Dancing With the Stars week 6 over at SRM.

In my new feature, Quick Hits: The Week in TV, I discuss. . . well, the week in TV. Go join in the discussion!

That’s the last time I go for a jog without my Pop Pop.

Yesterday I went for a walk / jog with Rowdi. I like to change up my route every day, but there are parts of my route that I usually see. I was on my way home, had gone out as far as I was going to. I was jogging down the street, and about five houses in front of me, a car backed out of a driveway. No big, cars leave houses and go to other places all the time. But my shin splints happened to flare at that moment, so I stopped and started walking.

Now, it took this car forEVER to back out and straighten up so it could drive down the street (it would be driving away from me). Then when it got straight, it just sat there for a second.

I’m a paranoid runner. I do have my iPod or my Kindle going, but I never turn them loud, and I am very aware of my surroundings. I know where every person is, every car, moving or stationary. And I always have my gun. . . except yesterday. Yesterday I decided to leave the Pop Pop at home so I could run without the extra weight bouncing around at waist level–I have a bulged disc right there, and I don’t like to aggravate it. I figured I have a big pit bull mix with me, so if someone tries to attack me, she’ll jump to my rescue. Of course, I didn’t figure cars into the mix.

So I gave this car a few seconds to back out, watching the whole time, naturally. It crawled. When it straightened out to go down the street, I kept walking toward it, waiting for it to pull away from me. I was still three houses away. The car just sat there. I could see a creepy old hippie inside with long, white hair. He was watching me in the side-view mirror. So I watched him. As I got closer, I saw his wife sitting next to him. Same long, white hair, but she was turned around and looking back, watching me. Both of them looked as if they felt superior.

I kept walking and watching them, and they stayed until I was well past the car and their house. When I passed them, I took my earbuds out so I could listen for a car door to open. My mind was anxious and well on its way to pissed off, but I kept my body relaxed so Rowdi wouldn’t feed off my energy and become anxious herself–I didn’t need the distraction.

I can be passive-aggressive, yes, but I also get aggressive-aggressive now and then, and I had to really hold myself back from it at this point. When I passed the hippies’ car, I turned and looked at them, hoping to make eye contact so I could glare properly. The man turned his head, pretending he hadn’t been watching me. The woman looked down. I wanted to run up, slam my fist against the driver’s window, and tell them exactly what I thought of them. I was angry by this point. At them for car-stalking me and at myself for leaving the house without my Pop Pop.

When I was well past them and they hadn’t started to move, I kept walking, but I turned around and looked at them again with a glare that said, “Get going, unwashed pigs.” When I turned back around and wasn’t watching them anymore, they finally started to move. Slowly. They drove by as slowly as they could, and my anger escalated to near rage. I seriously wanted to beat the hippies down, I was so pissed. You don’t do that if you’re a decent human being. You don’t car-stalk a girl and her dog, try to intimidate the girl or make her think you’re getting ready to do something to her. You just don’t do that unless you are evil.

They got well past me, passed an intersection, and then got close to the next intersection, at crawling speed. I was coming upon the intersection they’d passed when they stopped their car, about ten feet before the stop sign. I’ve gotta tell you, this is when I started calling them very bad names in my head, words I don’t even want to admit to knowing. And the things I was telling them to do in my head–let’s just say there was lots of apologizing to the Lord after that. I was so so so ragey.

I had to make a decision–turn down the street they had passed and let them out of my sight but don’t give them a clue as to where I’m going, or keep going straight toward them. I chose to keep going straight, because they’re freaking hippies, and it’ll be a cold day in hell before I’m afraid of a smelly hippie. And apparently, that’s all they wanted to know. Whether I was turning or going straight. Because they finally went to the end of the block and turned the corner, and when I got to the end of the block, they weren’t lurking around the turn.

I’m about to take Rowdi for a walk. I usually don’t let her pee in other people’s yards, because her urine kills anything green, but today she pees on hippie grass.

Over at Snark Raving Mad.

ME: If you ever murder someone, you need to tell me.
HE: Okay.
ME: So I can turn you in.

From an email I wrote just now:

“It’s like, um, everybody poos, and obviously I’m not doing this just to offend your olfactory.”

You know you wish I emailed you regularly. No pun intended.

I’ve become a little obsessed with writing my novel. I’m through chapter 9, and this time, I’m going to finish the whole thing before I go back and do any major rewrites. This is version #5.

FRANK J.: Don’t worry. The worst thing you can ever be is a bad sweetie. I don’t think you can be any worse than that.
SARAHK: The best thing you’ll ever deserve is a bad sweetie.

Ohhhhh! BUUURRRRNNNNN! Zoom zoom zoom, bazinga, and bam!

Sometimes I’m so awesome it hurts.

Over at Snark Raving Mad.

If you want to join in, here’s the deal. I’ll post every week (or, um, week and a half, two weeks, once a month–whatevs, just roll with it) (who knows which day?), and you can join in in the comments, or send me a link to your post on your blog, and I’ll link back to it. Here’s what we’re posting:

Positives:
Something healthy you’ve done for yourself this week, food-wise
How many days you exercised this week, and you can detail what you did for exercise if you wish
Any bonus healthy things you did for yourself
How much you lost this week (If you gained, you can include that in the negatives section, unless your goal is to gain weight)

Neutral:
Current weight (if you wish to share it)
Goal weight (if you wish to share it)
Number of pounds you’d like to lose or gain

Negatives:
How much you gained this week.
Something bad you did to your body this week. Only list one thing, let’s not focus on the negatives.

Something you want to improve for next week (besides weight):

Okay, here’s mine for this week.

Positives:
*I’ve still been doing the small meals thing, except sometimes on weekends. Also, I’m drinking so much water. Minimum 8 glasses (4 bottles) per day, usually more.
*I finished the 30 Day Challenge on the EA Sports Active for Wii on Friday, and yesterday I started the 30 Day Challenge again, only this time I’m doing it on high intensity, also known as murder-your-lungs intensity. I’ve been working out minimum 4 days a week, usually 5. Plus walking Rowdi everyday (except Sunday).
*Bonus healthy: I’ve been working on my novel a lot. I know that doesn’t sound healthy, but I start to stress over it when I’m not writing it, like it’s this big thing I have sitting out there needing to be done. So now I’m writing, and I’m really enjoying myself, and the stress level is so low.
*Lost 2 pounds!! (That’s since the last WCWIO update, like three weeks ago.)

Neutral:
*Current weight: 152.8!! Almost to the 140s! I’m so happy about this.
*Total weight loss so far (optional field): 7.2 lbs.
*Goal weight: 120
*I would like to lose 32.8 pounds and look like I did in my t-shirt babe pictures.

Negatives:
*It turns out that eating those Habanero Doritos on our Washington trip set me on a serious Doritos kick. So I’ve been craving them and eating them. Also, Reese’s peanut butter cups. I need to really work on this. I’m burning all those calories working out and then eating junk! And yes, if you’re wondering, the peanut butter cups are worth it. The Doritos are not, because I haven’t found the Habanero ones since Washington, and really, all other Doritos are boring. Why am I even eating them? No clue. (Salt craving.)

Something I want to improve for next week:
*I haven’t juiced in forever, and I have all the stuff. So I just need to juice. I love the juice I make, I feel fantastic when I juice, so I really need to do this.

Did y’all know we had a rainforest in the lower 48? I didn’t until I went there.

On my very long list of things to write about.

Remember my petits fours?

Cadet Happy spilled the beans on my secret ingredient…
(more…)

Y’all probably figure this is about Frank. Nope. Minerva, of course. Ever since Rogue ran away, Minerva has kind of turned back into my bebe, my sweetest, my snuggliest. She’d gotten out of the habit of following me around. If she was sleeping, she slept on our bed with Rogue. If she was up, she was playing with either Sydney or Rogue. Or hissing at Rowdi. She still slept with me at night, but things just weren’t the same. She’d found a new friend, moved on a little.

Now Rogue’s been gone for a month or so, and Minerva is all over me. She sleeps behind the crook in my knees at night, and in the morning I wake up on my back, and she’s between my knees. If I’m on the couch, she’s either curled up on my leg or softly purring behind my head. When I go to the bathroom, she has to come with. I go into the gameroom, and she sleeps on a box or in whichever ottoman chair I’m not using. When I cook, she splays herself in the middle of the kitchen floor and cries at me if I walk too close to her.

Do you think I’m complaining? I’m so not. I’m relishing.

When she was a kitten, I used to tell her, “You’re the sweetest and the cutest, and I love you the best!” I still tell her, only if Frank’s around, I have to whisper it. “I love you the best, but don’t tell Daddy!” I, of course, stage whisper it.

I miss you. I wish I had a way to get in touch with you.

UPDATE: Nevermind, found you.

Part 1.

Okay, where were we? Ah yes. We just finished the kitchen and the ’80s wallpaper (some of it). Next is the livingroom. I like the livingroom. I mean, there’s work to be done in here, but it’s not so bad. For starters, I love the fireplace, which burns wood like a real fireplace. I love that–the smell and crackle of the wood fire. On the other hand, you can’t flip a switch and get the wood fire. That’s okay, though–that’s what husbands are for. I’m going to buy firewood this week so Frank can build me a fire, because we are apparently skipping fall and going right to winter after having a very hot September (it was in the 90s most of the month!). I might want to paint the mantel white or black, but I haven’t decided yet. And I’ve been inspired by sheila and have decided that the long wall there needs to be covered floor-to-ceiling in built-in bookshelves (except where the TV armoire will go in the center).

As you can imagine, I’ve already started ripping off the wallpaper.

Underneath the paper is a nicely textured wall (!!) and pale yellow paint.

Off the livingroom (and kitchen) is what is currently a reading cave and may have been a tiny dining room in the past.

All the bookcases are in there now, and I haven’t actually done any reading in there, but… you know. I could if I so wished. I’m pretty sure this fancy little decoration used to be a deadbolt, because this was the back door, and the gameroom is an extension.

What I do love about the door is that it’s pretty well soundproofed, since it used to be an external door. So sometimes Frank goes in the gameroom to write while I bang around in the kitchen with Buffy blaring on the TV so I can listen to slayage while I cook. And when Tarina visited, she went off to bed in the guest room one night, and Frank and I shut ourselves in the gameroom and karaoked for a while. Tarina never heard a peep. So that’s cool.

Oh, and this room, too, has wallpaper.

I sense a theme: Home is where the creepy heart wallpaper is.

Next is the gameroom, which I love.

Only… I don’t understand the color scheme. Blue trim, doors, moulding… white walls. Something a little backwards about that. I mean, I could understand if the walls were orange, because hey, BSU colors. But no, it’s white on country blue. Anyway, we have our office area when we first walk in, then the Wii/karaoke area, and then the other wing of the room is where the pool table will go once I’ve moved all the boxes out of that space.

The pantry is actually in the gameroom, and I’m glad it’s there. The house didn’t originally have one, so at least there’s one around the corner, even if it’s not in the kitchen. Do you love the valance on the back door? It’s blue/maroon with flowers and stuff. I might cover the walls in that fabric.

Here’s the powder room.

I’ll want to paint in here, replace the light fixture (not my style), and eventually replace the vanity, but it’s fine for now. Oh! And the floor–I don’t have a picture–is grey linoleum stick-on tiles with diagonal darker grey designs. The other bathrooms also have stick-on tiles, but they look fine. And the blue trim is all over the powder room, and the door is blue.

Next, we’ll tour the bedrooms.

And the Sudden Yurt Commune.

Well, obviously, we need to move in.