Insert Cool Subject Title Here (Picture)

/ aidan, life, pictures, to do

I really enjoyed the weather we had the end of last week. 🙂 Warm, sunny, and so springlike. I went downtown again, met a friend for lunch, and even had a massage. I went to Cortiva and got a student massage. $35 for an hour of bodywork. Awesome.

Of course, it snowed Saturday, the first day of Spring. There’s Chicago for you. 60 on Tuesday, though. And sunny! 60 seems much less cold when it’s sunny out. 🙂

The no-pop thing has been going well! I almost slipped up a few times (falling for the “harmless” stuff like orange or fruit punch pop) but it really is pretty easy to drink juice instead. And I am making a point to drink 100%, no sugar added juices. Not juice drink or anything like that. I still need to drink more water, but this is a good starting point, I think.

I need to make a to-do list. Otherwise, I just won’t do the stuff I need to do to prepare for Aidan’s Spring Break.

1. Clean Aidan’s room I hate this chore. I don’t do a thing in there, but Adam does and I have no idea what, but it’s always a mess by the time Aidan’s next visit rolls around. So I have to go make it presentable again.

2. Get groceries. The word out on the street is that Aidan’s going through a growth spurt. This means that he will be doing a lot of eating and sleeping if he’s still dealing with that the next few weeks. Not only do we have to pick up some food he likes (chicken nuggets, fruit snacks, mac & cheese, pot pies, etc.), but we have to get a LOT of it! I’m also going to be encouraging him to try new things. Like BEEF. I understand that kids can be kind of meh about beef–Lord knows I was–but it’s so good, and he likes the beef flavored Ramen noodles.

3. Plan Easter. I want to have a cute little Easter celebration for Aidan. I plan to make a basket for him, and I have some of that YUMMY ham frozen from Christmas which I will thaw for dinner. I’ve had some interesting Easters over the years. The main thing was that the weather was always nice and warm and sunny by then. I remember the big old Easter egg hunt we had when I was about 11 or so. When I was in college, I was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church at an Easter vigil. I remember being at an overnight retreat not so long ago, and participating in a sunrise service–the first time I ever prayed out loud in a group.

Here’s a picture of Aidan from Easter 2004!

Aidan's Easter Basket

I won two book contests recently, which means more books for me! 🙂 I just finished reading TWENTY BOY SUMMER and SKINNED. Getting ready to start on GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE. I really should check when those books are due back. I’m tearing through them, but you know how time sometimes gets away from you.

I must sleep. Adam and I are going to watch Alice In Wonderland with Claudia Gray tomorrow/today and I should at least TRY to be awake during it. *grumbles about being a night owl again*

Night!

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Tastes of Spring

/ life

It’s supposed to be 65 degrees today. How wonderful is that? Sixty-five and sunny! 🙂 I am definitely going out and about. I will enjoy it until the snow starts flying again this weekend. Trees aren’t budding yet, so I am pretty sure more snow than what’s forecasted this weekend is on its way. I hear birds all the time, though, so that’s encouraging.

Lately, whenever I try to comment on Live Journal, the page freezes up before I can scroll down to the submit button, and when I try to reload, it goes extra slow. Is anyone else having this problem? I wonder if it’s a Google Chrome (my current browser of choice) issue.

I have some serious cleaning to do. Not only do I need to clean my bedroom, but I also need to clean the living room and Aidan’s room. Cleaning. Moof. And then there is the trip to the grocery store, because we’ll need to get food for Aidan, and beef for me. I can’t get enough BEEF these days. I am probably low on iron or something. Mmm, beef.

Chicken, though, I can take or leave these days. I like it once a week or so, but other than that, blech.

For a while, I was sleeping at night and being up in the day. Now I am easing back into my normal night owl tendencies. I just love the middle of the night. It’s peaceful. I can listen to new music. Nothing’s open, I can’t call anyone, I don’t relish walking around in the middle of the night, not in this neighborhood. I love the middle of the night. I don’t feel pressured to do anything except BE.

I’m trying to decide which book I want to read next. Oh, I know. I think it’s going to be Twenty Boy Summer. It’s in my room next to the bed waiting for me. 🙂 I just read North of Beautiful, which I enjoyed. A LOT. 🙂

What are your plans for the weekend? I have none, except for preparing for Aidan’s visit. And reading, reading, reading.

I love when I am exposed to new music AND I LIKE IT. Some stuff I’ve been turned on to recently: Pixie Lott, Alexz Johnson, Jason Derulo, and Sirenia. 😀 And… Matt Morris. He used to be a Mouseketeer. Now he’s blowing up and his song The Un-American is INCREDIBLE. YAY for having music to write to.

I should go to bed. I have a noon lunch date, and I know it’s going to be hard enough rolling out of bed in time to make it. I don’t need to push it. Time to get the cats out of the bedroom (or else Helena will decide that my feet is something to pounce on and keep doing it over and over and over) and snuggle Adam under the covers.

‘Til next time.

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Coming Out of the Dark/General Update (Pictures)

/ pictures, ronni

I’ve had a rough few weeks of it. I don’t know if it was the weather, my medicine or what, but I’ve just really been feeling OFF. Definitely not very motivated. Tired and weak, constant headaches (three-day migraines are the suck… big time), depression, and general unhappiness. Not to mention the more than $500 in traffic/parking tickets that I had to pay last week. Not good.

(Did you know that in Chicago, not only can you be ticketed repeatedly for the same offense in the same place on the same day, but you can be ticketed every HOUR for the same offense in the same place on the same day? And they can impound your car even if you never received said tickets because the wind blew them off or something like that? Also, I know someone whose car got broken into. Window smashed. And he got a ticket for it. This city….I don’t even.)

Today, I had a doctor’s appointment. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the weather was sunny and in the upper 50s! Nice weather always helps me feel better, so after my appointment, I went and spent some time downtown, looking around in my favorite stores and letting myself be seriously tempted by things that I want but talk myself out of. I mean, I really don’t need a new Juicy warm up suit now, no matter how comfy and how deeply discounted they are at Nordstrom Rack.

This past weekend was an author-filled one for me. I got to meet Barry Lyga (we even gave him a ride to his hotel!) and Carrie Ryan, and Adam got to be treated like a rock star by middle schoolers. I do enjoy being around authors, and books, and things of that sort. It’s inspirational. I also managed to score an ARC of Linger so YAY. I have a lot of books to read, which is never a bad thing. I’m in the middle of my 50th new book of the year.

The bedroom is a hot, falling down mess. I still haven’t unpacked from our trip to Atlanta (which we came back from weeks ago), and plus, I am not good with hanging up/putting away clothing. I just drop it wherever I am standing, or drape it wherever it’ll fit. Part of the reason is that I can’t get to my closet because all of Adam’s clothes are in the way. And my closet light no longer works–something else the landlord won’t bother to fix. There are BOOKS everywhere on my side of the room. And the sad thing is there is a bookcase in the room–I need to utilize that thing. I can barely move for all the books (and shoes) everywhere.

I met up with an Internet friend a few weekends ago. We’d known each other since 2000, from the Roxydoll boards. It was fun to hang out. And pictures do not do her justice.

Sarah & Me
Sarah and Me

As you can probably tell, I got new glasses. Transitions. Pretty cool.

Aidan got his first “stylist” haircut (after getting homemade ones for years):

Aidan's First Stylist Haircut

He’s also obsessed with Star Wars these days. He’s going to be so thrilled when he sees the huge AT-AT and Rancor that Adam shipped from Atlanta for him to play with. I’m thrilled that I now own Adam’s old stuffed clown named Boji. Boji is sooooo cute. He just has this smile; it’s impossible to stay sad when looking at that sweet face. Boji and Pandernoodle are best friends now. 🙂

I’ve been worried that I am starting to look my age. My body is changing, and my face is changing, and I even spied a grey hair several weeks ago. I don’t want to look anywhere near my age. I like looking young, because then I can get away with wearing jeans and hoodies or mini-skirts and tights. I don’t want to have to dress all conservatively and MATURE when I really want to wear plaid skirts and goth blouses or Mickey Mouse hoodies or tee-shirts from Old Navy or whatever. Anyway, this weekend, someone told me I looked 16. SIXTEEN folks. That made my weekend. I’m also still getting 24ish, which I suppose is acceptable. I don’t want to look my actual age for at least 20 years.

Girl scout cookies are here! I have two boxes of Thin Mints, a box of Tag-a-longs and some of those Lemon Cremes or whatever. That’s a happy thing. I gotta get those Thin Mints in the freezer. Frozen is the best way to eat them.

I’m cutting back, WAY back, on my pop consumption. There can be nothing good in the amount of pop I was drinking. I’m going back to juice, and then water. I really should cut back on my sugar as well… BUT IT TASTES SO GOOD. Still, I wasn’t happy with the numbers on the scale today. Something needs to be done.

I took out 20 books from the library (3 of them are for Adam). Reading is fun.

Aidan will be here in 8 days. Only 4 more days until Spring. And 160 days until Mockingjay is out! New Elizabeth Scott book is out NOW, and so is The Princess & The Frog on DVD/Blu-ray. And New Moon on Friday! Lots to keep me entertained.

I need to go home. I need to see my friends and family, and I need to be in a city I’m not scared to drive in, and in a state that doesn’t put sales tax on its groceries. I don’t know when that’ll be, though. Seems like something comes up to keep me from booking those tickets, but I have to soon, or I think I shall lose my mind.

Life really is good, even when I’m feeling down in the dumps. But I’m climbing out. Slowly, but surely.

P.S. I just realized it’s my 2 year anniversary of moving to Chicago.

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In My Perfect World….

/ ronni, survey

List 20 things that would make your world perfect, and post them on your blog/facebook/whatever the cool kids are using these days.

In My Perfect World…

1. Aidan would live with me.
2. There would be no thunderstorms or snow storms.
3. I would have lots and lots of money.
4. I’d have an annual Disney Parks pass, and a Disney Vacation Club membership, and the time and funds to go to ANY Disney park I wanted any time forever and ever.
5. I’d have my two cats, plus a cute lil doggie, and some fish.
6. McDonalds would be good for me.
7. Onions would not exist.
8. The temperature outside would never go below 70F.
9. I’d not have loud drunkard neighbors, neighbors with annoying dogs, or neighbors who have no idea how to take care of/clean up after their annoying dogs.
10. I’d have a job I LOVE proofreading really awesome stuff but with no high pressure, ego stroking, or other assorted nonsense. The hours on this job would be 10am-3pm M-F. And it’d be paying me loads of money because I’d rock at it. (Hmm, now that I think about it, my ideal hours would probably actually be 10pm-3am. Especially if I am working from home. And if it’s my perfect job, I AM working from home.)
11. I’d live right across the street from a library. A GOOD library, like Columbus Metropolitan. Oh, how I miss thee.
12. My stomach would be flat; maybe even a 6 pack.
13. I’d be making a VERY GOOD living as a bestselling author.
14. I wouldn’t be so nervous to drive because I’d live in a place where NOT EVERY DRIVER IS A FREAK wtf Chicago I don’t even.
15. My friends and family who I love and who love me best would all live on my street. Or at least in my neighborhood.
16. There would be no pain, hurt, addictions.
17. Bad days would never exist.
18. Houses and litter boxes would clean themselves.
19. I’d be happy all the time.
20. My favorite foods and products would not only always be in production (and easy for me to get!), but they’d NEVER BE DISCONTINUED.

* * *

My ideal living situation would be this. (This is totally fantastical because I know such a place does not exist)
A medium city (not quite as huge as Chicago, but not as small as Columbus) with a Mediterranean climate. That means warm almost all the time. Blue skies, sunshine. Close to a beach, but not necessarily beach front. Not terribly humid. Wildflowers blooming all the time. Lots of mature trees and green grass. Close to all of my favorite places: Anderson’s Bookshop, the Whetstone branch of the Columbus library, Disney World, American Girl Place, Target, Meijer, Ragstock, Aeropostale, Nordstrom Rack, Dunkin Donuts, Mrs. Fields, Half-Price Books, McDonald’s. Public transportation. A grid system. Efficient traffic patterns (unlike the ones in Chicago). Close to a downtown. Lots of parks and places to walk. NO WINTER! That means no snow, ice, freezing temps. No extreme summer weather either.

We’d live in a ranch house. Three or four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a family room. The kitchen would have an island and a lazy susan. The appliances don’t necessarily have to be the fancy stainless steel stuff with red knobs or Sub-zero or whatever. Just working and clean and pretty. Or even retro-looking. There would be book cases everywhere. There would be a hot tub and a finished basement. Lots of storage. The yard would have cherry trees and lilac bushes and Asiatic lilies. My Hyundai would be fully maintained and have a full detail and Adam would have the old-fashioned Volvo he’s been dreaming about. Attached garage for sure. Sounds nice, huh?

A girl can dream, eh? Good night, y’all.

1 Comment

Um….

/ aidan, conversations with aidan, lol

Driving along in the car, pulling into parking spot in garage at airport….

Ronni: *listening to ONE TIME by Justin Bieber*
Aidan (singing to the beat): I like ’em round. I like ’em squishy. I like ’em round. I like ’em squishy.
Ronni: Um, Aidan, what exactly is it that you like round and squishy?
Aidan (matter-of-factly): Butts.
Ronni & Adam: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Totally did NOT expect that to come out of his mouth!

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