run ragged, but in the pink
Saturday, May. 14, 2005, 12:51 PM

A partly-sunny-and-cool Saturday . And I�ve been up and going since my usual weekday time of 4:56 am.

I had to go into the office for a release this morning, so I didn�t get to be a sack-rat today. Or a night owl last night. I hit the rack about ten, after a long, wearying--and expensive-- day.

After putting in my usual four and a half hours on Friday morning, I came home and hooked up with the Spouse for lunch. We went to The Charcoal Grill, and had their fabulous boneless rib sandwich. Spouse got the fries, but I had the kettle chips. Which are faboo, btw. And I got a glass of their raspberry iced tea, which is also quite faboo. Spouse had been dithering about where to go for lunch, so I told him I�d treat him to the Grill. It�s a little more expensive than we usually do for lunch, but since we rarely go out for dinner anymore, I figured it would make a nice change without breaking the bank.

After we ate, and Spouse had departed for work, I set out on my big round of errands. I got my haircut (I told her not to cut it too short, so naturally she scalped me, dangit.) and brows waxed, and then ran out to the mall. B&BW for a decent moisturizer, because I just haven�t had the chance to get out to Woodfield lately. I found a product that�s pretty good, I think. One of the True Blue Spa products. �Mega Butter Four Butter Body Butter�. That�s a lot of butter! (Mango, Aloe, Avocado and Shea.)

I really only like their Aromatherapy and True Blue Spa lines, so I didn�t look and much of anything else when I was there.

After that, I went to Kohl�s, with the (forlorn) hope of finding something to wear to Niece�s graduation ceremony. HAH! Now that I�m finally small enough to fit into their clothes, all they have are fifty million tops, half-a-dozen bottoms, and nothing I�d be caught dead in, anyway.

But.

The had wallets. They had PINK wallets. They had the pink wallet that exactly matches my purse. They had it on sale.

So. New wallet. I needed one anyway, because that old black leather brick was eating up my whole bag, and I was sick to bloody death of it.

Since I still had nothing to wear for next weekend, I plowed onward, to the Bug. BIG SALE! YAY! Cripes, but they were picked over, though. I must have looked at every half-way dressy article of clothing in that store.

I�ll put aside, for the moment, the fact that when I was a 26-28, all I could ever find were 20s and 22s, but now all I find are--of course--26s and 28s. I need to remember to rant on that some other time. Also about the fashion world�s assumption that fat women don�t have any use for career wear. You know, since they all work in menial, blue-collar jobs.

They were just plain cleaned out. But I doggedly persevered, and finally found a three-piece slacks outfit in soft pink and black. Black slacks, a sleeveless, rose-pink, draped top, and a matching rose-pink jacket with cuffed sleeves and a standup collar, trimmed with black piping. I tried it on, and it fit nicely, but I really couldn�t get into the way it looked on me. Until I wrenched off the hideous,ridiculous, black silk flower pinned to it. It went from frumpy and silly to tailored, slimming, and damned attractive in an instant. Unfortunately, those damn cheap things leave discolored pinholes in the clothes, so I rummaged through their costume jewelry, and found a small beadwork butterfly pin, in just the right shade of rosy pink. It conceals the physical damage without inflicting additional aesthetic damage. And it was on 50% markdown, too.

Why buy the suit at all, if it was damaged? A) FITS! B) PINK! C) MARKED DOWN TO $39.98, BABY!

But that�s not all...

I also FINALLY found a cute spring-weight jacket to replace my beloved but worn out Mirage denim. This one is one of those sporty little North Face knockoffs with the special pockets for your discman/mp3 player and your cell phone. Marked down from $44.99 to $22.50. And yes. It just happens to be pink (and navy and white as well, but mostly pink).

So the Bug can be deemed a success.

Then I went and got my nails done. Which they desperately needed, as my cuticles were a disgrace. And they looked fab. (OPI, �Honeymoon Sweet�.) For almost five whole minutes. Until some big galumphing galoot of a high-school girl came and sat down across the UV light bar from me, thrust her black-painted paws under the lamp, and plowed the fuck out of my freshly painted nails.

Clumsy bee-yotch.

I was starting to fade by that point. But I still had to get the more mundane shopping done, so I hauled myself off to the drugstore and the supermarket to get all the necessities, before finally dragging my pooped out self home. Where I still had to haul it all in and put it all away.

And deal with a sad little old dog who had pulled a muscle in her foreleg and demanded much sympathy, love, and attention.

I tell you...after that, I was content to scarf a bowl of cereal and veg in the recliner till it was time to tip myself into the bed.

I enjoy being a girl. Honest. But it takes a lot more energy that I have to do it right.

Police said the 57-year-old woman was tied up and raped at knifepoint.
Police haven't yet said where the suspect was located.�

Buncha savages in this town.

I took advantage of having to go in to the office today, and hit the gym for a while. The calorie counts are not very accurate anymore. I'm doing hand weights and arm/shoulder exercises while I walk now, so the counts are pretty conservative for calories burned.

I was able to successfully negotiate the usual Rollout Day Donuts, thanks to one of the programmers bringing in some fabulous fresh fruit salad. I had a nice serving of peaches, honeydew, strawberries, and red grapes. But since they had really good coffee (Guatemalan from Caribou) and real arf-narf, I couldn't resist going over a bit on my coffee quota.