Shoes? Shoes!

I know that posting pictures of your own shoes is horribly, stereotypically girly.

But damn, I got these on clearance. Clearance! Already!

Here's the top view:



And the side:



I don't often have good luck with shoes, but I apparently have good sandal karma because almost every year I find a truly cute pair of sandals that draws compliments and makes people ask where I got them. People never ask where I get my shoes, or shirts, or anything else, but they like my sandals.

Then again, I like to think that I make sandals look good. Earlier this week someone told me that I have "beautiful feet," and someone else told me that if she had feet like me she wouldn't hesitate to ever wear sandals.

Too bad I live in Wisconsin where I can only flaunt what is apparently my best attribute about four months a year. Ah well.

Abortion

Today I was reading about the Supreme Court ruling to uphold partial-birth abortion. It's a hugely controversial issue, and despite being a Democrat and a woman I'm glad it was upheld. My feelings on abortion and euthanasia are similar. When it comes to giving the government the right to kill someone that's arguably alive, I like to err on the side of caution. I mean, seriously, do you really think the government can be trusted to decide when someone starts or stops being alive? To decide whether it's a brain wave or a heartbeat, exit from a womb or entrance into a hospice? The government can't even fill the damn pothole that I seem to hit every morning as I speed down Water Street. Do I want them pondering anything deeper? No thanks. Leave that debate to the biologists and theologians, but when it comes to government regulations just call anyone who's marginally alive, alive, and leave it at that.

I also have a sort of personal stake in this. As both the product of an accidental pregnancy and a candidate for growing quite old and decrepit, I like the fact that so far nobody has taken it upon themselves to shorten my lifespan. Of all the freedoms we enjoy in America, the freedom to be born on our own and die on our own seem to be pretty basic and I'm glad that nobody has infringed on my freedoms yet.

That's just my perspective.

Sometimes it's just not worth it

Yesterday would have been a rough day even if I hadn't been highly hormonal. Coping with both a rough day and emotions was too much.

It was a terrible day. I had four IEP meetings. Normally I get about a month's notice on an IEP so I have time to put it together, but for these four I got a mere two days' notice. One of the meetings did not go well at all, and it left me extremely, extremely concerned about my student. Another meeting resulted in a huge paperwork snarl that the psychologist said she'd untangle, but I doubt she actually will.

That afternoon I made my way back to Milwaukee at the same time every semi truck in Wisconsin was also heading back on my route. I hate, hate, hate driving with semi trucks.

I got home and called a real estate agent that was handling a home listing I was interested in. Actually, it was a beautiful two-story house that had been part of a foreclosure, and was selling for a mere 53,000. It was in a neighborhood that was pretty sketchy now but on its way up, and I was getting really excited at the idea of stumbling upon this house that we could afford and move into now. Unfortunately, they'd already accepted another offer. I remembered when my friend Meghan was searching for houses, and she got sort of attached to one, but when she showed it to her husband he hated it. At the time she had just shrugged, eaten a bowl of ice cream, and moved on to a new listing. Apparently I'm not as tough as Meghan because I just curled up and cried.

After Mike came home I treated him to a litany of everything that was wrong in our lives and all the ways I felt unappreciated, un-cared-for, and unhappy while alternately snarling and crying.

I slept soundly but woke up with a headache, stomach cramps, and a persistent sense of melancholy. I had a department meeting that was beyond depressing this afternoon. This evening a friend of mine called me, and when I related my real estate woes she said chirpily, "Well, I'm house hunting too, and I just found a great house!" and proceeded to tell me about the cathedral ceilings, the two fireplaces, and the acreage. Halfway through she hung up to talk to her real estate agent, and when she called back I didn't bother to pick up, not only because I didn't care to hear the rest of her story, but also because I was in the process of getting spectacularly lost.

I had stopped at the UPS station to pick up a package (why do they insist on only coming when I'm not home?). When I went to get back onto the freeway I couldn't merge. Luckily the on-ramp was also an off-ramp, so I wound up taking city streets through three suburbs before hitting Milwaukee. I hit lovely rush hour traffic in downtown and got home late.

Blah.

If I didn't have another meeting tomorrow I wouldn't bother getting out of bed.

Countdown Meme

I stole this from Dykewife!

10 FAVORITES
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Food: The Snickers shake from Pizza Shuttle
Favorite Month: May, because it’s so lovely when it finally starts to get really warm
Favorite Song: “Big Weekend” by Tom Petty
Favorite Movie: The Big Lebowski
Favorite Sport: The only sport I’ve enjoyed playing ever was floor hockey
Favorite Season: Summer!
Favorite Day: Saturday
Favorite Ice Cream: Strawberry
Favorite Time of Day: When Mike gets home from work

9 CURRENTS
Current Mood: Sleepy
Current Taste: Flat cherry soda that I drank and subsequently spit out
Current Clothes: Bathrobe
Current Desktop: A picture of Rusty and Juneau
Current Toenail Color: Dark red
Current Time: 6:42 AM
Current Surroundings: My living room with three of the cats
Current Thoughts: “Damn, it’s early.”

8 FIRSTS
First Best Friend: A girl named Mackenzie
First Kiss: My first for-real kiss was in college…I was a late bloomer
First Screen Name: chris1234 (We had Prodigy dial-up…ah, memories!)
First Pet: The first pet that I personally cared for was a gerbil named Sassy. The first pet my family had was a cat named Jefferson
First Piercings: Tongue…I always was (and still am) too chicken to get my ears pierced.
First Crush: Oddly enough, a guy named Mike (not the one I married, though)
First CD: “Bringing Down the Horse” by the Wallflowers

7 LASTS
Last Cigarette: Years and years ago…I smoked flavored cigarettes very occasionally as an undergrad
Last Drink: I can’t even remember…it was before Christmas, though
Last Car Ride: Coming home from my cousin’s bridal shower
Last Kiss: Last night when I said good-night to Mike
Last Movie Seen: I can’t even remember
Last Phone Call: To order food last night
Last CD Played: “Good News For People Who Love Bad News” by Modest Mouse

6 HAVE-YOU-EVERS
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Friends: Nope
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes, for small things (speeding, trespassing, etc)
Have You Ever Been Arrested: Nope
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Nope
Have You Ever Been on TV: Nope…this list is getting depressing!
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn’t Know: Nope

5 THINGS
Thing You’re Wearing: Wedding rings
Thing You’ve Done Today: Put chicken in the microwave to defrost so it can marinate all day
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: The microwave
Thing You Can’t Live Without: As stupid as this sounds, facial scrub. If I don’t exfoliate my face it drives me crazy all day. I have little travel-size bottles of scrub in my suitcase and duffel bag, and even in my car. It sounds superficial, but my skin just feels so weird that I can’t concentrate. I suppose it’s too dry.
Thing You Do When You’re Bored: Wander the internet, whine

4 PLACES YOU’VE BEEN TODAY
It’s only 6:50 AM! I suppose:
Bed
Kitchen
Bathroom
Living room

3 PEOPLE YOU'D LIKE TO MEET - DEAD OR LIVING
Pope John Paul II
My great-grandma (I met her as a child, but I wish I could talk to her now)
I’m going to steal Dykewife’s third answer and say, “Anyone whose blog I read.”

2 CHOICES
Black or White: Black for clothing, white for anything else
Hot or Cold: Hot!