by the numbers...

1--number of times my nephew punched me in the leg last weekend, after i removed some dangerous article from his hands.

190--number of miles i put on my car driving for work last week

2--number of loads of laundry i did this week in the giant washer in our communal laundry room, for the bargain price of $4.00. woo hoo.

355--the number of dollars i spent on securing a home warranty policy, so that all my appliances would be covered for the first year i owned my home, only to find out this week that my washer and dryer are not included. i'm still doing some detective work, though...

52--the number of pages i have written in my book, so far.

14--number of times i've been to the hospital in the last ten days. i'm kind of over hospitals right now. i hate them, which i realize is a dumb thing for me to say, seeing as how going to hospitals is a big part of my job. i hate, hate, hate them. and i hate that i know how to get around in them, with some kind of sixth sense, know how to sweet talk nurses and doctors to get what a patient needs, without having a shirley mcclaine moment from "terms of endearment", how i ride in the staff elevators like i belong there, how i scope out parking spaces, how i try not to cry when i leave, because when i leave, i always wonder when i'll have to come back, and how things will be. i always feel like i need to take a bath when i leave the hospital, to wash the smell off me, to prove that i'm home, and i don't have to stay there. and then i feel like a real jerk. see--sometimes, most of the time, i'm really not as nice as people think i am.

12--number of laps i swam the other night. not enough, but better than none, i suppose. the pool, in my defense, was highly over chlorinated, and i'm pretty sure i don't have any nose hair left, at all.

4--number of pillows i absolutely have to have on my bed in order to sleep with any degree of certainty. i've tried it with three, and that's moderately ok. but for real, hard, restful, decent sleep, 4 is the magic number. and i have to have my down comforter. i can't stand having a top sheet on my bed, and unless the fitted sheet is deep pocketed, i can't use one. i also have to sleep with one foot sticking out of the covers, at all times, usually the right foot, because i sleep on my left side. i know, it's complicated, and you don't really even need to know this.

1--number of background checks my bestest friend has done on my new crush. good news--new crush is clean as a whistle. so glad, aren't you?

3--hours i spent ironing clothes after washing and drying things. i hate how completely thourough i have to be when i iron something. and i'm almost out of starch, which i find irritating because i bought the big can last time. that is one of those "adulthood" things that grabbed me, and just won't let go. i'm so picky about that, now. and i was the kid who lived in jeans and t-shirts until well into college. it's a little nuts. and i had to clean my room before i could actually sleep. and i suddenly hate having dirty dishes in the sink, or clean ones in the dishwasher. and it's driving me nuts that i haven't dusted my room in a week. who am i? where did the other me go? holy moly...

1--number of times i have been to starbucks this week. i know, supress your shock. i've been trying to be fiscally more responsible, so i've been drinking crappy church office coffee. it's hard, ya'll. the coffee is so bad here. it makes me sad, but it takes the sting out of the morning headache. and as long as i remember to bring milk from home, it's almost ok. and it's free. which makes it almost sweet, instead of thickish sludge, much like what one would dredge off the bottom of my beloved san antonio river. sick out.

2--number of vacation options i have researched. a lady need to take a trip, people! i'm thinking either another jaunt to the wilds of far west texas with kristen and laura jane, or a trip to vancouver with ryan. i wish i had the time and the moolah to do both, but that house payment wants to be made EVERY MONTH! geeze louise...

0--number of naps i have taken this week, even though these rainy afternoons make for perfect napping weather. however, bossman is out of the office for the week, so rachiepoo is busy keeping the ship afloat with our senior warden.

75,000--number of times a day i remind myself that i love my job, even though people i work with drive me nuts. i know i am here for a reason. and that reason is not so i can go crazy before i turn 30. i know that. i know that. i really think i know that.

mil besos--rmg

bone tired...

i haven't really stopped moving since about may 5th. and i'm not complaining about that, i'm just saying i've been going, going, going for a month and change. and a lot of water has gone under the bridge between then and now. i'm going to my momma's house this weekend, to see the extended fam, mess with my little fat nephew (who is so strong that he can break out of his playpen at will...talk about a hoss...), drink beer with my brother, hear stories i've heard a million times, and some that i've never heard before. it will be a wonderful time, i'm sure. and i might even sleep. maybe. i hate to miss something due to a nap. but that's the story of my life.

i've been so busy this week. between trips to the hospital with little old ladies, communion appointments, and just trying to get my office in some kind of order after moving into a different part of the building, i'm a little frazzled. and i only made it to the gym once this week. boo. very, very bad. but it's ok. i just can't wait until next weekend, when i have absolutely nothing planned at all. and i refuse to do anything. period. i might go to the pool and work on my tan. i might work in my backyard. i might do laundry. or i might just read on my porch, nap in my bed, dust my room, and not turn on the tv for 48 hours. of course, that's assuming that none of my critical cases step on rainbows to go be with Jesus (footnote--kinky friedman), and i'm not planning funerals or dealing with their relatives. it's a crap shoot. we'll keep our fingers crossed, at any rate.

it's almost time for another "by the numbers" post, but i'm waiting on a couple of things from this weekend before i blow your mind with any stats from my mostly-mundane but personally gratifying existance.

for now, i'll leave you guys with the advice to go out and buy the new brandi carlile cd (much gras to caro, who gave it to me)--some of the songs make me want to throw myself under a bus, but in a good way. i think i'm nursing a new crush, and i'm kind of moderately excited about that. sweet. and, if you need a new cd to dance by, go pick up the new mika disc (ryan sent this one to me...oh my friends who send me music because they know i am a)descriminating and b)making mortgage payments, you rock my socks off, quite literally...) it's great for jamming out during traffic and makes you want to smooch on someone fun and dance til the wee hours.

i've been reading ts eliot, william blake, and shelby foote. my mind is a little muddy. and i'm sleeeeeeepy. sorry the last two posts have been so lame. i'll try and do better. i promise.

mil besos--rmg

ghosttown...

so, i totally overthought how bad my high school reunion was going to be. shocker--me over-think anything? what? oh but i did. damn near paniced and turned around about eighty times driving back on the road, that despite my travels and the fact that i don't have family living there anymore, still feels like the road home.

i saw people i hadn't seen in years. i laughed like a little kid. i saw the faces of my class mates on the faces of their children. and i put some old, aching, miserable ghosts to bed, hopefully for the last time. i drove past houses i used to live in. i made the loop around the park. i got a coke at sonic. for the first time, i had a beer at bonnie's house, and wasn't scared to death her parents were going to catch us drinking. it was surreal. and kind of nice.

the best part was knowing that while i don't always have the life i've dreamed of having, i no longer give two hoots and a holler about who thinks i'm cool or worth talking to. i was glad to know that the girl who felt that way didn't come to the reunion wearing my face. we all grow up, in our own time, and in our own way. and thanks be to God for that.

i imagined i would have to do a super-secret blog and tell you all about the things i saw and heard that weren't fit for public consumption. at the end of the day, all i can tell you is that i had a wonderful time. i had some amazing conversations. and i was ready to come home, back to the home i have made for myself, in this place and in this time. and sure, it's not always as pretty or put together, or even as full as i would like for it to be. but this is my life, all the pieces, and i'm proud of that. i have worked so fiercely to become who i am, to carve this out. i don't have time for regret or jealousy. that's a good thing to know. oh, and i know that i should never play the guitar after about 37 vodka drinks. it's the little lessons that count, right?

mil besos--rmg

Reading List for Summer/Fall 2007

slow blog week, i know. Iive pretty much felt half-asleep since, oh say last tuesday. i'm sure after this weekend, i'll have something to say. i mean, it's not every weekend you get to go to your ten year high school reunion. maybe i can even convince the 1989 uil spelling champion to do a "he said/she said" team post with me, just for this one little story. i'll keep you posted.

at any rate, i know you all just must be wondering with great anticipation what's on my reading list for the next six months...so i'll tell you. feel free to read along. i'll be giving some reviews along the way. i totally doubt i will get anywhere near done with this list, unless i give up sleeping and working, but if i can get through ten of these books, i'll feel pretty good about things. i'm already almost done with book five in the Harry Potter series--it makes for great reading on the exerbike at the gym. and i'm into the 1st volume of the shelby foote collection, so that's nice. it just kind of makes me a little narcoleptic...which may mean that it's a good bedtime book.

The Civil War, a Narrative—Shelby Foote
The End of the Affair—Graham Greene
100 Years of Solitude—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Pride and Prejudice—Jane Austen
The Kite Runner—Khaled Hosseini
The Time Traveler’s Wife—Nifenegger
The Lovely Bones—Alice Sebold
Snow Falling on Cedars—David Guterson
Bless Me, Ultima—Rudolfo Anaya
All the Pretty Horses—Cormac McCarthy
A Good Man is Hard To Find—Flannery O’Connor
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee—Dee Brown
My Life is My Sundance—Leonard Peltier
A Brief History of Time—Stephen Hawking
Catch a Fire—Timothy White
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—Hunter S. Thompson
Like Water for Chocolate—Laura Esquivel
A Room of One’s Own—Virginia Woolf
The Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds—Doris Kearns Goodwin
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich—William Shirer
The Satanic Verses—Salman Rushdie
About a Boy—Nick Hornby
Wuthering Heights—Emily Bronte
Thirteen Moons—Charles Frazier
Blue Like Jazz—Donald Miller
Harry Potter Series—JK Rowling


mil besos,

rmg