Cliopatra’s Writings

Friday 5 - 7/18/08

Thanks fot Friday5 for the topic.  Or not.

1. What was the last meal that caused you to be ill?  Well, I don’t know if the food caused me to be ill, or if I was ill and the food got the blame.  It was 2000 and I made a big pot of jambalaya with sausage for me and my date.  The next day he was fine, but I was up from 3 a.m. on puking up what looked like about 200 lbs of jambalaya.
2. Are there any places you never dine anymore because of a bad experience hours after the meal?  I avoid jambalaya now, for the most part.  I don’t really go to Wendy’s either because I got a burger from there once that was barely cooked. 
3. What’s your prescription for dealing with a food-caused illness?   Lots of rest, clear liquids and gossip magazines.
4. When friends tell you about coming down with food-caused illnesses, do you avoid the places they name, or do you figure it’s a dice-roll wherever you go?  I might avoid it if I’ve never been there, but if I haven’t had a problem I don’t worry too much about it.  These things happen.
5. After numerous citations, a very, very popular restaurant that you’re quite fond of is shut down by the health department until it can get everything up to code. When the health department gives the restaurant the o.k. to reopen, do you go?  Yup.  That happened at a Chinese restaurant in Biloxi that we all loved.  We went back after they reopened.

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Stop the Madness

Is there, perhaps, a 12 step program for people who just can’t stop buying those reusable grocery bags?

I have at least 8 from Publix, 2 from Walgreens, 1 from Ace Hardware, 1 from Wild Oats (before they opened), 1 from Wild Oats (after they opened), and 1 from EarthBound Organics.  I also have 2 of the zip up ones from Target, but those are more like tote bags than grocery bags.

Of those, at least 5 of them have crap in them that needs to be unloaded, one is here under my desk at work and the rest are in my car to be used.  Only I never remember to take them into the store, which is why I keep buying more.

First step is admitting I have a problem.

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Just checking

bustablog_com_JG8D69D

JG8D69D Want to make sure this works.

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Trite, But True

A friend has been struggling with some drama of the variety that only other females can perpetuate.  I got an e-mail over the weekend that I forwarded to her.  It had the gem below:

Should you find yourself the victim of other people’s bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecuritues, just remember that things could be worse.  You could be one of them!

I need to keep this in mind myself.  There are a lot of negative forces at work right now and I owe it to myself to stay above the fray.  I don’t need to be angry or petty or negative just because other people are.

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Behind the Times

My office, for the most part, still uses the roller ball mouses (meeses?  mice?) with cords.  I know, right?  So 1999.

However, there is something oddly satisfying about cleaning the mouse ball and those little rollers in there. 

Or is it just me?

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Alert the Media

I’m wearing a dress today.

The last time I wore a dress anywhere, it was to my company’s annual meeting, the dressy dinner the last night.  Before that I wore a dress to my company Christmas party. 

I wore the same dress both times.  It’s ok, there were different people at each event.

This past weekend I spent all day Saturday out and about, both shopping and attending meetings.  I had intended to go to work for a few hours but I didn’t have my key to the building, so I went to the outlet mall instead.

I found a dress there: black with swirls of cream and brown.  It fits, looks nice.  It was marked $44 with a sign above it that said everything on the rack was 50% off.

I haven’t worn a dress in forever.  I’m a little nervous about them, actually.  But I figured if this dress was actually $22 I would buy it and wear it at least once.

So I’m wearing it today and you’d think I don’t ever dress nicely.  Ever.  People either act suspicious (job interview today?) or they go overboard with praise (Wow!  You look amazing!).

Maybe this is why I stopped wearing dresses.

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I Blame BlogHer

I had no interest in Second Life before I found out BlogHer was having a conference in Second Life to coincide with Blogher ‘08.  I really wanted to attend BlogHer ‘08, and this is as close as I’m going to get.

I signed up for Second Life on Friday night and spent most of the night trying to get off of Orientation Island.  Once I accomplished that I was exhausted and went to bed.  I just didn’t get what was so great about SL.

The Saturday evening I tried again.  I messed around and found a writers area, so I went there and met some great people who were dancing on the beach.  They gave me clothing, they gave me money, they gave me advice, they gave me links.  They were great.  I even got to dance with a tattoed guy in Harley leathers.  It was fun.  Now I was beginning to understand.

I had dinner with my husband Saturday night, then he went to play music with his buddies, so I logged on and went to all of the free places my writer friends told me about.  I got clothes, hair, jewelry shoes, etc, all for free.  It was a blast.  Oh boy.

Yesterday I ran some errands, started laundry, did the dishes, made lunch for Irish and finally logged in around 1 p.m.  I went to an SL learning center, I checked out a pub and then went to the zoo.  I stayed on about an hour.

After we got home from our anniversary dinner I logged in for a bit and wandered into a jazz lounge where there was dancing.  Everyone was pretty formal, so I left to go change.  I had a green satin dress and some sparkly earrings that I was dying to try out.  I changed, found some awesome hair, then went dancing.  It was great.

This morning  (hi honey, yes, I did log in again this morning - only for 15 minutes, I swear!) I logged in and changed out of my green dress and into this stylish cashmere outfit.  Changed my hair, too.  It was great fun.

It’s sort of like playing with Barbies.  It’s amusing.  I’m addicted already.

I can see I’m going to have to barter with myself - an hour of housecleaning or exercise = an hour on SL.  Or something like that.

I blame BlogHer.

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2nd Anniversary

You found me
When no one else was lookin’
How did you know just where I would be?
Yeah, you broke through
All of my confusion
The ups and the downs
And you still didn’t leave
I guess that you saw what nobody could see
You found me

– Kelly Clarkson, “You Found Me”

I heard that song on the way this morning and it reminded me again of just how lucky I am.  Today is my second anniversary with Irish. 

We met online on this date back in 2004, and he spent the first several months trying to break down my walls.  I resisted any and all attempts to have a relationship, and then one day, at my lowest point, he found where I was hiding.

He said things to me that made me realize that he got me on a level few people ever have.  He understood where my pain came from, and the things that kept me from letting people in.  He not only knew, but he spoke as if he understood.  Because he does.

And so, he married me, at the courthouse, two years ago today.  Elopement was my idea, but he didn’t resist.  I just wanted the paper, I didn’t need the white dress or the flowers.

Our first year was a struggle for me.  I was adjusting to a new place, a new job and a new life.  I am his second wife, and that was hard for me.  I didn’t know how to be married, or how to be a wife.  Turns out when you stop trying so hard, it’s actually pretty easy.

We celebrated last night, because our anniversary falls today.  We spent the day together and then had a quiet dinner out.  Nothing spectacular.  It’s just the anniversary of the day we got married, but it’s just another day in our marriage.

Every day he makes me smile or laugh, and I try to do the same for him.  We talk, we share, and our marriage is good.  Every day it is good.  So every day is a celebration.

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Scent-Sational

I believe in the power of scent, and scent memories. My husband wakes up to the smell of fresh coffee in the morning. I love the smell of chocolate and vanilla. The smell of red dirt baking in the sun reminds me of Oklahoma. The loamy scent of the earth here will always remind me of Florida.

Renuzit recently scent me a Renuzit TriScents Tranform Your Home kit and asked me to try it and do a review. Since I like for my home to smell lovely, I agreed to try it.

I received the Morning Meadow version, which includes Waterfall Mist, After the Rain and Pure Breezes scents. It was easy to put together: just take the lids off the scents, snap them into the diffuser and plug it into the wall.

In this case, I put it in our kitchen. The kitchen is the largest room in the house, and there is a pass through between the kitchen and the living room, creating a large area to be scented. I have been using a scent warmer from another company but since it’s only one scent, I hardly notice it anymore until I put a new scent bottle in the diffuser.

The Renuzit TriScents kit works well. It fills both rooms with scent, and it’s noticeable continually. Every 45 minutes the diffuser switches to a different scent, so you’re always smelling something new. It’s like a brand new diffuser every 45 minutes. I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth out of this air freshener (assuming I’d paid for it, which I didn’t).

I’m not crazy about the scents I got in this sample pack, so I’ll probably use the $3.00 coupon I got from the website, http://www.triscents.com, to go out and buy the Seaside Breezes version. It seems more my style.

If you go to http://www.triscents.com/ you can get a coupon, too!

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A Chance to Say Yes

A friend from my writers group just have her first book published. I’ve seen several people in my group get published in the last year and a half I’ve been in the group, and I always feel like it’s me! I get so excited for them. One day I hope it is me.

Anyway, Tina Murray’s books it called A Chance to Say Yes. I bought it yesterday at Mina Hemingway’s, but you can get it from any online retailer (and pay less than I did!). It’s a contemporary fiction novel set in Naples, Florida, which is where we live.

Once I get done reading it I’ll post a review.

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