Apparently.

I get up for work about 6:45 or 6:30, having usually gone to bed about 11-ish.

I studied several hours last night and felt drowsy, so at 10 I did as the puppies suggested and crawled into bed. Foolishly, I brought my entire stack of books, about 20 pounds of the things, and thought I'd get some more reading done. I was asleep almost right away and then woke up about 5AM, so apparently 7 is the number of hours I naturally want to sleep. Or maybe it's just a deeply ingrained habit at this point.

I must say that it helps working from home. No mad scramble to get gussied up and schlep into town through traffic, etc. Then again, it hardly merits calling traffic what happens on the roads here. I do love that aspect of provincial life. In Dallas, I lived at one point 11 miles from my work, and the drive to work would take 20 minutes down the toll road in the morning, and the drive home could take anywhere from 35 to 50 minutes. It was freakish to make it in 35. Taking all that stuff into account, getting ready and driving, would add 2 hours to my work day, compared to here.

Someday I'll be a nurse and I won't be working from home, where I have a sweet puppy to scoop up and hold on my lap if someone is being nasty to me on the phone. I don't make a high salary by any measure, but having little doggies around is massive value-added. :)

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Threw up a wee post from my iPhone yesterday which I think did not appear here? Hmph.
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In other news, going to the NRA convention in April. *giddy* That's going to be fun. :)

Are you going?

Puppehs had their annual trip to the vet today and they are healthy and up to snuff. Praline is 14.5# and Chuy is 16.8 or somesuch, which is down a few pounds. I think the bluejays have been staying out of the yard so he's been short on diet supplements. Then again, it's almost baby bunny season again, heaven preserve us. This year the pups are going in March for a fresh round of rattlesnake vaccinations. It's hard to believe I've been out here almost 3 years. Praline will be 4 in May and Chuy will be 4 in August. Anyway, out here and as dry as the summers have been, I do worry about seeing more rattlesnakes in town around where people live, so I need to keep them vaccinated, little darlings.

I was delighted to find this stripped down version of the Supertramp classic Breakfast in America featuring only its composer Roger Hodgson on vocals and keyboard and a soprano sax. He's producing good vocals more than 3 decades down the line from the first time I heard this, and it's nice to hear a voice still sounding in its prime because it's been properly used. Still love this song for its its bouncy optimism and the wistful, lovely melodic line.



I first heard this around the time my family moved from Arkansas to Texas, and though I love the Ozarks and always will, this was the gateway to a happier time in my life, and this feels like moving forward in a very good way. :)

Come on you little fighter
no need to get uptighter
Come on you little fighter,
and get back up again.
It's Raining Again by Supertramp

Here's hoping we all have a bouncy, optimism-worthy week.

Cheers, darlings!

Or, pups, rather. My dreamlings wanted to get up, so I popped some laundry in the washer while they fed and did the outdoors thingie, and now we are back to bed for more power-napping.

Life is sweet!

For your viewing pleasure, two pup-centric photos from the perspective of my pillow this morning:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This week has been a total grind, but this is the last week I'll have with such a brutal schedule, since the show starts tonight and there won't be more rehearsals on weeknights. Next week I expect to settle back into a routine of yoga classes and rigorous study every evening, and maybe I'll even try to make a dent in the Close Encounters pile of laundry. Or not.

Anyway, I'll be less stressed out, and that is certain. Oh, and maybe I'll get more than 5 hours of sleep tonight. I'm just proud of myself for making it through this week without cracking into a beer or a bottle of wine, because I really couldn't afford to wake up the next day with things any more throwed off than they were going to be anyway.

In the meantime, a lovely diversion: John Fluevog is having a shoe sale! I probably won't buy any, but these certainly do tickle my fancy. Purdy!

Have a great weekend. I'll post about opening night tomorrow, but don't look for the post to be early. I plan on having a much-deserved lie-in tomorrow. I may sleep till the afternoon. Or not. I'll probably pop awake at 6am out of habit. Hopefully not, though. Hopefully visions of sugar-plum candy-colored Fluevogs will be dancing through my head.

Oh wait, they always are. :P

Yeah, but back then, I didn't get up until the crack of noon so I could be to work on time by 2PM. This getting home after 11 every night sucks big green donkey whongers. Thank goodness tomorrow's the last night of rehearsal.

What's kind of a shame is that a bunch of people mutinied and went home at 10PM (or was it 10:30?) tonight.

Tomorrow I have A&P at 8AM, then work until 4, then A&P lab at 5:30, then straight to rehearsal which will no doubt run until 11 again. Fingers crossed that we've gotten the worst of the kinks worked out of the show.

The sad thing is that Friday with 8 hours of work and a performance is going to seem like a light day after all this week. Saturday night after performance, Mama is gonna drink somethin', y'all.

For some reason, I've been thinking of this scene from the classic mockumentary This is Spinal Tap.



*devil horns*

This is final week of rehearsal, thank goodness. Took this photo when I took off my costume tonight but before I de-spackled my face. The show is really coming together and I always hear people laughing when I





say my lines. Whether they are laughing with me or at me matters not. I'm having fun. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The science building is by far the coolest on campus.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

or sort of normal. I've just been busier than a one-armed paper hanger.

Worked a full day Friday then tooled into Dallas and hit Ikea and then on to Nordstrom Rack where I did some serious damage. Took 3 large bags of stuff over to Mom and Pop's and tried stuff on from my 30 minutes in Nordstrom ($$$ spent, needed to be sure). Spent the night, went to brekky with Mom and Dad and heard some great stories about uppity old ladies in the town in Arkansas where Dad grew up, and they'll have to be shared here soon.

Bought a little pair of diamond earrings for my niece, and she seemed thrilled. I told her she is MY diamond. It's amazing how much love you can have in your heart for a youngster, isn't it? And it's wonderful, too. I treasure every second I get to spend with her. And my nephew, too. :)

Good stuff.

Went to Norstrom at the Galleria and couldn't find my shoes for stage. Bought the first decent coat (on a very good sale) that I've had in years, and this one will last me for years, so long as I don't let wild puppies walller it. Had my hair cut, had an incredible Thai chicken salad at Panera, and got shoes! Shoes! But no shoes for the stage, alas. TOok my returns to Nordstrom Rack where I spent more hours, and headed home from Dallas about 4 hours later than I'd originally intended.

RETAIL THERAPY.

I feel invigorated. Can't wait to wear my bitchy new shoesies. YAY!

A FEW WORDS ON TOLL ROADS IN THE DALLAS/FORT WORTH AREA: Every illegal alien who has run into me on roads in Dallas has never had car insurance. Qu'elle suprise! I have observed an absolute dearth of rattle-trap broke-down P.O.S. - type vehicles on the toll-roads in the Metroplex where one must fork over hot, fresh dosh to drive thereupon. I deem that this toll is a small price to pay for traffic that flows smoothly, and is populated nearly entirely by people who care about not banging up their chariots. Count me in. I plotted my course in and out of the shopping areas on those Toll Roads. (I remember when Hwy 121 was just another regular road, btw, but I'll take this-- good quality roadway, new, no cars on fire on the median.) Well worth it at twice the price.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? If you must drive in the DFW area, it's well worth your while to seek out the toll roads. Spend five minutes on hoi polloi expressway (Stemmons) and you'll wish you were on the George Bush turnpike. Srsly.

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Himself is still under the weather with pneumonia, and Miss Praline was very sweet and attentive. Chuy was on his lap, and I think you may be able to see his nose somewhere in the photo. Anyway, Himself's right ear got a proper swabbing. Isn't that sweet?