Is there a mouse in the house?

I think that would be a good title for a children's book. I don't want to admit it, but I think that there is a mouse in my house. Weird when you live alone. First the bat and now the mouse. So, I have added mouse trap to my list for shopping. I used to set the mouse traps for my mother. Now I need someone to set them for ME! Here are the clues:
- Once while up in the night I thought I saw something run and hide near the refrigerator.
- My bag of crunchies near the fridge got a hole in it
- I found ONE fingerless glove and the side of it was totally unraveled

Finished two books. The round house by Louis Erdrich was full of Native American lore. Nicely evoked milieu of unpleasant events on the reservation, including rape and murder. I think that is what put me a bit off from reading it, but mostly enjoyed the writing. Also finished a surprisingly interesting nonfiction book about exercising (The first 20 minutes : surprising science reveals how we can exercise better, train smarter, live longer, by Gretchen Reynolds). It convinced me that I need to make more of an effort to exercise DAILY. I am too fond of sitting. It is better to be fat and fit than fat and not fit, said the author. I am hovering around this spot with my weight, balancing out my lack of interest in exercising and my desire to binge and eat all of the wrong foods with activity and restraint. Feel like I am on a teeter totter.

Not very comfortable today. Am using my laptop at the Cohansey Café. Furniture not real commodious and no electrical outlet today. But, the sun is shining and Royals by Lorde is on Youtube. Also belly full of buttered blueberry muffin and coffee. An example of how my eating has slipped....I used to say I could eat something "bad" only once a week and only if I had lost weight. Then it was once a week, no matter what the weight. Soon I was eating unacceptable items once a day and now MORE than once a day. Oh my.

Reading a book about a song

There is a new book about a BOOK (The Koran of Thomas Jefferson). I thought THAT was amazing, but then I found myself reading a book about a SONG...The holy or the broken : Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and the unlikely ascent of "Hallelujah", by Alan Light, traces the history and phenomenal explosion of this song. After being around already for decades, the song ended up TWICE on a top ten list by two different artists. This song has been interpreted by over 100 artists. I already have the Rufus Wainwright version and the Leonard Cohen version in my Youtube playlist. Must make sure I listen to the Jeff Buckley and Cale versions.

Listening to Mr. Brightside by The Killers.

My regular deli must cringe when they see me coming. I actually LOOK at date on the Diet Coke and demand one that has not expired. They are not removing the old ones, hoping someone will buy them who does not look at the date. I would go elsewhere but they have the cheapest ones. Also the idea of Diet Coke having some ingredients that expire is rather hilarious!

Things I am NOT interested in....

Don't have room in my brain for:
- candy
- wine
- college football
- horror
- violence

There are some weird names in the world. Not the time to be a teacher, what with all of the apostrophes and made-up names. Here are some I came across in the Police report of New York, Millville and Vineland. (These are an exception to my rule of using no names):
- Daquan
- Antiq
- Quanderia
- Sharmaine
- Alshamar

Listening to a CD: Mechanical bull, by Kings of Leon. Perhaps if I listen to it again, it will grow on me.

Dumb things I have done today

First dumb thing was I texted the WRONG man with this message...."I'm dressed. What is your schedule? Did you get enough sleep last night?"
The wrong man kindly texted me back with his schedule. Then I texted the RIGHT man, forgetting that he lives in GREENWICH, where cell phones do not work! Went to the health club only to find out that they were going to turn off the electric. Happily, I completed my workout before the switch went off. Also, it was good to find that the soap and paper towel dispensers and toilet still worked even though I had to do it all in the dark.

So, I am running around trying to get all of my STUFF done before 5 PM. It is Friday and libraries inconveniently close at 5. So nice to have sunlight and get my Vitamin D bath in.

Youtube is making me happy. Had to put in the headphones to drown out the sound leaking out from someone else's earbuds. Listening to James Blunt singing, "You're beautiful".

Benefits of using the library computers

They are more old-fashioned and the new features of Yahoo and Google don't work right. I am so much more happy with the old familiar features! Now My Coke rewards is in a new BETA version and they are sure I am going to be very excited about it. All I can think of is, "OH NO!"

Read a great children's book today. I became aware of it due to a lovely bookmark. It is called Leaf man, by Lois Ehlert. The story is told with glorious leaves made into shapes of things. I am going to take it home and show it to my sister for her grandchildren.

Oh dear, computer time is just about up. Must pay attention to my email so I can delete my daily quota.

Diet Coke has an expiration date??!

That is a scary thought. You mean to tell me there are FRESH ingredients in Diet Coke? Yesterday I was drinking one that had an expiration date of the previous day. Not too worried about it. Anyway, recent thinking is that the expiration dates are just a suggestion.

I can't believe they are cancelling the show called Hoarders. Although I guess once you have seen one hoarders you have seen them all....chubby, low-class, unsmiling people with lots of crap. I enjoy watching it from time to time for a few minutes and hope that they are worse than me. I don't think I have animal excrement in my home. But I DO need to keep a trash bag in each room.

Having an ongoing struggle with Yahoo mail. Who are all of their customers? I don't know many people who still have Yahoo. I was fine with it until they started "upgrading" and trying to be like Google. Their customer service SUCKS. They have all kinds of online forms and aids but you can't get to a real person unless you have an account access issue.
That is what is the most frustrating thing. I have sent off at least 8 pissed off complaints just today. It is bad when the help instructions are just plain WRONG. I am losing emails (especially ones I have forwarded) and cannot change my signature, which I like to do once a week.

How do you spell United States?

This is only one of the questions put to me by a young girl who was sitting next to me on the computers at the Bridgeton Public Library last night. She was watching some kind of bloody surgery that I commented negatively on. Isn't it enough that I have to wear HEADPHONES to block out the other people? Now I am going to need BLINDERS too. Then she was trying to register for something she probably shouldn't have been registering for but I answered a few of her questions anyway.

It is such an unbelievably gorgeous day. I can't believe I am sitting here facing AWAY from the windows. But all the good tables were taken, thus impeding me from using my laptop. Can't wait to get outside again to appreciate the fantastic weather. So many reasons to be glad I am retired today. Breakfast at 8:30 AM at the Amish restaurant. Two extra people showed up. Then manicure and pedicure with my favorite nail tech. Did bask in the sun for a few minutes.

Glad about: Google seems to be faster and the stock price went up to $1000. I am the happy owner of TWO shares.

Sad about: Yahoo suggested that I change my password and now I can't get into my email on my phone.