tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73578292009-07-12T22:28:57.052-07:00this is tinarama!tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.comBlogger445125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-47084098661503571722009-07-12T22:13:00.001-07:002009-07-12T22:28:57.073-07:00

My mom made me a CD with all of my baby pictures on it. This one has always been one of my favorite pictures of myself but I never had a copy of it until now. I can't stop staring at it.I feel such love for that little three-year-old person with the calm, open, empty face. What was she thinking? What would I tell her if she were my child? How would I take care of her?Sometimes I try to imagine

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-12040249117925832572009-06-24T12:31:00.001-07:002009-06-24T12:31:01.758-07:00

Okay, seriously now – who IS in charge of Burger King's advertising?http://www.dlisted.com/node/32669I loved the creepy King character they introduced a few years ago, because I'm just kind of like that – fascinated with ambiguity and uncertainty, the kind of humor you get on The Office when Michael does something just utterly inappropriate, and you get to watch people squirm as they try to

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-80497003647771237962009-06-24T10:20:00.000-07:002009-06-24T11:13:45.084-07:00

I just bought yet another brown skirt. Ever since I took the pledge to stop wearing black, I seem to have become a little obsessed – every black piece of clothing in my closet must be replaced with something of another color, and this summer that color seems to be brown. In addition to de-blacking my wardrobe I'm also altering several items of already-approved colors that no longer fit properly.

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-12575894109075882972009-06-22T21:12:00.000-07:002009-06-22T21:19:29.127-07:00

That's my life right now – painfully boring. At least, so it would appear to a disempassioned observer. Or wait, is that a word? Dispassionate – I think that's what I was trying to say.But I kind of like "disempassioned," though. That word pretty much sums it up. Work, then home, then more work, then sleep, then work again. I have been doing some sewing in between, and gotten a bunch of cleaning

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-59518063222159980972009-06-05T22:08:00.001-07:002009-06-05T23:12:33.895-07:00

Did I already post this? The best part is the little dance he does at :40.So! Once again it's time for an update on My Wondrous Diabetic Journey. The latest news is that I've had two different A1C tests done in the last few weeks, from two different labs, just to see how close the results would be, and they were actually very close. I took both tests on the same day. The one from the walk-in

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-72357056258366303922009-06-04T19:54:00.000-07:002009-06-04T20:07:04.776-07:00

I thought I'd take a break from resenting and complaining about the very rich, and focus today on one of the cool side-effects of living just a stone's throw from the sixteenth most expensive ZIP code in the country: The thrift stores around here rock. Today at lunch I got five gorgeous heavy linen sundresses (also two heavy silver plate soup spoons in a beautiful and unusual pattern) that I am

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-11030356856174919492009-06-01T19:08:00.001-07:002009-06-02T11:26:27.377-07:00

Today is Tater's birthday. He's eleven years old. Celebrations include games with Kongs, cheeseburgers and a box of original flavor Frosty Paws.We've been sort of sporadically looking at puppies, though still have no official plans to step up the search. A shelter not too far from here has this little beauty available – a baby pit bull with very human-looking eyes. I swear I did not Photoshop her

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-55737601242314740812009-05-30T18:38:00.001-07:002009-05-30T19:33:48.543-07:00

Last week Mr. A and I were at the local big orange do-it-yourself home-and-garden store, and as we were leaving – all loaded down with half a ton of potting soil, plants, tools, bags of mesquite chunks for the barbecue (one sale, two for one) and other assorted yard-related stuff – he pointed out a couple of prefabricated sheds that were parked up against the side of the building, in the shade."

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-9641361101634386542009-05-15T22:51:00.000-07:002009-05-22T11:59:54.855-07:00

I guess it had to happen eventually. The summer uniform I've been wearing for most of the last two summers and was planning to recycle this year with only minimal changes – has suddenly been adopted by some semi-official voice of fashion, which has pronounced 2009 the "summer of the shift." Drat!It's such a basic dress, and that should've been my tip-off. Everything in design seems to be going

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-27951353941622325712009-05-14T18:26:00.001-07:002009-05-14T18:26:18.912-07:00

I failed to note in yesterday's rant that I actually love to ATTEND weddings. I love community rituals of all kinds, especially when they're about something important like a major life change or rite of passage. And as for parties, a wedding is pretty much my favorite kind. Just don't ask me to stand in the spotlight ... I don't like it there.

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-83478642201169060592009-05-13T20:20:00.000-07:002009-05-13T22:57:01.041-07:00

I've just spent the last 9 hours looking at hundreds of wedding pictures for an upcoming work project and I just have to say: I'm so glad I never had a real wedding! It all looks so exhausting ... trying to get everything just perfect ... and all that money ... I have a work friend who plans events and the word from her is that the minimum budget for a wedding is $50 grand. That's her MINIMUM, to

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-31165692153712315762009-05-08T17:43:00.001-07:002009-05-08T17:43:19.387-07:00

Last night I went out to take the trash out to the road and there was a huge salamander walking across the porch. Not as huge as those big orange ones from China, but still the biggest one I've ever seen in person – about 6 or 7 inches long. I looked it up online (photo to come) and am pretty sure it's an arboreal salamander. It's an amphibian adapted for climbing (see also: arboreal locomotion),

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-33801891346360379242009-05-08T17:34:00.001-07:002009-05-08T17:34:56.401-07:00

In the book I'm reading, a someone just gave a gift to a man living alone on an island in a lake in the far north: a bag of potatoes, a small block of lard, and a scrap of cloth tied up around 12 nickels.I was thinking how good it would feel to give those things to someone you care about, and know that they would see it as a really great gift. One of the paradoxical things about living in such

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-83369721111988575852009-04-20T22:07:00.000-07:002009-04-20T22:39:09.729-07:00

Well, life goes on. I got a new bike last week – the stepthrough version of the same bike I've been riding for the last four years or so. I love that bike! When the company that made it was sold last fall, Mr. A suggested that we should really get another one as a backup bike, before the new manufacturer starts changing everything that makes it the perfect bike for me. I'd been thinking he was

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-28379989117908832442009-04-14T23:51:00.000-07:002009-04-15T00:28:55.847-07:00

For some reason I guess I really did think that knowing it was coming would prevent me from feeling it so deeply when it finally did happen. It's strange to be reminded so inescapably that I am not as strong as I always think I am. I'm still glad I stayed with him and held him while he died, but was not prepared to feel this sad and sort of ... disoriented.I've had some of my usual anxiety dreams

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-22277151375973915042009-04-02T12:53:00.000-07:002009-04-02T14:18:27.043-07:00

It's done.Last night was the first night in years that the Jeeps did not sleep in the doorway of my room, guarding my bed. Instead he slept on his towel in front of the fireplace and I dozed on the couch, keeping watch over him for a change.This morning I got the vet on the phone as soon as the office opened, and he was able to recommend a different clinic that does house calls. So I made the

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-69745381709329705502009-04-02T00:02:00.000-07:002009-04-02T00:03:15.668-07:00

We're probably putting the Jeeps down tomorrow.He's been having trouble with his hips for a year or more, and all winter it's been getting harder and harder for him to get back up when he falls. Now, in the last month or so, it's gotten suddenly worse. And today for the first time he can no longer stand or walk at all, not even if we help him.Tonight we were holding him up to eat a little dinner

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-6563410619576296442009-03-22T23:09:00.001-07:002009-03-22T23:45:12.940-07:00

And yet another opportunity to examine my boundaries – someone I know, one of the first people I met here in fact, has just gone through a long and painful breakup, and has been away for several months working, and is now back in town for a few weeks and wants to camp out in our back field for "one or two weeks." There are a number of reasons why I don't want this person staying here, but really

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-64481379858962704862009-03-18T22:32:00.000-07:002009-03-21T22:34:20.073-07:00

There are an awful lot of people driving pickup trucks around here who think bicycles are supposed to be ridden only on the sidewalk. A few days ago, in almost the same spot where last week's "incident" took place, a guy in an orange pickup rolled down his window and leaned all the way across his front seat while driving by in order to shout at me, "GET ON THE SIDEWALK!"As soon as he was clear of

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-4922823374321148342009-03-10T17:11:00.000-07:002009-03-11T12:02:32.512-07:00

This morning a giant scary guy in an enormous white truck tried to run me off the road on my bike, not once but twice.The first time he came within about a foot of my handlebar and I yelled, "HEY!" and kept riding. Traffic was stopped at a light, and I passed him on my way to the front – not saying another word, but taking note of the vehicle and the guy in it.A few minutes later he swerved

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-32326159172201464522009-02-24T22:48:00.001-08:002009-02-24T23:00:16.162-08:00

I had the coolest experience on Facebook today – my dad friend-requested me! I accepted the request, of course, and then tonight I called and had the nicest conversation with my parents. Apparently one of my sisters had been telling him about something that happened on Facebook and he thought it sounded cool, so he googled it to find out what it was and then signed up for an account. It totally

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-45819346980598848372009-02-23T19:41:00.001-08:002009-02-23T21:10:20.529-08:00

So, have I totally abandoned this blog? No. At least not in my heart ... I still think all the time about things I want to write about, and will write about them someday – I hope in the not too distant future.For right now I'm way over-extended at work, both in my day job and with a couple of freelance projects that arrived at the same time and which, the economy being what it is these days, I

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-57258200615051265342009-02-07T17:37:00.000-08:002009-02-07T18:49:04.727-08:00

I didn't take this picture myself and I don't know where it came from, but I had to post it because it so gorgeously illustrates my latest obsession – the moss garden. I've been collecting little pieces of moss everywhere and storing it in jars, making little tiny terrariums, tucking it in under the feet of house plants ... It's just the most beautiful color, and so fuzzy, and I love the

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-19912743712009080822009-02-04T19:51:00.001-08:002009-02-04T21:12:05.532-08:00

Last Friday I went to the "low-cost health screening clinic" at my pharmacy to have a new A1C done. Now that I'm basically uninsured (unless something catastrophic happens and I spend more than my deductible), clinics like this are a godsend. I had called the hospital lab where I've had all of my blood work done until now, and found out that for the two tests I wanted done it would cost me about

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7357829.post-9998496489236917082009-01-15T19:33:00.001-08:002009-01-15T20:09:13.898-08:00

I just got home from work and in today's mail is a save-the-date card from Mr. A's niece, who's getting married this summer. On a cruise ship in Mexico.They had been planning to do it right here in my quaint little town. People come from all over the world to get married here and it's got all the accommodations, services, romantic locations, leisure activities (etc.) that people want to build in

tinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12157105006469455294noreply@blogger.com3