This is not how Jon and I planned to spend our day, but I guess no one plans to go to the Emergency Room. Jon noticed some ants climbing in around the window above his bathtub, so he got some caulk to seal up the seam. But then he decided to see what the damage was, and pulled off the window sill. Apparently the caulk had been cracked for a while, because the wood was wet and moldy and there were thousands of ants. He had been considering remodeling the bathroom, and this was just the incentive he needed. He kept pulling down panels from the tub walls and I went to Lowes to get some gloves, masks, and trash bags.

When I got back to the house it was empty. Jon and his roommate were gone, and his roommate's TV was still on. The bathroom floor was covered in glass. I didn't see any blood, but I guessed what happened. There had been a mirror on the ceiling above the bathtub (why would anyone do that?), and it was now in shards on the floor. I started to call Jon, and just then his roommate came in to tell me he was at the hospital.

Jon filleted his left arm with the mirror. Luckily it was only a flesh wound though, not damaging any muscles or tendons or ligaments or arteries. He had to get 14 subcutaneous stitches, and 17 external ones, for 31 stitches total. It was pretty gross. You could see his bicep muscle, and all of the fat and tissue around it. Its very painful for him too. I'm glad he's ok.

When I got there one of the ER nurses recognized me from a previous trip to the ER. Thats pretty bad when ER nurses recognize you.

Today my friend Rosa threw a massive birthday party for her son Joseph's first birthday. There were about 40 adults, 20 kids, 3 bounce houses (one of which was a water slide), and a pinata. Joseph slept through most of it, but he finally woke up in time to hit the pinata and to eat cake. He dug his hands into the cake, and did not like the sticky gooey-ness at all. But then Rosa put a piece of cake in his mouth, and he decided he did like it. He got tons of presents, but Jon and I did not stay to watch him open them all. We got him a Tonka truck, something every one-year-old needs.

Today is the first day in five weeks that softball has not been rained out. I used to play softball a lot, March through October, but I haven't played since I had surgery on my shoulder. Now I am playing again. Tonight we had a double header, and we won both games. My team now is pretty good.

I like to play catcher, or second base. I do not like the outfield. I'm got a hit tonight, which is good because I'm not a great hitter. I also managed to throw out a runner by throwing the ball to first. But I'm out of practice, and I missed catching a foul ball, and I made a base running error that sent us into an extra inning.

Empiezo mi clase de espanol esta noche. Ese es la clase ultima por espanol en TCC. Durante el verano escuche a la telenovela "Destinos" en la computadora para practicar. Es una telenovela buena. Ahora necisito practicar hablando mas y aprender mas palabras.

September is National Preparedness Month, so we had a Prepare Fair at work today. There were a bunch of booths with local and federal programs that respond during emergencies, like FEMA and CERT. I got a free emergency blanket from one booth. They are good to keep in first aid kits, and I have kits in my house, my car, my backpack, etc.

There were also firetrucks and ambulances and a police attack truck. The truck was really cool. It was a Super Duty with a lot of armor plating, gun ports, a gun turret, and a battering ram.

Jon and I are taking a 5k class, which started tonight. I've done a few 5k's, but I would like to increase my times. Jon used to run a lot, but he hasn't done it in years. Tonight my workout was simply to do one mile, so see what my time was. I did it in 10:43, which is very fast for me! I'm used to doing 12 minute miles. I did push a little bit tonight, but I have also been doing a speed building workout for the past six weeks, and I think its working. Yay!

These are baby rhubarb plants. I've heard its possible to grow them in Texas in a fall garden, so I'm giving it a shot. It took me a while to get them to sprout, but then I realized I skipped the step about soaking the seeds for a few hours before planting them. Oops. This batch seems to have gotten over that, and are now on their way.

I've never had rhubarb, but my friend Karyn says it is very yummy. I've heard good things about stawberry-rhubarb pies. These babies will be ready sometime around May.

My toe hurts. The second one from the left. I stubbed it on a shovel this afternoon. It will not stop me from going barefoot though. I love being barefoot, and I do it a lot, even if its cold or I'm outside. If I'm home, I'm generally barefoot unless I'm mowing the grass or using a shovel. (I was not using the shovel today, I just walked too close to it.) I've heard that being barefoot is good for your feet, it increases their strength. I just find it comfy.

Jon and I went to the Japanese Gardens today at the Botanic Gardens. I've been to the Botanic Gardens a few times, but this was my first time in the Japanese Garden. It was very nice. Very pretty and serene and peaceful. I liked the sand garden a lot, and the koi. They liked the kibble I gave them.

I got a haircut today. I hate getting my hair cut, and I don't do it very often. Its been about eight months since my last haircut, but I wanted to keep it longer because its easier to put up into a pony tail when I work out. But I am cuter in short hair, so I sucked it up and got it cut. I used to be scared of haircuts, I don't know why, but now I go to my friend's husband Steve, who is a hairdresser at Sheltons. Steve is cool, so I'm no longer afraid. It is annoying making the time to go get a haircut, and its kind of expensive too.

Don't you love it when you laugh hysterically over simple things? Jon was trying to remember the name of some country with some monuments, and I was suggesting coutry names. Malaysia, Mozambique, Myanmar. Apparently something about the way I said Malawi was funny, and we both cracked up. And I did not make up the coutry Malawi. Its a landlocked country in southern Africa.

My dad baked a cake yesterday from scratch. He did a good job, its pretty good.

I think I saw the sun today. It peeked out for a little while, but not for long. Now, more rain.

When Karyn went to Europe, I took care of her kitty Bonsai. She brought me back this shirt. This is the first time I've worn it, since its long sleeve and it has been summer. Its been raining all weekend, and its going to keep raining for a while. Gray and wet and cool is England-y weather, so I thought I'd wear my England shirt. Its nice. Its very comfy and soft.

My computer is very frustrating. I spend a lot of time waiting on it. Its about 4 years old, and so is my router, so I guess some slowness is to be expected. And I'm in no mood to spend the money to buy a new one. Its not always so slow. Sometimes it works perfectly fine. But when its not perfectly fine, it drives me insane.

Tonight is Gallery Night, as well as Jazz on the Boulevard. Gallery Night is fun. Lots of local businesses open up and display lots of art and serve fancy snacks. I've never been to the jazz fest, but it sounds like lots of fun too. Jon and I really wanted to go, but its been raining all day, and isn't supposed to stop anytime soon. As we were driving to downtown, it started raining harder, and we decided we just couldn't do it. The events are outside, and we would be soggy and cold. We were already dressed up though, so we decided to go some place fancy for dinner. We went to the Silver Fox. It was very good. They give you tons of food though. I had a large salad, and this is my entree, steak strips with portobello mushroom, mashed potatoes, cream corn, peas, and tomato slices. It also came with a slice of chocolate ganache cake. Unfortunately I got a headache which made me nautious, so I couldn't enjoy it. We took it home and I took some pills and layed down for a while. I finished the food later.

Is today still called Patriot's Day? Its still 9-11, if not. I didn't do any community service today, I went to work.

Jon has designated me the vacation activities planner. When we go on vacation I am responsible for figuring out the fun stuff to do. I love it. I had lists when we went to New York and Chicago. In a couple of years we are planning to go to Japan, and I'm working on the plan. Jon has always wanted to go to Japan, ever since high school, so we decided to just do it. We want to see the cranes and the soccer ball algae and the natual parks in Hokkaido, and walk through some cities and experience the culture and see Mt. Fuji and other natual areas, and see Hiroshima. As you can tell, our plans are taking us around the entire country, so the plan will be important. Jon has signed up for Japanese lessons, which will also be important.

I love chocolate. A lot. I have a plastic cookie jar at work shaped like a tiger, and me and several coworkers keep it filled of chocolate, and we all have a few pieces each day. Chocolate just makes the days better. I usually don't eat pieces at home, but the tiger has been empty for a few days, and I need to catch up.

I like milk chocolate, not dark. Sometimes nuts are ok, but plain is just fine. I'm not as big a fan of candy, chocolate is better.

My dad arrived tonight. He lives in his RV, and during the fall he usually spends a couple of months here. In the spring and summer he works at campgrounds around the country, and in the winter he is a mall Santa. His RV is in my driveway now (I purposefully bought a house with a driveway that could accomodate an RV), and while he is here he can work on various and assorted projects. Last year he built a bunch of cabinets and helped me remodel my kitchen. I don't have anything that ambitious planned this year, just some crown molding and some small projects here and there.

I subbed on volleyball again tonight. We actually won our first match, and we made the second one close. Yay us! My toes are still purple from the tri. I'm very lazy about taking off nail polish. Its such a pain.

When I was walking to the courts tonight I noticed that the river is really low. Its practically dry. Sam said it was normal for this time of year, but I don't remember seeing it like that. Its rained a lot this summer too - my grass never died. Maybe we've been pumping water to central Texas or something.

Happy Labor Day!

Jon and I are too tired to celebrate. We spent three days working both here and at John's house, so we just decided to lay around today. Plus I had to go to class tonight. Boo. Who schedules class on Labor Day?

More yard work today. My friend John needs to sell his house, so a bunch of us are working to help him get it ready. I think there were eight of us there this weekend, painting, cleaning, landscaping, and fixing the fence. We got a lot of work done. The holes in the walls are patched and painted, the back door frame is painted, the weeds are all gone, the yard is mowed, the shrubs are trimmed, the gates are hung, the fence is fixed, and the house is clean. Unfortunately, the pool is still green. John took us all out to dinner at the Keg in return for our work. Yum!

We dug ditches in Jon's yard today, and here I am with my prey, victorious after the hunt. Actually, the palm was very easy to dig up. I am a big fan of plants, but if they are in the way or don't belong, I will get rid of them. Palms do not belong in north Texas. Besides, it was in the way of my ditch. We were digging ditches in order to bury soaker hoses around the house foundation. We managed to get them all done today, and get all the hoses and timers hooked up. Victory!

Every time I take a vacation, I make a collage frame of the pictures from the trip. So far I have the Caribbean cruise that Susan and I took, and the trips that Jon and I took to Virginia, New York, Chicago, and Colorado. It makes me feel good to see the memories. I only have one place left in my hallway to hang a frame. Then I'll have to move to other walls.

I went to mow my grass today, and noticed that there is a large puddle in my backyard. It was on the fence between me and my neighbor, and I could see that their backyard was flooded too. I poked the ground in my yard, and the puddle does not extend up to my house, and I don't have any pipes in this part of the yard. I told my neighbor, and she said she's heard water running the last few days, but hasn't figured out from where. I hope the leak is on her side. And I did finally get my grass mowed!!

I used to get up at 5 am regularly to work out. I would hit the snooze once, twice at most. Now I struggle to get up at 6:30 to go to work. I could sleep later, but then I'd have to work later, and that is no good either. I don't know why I'm so sleepy in the mornings now. I sleep well, and go to bed around 9 or 10. I do force myself to get up a few times. I've been doing a pretty intensive weights workout for the last couple of weeks and I like it. I've been running intervals on the treadmill too, and I don't like it as much. I like running through my neighborhood as the sun rises better.

I bought groceries today, and I used my canvas shopping bags. I love them. They are larger and more durable than the reusable bags you buy now for a dollar. I got them a few years ago, and I haven't seen any others like them around. I try to take them with me to the store every time. I hate it when I forget them. Plastic bags are weak and flimsy and small, and then you have to do something with them or recycle them.

It is Monday, class day, but I am home by nine. Nice. The instructor lets us leave after we finish the classroom exercises. We use the H&R Block software, and I have a lot of experience using non-intuitive software, so I breeze through the exercises. I like the classes though. We go through the book, but the instructor does a good job of explaining the tax codes and providing examples. Just reading the book can be a little confusing. Tax stuff is complicated, but still fun.

This is my next attempt at mowing my lawn. I returned the lawn mower that only mowed once and got this one. I cannot get the wheels on. The lazy mechanic who assembled this at the factory did not line up the holes when bolting the plates together, and the bolt for the wheel will not fit through. This is pathetic. Do not buy a Bolens mower. They are crap.