i bought a hand-held dustbuster last week because i’ve decided that if i vacuum every inch and corner of my house, spiders will give up and spin their webs elsewhere. sophie laughs at me and insists i’m neurotic, but believing this makes me feel better so i am going to ignore her. (PTHhhhhhhhhh)

my house has hardwood floors and is living proof that people in the 60’s had different ideals concerning rocks and home decor; so naturally, dust is a constant battle. i moved my bed into the center of my room to ensure that all dust bunnies and potential spiders were eliminated. this proved to be a more ambitious task than i had anticipated. cat will wholeheartedly concur – the space under my bed is equivalent to the bermuda triangle. it’s where all the lost items of the world end up; socks, phone chargers, laptop cases, single shoes, remote controls, more bobby pins and hair elastics than i could count, and enough change to make any little kid’s eyes sparkle. while searching under the bed for these missing objects, they are unseen- invisible even. until one day you actually move the bed and realize THAT’S where the car manual went.

i continued throughout the main floor of my house; cleaning, moving furniture and tearing through cobwebs. this process guided me to the realization that it was obviously time to refinish the living room furniture. i tucked away the dustbuster and drove to the store in search of sandpaper and paint. and by paint i mean spray paint – fourteen cans of spray paint, to be specific. i spray painted so long, i have a blister on the index finger of my right hand. yes, that is correct. i got a blister. a blister from pushing a button for a prolonged period of time. i now also have heat rash, either that or a reaction to all the paint particles/fumes. due to these complications, my next painting project will be performed with a paint brush, between the hours of 5pm and 9pm, while i wear a space suit to protect my body from the hazardous elements.

i spent most of last week at my parent’s new home in cedar city while we celebrated father’s day, my mom’s birthday and my love for homemade cookies. the best part of going “home” is that i magically regain the ability to sleep like a teenager. i fell asleep while watching movies at 9pm and slept past 10am. this strange phenomena could perhaps be attributed to the lack of spiders. i was more relaxed knowing i didn’t have to sleep with one eye open to protect myself from the eight-legged monsters who hide under my bed. (shudder)

i enjoyed working and proof-reading company e-mails in my pajamas. by tuesday i had lost all lust for life and wore nothing but sweats. having surrendered all pride and dignity, i left the house for an evening out on the town in stretchy pants and a hoodie. before you cast me off entirely, keep in mind: i was in cedar city; we went to see nacho libre.

i may be one of the few americans who lacks an appreciation for the artistic craft of jack black. my good friend alisa ended her last e-mail with a warning. “don’t go see nacho libre. nacho good,” she said. my mom and i shrugged and decided to brave it because we could use some mindless entertainment. there are two key elements of enjoying stupid humor: one is having the ability to forget that you are an educated person, the second is surrounding yourself with people who are both easily amused and willing to laugh.

silence— the theater had a dozen people, tops. it’s hard to let out an audible laugh when it shakes the empty row in front of you. difficult, unless you are my father. my dad is the best person to go to funny movies with. whether you think something is funny or not, you can’t help but giggle because the man next to you is laughing so hard you wonder how he’s still breathing. the only laughter in the theater came from this man and my 11-year-old brothers. the corn-husk-in-eye part nearly reduced the boys on our row to tears. at other times, it was so quiet, i could almost hear my mother’s eyes roll as she waited for the movie to end. so there we were – eating popcorn, exchanging glances, and laughing. because isn’t that what families are supposed to do?

my sweet, fluffy, orange cat has become a violent hunter. i know she’s a cat and is bound to catch a mouse or three, but since the move she has upgraded from mice to giant hamster-looking creatures. not a day goes by without a nasty rodent thoughtfully presented on the front door, a bold and undeniable proclamation of her devotion to the nice people who feed her delectable canned food and scratch her chin.

i love this cat, but how can i cuddle with something that only hours ago carried an ROUS (rodent of unusual size) around in her mouth like a trophy? ick.

this week has been extraordinarily long, for no reason in particular.  it’s the kind of week that when you wake up on tuesday you are completely unaware of what day it is.  with sincere hope, you lie in bed determined that it’s saturday because there is no way your limbs are going to make it through the day if it really is only thursday. or even worse, tuesday.

it’s finally up! yes, i admit that i struggle when it comes to HTML coding and all that, but i got the site up. (hearty applause, humble bow)

changes will be coming soon. i’m still working on finding a good publishing program that will help me format the archiving and allows for comments. if you have any advice i would love to hear from you.

may the blogging begin!