personas?

Oh.

Momma told me there would be days like this...

Anyway, I'd like to spread some sunshine to some of you northerners.  May this burst of orange bring you warmth and awaken you from your long hibernation:

Michiganer Collette, from My Babcia's Babushka

Mainah Deb, from Debbie Does Drivel

Upstate New Yorker No-Cats-Lady Larew, from How to Become a Cat Lady Without the Cats

With a little sunshine and a little spring in my step, I leave you this white delight from my neighbor's yard:

Although we are expecting a chilly weekend, spring is upon us!

Photos:  Reforming Geek (Reffie)