Not the best way to start the day, to be sure. A quick call to customer service, a verification that no, I did not try to buy $18 worth of merchandise and get $300 cash back from a Wal-Mart in Texas last night, and bing! My card has been cancelled, and a new one is on the way.

I loved that debit card. I’ve had it for a long time. So long, in fact, that I had the numbers memorized, which made it incredibly easy to use. Since I didn’t need to take the time to find my purse and dig out my card when I made online purchases, I lost those valuable “think it through” moments where I might have talked myself out of a few transactions. Impulse buying was not uncommon. I think most of my yarn stash was acquired this way.

In the long run, it’s probably a good thing that I have to get a new card. It won’t be on file at any of my favorite online shops. I’ll be able to think before I decide to purchase more fabric online, or get suckered in by the latest Old Navy online sale. Our budget has tightened up drastically lately, maybe by paying with cash in the coming weeks (because with the holiday, I don’t expect to get my replacement card for at least a week and a half) might actually help me save money, and be more cognizant of where I tend to spend more impulsively.

Really, this will be a good experiment. There actually might be a positive outcome to this inconvenient situation.

But trust me, next Tuesday? I fully expect to gripe about this for a few minutes. Maybe longer.

We have a bird’s nest in our garage on our (non-working) garage door opener. Not sure what exactly we should do about this.

We kept an eye on it for a few days, figuring that if we didn’t see any birds in it, we’d get the ladder and take it down.

But we did see birds, or rather, this mama bird:

All things considered, this is a pretty ingenious spot for a nest. The sensors on our garage door opener have never worked, so we keep the door open all the time. She’s sheltered from the rain and wind and thunderstorms, and for the most part hasn’t messed up the roof of our car too badly. She’s a good tenant, despite the fact she doesn’t pay rent.

I was a little worried, though, because the past couple of weeks have been unseasonably warm. Think August type heat in early June, with high humidity and a heat index of over 100 degrees on several occasions. The garage may be protected from thunderstorms, but it doesn’t get much of a breeze.

Every night when I park the car, I always check on Mama Dove to make sure she’s still there. She’s so still, I was starting to wonder if that was her natural state, or if she was in distress.

Then last night, I think I finally saw some movement underneath her. I may have spied some baby bird looking feathers (it’s hard to get a good look). I’m keeping my eye on her to make sure all is well.

I hope they’re all OK, and are able to leave the nest without difficulty. Because Mr. Martini and I were planning to fix the garage door opener this spring before the Mama Dove made herself comfortable. Now we’re waiting to make sure the little family leaves on their own before we try to move the nest. Any advice from experienced nest movers would be greatly appreciated!

1. I went to the dentist today, and had a tooth filled. Luckily, the “groove” was shallow enough that I didn’t need any novacaine for the drilling. It felt a little strange, but I gladly accepted a few minutes of mild discomfort rather than experience that horrible post-novacaine pins and needles and drooling. Definitely a plus.

2. Mr. Martini and I go to the same dentist. While looking at my chart, the assistant said:

“Now, who is Mr. Martini?” (Remember, we have different last names.)

“He’s my husband,” I said.

“Now it says we just saw him a few weeks ago, but I can’t seem to remember who he is…”

“He’s about my age, with brown hair.” The assistant shakes her head, so I continued. “He’s something of a character.”

“I remember him! Of course, Mr. Martini! Oh, he IS a character!”

Yes. yes, he is.

3. Speaking of Mr. Martini, I haven’t really mentioned this much here, but he’s been job-hunting for quite awhile since he was laid off from his last job. But patience and persistence have paid off, because today he started a new job, just a few blocks from my current workplace. It’s temporary right now, but it sounds like there is a possibility it could become permanent if everything works out. Any job is a blessing in this economy, so we’re maintaining a cautious optimism that everything works out. If it does – hurray! If it doesn’t – we’ll keep plugging along, like we always do.

But let me just throw a little “Yay!” out there, because this forward momentum feels awfully darn good.

Since we hadn’t planned on being away from home so long, I worried the cats would fret over our sudden disappearance. Yeah, right:

Oh, were you gone?

Saturday was Kentucky Derby Day in Louisville. After the gorgeous weather on Friday, Saturday was rainy and windy. Not the best weather for a big outdoor sporting event, that’s for sure. But we didn’t really mind, since we weren’t planning on attending.

However, we did make a run to the grocery store on Saturday morning for provisions. I learned last year that I don’t like Mint Juleps, so I figured I’d try a different bourbon recipe to celebrate the big event – an Old Fashioned:

Here we have orange, maraschino cherry, sugar, bitters and a splash of water waiting to be muddled. Then you add bourbon and ice, and voila! an Old Fashioned.

Sadly, while I’ve lived in Kentucky for a year now, I haven’t gotten a taste for Kentucky bourbon. I had to top off my Old Fashioned with 7-Up to make it palatable. And I just heard a collective tongue click and tsk tsk and forehead slap from all of the true bourbon connoisseurs in the crowd. I’m sorry! What can I say, I’m more of a margarita girl.

After all of this, we kind of missed the big race live – whoops! But the horse I probably would have picked won, so that’s always a good feeling. Granted, hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but still! Go Calvin! (He always get so choked up and emotional, which chokes me up, which – gah. I’m such a softie.)

Sunday was more rain and wind and I spent the day wondering if our basement was flooding, without actually being brave enough to go down there to check it out. I figured if it was flooding, the downstairs neighbor would let us know. Ignorance is bliss, and all that. I figure there are some things I can afford to be an ostrich about.

Especially since today is sunny and warm and beautiful, just in time to go back to work. Figures, right?

How was your weekend?

Day 2 – Tulips in Bloom, Downtown Louisville

I’m giving myself a LOT more leeway with this project, and not fretting too much if I miss a day. I’m also still allowing myself the luxury of not expecting every photo to be the! most! amazing! shot! EVER! It’s really another attempt to see if I have the stamina and discipline for a long-term project, as well as giving me the opportunity to learn more about my camera and processing photos. I’ve already noticed that since I’m not the subject of the photos, I have more time to play with the camera settings.

Day 12 – After a rainstorm. Not the best shot, but it was a good effort!

One other thing I’m trying to do with this project is use the “big, fancy camera” for every photo. Granted, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with my point-and-shoot.  I know many, many people have done this project with cameraphones and iPhones and point-and-shoots and every other kind of camera, and produced way better shots with those than I can with my fancy camera. But I’m trying to get myself in the habit of using it, and learning to use more of the manual settings instead of relying on the all of the automatic features of the camera.

Day 15 – More flowers. Expect to see a lot of flower photos this spring.

So far, I’m really enjoying this. Granted, it’s only two weeks into the project.

We’ll see how I feel around day 284.

But for me, it’s the opening of the Chow Wagon.

Last year, my first Derby Season in Louisville, when my co-workers talked about “Chow Wagon” I had no idea what to expect. Really, to describe it, it doesn’t sound like much: a bunch of fair food vendors in the park. At night, there are free concerts. That’s it.

Oh, but for those of us who work downtown, it’s a fantastic yearly ritual. Here’s why:

This was my lunch on Thursday. On an absolutely goregous, sunny day, I walked less than two blocks to the Waterfront, ordered some ribbon fries with cheese and bacon along with a fresh-squeezed lemonade, sat outside in the fresh air and listened to a band play.

It was fantastic.

Granted, it rained Friday and all weekend, and it’s dreary outside today. Luckily, the Chow Wagon is up and running through the end of the week. I’m definitley going to go back for more lemonade.

I don’t think my stomach can handle any more ribbon fries, though.

Our office was closed last Friday, and I took an extra day off on Monday, and that little mini-vacation was just what I needed. At the end of last week, I’d hit a wall, and was unable to concentrate on anything for longer than a few minutes at a time. I had the shakes all the time like I’d had too much coffee.

It never occurred to me that I might just be tired. Then Thursday night, I slept for 10 hours. I never do that. But I did it again on Friday and Saturday nights. I would have slept that long again Sunday night, but the cats kept me awake until 2 a.m. with spring fever. In other words, I just needed a few days to recharge.

The rest did me a world of good. The weather cooperated and was sunny, which added to my energy levels. I got a lot of stuff done around the house – I cleaned out my craft supplies, I switched out summer/winter clothes, and I cleaned out the sunroom so we can actually sit out there rather than just use it as a make-do storage area.

In between doing some fun stuff. Stuff like crafting, walking with Mr. Martini got get sushi, and taking some pretty flower pictures:

Now that it’s Tuesday, and my mini-vacation is over, I feel SO much more energized. I don’t think I’ll be taking any extra days off for the next few weeks, but I think I got enough rest and relaxation this weekend to last me until Memorial Day.

Oh, Memorial Day. That seems so far away right now. But at least Derby will be here soon to distract me until then.

But remarkably, by the end of it, I was feeling pretty good.

All day yesterday I was crabby. Beyond crabby. I was frustrated and grumpy and prickly with an undercurrent of angry. I’m not exactly sure why (I think the weather had a lot to do with it), but it was one of those days where I couldn’t see the good in anything. I was defensive and frustrated and just plain unhappy. It was one of those days in which you could have told me I was a million dollar lottery winner, and I would have bitched about the taxes.

Yeah, it was one of those days.

After a day where I was so unhappy with every choice I had ever made to get me to that particular day, a day where I honestly wondered what it would take to chuck it all and move with Mr. Martini to a sheep farm in Australia, I finally was released from work and went to my car on the sixth floor of the parking garage.

And my car wouldn’t start.

And my cellphone battery was dead.

I silently cursed the heavens, and oh so luckily managed to catch Awesome Co-Worker B before she had left the garage. She let me borrow her cellphone, and I called Mr. Martini and then AAA, who said they’d be there in about 45 minutes or so. B offered to wait with me, but I figured it was just the battery, and all I’d need was a jump, and told her not to worry, and to go home. She reluctantly left after also offering to leave me her cellphone (how nice was that?) but I told her not to worry, I’d just wait in the car and read a book and I was sure I’d be on my way home in no time.

Flash forward a (very, very, very cold) hour later, and AAA’s “Rescue Ranger” couldn’t get the car started, and needed to call a tow. Which would take another hour and a half or so. Or, as little as 10 minutes. He really couldn’t say.

Not wanting to miss the tow truck, but wanting to let Mr. M know what was happening (remember, I had no cellphone) I ran across the street to my office, where amazingly Other Awesome Co-Worker S was working late. I called Mr. M, and let him know that I’d be even later. Other Awesome Co-Worker S said she’d swing by my car on her way out, and see if I was still there. Which she did, and she even waited with me and kept me warm until the tow truck guy showed up at 8:30.

Tow Truck Guy was a little gruff. A little rough around the edges. But I’m a firm believer in that little tingle that you might feel in the back of your neck when you sense someone is out to hurt you. You know what I mean? I had that feeling a few times when I lived in Boston on my own, and even in Chicago a few times. I respect that feeling.

Tow Truck Guy, for all of his gruff exterior, didn’t give me that feeling. And I knew that I was in good hands when he asked for my keys, and I handed him my entire key ring. “Don’t ever do that,” he said. “Don’t ever give someone all of your keys, your house key and everything, when they ask for them.” As he spoke, he twisted my car key off of the key chain. “Just give them your car key. Like this.”

Since the tow truck wouldn’t fit in the garage (the clearance was too low) he had to push my car down the six flights of the garage (which apparently isn’t that big of a deal, since it’s all downhill, but it freaked me out).  Other Awesome Co-Worker S waited long enough to make sure that he was able to get my car hitched up, while I made arrangements with B (via S’s cellphone), who awesomely agreed to meet me at the garage and drive me home.

Tow Truck Guy got the car hooked up, and we were on our way to the garage.

And here is where my day turned around.

I asked Tow Truck Guy his name. “Scott,” he said. “I’m Susan,” I said. “Pleased to meet you, Susan.” Scott replied.

On the ride to the garage, I learned a lot about Scott. Scott is a recovered alcoholic and drug addict, seven years clean. Scott used to be homeless. Scott now works for a center that rehabilitates homeless and drug-addicted veterans. In the winter, when his job gets slow, he drives a tow truck. “I can’t be bored,” he said. “I was an addict 24-7, and now I need to be in recovery 24-7. So when it gets slow at work, I drive this truck. This way, I still get to help people.”

“You sure helped me tonight,” I said.

“That’s right. You see, I was a little put out when they called me for this run. I was supposed to finish at 8 tonight, and I was all the way across town. But then they told me that a young lady was way up on the sixth floor of a garage, downtown, at night, and I knew I had to help. What if you were my daughter or my sister up there? Yup, I knew I had to take this run.”

“Well, I do appreciate it.”

“Yup. I try to do good each day. Now that I’m recovered, I thank God for every day that I’m clean, and I try to give back. I wake up each day and seek clarity, and am thankful I found a spiritual God to help me through. You notice I said spiritual God, not religious. I think everyone has to find their own version of a spiritual God, and serve him. That’s what I try to do.”

Scott said that he tries to give as much to the world as he can, because he knows that he’ll get the same in return. And, as he put it, “I figure, if I’m good, the devil will have to work hard to get me. And the devil’s lazy. He don’t want to work hard. So I work harder than him and keep God in me, so the devil will move along. I’m too much work.” He chuckled.

We had a really nice talk the whole way to the garage. He told me about his wife, and their dog, and how much he loves his job and his life, and how lucky he feels each and every day to be alive, and able to give something back.

Remember the bad day I’d been having? Talking with Scott totally turned me around. It was hard for me to stay so grumpy and angry about everything, when I was listening to someone so purposeful about their daily happiness. He made it a point not to let the petty frustrations get to him, because he kept an eye on the big picture. Even if I didn’t agree with all of his beliefs about God and the devil, really he was talking about optimism and pessimism and internal demons and what it takes to get through the day, and how what you give is what you get.

Granted, I’m still going to have bad days – one conversation in a tow truck isn’t going to relieve me from my mood swings, and that’s fine. But last night, after a really, really bad day, those words of optimism were just what I needed to hear.

Thanks, Scott.

Wait, why was I awake at 4 a.m. this morning? I’m glad you asked, if only to give me the opportunity to tell someone my tale.

But first you need to know a particular quirk about our cat, Zelda. Every morning, she follows me in the bathroom while I get ready for the day. This is her “bathroom kitty time,” a time when she brushes up against my legs and rubs her face on my ankles and lets me pet her and love on her while she purrs her little heart out. I must admit, it’s a nice way to face each new day, with a purring kitty warming up my shins.

The only problem is that sometimes, Zelda’s internal clock wants bathroom kitty time a little early. And sometimes, it’s a few hours early, like today. To get my attention on these days, she’ll paw at the cupboard door under the bathroom sink, opening it just enough for it to slam shut very very loudly. The resulting BAM! BAM! BAM! wakes me up and gets me out of bed and into the bathroom to investigate, where I see Zelda, who starts purring and looking for her bathroom kitty attention.

Except that instead, she is removed from the bathroom, placed unceremoniously into the hallway, and the bathroom door is shut.

And on mornings like this morning, that means that I find myself unable to sleep at 4 a.m., as Zelda takes the opportunity to chase after her sister, and runs all over the house for an hour. As it turns out, nine pound cats sound like elephants when they chase each other in an empty, silent apartment.

Which is why I was composing blog posts in my head this morning at 4 a.m. I can’t remember most of it, but the point was:

Why don’t people use the world “lovely” anymore? I love that word. I use it whenever I can. The problem is that I think it makes me sound a) like a grandmother; or b) pretentious. Which makes me sad, because I don’t want to sound pretentious, or like a grandmother, or like a pretentious grandmother. But sometimes “lovely” just works perfectly.

I say we bring back “lovely.” Who’s with me?

You know, this may be one of those posts that sounded way better in my head at 4 a.m.

As it turns out, I had a perfect Saturday this Saturday. The best part was, it all happened organically, as in, I didn’t plan for it to be the perfect Saturday. It just sort of happened, which I think added to the perfection of it all.

The day started by sleeping in until 9 a.m. There was a leisurely breakfast with coffee and the DVR. From there, I made a batch of scones, just for the heck of it. They were delicious, by the way.

Then, I went to the spa for my first ever full body massage. I am in love with the spa. I’m in love with the goofy new age music, with the goofy waterfall sound effects, all of it, because it smells so good there, there’s no cat hair, and everyone is so quiet. It’s heavenly. The massage was exactly what I wanted, and the therapist was careful to ask me exactly what I wanted to achieve from the experience. Really, it was better than I hoped it would be, and I left feeling like a well-energized noodle.

A well-energized noodle that can cross #79 off the list, I might add.

From there, I went home, read a magazine, took a nap, and woke up just in time to go out to dinner with Mr. Martini. A bowl of ice cream and Dexter on Netflix rounded out a fantastic day.

I think the best part of the day was that I could see how great it was while it was happening. I looked up at Mr. Martini and one point, and said, “Wow, this is really a great day.” He was happy, since he had given me the gift certificate for the massage over a year ago and I finally used it, and enjoyed it so much.

I could go on and on, but I think I already have. It was a great, great day, and I think it help me through the workweek this week.

Hello. I’m a well-energized noodle, who had a really good day.