"All I Need is Everything"

Tonight, Porkchop and I are going to see Over the Rhine at Blueberry Hill. A show! Excitement!

I enjoy most of Over the Rhine's work, but it's Good Dog Bad Dog that really gets me. I still remember the first I heard it; and, even now, I have to stop whatever I'm doing and just listen to it when it's on.

It's sad. It'll make you want to cry and drink. And you won't be able to stop listening to it.

But on to other things...

Labor Day Weekend
We had a good visit with my parents - full of home made bread, talking, and tennis.

V came down Saturday night, and then Porkchop and I followed her to Memphis (only about an hour away) Sunday afternoon for a little tour of downtown (including the Lorraine Hotel - sad!) and good Vietnamese food.

My dad managed to embarrass me only twice during V's visit. Once, when he asked V if the person who wrecked her car was of "ethnic heritage." That is, he wanted to know if the person in question was black. So embarrassing!

I don't know what gets into my dad, but once he crosses into crazy land, there's no going back.

During these times, I just have to breathe deeply and remember that I cannot control my dad, and his actions and words have nothing to do with me.

The second sort-of embarrassing moment actually kind of amused me. We were talking about the filming of Hustle and Flow, and my dad said something like, "Well, I guess it isn't easy for pimps [in Memphis]." Of course, he was referencing the Three 6 Mafia song featured in the movie (and the Oscars). I'm pretty sure he wasn't serious because the comment was accompanied by a jokey smile.

I find the song in question quite atrocious because, hello!, I think it's infinitely harder for the pros who the pimps are exploiting. And the Oscar performance made me want to throw up. But, I found the pop culture reference quite amusing. I mean, does your dad reference Three 6 Mafia lyrics?

Tuesday
You've heard a bit of this already. Told my current workplace I was retracting my offer acceptance. Ha!

Very nervous, but everything turned out okay.

Wednesday
I started Wednesday morning with a 7:00 appointment for my life insurance health exam. The examiner, Odessa, came to our apartment. I learned two things: I have somehow grown over an inch, and our bathroom scale is indeed off by 5 pounds. After Odessa weighed me, I was commenting on how our bathroom scale is off, which I don't really mind. But I think Odessa thought I was complaining about how much I weigh, but I wasn't. I was just stating a fact about our scale, and I really wanted to qualify as a super-preferred life insurance customer. Anyway, Odessa said, "Well, Carrie, you've got some hips. But that's a good thing. Because when you put on a pair of jeans, it's like: Bam! If you don't want your hips, I'll take them."

So, even though I wasn't feeling bad about the state of my hips, Odessa made me feel pretty good. Of course, then Keetah walked out, and Odessa said, "Oh! That's a fat cat!" Y'all, lay off of Keetah! Don't give her a self-esteem complex, okay?! Keetah is just fine the way she is. But we are being stricter about her feeding schedule.

Okay, back to the point about my growth spurt. I have always been around 5' 5 1/2". Never 5' 6", mind you. Never. Suddenly, I'm nearly 5' 7"! I didn't believe Odessa, so Porkchop measured me that night and got a reading of 5' 6 7/8".

I attribute this growth to yoga. I've been doing a lot of back strength and flexibility postures, and I think it has helped to decompress my spine. Seriously. Don't think I'm crazy.

After work (which has kept me quite busy, as I'm trying to document and organize everything for the next person) on Wednesday, I went by CSD to sign my offer letter. I thought this would just take 10 minutes, but it turned into a 40-minute tour and meet-and-greet session. I was impatient to get home because it was also....

Knitting night! Or, Knittin' Night, as I've been calling it. You know, after a dip back into the mid-South, I can't put gs on my gerunds (or other -ing words). (BTW, I consider St. Louis southern Midwest. Anything below STL is northern-South; Jonesboro and Memphis are mid-South; and, below that, y'all're in the South.)

For food, we went quick with take-out (Qdoba for Porkchop and me, Rally's (Checkers if you're in the South) for Soozi). After eating, we zeroed in on knitting. Soozi had finished one purple garter stitch scarf using Lamb's pride. So, during Knittin' Night, she started a slightly wider one that will also be longer. I finished up my second gift bag and started on the I-cord for it. Porkchop knitted a couple more rectangles for the infamous baby blanket.

Thursday
Nothing super-exciting to note. Porkchop and I exercised together in the evening. Yay! And then we enjoyed soup at St. Louis Bread Company.

After that, we just kind of hung out at the apartment. Nice.

Today
I didn't want to get up at all this morning! So tired! Major eye baggage! So unmotivated to be here at work!

While lounging in bed, talking about how I didn't want to get up, I raised the blinds a bit so that Keetah could lie on the window sill.

That's when I saw a squirrel scurrying up to the bird feeder (BTW, see Porkchop's livejournal for more about our bird squirrel feeder). We all watched in horror as the squirrel drove away a female cardinal that was also trying to eat! So rude!!

Porkchop angrily went out onto the deck to drive the squirrel away, which lasted for like 5 minutes before said squirrel came back. Here, I would like to mention how many squirrels there are in our neighborhood. Just from my bed vantage point, I saw around 10 running through various trees in our yard and neighbors' yards. Squirrel overload!

Poor cardinals. They were hanging out, waiting for the squirrel to leave, but I think they finally gave up.

We ended up letting Keetah out on the deck, joking about she was supposed to keep squirrels away. Well! She surprised us and actually kind of cornered a squirrel. I say "kind of" because Keetah didn't mean any malevolence, she was just watching the squirrel, who was freaking out! The squirrel was frozen and emitting distress sounds. Keetah just sat and watched it. But, when the squirrel ran down from the deck post, Keetah chased it! Again, not out of malevolence, just out of curiosity.

Anyway, maybe the squirrels will stay away now. Or else we'll put our guard cat out.

Have a nice Friday!