Darn You Woodpecker! Go away and peck on someone else!

No, blogger, I have not forgotten about you, but a project took over my life for part of last week and every afternoon/evening the week before. You can be sure there will be a blog about that in the near future. In the mean time, I'm very disturbed to find that a woodpecker has decided to destroy my home. Now when I say destroy I might be slightly exaggerating because he hasn't really ruined the whole thing, but he did peck a hole in the siding at the top of the chimney siding yesterday and today right after I got up he was pecking a hole on the other side of the chimney siding. I wasn't even dressed yet, I had to speed change out of my pj's to go running outside to scare him away. As we all know, I worry too much and I'm now paranoid that he's going to peck all over my house and I have no idea how to get rid of him. I googled how to get rid of woodpeckers and the articles all suggested putting various things on your home, which I'm not sure I can do since I live in a condo and thus have to ask permission to do anything, but even if they say yes, I don't have a ladder tall enough to reach the top of my chimney nor would I necessarily feel that comfortable being up that high on one of those what I call one-sided ladders. I'm a klutz people, I only do the ladders that open up and are securely stable on land on four legs. Additionally, I have to have some wood siding replaced on my home, can you imagine if I get it replaced and a woodpecker starts pecking through it. Who can afford to keep replacing siding due to a stupid bird?! Suddenly, the squirrels that keep eating my flowers and pumpkins don't seem so annoying any more, at least they are not destroying my house. It's practically November, aren't birds supposed to be flying south for the winter?

A Letter to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,
For once I am not complaining. Yes, you read that correctly. Let's face it you and I have had our differences. I have been mad at you many times. And during January and February we are not exactly bff's. Oh let's face it, we don't get along that well in December or March either. In fact, we pretty much don't get along in the winter, do we? Usually, I'll applaud you for one snow day, but that's about it. And for most of winter, I wonder why I don't live in San Diego or Florida or some place warm. In my defense, however, I am a New Englander and therefore it is part of my New Englander duty to complain about the weather. Today, though, I am not complaining. It's October 26th and it was over 70 degrees, Mother Nature, you rock for that one. When I left Zumba tonight (where I apparently didn't get the memo that we could wear costumes tonight, oops), it was 7:30 and 66 degrees. Thank you! Now, I heard that it's supposed to drop 20 degrees on Friday so I might be yelling at you then, but for now, I'll take my 70 degrees in October and not wish to move to Florida.
Sincerely,
Loving This Weather in New Hampshire

What Should I Be?

I'm going to a Halloween party on Friday and I'm struggling to find a costume. I was trying to find something funny or cute. To date my best costume was a leprechaun a few years ago. I've been peeking around on-line and at the stores and I've seen stuff I like, but a lot of it is expensive. Call me cheap, but I can't justify spending $50 on a costume I'll wear once, maybe twice in my life. Although I have spent two to three times that much on bridesmaid dresses that I only wear once, so maybe I'm a hypocrite. Anyway, I had it narrowed down to Super Woman, Little Red Riding Hood, or a candy corn. I finally decided on the candy corn and went on-line to order it and it was sold out. So I thought well, maybe Super Woman, but all they had left was a plus size. And I looked at Red Riding Hood again, but it's not doing it for me. So the search begins again.

The Light Is Out and She's Freaking Out

I believe we all have things that make us unique, some are good and some are bad. If we are willing to admit it, I think we all have weird fears or anxieties. I know people who are afraid of spiders, the number 13, elevators, etc. I also know people who aren't necessarily afraid of certain things, but get serious anxiety over them. I get anxious about many things, but one of those things is cars. Now let me clarify, I don't get anxious about driving my car, unless it's snowy or icy in which case I'd like to just win the loterry and hire someone to drive me around all winter. Of course since I don't actually play the lottery, that's not likely to happen. And well, truth be told in many instances I'd rather be the passenger than the driver so I can watch the scenery (okay okay and in some instances, like coming home late on a Friday night, watching the scenery is really napping). But I'm talking about any time something goes wrong or seems wrong with my car. I can't deal. I don't go completley nervous break-down, but I stress. I don't speak car. I don't know what anything is (remember my axle seal blog)? I can drive the car and that's about the end of my car knowledge and like I said when the roads are bad, I can't even say I have that going for me. Any time something is wrong, I panic, first how am I going to get anywhere (b/c I'm convinced it'll take ages to fix and I won't be able to get to work) and second how much is this going to cost? This is partially due to a previous experience with a disfunctional transmission (my transmission died on my way home from work last Dec. 23rd--I only remember the exact date b/c it was supposed to be the start of my Christmas vacation, no warning, nothing, I just went to turn on to my street and my car wouldn't move. I thought I'd accidentally hit the e-break or something, but no, it was the transmission, thankfully three nice policemen were able to push me to the side of the road, though they probably thought I was a freak b/c I was all OMG, my car doesn't work, it's freaking me out, blah blah blah, you get the point). The car wasn't even five years old and had under 60,000 miles on it so clearly, the transmission shouldn't have died and had it been a newer model, it would have been under warranty still, but it wasn't so two weeks and over a month's pay later, I had a functional car again, but I was afraid to go anywhere for months in case it just died again. I had to get some other things fixed throughout the year (tires, alignment, axel seal, blinker light, etc) and each time I got stressed, yes, even the blinker bothered me b/c I feared I'd get pulled over since the only time I was ever pulled over in my life was when one of my rear blinker lights was out. (Thank goodness the police officer was nice and I managed not to turn into my usual spazz self.) Anyway, having survived all this stuff, you think I'd be able to handle a head light problem. But NO! The other night a few of us were going to dinner two towns away. Three of us met at my place and we were going to take my car until my friend Jill noticed my head light was out. So she offered to drive and I spent the whole ride to dinner worrying. It was a Friday and my mechanic wasn't open on Saturday and I knew I might have to drive after dark on Saturday. I didn't want to get pulled over. I didn't want to take it to the dealership b/c goodness only knows how much they'd charge since they make a million dollars an hour so someone suggested Pepboys since it was so close to my home and they're open on Saturday. I made someone go with me b/c as we know I'm a freak when it comes to cars. I walked in and had no idea where to go. I tried one register, but that was wrong so someone directed me where to go and do you think I could just get the headlight? No, he asked me all these ?'s about my car and I was like uh...I have no idea how many cylinders my car is. (Insert me turning bright red and getting all nervous.) Is it in the owner's manual? B/c I missed it. Thankfully, the guy ringing me up just made some guesses. I was able to tell him how many miles were on my car--that was a question I understood. :) And $40 and a half hour later I had a headlight. Seriously people, $22 for a lightbulb? And $15 to install it? And what is this $2.95 service fee about? Maybe it's an extra fee for dealing with idiots like me. But honestly, who gets so stressed about a headlight? You'd think since I handled a non-functional transmission I'd be cool with a head light issue, but NO, I had to stress over that. Why can't I be normal?

Getting Old

I'm struggling with the fact that before this year is over I will hit the big 3-0. Once upon a time I thought you were supposed to have life figured out at 30. When my mother was 30, she was married, owned a house, and had two kids. When I was a kid, I had a plan and by this time in my life I was supposed to be married, have kids, own a house, be well established in my career as a teacher or a lawyer and be writing books on the side, have seen all 50 states, and most European countries. Yes, random I know, but that was the plan. Now I have no desire to have kids right now, maybe some day, but not now so I'm okay with that though I do realize that at some point I'll have to worry about the infamous biological clock. I'm also okay with the fact that I'm not currently married, in fact since I just bought a home, I can't really afford a wedding any time soon. I do have a home though, yay. As for all 50 states, I think I'm only halfway there and re: Europe, I've got a long ways to go, perhaps by the time I'm 40 I'll have reached my traveling goals? I also wanted to see Australia, but thankfully my "plan" didn't have an age set for that. I still feel like I'm supposed to feel like more of a grown up. Aren't I supposed to have some life plan? Truth be told, although I can't seem to stay awake as late as I used to, a part of me still feels like I'm a decaded younger. Perhaps I'm having an early mid-life crisis. I was quite depressed about turning 20 and told everyone I was having a 1/5 life crisis (you know if I lived to be 100 then 20 was 1/5 of my life, get it?). I recently heard about a movie called "30 Things to Do Before You're 30." I'm quite intrigued to see the movie and the 30 things I'm supposed to do. So as I continue feeling depressed about the big 3-0 and the fact that I seem to be lacking in the figuring life out department, I bid you good night until the next blog.

One (long) Month Until Election Day

Politics used to fascinate me. I almost double-majored in it in college, but chose to minor in it instead. And while politics used to intrigue me (okay a teeny tiny part of me is still interested in doing educational policy one day), I cannot say the same thing about politicans, especially right now. As a good little US citizen and daughter of a former local politician, I totally get that it's important to vote. I'm completely serious when I tell you that I helped out with a local campaign at age five, I'm not sure I was a big help, but I helped. In high school when my Dad ran for School Board I stood at the polls one rainy afternoon with my friend Kate holding a sign, yes, I was one of those people. Most likely, I will do my civic duty and vote in November. I also understand that candidates want people to vote for them so they have to advertise, but come on, enough is enough. I recently read that a significant percentage of the population does not decide who they're going to vote for until Election Day so if that's the case how about we ban political ads until the week before the election. Now I don't particularly like commercials (except during the Super Bowl), but these political ads really annoy me. They are on every other ad. I'm not even exaggerating. Today I was watching the news at the gym and during one commerical break I saw 4 ads for various politicans. I mean those Sara McLachlan commercials that encourage you to adopt animals make me cry, but I'd rather watch those any day over these darn political ads. Second, I can't stand the negative campaigning. Sure, try convince me to vote for you, but don't say so many mean things about the other person. Can't we all just get along? Tell me why to vote for you not why your opponent is a doo-doo head. The reason I think they do all these negative ads is because it's easier than talking about the issues. I try to educate myself at least a little bit on the candidates so when I vote I am making a somewhat educated decision, but so many of them talk in circles; getting them to tell you a concrete plan to fix things seems impossible. I'll watch the debates and sit there going why can't he/she just answer the question? Either answer the question or confess that you don't know. It's much better than:

Debate moderator Joe Random: Candidate A, how do you plan to reduce pollution?

Candidate A: Well, thank you for that question Bill, but first, let me say happy birthday to Susie Q and let's all take a minute to remember Susie Q because yesterday she saved a cat from a dog and people, if I am elected I will work to keep saving cats from dogs. We need to work together on this, my opponent is anti-cats, where I have fought for the rights of cats for the past four years, blah blah blah blah are you even still reading this blog?

Moderator Joe Random: Time is up, thank you Candidate A, Candidate B same question

Candidate B: Well, let me start by saying thank you for having us here tonight Joe. And second, I am not anti-cats, I like cats, but I voted for Bill LOTSOFLETTERSANDNUMBERS because blah blah blah blah and time is up again and once again we have no answers to the original pollution question.

How about the moderator says: Answer the question or shut up?

An exaggeration on my part? Yes, but you see my point, I hope or maybe I'm just crazy.

Rainy Weather and Difficult Words

As I was driving home from work in this "lovely" weather tonight, two things crossed my mind. 1. Do I want to go to the gym? and 2. What should I blog about tonight? Let's start with the gym. I joined the gym years ago because I wanted to do better with exercising. At the time I lived in Boston and there was a gym around the corner from my apartment. Location, location, location. Since it was so close, I was very good about going regularly. A few times I even managed to go before I went to school to student teach. Now I only go to the gym in the mornings if it's a weekend or day off. Instead I usually go during peek hours and then complain if I can't get a good machine. Actually, usually there are enough decent machines and one night a week I do a Zumba class there instead of the machines. Anyway, when I moved back home, I joined a local gym, not quite within walking distance, but only a five minute drive from home and a heck of a lot cheaper than Boston. We're talking 1/3 of the price! Woohoo! My mom said I should just go for walks. I told her I enjoyed walking, but on a cold/rainy/snowy day, it wasn't happeneing, hence the gym. (I do still go for walks sometimes, before my friend Tony moved to FL last year we used to walk all the time and I walked with my mom sometimes too. I also walked to work when I worked close to home.) So why I ask you, if I joined the gym in order to exercise, but especially so I would be able to exercise year round in crap weather, did I find it so difficult to go to the gym in this weather? I should have brought my gym clothes to work and changed there then went because once I got home I did not feel like going back out in the rain. In my defense, I pulled out an exercise dvd and did that so I was not a total slacker. Tomorrow, I will be tutoring five minutes away from the gym so I shouldn't have an issue going bad weather or not. Speaking of the weather, I get that we need the rain since we didn't get a ton of it this summer, but I'm ready for sun again. I live in a condo and have no grass around me so I'm not feeling the brown grass disappointment everyone's had with their lawns this year. Come on Mother Nature, give us some sunshine please! Oh, and if you could prevent any crazy snowstorms this year, that'd be fabulous too, thanks!
Anyway, as I was trying to come up with a blog topic on my way home, I hadn't planned to blog about the gym so I guess this is a double blog. I drove by a pizza place called Gianni's and was reminded of how I used to mispronounce it. It got me thinking about words people have trouble saying. I used to call Gianni's Gee-ahni's, it's actually pronounced Yanni's. Oops! Well, no matter how you say it, the pizza was good. I also used to say draw for drawer (that's how my mom said it!). I still can't say bury correctly. When I say it, it sounds like berry instead of bury. And don't even get me started on a few last names. Met someone earlier this year and I totally put the accents in the wrong place in her name. I felt like a fool. I used to say pa-lin-drome instead of pal-in-drome until one day my brother corrected me. Thankfully, that doesn't come up in conversation too often and I think I've got it right now. A friend of mine can't say dyslexia, but in her profession I doubt she had to say it too often. I once knew someone who couldn't say Mitsubishi so I guess I'm not alone in my word difficulties. Do any of you four people that read my blog have problems with any words? :)