ALIENS ARE COMING TO EARTH FOR FRIDAY THE 13TH,

AND THEIR MISSION IS TO ABDUCT ALL GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY PEOPLE.

YOU GUYS WILL BE SAFE

I’M JUST POSTING THIS TO SAY GOODBYE.

Internet, I’ve flirted with a special kind of danger for years but today I full-on crossed over a line.

It started innocently enough.  You see, I had the day off from work because of the holiday, so I slept in until 10ish.  When I got up, I made it as far as the couch and decided to watch a movie I’d gotten from Netflix.  Made myself some ramen’s for lunch.  Watched another movie.  Graduated from my robe into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt around 4:30ish.  Moved back upstairs & watched yet another movie online with hubby.  A classic example of a slovenly existence, but neatly contained in our own private residence, so no big deal, right?

But then we had to make a quick run to Fred Meyer to pick up a couple of things, and I just couldn’t dredge up enough energy or motivation to put myself together properly, so instead, I (gulp) threw my un-showered self into some jeans, yanked my hair back into a clip, put on shoes with no socks and went out into PUBLIC.  With no makeup, no deoderant, unplucked, and unkempt. 

Oh yes…yes, I did! 

I think my only saving grace is that I remembered to put on a bra.  (TMI, I know..sorry). 

And you know, I figured eventually illness, childbirth – or even old age & indifference might bring me to a day like this, but I had no such excuse tonight.  I was just feeling extraordinarily lazy.

And as my title suggests, it’s a slippery slope.  Where does it go from here? 

Is this my future??

Could this be what hubby & I go out in for our next Anniversary?

So I stop off at Starbucks this morning to grab a cupp-a-joe for myself and a co-worker.  Innocent enough start to the day, right? 

I pull into the parking lot and deliberately choose a parking space with several empty spaces surrounding it.  This particular lot has very small parking stalls and I’ve learned to be sensitive about door dings – and how easy it is to both give and receive them.  (Aren’t you proud honey!?)

I run inside, have a delightful repartee with the barista and return to my car to find that someone has pulled in on the drivers side of my vehicle…with 4 empty spaces to the left of my car to choose from!  A lone female, chatting up someone on her cell phone, has parked close enough that I’m almost forced to door ding her car just to get in my own!

What is up with this – is it just me? 

Because I’m open to that possibility. 

Really – maybe I’m just overly sensitive about space?

I have the similar issues with someone coming into a large public bathroom and picking the stall right next to me, even though there are dozens of other empty ones to choose from.  It’s just so very, very wrong.

Does this make me anti-social?  Unfriendly?  Stuck-up?

Don’t answer that.

Maybe therapy is the answer.

I picked up a new book at the library a couple of weeks ago, and finally had a moment to flip through it this weekend:

10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget was compiled by the writers of Wise Bread – a personal finance blog/community. I visited their website for the first time over the weekend and it was actually pretty decent. If nothing else, I appreciated the wide variety of resources that they offered. I also appreciated a few tips I picked up, including how to make my own hand sanitizer, linen spray and “body ointment” (similar to body butter).

I know the very idea of me making these products causes my hubby to cringe, but I just can’t help it! I’m inexplicably drawn to the idea of homemade household and beauty supplies. If you think about it, the vast majority of these types of products have only been in existence for the last 80 years or so. Which might sound like forever, but in the vast history of the world, it’s really just a drop in the bucket. Women have been making their own cleaning and beauty supplies for centuries. And don’t get me wrong, I am not at all opposed to modern day conveniences, and there are certain things even I wouldn’t attempt to make on my own (toliet paper, anyone?) However, when I research the basic ingredients of many common household products, I’m amazed at how many things we’ve become accustomed to purchasing under the premise of “needing” them, versus having them as a convenience. In a time when most people are pinching pennies and watching their budgets like never before, it just seems to be appropriate to question some of those practices that have become habit.

Case in point: I’ve been making my own laundry soap for about 6 months now, and I love it. It’s cheap, it’s easy and our clothes are still clean. What more can you ask for? Here’s how to do it:

Mix the following:

1 Cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer is the only brand I’ve been able to find locally)
1 Cup Borax (found in the laundry aisle – I generally buy 10 Mule Team brand)
½ to 1 bar finely grated soap (I use Fels Naptha, which is also found in the laundry aisle, but friends of mine really like Irish Spring)

You only need to use 2 Tablespoons per load!

Now there are many variations on the recipe above (including liquid versions), just do a search for “homemade laundry detergent” and find one that works for you. While the powdered works fine for me, I miss the ease of liquid detergent, and plan on trying that next. Currently we buy really cheap fabric softener, and as I’ve gotten a lot either free or for less than $2 a bottle as of late, I have no plans to make my own. Although I’m not ruling it out! (Sorry honey)

I’d be curious to hear from anyone else who has tried homemade products and their level of success.

Remember our goofy, fun-loving, “eldest child” Murphy?

Yeah, that’s the one.

He had a little accident today.

We’re not sure how it happened, but Tim put both dogs in the backyard while vacuuming and when he went to let them back in, discovered that Murph had somehow attained a 1-inch gash on his leg, near the tendons above his foot. *OUCH*  I was away doing some grocery shopping at the time and so like any good parent, when I got the call I dropped everything and headed home. 

Murph was being a trooper about it all, but it was clear from the depth of the cut and the crime-scene-like condition of the patio that he needed to go to the vet.  So we loaded him up and headed to West-Vet, a 24-hour emergency clinic near our home.  A couple of hours and 4 staples later, Murph was back home.  With a lot of pain meds and an unfortunate new collar:

I feel sooo bad for him.  He’s still loopy from the pain meds and between that and the plastic shield, every move he makes results in bumping into walls or furniture, followed by the most pathetic “what do I do now!” expression.  He’s most comforted when one of us is near him, so we hoisted him up on the couch for a bit of snuggle time with dad:

The collar has to stay on for 10 days and he has antibiotics and pain pills for the duration as well.  Right now he’s sacked out on the bed next to me.  Getting him up the stairs was nothing short of a miracle.  I don’t even want to think about how we’re going to get him back down.. 

Humorous side note:  Hubby made an interesting discovery tonight.  When he saw Murph’s injury, he immediately went in search of something resembling first aid supplies..which are sadly lacking in our house.  The only thing we have are regular band-aids, which are obviously not so effective on animals.  Seeking something gauze-like and super-absorbent, Tim stumbled upon my *ahem* “feminine napkins” and lo and behold, they did the trick!  A disturbing visual to be sure, but “sanitary” (ha!) nonetheless.

This is one of those things you don’t realize you’ve been waiting to do until you’ve seen it done.  (Sorry for that scary bit of sentence structure)

All I need now is a math-oriented individual to decipher the formula and tell me exactly what the check amount is for.  I’m really hoping it’s something like 23 cents…

This is my first blog via e-mail. If this works, the odds of me posting more frequently is greatly increased. I could start sending random updates to my blog throughout the day at work. You’ll be sick of me in no time!