and other random musings. I love that Chris watches Will & Grace with me. I may have mentioned this before, but I think it's the coolest. Most guys consider W&G a chick show, but Chris doesn't care. He loves Jack and Karen as much as I do (well, maybe not quite as much...I have a secret desire to be my own version of Karen Walker minus the alcohol and drugs) and laughs even more some times. It's so funny when he gets really tickled (especially at himself) because his whole body starts to shake and he doesn't make any noise at all.
I suffer from the wanderlust. I suffer terribly. I want to be traveling. I always want to be traveling. I want to get paid to travel. I secretly long to be a tour guide. Yes, I am a nerd. I'm not afraid to admit it. I want to travel the world. I want to see it all. There are a few hot spots I'd like to avoid, but I want to see/experience it all. And not just the touristy stuff. I want to have meals in a house with locals and go to church with them and smile and nod while they talk about me in their foreign tongue. I want to visit every state in the Union (and the protectorates) and as many countries as possible (I think I'm up to 16 right now). But how? How do you afford it? How could I do that now? I'm married. I have responsibilities. We want to buy a house, and he wants kids. Those things are not conducive to extended travels to countries without running water. So for now, I'll just have to long. And live vicariously through Casey, who spent a lot of days traveling around the world. His website is www.whereiscasey.com, and I'm loving reading every word and savoring the pictures. Some day, it will be me. Oh yes, it will be me. I just have to make do with the cruise we're taking to 2 new countries this year. I guess I can find a way.
My dogs have me pegged. Totally pegged. Today, there was something seriously interesting going on outside. I have no idea what, but Scooby was extremely excited about it! So, he came to get me. It's hard to believe that the dogs really do come and get me - they are dogs, after all. But no, they really do. I tested him today. He was outside barking his ever loving head off. Then, he came into the room I was in upstairs still barking. I ignored him. So he came over and jumped up at me and barked some more. Then, headed to the door and barked some more. Then came and jumped up at me and barked. Then, back to the door and guess what? Barked. Shocking, huh? And so, we continued as I slowly followed him down the stairs, stopping every couple of stairs to see if this really was true, and him coming back and barking more when I stopped. By this time, Mimi had joined in and threw in the occassional "yeah, what he said" bark for good measure.
So, they got me out the door, and they just continued to bark and turn and look at me and bark. I had no idea what was going on, but I'm pretty sure they wanted my help. Seing as I don't speak Scottie, and they don't speak human, I turned around and returned to my computer. And the barking/leading returned...twice. Finally, the third time, I went out the front gate to see what was going on. And there, near our fence was a squirrell. Few things get our dogs as excited as they were, but when they see squirrells and bunnies (and other small woodland creatures and the occassional bird), they can taste it. They're ready. So, I'm pretty sure said woodland creature had been in their territory. In order to appease them, I picked each one up in turn and let them peak over the gate and then walked them around out in front of the gate so they could see there was nothing (we conveniently missed the rodent). Funny thing, neither dog liked when I took the other beyond the gate. Each got left behind and cried about it. Big cry babies. So, like I said, they've got me pegged.
In other random news, our flourescent lights in the kitchen have gone out. This is bad. We have 3 smallish window in this condo and none of them sheds any light in the kitchen. In the middle of the day, it's like it's 9 pm in there. At first, we thought it was the light bulbs (all 4 at once, I asked?), but after purchasing 4 of said light bulbs, it was determined that no, in fact the ballast is going out. I'm fairly sure that the knower of all things, Mr. Barba had never even heard of a ballast before last year, but now he is totally qualified to diagnose one. (the other knower of all things, Bob, has kindly provided a second opinion and concurs.) This, of course, requires a call to the landlord. We're renting, and no matter how much I want it fixed, he gets to do it. Well, I say that now, but after waiting for Mr. Barba to call said landlord for 4 days and the landlord sitting on it for a similar amount of days, I'm starting to get tired of it. Yes, I could have called, but for some reason, the Mister vehemently says no every time I suggest it. Could it be that he has a working relationship (second job) with the landlord and doesn't see my letting him have it as conducive for business?
We had Carraba's tonight. Not what I'd call a Weight Watcher's approved meal, and as Bob and I started WW again on Friday, I should be consuming only WW approved meals. But, how am I supposed to see to cook? The other night, Mr. Barba brought down a halogen lamp from upstairs. Yeah, big help. Actually, it helped a lot more when he figured out it was a 3-way light and he'd had it on the first way. And still, we wait for the handyman. Every once in a while, the lights come on for no reason whatsoever and we just leave them on in hopes that they will remain. Unfotunately, each time this has happened, someone has forgotten and turned them off and it takes at least 24 hours for them to decide to come on again. Gotta love it. The first time it was me. The latest such incident was today. The Mister came home for lunch and I'd gone to help Bob with a training and then do my own training. The lights magically came on as I was making breakfast, so I left them on. When I came home, they'd been turned off. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
