good morning, kids.

'Morning!

I'm starting this new habit (probably the at-the-last-moment-edited-out Eighth Habit of Highly Effective People) called "Getting Out of Bed Before 10:50 A.M."  It's nice.  I switch each week between working mornings and afternoons, and this is my "afternoons" week.

Sleep is one of my favorite hobbies, so I had been overly taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep late, but since it's been getting light round here about 5 am, the battle to sleep in has suddenly become, well, not worth it.  It's been less sleep and more just thrashing around trying to achieve the elusive balance of having the covers block out the sun, and still being able to breathe.

So here I sit, enjoying a cup of coffee, doing important things like... reading things on the internet.  Such as this highly informative article about the sinister side of alli, the newly-minted king of weight loss drugs.  As long as you don't mind pooping your pants.

Ha ha.  I don't care WHO you are, that's funny shit!

And here I've been trying to eat smaller portions and exercise more to lose some of my post-marriage-hibernation swell (okay, okay, truthfully, it was a bit of a journey.  We did a two week stint on Atkins until I realized 1) I really hate eating nothing but scrambled eggs and meat; and 2) I become a crazy person without sugar; so now we are on the "Duh Diet."  Eat less!  Exercise more!  Duh, you idiot!).

But it's all in vain.  Turns out eating less and exercising more is just a hoax.  I NEED A PILL!  A pill that advises me to wear dark clothing and carry around an extra pair of pants with me just in case.

E  It sounds like a John Larroquette Project post, but no, it's real.

I digress.

A few things that we're thankful for right now:  Justin started a new job at T-Mobile this past Monday.  It doesn't give us five free movies a week like Blockbuster did, but the perks of having him work a normal full-time schedule (rather than closing every night of the weekend and never knowing how many hours he'd receive) are significant perks in and of themselves.  With both of us working jobs with reliable schedules, life is taking on a bit more of a rhythm, which is really good for us.

Also, I've been accepted back into Western for fall quarter, and can finally get that English degree done.  After the car accidents sent me home, I was able to get decent jobs, but was sad at having something so huge out there, left unfinished.  And after how long I'd been in school, and how many schools I'd been in, and what I owe in student loans, it seemed wrong on so many levels.  I'm excited to jump back in and get this puppy done.  I'm also loving the thought of possibly getting a few classes in with Justin.  We took a few classes together when we were just pals back in community college forever ago, so there would be something oddly full-circle about taking courses together now.  (Hopefully, he's let go by now of the bitterness he felt when, in our Vietnam War class, I attended class about five times the whole quarter and still got a better grade than he did...)

Last, but not least, is the biggest news of all.  (No, I'm not preggo.  I've found that anytime I'm excited about anything, or have good news, or don't feel well, I am now required to make that disclaimer.  Sometimes I avoid the disclaimer and draw things out, just to be obnoxious).  The only thing we're about to be proud parents of are some newly adopted used books.  We found THE SWEETEST used bookstore in downtown Fairhaven over the weekend!  We must have spent a good two hours in there poring over their massive collection of USED, and therefore, CHEAP, books, looking in particular for first editions.  For us nerds, it was a wonderful date.  I grabbed The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood) and Lucky (Alice Sebold), and am busting through them quickly in hopes of going back and continuing the gluttony.  Yay for us!  Nerd Romance lives!

That's about all the randomness I've got in me this morning, folks.  That, and my coffee's cold, so I'm gonna go fill 'er up.  Have a great day, everyone, and if you happen to see someone carrying an extra pair of pants with them to work today, try to at least keep your snickering to a minimum.  They might get embarrassed.  Probably not as embarrassed as they'll get if they don't quite make it out of the conference room later today, but embarrassed none the less...