Update

Wow. 2 posts in one day. Someone please check the temperature in hell.

Just because I don't want to be so cryptic, and because I also haven't checked my email in months:

1. I'm okay. Kind of.
2. Doctors still don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but they have ruled out a few things already.
3. Some days are really good. Some days... not so much.
4. My Farm Boy (husband for those who don't remember his nickname) has the patience of a saint.
5. I really miss my Bloggy Friends.

I'm not around these parts much. Some of it is because my new job keeps me really busy. Extremely HAPPY, but busy.

And well, the rest is that I try to get as much rest as I can. I used to be able to stay up until all hours of the night blogging and reading other blogs... now I'm usually in bed by 9:00 or 10:00.

Overall, things are good in life. Now if we could just get this ONE thing resolved, life would be even better.

Miss you guys. :-(
GF

More Bloggy Love

Okay, first... I have good news (for me anyway). I have a job change coming up in the fall. Color me tres excited!!! It also means that my poor Grumpy Frump blog will not be as neglected as it is currently. YAY!!!!

Second, this blog recommendation comes by way of Whoorl, whom I love. And now I love this blogger that Whoorl loves, too. The Paper Bag Princess is my kind of people.

Here's Whoorl's ode to the Paper Bag Princess.

And be sure to read pudding and the paper bag princess! I know you'll love her, too.

A Blogger You Should Love

http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com

Hilarious, precocious... and very much what my life was like about 15 years ago, except my Tiny Art Director was a Tiny Music Director:

"No, mommy. The words should go like this!" "Stop playing that song! I HATE that song!" "Oh, but I love THIS song!"

Ah.... memories.

ENJOY Tiny Art Director. And buy the book when it comes out. :-)

A Blogger You Should Read

Another reason I love networking tools...

I'm adding a blogger to my blogroll*, because she followed my alter-ego on Twitter. So, I'm following her now, too (although I can't remember which of my personalities is following her) ... and I love her blog!

Her name is Andria and she writes over at Andria and Co.

Take a look. :-)



*wow. I should really update my blogroll. Hmmm...

Why Blogging Is Good For You

1. Blogging can be cathartic, just as journaling is. However, you also find that the benefits of online journaling (yes, this is blogging) are more beneficial because you have an audience. I find I write differently, knowing that someone will read this. My handwritten journal is a scribbly mess, full of incoherent thoughts and doodles. And my blog is... not scribbly. ;-)

2. You can make wonderful Bloggy Friends. Don't believe me? Go click on the link of Cool Kids in my sidebar (which, yes, needs updating! I know, I know). Follow some of their blogs for a while, and you will find some truly amazing people... some of whom I've actually met face-to-face. They're just as cool in person as they are 'on blog.'

3. Sometimes, you win things. :-) Thanks 3car!

At one point early in my Grumpy Frump blogging existence, I had a contest. The winner was Jaek. He won a $25 gift card to Target.

Perhaps I shall have another contest! Yes, I shall. As soon as I figure out some really cool prize, I will post the info. It might have something to do with Chipotle, but then that would eliminate those of you who don't have any Chipotle near you. Hmmm...

Stay tuned!

I Miss My Grumpy Blog

Wow. Not even a once a month post kinda thing. Sad, huh?

Still doing a LOT with the professional blog and work and all that. On Twitter a lot, too... but I have decided maybe that I should try to separate my Twitter account a bit. Just perhaps, I might be smart to have a professional tweet place and a personal tweet place.

So, if you want to follow me, I'm grumpyfrump on Twitter. Not that you have to. Nope. Not that I've been a good bloggy friend or anything. *pandering here*

If it makes any difference, I truly, TRULY miss blogging here. Sometimes, I think of the greatest post ideas...

Like, really? Have I gained back half the weight I lost ALREADY? Yes. Yes, I have. and that sucks like you wouldn't believe!

Or another post about how much I hate politics and election years and all the lying and mudslinging... and how I'm thinking I may just write someone in for president because I'm not happy with anyone. But this is not a political blog, and I don't go into those discussions with friends. So... yeah. Skip that one.

Okay, so it's settled. No politics. But we are going to make some goals, right here, right now.

1. I will return to my healthy eating habits and will track what I'm eating. No calorie counting, though. I get a little nuts when I do that. The logging will help enough. Just writing it down makes me remember to eat my six meals a day and to keep it smart.

2. I will ALSO write down my exercise (which lately has been a big fat ZILCH). I'm not going to try to get back into it at full strength, so I will start with 30 minutes three times a week. After one week, we'll bump that up to 4 times, and so on and so on.

3. I will return to blogging here at the GF at least every other week... but I would prefer once a week.

4. AND... every time I blog here, I will also open up my Google Reader and catch up with you. :-) Plus, if you're on Twitter, follow me and I will follow you. That's making my brain think of some old 70s song (was it John Denver?), but at least that will rid my brain of that lousy HSM song that someone at work started singing today. Puh-leeze. And, NO, I'm not linking it, because I don't want it to get stuck in your head either!

Peace, my bloggy friends!

A Suggestion For You...

Thanks to everyone for the new blog reading suggestions... am sorting through and trying to read them as I go. Will post soon!

One that I found and really enjoy:
http://www.popwaffle.com

Don't forget to click on the Blog link, too.

Good stuff... creative... funny. Two big thumbs up!

You Should Be Reading...

Have you seen this blog? Reasons Why I Dumped You

You should! Very entertaining! I found "Reasons" through my Bloggy Friend, -R-.

Also, if you haven't responded to my plea for additions to my blogroll, please leave your suggestions in the comments.

Thanks!

A Blog Request...

My blogroll, aka "All The Cool Kids" needs your help! I'm going to weed through it this weekend and remove the people who are no longer blogging (*sigh*) and add some new blogs I should be reading.

Therein lies the problem. I need to add some new bloggy friends with my current bloggy friends.

Any suggestions? Which blogs do you read no matter what?

Or... if you think I should be reading YOUR blog, but you're not on my list, tell me!

In a way, this is kind of a de-lurking plea, but also... I just want to know who you think is worth reading. With my professional blog taking up most of my blogging time lately, I am a little behind around here. So I'd really, really, really appreciate your input!

Thanks for playing.

A Scary, Yet Hot Dude in the Bog of Eternal Stench

What a crazy few days we've had recently... I won't bore you with all the details, but on top of everything else, one of our little doggies had to have emergency surgery on Sunday. Nothing too serious, and he's fine now... and I've learned a thing or two about dogs that a) I didn't know before, and b) I still really would rather not know. ;-)

So, in a nutshell, that's my excuse for not blogging the last few days.

Today's post is about a crush I had when I was younger... not really an inappropriate crush (other than the age difference), but one that I really couldn't explain. In fact, it made me feel slightly creepy.

I'm sure few people in or around my age-group would think me odd for having a slight crush on David Bowie. Compared to his Ziggy Stardust years, he has that hot-older-guy-rockstar thing going on now. Did you see him in Zoolander? Yikes. I hope I age as well as he does (but in a girly way for me, of course!).

But that's not when the unexplainable crush happened. No, that was years earlier... back in 1986, when he played Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth. Jennifer Connelly starred in this movie, too.

David Bowie was SCARY as Jareth, yet strangely seductive. I was a teenager then, and I couldn't figure out why I found him so attractive! Was it the makeup? The funky 80s Goblin King hair? The strange costumes? I don't know. I still don't know. And yet... still pretty attracted to Jareth. Take a look/listen for yourself... and then tell me why.

Blog Share Was Super Fun!

Thanks to -R- for organizing the amazing Blog Share yesterday! Even through the midst of an inconvenient illness, she pulled through for everyone, and I, for one, enjoyed every bit of it!!

If you didn't get a chance to read through all the Blog Share bloggers, please visit -R-'s post that lists all the links.

As for me... I hope to have a Why Files ready to go for you tomorrow. Wow, could it really be? No, surely she jests!

Nope! I don't jest, and please don't call me Shirley (ba-dump-BUMP!). Hope to see you all here tomorrow!

Blog Share is TOMORROW!

W00T! Tomorrow is Blog Share, so an anonymous blogger will be posting to Grumpy Frump. You know what that means, right? You guessed it! Two days in a row with a new post on this blog. Are the planets aligned or something? They must be!

In the meantime, I'd better decide which post to send to MY Blog Share buddy. Blog buddy. Bluddy? No, that just sounds sick. Blog-Buddy???? *giving up now*

Also, I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who still read... I know I'm really inconsistent about posting, and it makes me sad. I do enjoy reading your comments, and I try to get to your blogs to read, too. While I don't always have the opportunity to comment, I still enjoy what you all post! Now if I could just find a way around that blog-blocking filter at work. Gah!

If you want to read the Blog Share posts tomorrow, in addition to the guest blogger here, head over to my friend -R-'s place. She'll be posting a list of links, I believe.

All the News You I Need on Toes, Pete Lee, and the NFL...

1) I'm calling the doctor tomorrow about my toes. They're still messed up, and the swelling is at the joints between the metatarsals and phalanges. In other words, not the "toe knuckles," but the place where the toes meet the rest of the foot. The suckiest thing is that I think I'm messing up the rest of my foot by not walking normally. Ridiculous. Call a doctor already, you big baby. Or else I will take the advice of wire and and lori to just remove the toes or foot altogether. (Or not. )

2) Farm Boy and I went to see Pete Lee's show last Friday. I even paid Pete 50 cents for a hug (he said they weren't free anymore). Unfortunately, the Farm Boy had a few too many doubles that evening, and he forgot to take a picture with my camera phone. Loser. Can't hold his whiskey (says the girl who is looped after half a glass of wine). Anyway, love Pete Lee. LOTS. He was even kind to the heckler lady (with the Harley Davidson purse) before she was physically removed by the big, ginormous bouncer. Dinner and a show. How good is life?!?!

3) I'm hoping that I will be a Bloggy regular again someday. I do read you all... really, I do. Most of the time, it's through Google Reader, so I can't always comment. Plus, they started blocking blogs at work (sheesh! It's like they don't trust us or something), so now I have lost that time, too! Seriously, I only did that stuff during lunch. Or breaks. Or slow periods. Or when I was bored. *big cheesy grin*

4) YAY, Giants! I'm not a huge NFL fan... don't like the over-inflated egos with the over-inflated salaries. However, I was ready to root for anyone to beat the Patriots. Not that I dislike the team. I think there's some very good talent on the team, even though I've been, like, you know, SOOO over Tom Brady for some time. But Belichick? Beli-ICK. Cheater, Cheater. He didn't even have to do any of that with the all the talent on his team, and yet he tainted what could have been an amazing season for them. Wait. It still WAS an amazing season for them. Just not for him. Cause he's a cheater, and no one likes a cheater. Yeah.

5) I have not been home before 8pm any night in the last two weeks. Some nights, it's been 9pm or later. What's scarier is that I'm usually home on weekends earlier than I am on weekdays. That is MESSED UP. Perhaps that is what is eating up all my blogging time. Perhaps I should get up an hour earlier each day just to keep up on blogging. Yes, and perhaps a monkey will fly out of my.... ear and sing me an aria from Die Fledermaus.

6) My Wii Sports Tennis Pro status is at 2083. My Wii Sports Golf Pro status is 117. So, apparently, if I suck at a sport in real life, I will rule the school on the Wii. If I am half-way decent at the sport in real life, I will suck it up royally on the Wii. I think I'm okay with that.

That is all. :-)

Wah. I'm Whining. What Else Is New?

I miss my blog.


I miss my bloggy friends.


I missed my blog's birthday in October. I missed posting about my fabulous "blate" with -r- and Nat back in December (they're both the coolest, you know). I missed posting about New Year's. I missed posting about my own birthday.

So... let's just see if we can get back into the swing of things, eh? I'm just going to have to suck it up, stop using how busy I am as an excuse (even though I'm tres tres busy), and blog. Right? Do I hear an AMEN?

Unwrapped is on TV right now, and Marc Summers (he of the Super Sloppy Double Dare fame) is talking about the Frosty from Wendy's. He just noted that one unusual fact about Frosty's is that people love to dip their fries into them. Something about the saltiness of the fries and the sweetness of the chocolate Frosty just go hand in hand.

Sounds digusting, right?

But I have to admit that I used to LOVE dipping fries into my Frosty. Ack. Now I'm hungry for a Frosty.

Did you ever fry-dip your Frosty? How about any other unusual food combinations?

No, Not THAT Kind of Break...

Oh, my long neglected Little Blog. I miss you. And I miss all the friends we have, too. It's been over a week since I've even had a minute to read someone else's blog. Boo.

So, here's the deal-io, yo. I have two ginormous grad class projects due November 6 and 7. Until those deadlines are gone, you and I are just going to have to agree to see each other very sporadically and casually... and not fret that one is neglecting the other. Do you hear what I'm saying, Little Blog? It's not like I'm out there writing other fascinating, mind-blowing blogs*, honest. The only other blog in my life is my professional blog, which, in fact, gets updated far less frequently than you do (and that is entirely bass-ackwards, if you think about it... but c'est la vie).

I think this will make us stronger in the future. In fact, I'm sure I'll have TONS of things to write about, once we start seeing each other regularly again. Now, don't get all discouraged about readership and page views. For that matter, don't even check your SiteMeter stats. It will just get you all depressed, and then where will you be???

So, we're good now, right? Right? Good. If I get a chance, I'll stop by and say hi. But mostly, I'll have my head buried in books and articles and spiritless websites with stuffy, stale information for a secondary research project. Yippee.

Catch ya on the flip side.

One quick note, the Farm Boy and I will be making a short trip to Lost Wages this week to celebrate a birthday on his side of the family. The break might be just what I need... or else it might provide me some quiet, alone time in the hotel room to work on my projects while the Farm Boy golfs and gambles with his family. ;-)

*Hey, if we're pretending this blog has feelings, we can also pretend that it's fascinating and mind-blowing. Just roll with it.

My Apologies... to Blogger and to my Right Hand.

Well, I have unfairly blamed Blogger for my recent inability to login or even comment on other blogs. Apparently, we are having browser issues. On more than one computer. Yikes.

But this one works!

So, what have I been up to? I've taken two major tests in one of my grad classes. I'm certain I aced one... have no idea about the second. Not sure what he wanted, which doesn't make me feel good. But for two questions that were to be essay answers, I wrote 8 pages. EIGHT. OCHO. Excessive? I think not. However...

I can't feel my fingers on my right hand. I don't write anything anymore... it's all type-ity type type, clackety clack on a keyboard. I wasn't even sure my right hand remembered HOW to write. Apparently, eight pages later, it did.

Honestly... beyond signing a few checks here and there and maybe a few legal documents every so often... I don't write anymore! In high school and undergrad classes, writing eight pages would have been a piece of cake. Not so much now. Oh, well.

As for the school stuff, I still have a project to finish, a 25 page secondary research paper to begin (due Nov. 6... eeeek!), and three more tests. All this for 6 lousy credits. Gah. Credits that won't get me any salary advancement or that are 100% necessary. Color me stupid.

Sooooooo, now that I know Blogger doesn't hate me, I guess I'll be around again. Not that I have oodles and oodles of readers anymore. :-)

On that fabulously, self-pitying remark... please leave a comment. I just want to know who's around without having to check my Sitemeter stats. Pretty please?

Reach Out, Reach Out and Touch Someone... but not literally.

Ever since our class reunion this past weekend, I've been thinking about what a crappy job I do at staying in touch with people. Yes, our family is crazy busy with a million little things... but it makes me really sad that there are so many people I've just "lost." Even worse, many of those people live relatively close to me.

I pride myself at how well I manage email, how quickly I respond to people at work... but my personal email is turning into nothing but adverts and subscriptions. BORING. But why would I expect to RECEIVE emails if I rarely INITIATE them?

So here is my August resolution (I can have a resolution in August... I don't have to wait for New Year's, because I'm just cool that way!):

* I resolve to keep in contact with friends via email, via blog, whatever it takes. There's no excuse for me to go for more than a week without blogging.

* For my truly, close friends, I resolve to call at least once a week.

* For my friends who are separated by distance, I resolve to email at least once a month.

That should be a good start, don't you think?

What about you? Do you have a knack for staying in touch with your friends, old and new?

Where Does the Time Go?

I'm still in shock at how busy things are at work. My work year always has it's peaks and valleys, but there's not a valley in my sights right now. Gargh. Without looking back, I can't even tell you when I last posted here. This makes me a Sad Frump.

So, again... here's a quick list of stuff on my mind, since I don't have time for anything else.

1. Humidity sucks. I have stick-straight hair... I work hard to make it look "decent." And it does. Until I walk outside. I've worn my hair in an up-do more than I care to think about lately. Bring on fall weather, please!

2. I don't know why, but I can't stop craving sushi. I would eat sushi every day if I had the chance. We've had sushi probably 5 times in the last two weeks. Even the Bobblehead* was eating some sushi on the Food Network last night. Not helping the cravings.

3. People who have never lived through the destruction of a tornado do not understand the urgency of taking shelter immediately after a warning is announced. Yes, Farm Boy, this means YOU. We were lucky during this last storm... no tornado, but it was one hell of a storm. We were driving through 70-80 mph wind gusts. Scary.

4. I'm sort of looking forward to my class reunion this weekend. There are a lot of people I can't wait to see.

5. Farm Boy joined a gym. He wants me to join, and I'm all for it... unless it's a bunch of "plastics" who go at the same time I do. I left my last gym for that reason. When I go to a gym, I don't want to worry about what I look like... I just want to work out. If I have to get on an elliptical next to Barbie Anorexic with the DD implants, I'm sooooo outta there.

That's all I've got for now. I have a day off on Friday to help College Daughter move into her dorm, and then I'll be readying myself for the reunion activities (read here: try not to look older than I actually am). At any rate, it should be good for a few posts... that is, if I have time to post anything!

Over and out.


*You know who she is.

One of Two Things Is Going to Happen...

I’m either going to go absolutely butt-nutty and bounce around while laughing maniacally, ala Daffy Duck,

OR...

...my husband will find me curled up in the fetal position, convulsing periodically, and drooling excessively. I may or may not need adult diapers in that scenario.

I know I tend to make mountains out of molehills, but this is a really stressful week for me. If I can just make it to next Wednesday without completely losing it, I will consider that quite an accomplishment.

Until then, I will probably not be posting much. Again. Quelle surprise.

I really do love blogging, and I miss it so much right now! More than posting, I miss reading all YOUR blogs. My guess is that I will be a hit-or-miss blogger from now until at least the first week in June. Wah. That makes me sad.

In the meantime, could you all send me some good juju so that I may a) find a few additional hours in the day to get everything done, b) pass my grad class final, c) find enough time to finish my grad class final project, d) keep up with my kids' activities this weekend/next week, and e) stop screaming at everyone like the banshee I've become.

If you could just do that, I would be ever so grateful. Thanks in advance.