Another One for the Books

I'm glad this year is (almost) over. It seems like it's lasted for two. For a while there, I was actually wishing the whole Mayan calendar thing was true, because this was turning out to be one of the worst years of my life. You'll notice the date and content of my last post and easily figure out why.

That, and I was stuck in a job I didn't want with a dysfunctional business strategy guiding not only my team but the other teams with which I closely worked. On top of that, I started thinking my particular age might be the magical turning point where everything was downhill from here. Not in a good place at all.

Good news is it looks like life is on a upswing. I've been in a new job for a little over a month in a great location, with great people, tons of challenges, AND (not that it's important, but...) more money. The challenges aren't all going to be easy and maybe not even winnable, but in the end, it's going to be something I can stick in my back pocket and every now and then pull out and say, "I did that!" Now when I leave work, I don't feel like drinking my life away and I actually try to work out a little bit. My daughter starting up sports has helped too. In fact, her first basketball game ever was this week, and while the gang of fourth graders she runs with didn't score any points against the fifth and sixth grade rivals, they did something even better.

Yep, that sucker's stuck. Hilarious. And yes, the other team scored 24 and they scored zero. It was still fun (straight from the horse's mouth)!

Something else that helped put a big smile on my face was spending time with my husband in Nashville earlier this month. We honeymooned there fifteen years ago, and I've always wanted to go back, especially since my sister and a group of our friends go every year to see the Texans beat the Titans. Oh, now you see what the smile is from, you say. Well yeah, how could I help but smile when this was my view?

Yep, life is good. Now let's hope all that hype about the Mayans really isn't true.

2012 Rodeo

I started to write this year's rodeo wrap-up, then I got bored and quit, and then I realized I really need to get that fat picture off the top of the page (since now my boobies are small and my pants are falling off again), so then I thought of a few things to say.

Overall, it was a stellar year for this rodeo volunteer. I got to park at Pole 21 every night I worked. I drank a lot and ate some tamales. I got in trouble a couple of times for still acting like a captain, but I like getting in trouble (imagine that).

I did not get to sing with the National Anthem with the choir due to a "marketing decision" the powers-that-be made two weeks before the rodeo started. But I got to wear our pretty vest

when we rode in the Grand Entry.

The Kitten rode some rides and made it out alive.

She and The Tomcat got to ride in the Grand Entry too (trust me, that's them).

Somehow, both The Catmobile and The Tomcat's truck were hit in the rodeo parking lots this year. The Catmobile got it bad, but so what? It's paid for, and I'm getting a sports car in another two years.

Like I said, no complaints overall. I'm sure my next post will be something along the lines of not keeping the weight lost from Operation Rodeo Jeans off. Until then...YEEHAW!

Summer is Over (in my book)

The Summer of 2011 was hell...absolute, energy-draining, soul-sucking hell. Not only because of the things everyone knows about...record-breaking heat, drought and wildfires in the wonderful state I call home...but also because of a ton of personal burdens. Today, after I completely get the Summer of 2011 off my chest, I'm walking away from it for good.

This summer started out with The Kitten attending a new daycare...for one whole week. She hated it and cried herself to sleep every single night she knew she had to go back there in the morning. Since she was traumatized and refused to try another daycare, we catered to her spoiled rottenness the rest of the summer by driving her to whatever extended family member she wished to grace with her presence or bribing her cousins to come to us. At least one of us had a great summer! I don't know of anything stronger than your worry for your child(ren) that can drag you down to a dark, dark place. Unless you have a demanding job too...

So during all that scrambling for babysitters and driving all over the northwest side of Houston, I was also dealing with work. You might recall a while ago I started talking about this big strategic project to which my very cool boss was reassigned and I would be backfilling for her in the meantime, but then as the project moved through its phases, we discovered the entire company would be reorganized and I started tweeting about how I wasn't going to have the same job (my original Business Analyst job) at the end of the six-month project. No? Well, that's your background, and all you really need to know is all that waiting and worrying over the summer came to a head when the available jobs were posted last week. I've narrowed down my five choices (although I know they will most likely place me in the job that most closely resembles the one I hold now and don't want), and now my fate is in somebody else's hands. Of course, I won't know that fate until the end of October, but like I said, I'm walking away. Letting it go, and hoping my company doesn't let me go.

Now the summer wasn't all bad. We had an awesome trip to Disney World the beginning of June. I skated in not only one but two banked track bouts. I spent a weekend with a friend I had not seen since high school. And today...today, I finally found the motivation I need to move to a better place. I start rehearsing with the rodeo choir on September 26th, and our first performance is October 15th. I bet you didn't know that Catazon was a good enough singer to try out for a choir that performs in front of, oh, a few thousand people for three weeks out of the year and actually MAKE IT! Well, you oughta know.

Summer of 2011...you can kiss my karaoke-ing ass.

Another Month in the Life...

This big cat is pretty busy right now and having a hard time keeping all my balls of yarn in the air, so I thought it might help to write it all down.

Sometime this week, I will celebrate forty-one fun-filled years upon this whirling dervish we call Earth. I shouldn’t say sometime; I really mean most of the time…family dinner Thursday; Ty Herndon concert Friday; a friend’s 40^th birthday party Saturday. Put that together with Easter weekend, and it’s going to be hard to get out of bed next Monday.  Good thing I dyed those eggs yesterday.

For years derby ruled my life, but a couple of weeks ago, I squeaked a few hours of derby into real life by playing in the Clutch City mashup bout the same weekend my husband had shoulder surgery.  By the time of the bout, I was ready to get out of the house; I had a great time without have to break too much of a sweat; and he pulled out his pain pump all by himself while I was gone. So a win-win-win for everyone, including my team!

When we bought our beautiful new touchscreen all-in-one computer in February, I committed to finally getting rid of all our music CDs so I could have more storage room for our DVDs. (Now I wonder what’s going to replace the DVDs in a few years?) With that project wrapping up, I pulled out a drawer in my bedroom and realized I have about ten of my favorite movies and about twenty more that I bought to make my husband happy still on VHS! It looks like I’m going to move my VCR to the home office and hook it up to the beautiful computer permanently so I can get rid of those useless pieces of plastic before nobody will take them for donations anymore.  I’m pretty much in a downsizing phase all around, including my body, once again.

Today, I’m committing to Operation Look Good in Shorts at Disneyworld.  While it might have to wait till next Monday to get the full treatment with my busy birthday week looming, today I started counting my calories and walked the downtown tunnels for an afternoon break.  We have forty-three days until the big family vacation. I don’t care if I lose any weight by then; I just don’t want my legs to rub together during all that walking.

So that’s what part of April and most of May will look like for the big cat.  Of course, I didn’t even mention that another year of elementary school for The Kitten is coming to an end, and with that, field days, piano recitals, and all the other fun stuff she is overlooking because she can only think about getting to summer.  If I make to summer without hurting myself that is…

Rodeo Wrap-up

One of my favorite things about volunteering for the rodeo is when it's finally over. And I don't mean that in a negative way; I get to read all about another wonderful year at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo in the wrap-up press release. Granted the numbers are rumored to be padded, but I'm pretty good at exaggerating myself. Here's my own version:

Marie (aka Catazon) Finishes Up Her Third and Final Year as Club East Captain - March 21, 2011 - For Immediate Release - On the morning of March 21, 2011, Marie made her final trip to Reliant Stadium as a Captain on the Corral Club - Club East A Team to help her committee push all the beer boxes, margarita machines, and portable bars downstairs to Equipment and finish cleaning out the leftover alcohol and other sundries.  She took home a buttload of limes to make fresh margaritas later in the evening, because we all know you have to wean yourself slowly from twenty straight days of rodeo excess. 

Following are the highlights of Marie's own personal 2011 March Madness:

ATTENDANCE

• Officially worked six nights: Sugarland, Selena Gomez, Martina McBride, Gary Allan, KISS, and Alan Jackson.
• Helped out the other teams for two nights: Clay Walker and Jason Aldean.
• "Played" on seven additional nights: Janet Jackson, Billy Currington, Lady Antebellum, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band, and Brad Paisley.
• Yes, that's a total of 15 out of 20 nights that Marie was on the grounds of RodeoHouston.

SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT

• Drink tickets purchased: $240 worth (not counting the tickets sweet-talked off the husband)
• Wine tickets purchased: ~$30 worth (those were hair of the dog days; more money will be spent on wine next year)
• Carnival tickets purchased: $100 worth (half-price, of course)
• Carnival tickets donated: $50 worth
• Alamo tamales eaten: $12 worth (3 half-dozens, usually on the hair of the dog days)
• Gifts bought for the Assistant Club Chairman's last year: $315 worth (money collected from the Club)

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS AND NOTABLE NUMBERS

• Steps walked: ~503,000 over the past six weeks; the majority of those on the 15 days at rodeo.
• Number of times riding the rollercoaster of death: 2
• Number of times riding the rollercoaster of death in the front seat: 1 (just happened to be the day before and you know it was with The Kitten)
• Number of days Pole 21, the same place I've been parking since I started volunteering seven years ago, was unreachable: 12 (don't even get me started; it's pretty much documented via Facebook and Twitter)
• Number of gifts my team bought me for my last year as Captain: 4
• HLSR pink and black windbreaker
• HLSR pink and black rhinestone belt buckle
• HLSR sterling silver bracelet
• And my favorite, HLSR Corral Club key fob

Another great year of giving back to my community and also getting something in return; not only material things but pride, respect, love...too many positive emotions and feelings to list. As I mentioned, there's an Assistant Club Chairman position open on my Club, and I'm up for it. 2012 may be even better than 2011, if we aren't killed walking to our car a mile away or being flung out of a carnival ride!

More Dead Pets

Quite a while ago, I wrote about how good my family was at killing off pets. What I've neglected to tell you is that hasn't deterred us from buying more. This summer, we brought home a Betta for The Kitten's birthday.

Poor little thing died within two months. Being a bit older, The Kitten understood this a lot better than she did with the turtle or the hamsters. There's a memorial in the backyard. So did we stop there?

Of course not. I came home from my wonderful weekend of wine and music to find two guppies and a frog in the tiny Betta bowl. The frog jumped ship within a few days, but the guppies, they held on until the brilliant man I married put them in untreated tap water for too long last night. I hope The Kitten meant it when she was wailing about "No more pets!" She seemed genuinely happy when I told her Santa would bring her a Fin Fin Friend instead.

We are now accepting contracts on any pets you might want to meet an untimely death. Satisfaction guaranteed.

Christmas Before Thanksgiving?!?!?

I usually take the tradition of not recognizing the impending joy of the Christmas season until the day after the day after Thanksgiving.  (Yes, there are intentionally two day afters in there.)  However, it looks like my short-lived day after Thanksgiving tradition of visiting the Texas Renaissance Festival without The Kitten is most definitely short-lived, because the only companions I can find to visit with me today are my parents who are supposed to be watching The Kitten. And...I've already started shopping. Gasp!

On Wednesday, I bought my in-laws a GPS after checking out the online Black Friday deals, and last night, I bought The Kitten a Wii as soon as Best Buy opened up their online Black Friday deals.  Of course, I added Wii Fit to my wish list shortly thereafter.  Have I ever mentioned how much my agoraphobia loves the interwebs?  As if it wasn't obvious.

Now, with my plans dashed thanks to stupid Houston weather and my wonderful cable internet connection that never goes out, Christmas has come early to Catazonia.  I may even start decorating the house today.  Yaaaaay...

UPDATED: Yep, I'm done...

Have Job, Will Travel

Today begins a month of extraordinary travel for my job.  Really, once I put it out there, most people, including me, would say, "Oh, that's not so bad."  Then I put it in the context of "I love the organized schedule of my usual life and so does my daughter", and it makes me a little stressed. Thank goodness I will have time to throw in some personal fun (although I should probably take it easier on that since I recently had the good luck to strand myself an hour away from home with a dead battery just because I wanted to be a badass on the banked track too).

Today, I leave for California at 6:45 p.m. CDT.  Tomorrow, I work for at least twelve and a half hours, which includes a presentation on a subject that gives me indigestion and an evening meeting with Asia Pac that makes my eyes feel very droopy.  I return home at 10:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday.  Friday, we camp; Saturday, we jump out of a plane; and Sunday, we return home for Zeigfest!  Woohoo!

Halloween plans are shaping up nicely, including a Ghostland Observatory show that I have been looking forward to since July.  A long-lost friend from Austin will be joining me and my sister, but no word on whether I can get everyone to dress up yet.  The Friday after Halloween, I'm finally going to a University of Houston football game, almost twenty years after I received my bachelor's degree.  Good times!

The next trip to California will be November 7-9.  This one is extra special because the family will also be dealing with the opening weekend of deer season and the only flight I could take back gets me home at 12:30 a.m. CST on November 10.  Why is this the only flight?  I have to give the October 20th presentation on a subject that gives me indigestion to a Houston audience at noon CST on November 10th, after giving a presentation on my wonderful Community of Practice at 2:00 p.m. PST on November 9th.  Loving my job right about now!  May try to throw in a visit to the Renfest the weekend of the 13th, or The Kitten will hate me forever.

Don't worry; I'm not finished yet.  I'm getting the 36 hours of professional development I need to complete my annual goals at a conference in Washington, DC, November 16-18.  At least I get to see The Yankee on that trip and hopefully come home in one piece.  Last time we partied in DC, I danced on a bar.  Shocking, I know.  I think I lost those pictures when my computer died this summer; well, it was either those or the videos from Key West.  It's a good thing the proof of either is hard to find.

And that, my friends, is my upcoming month of extraordinary travel for my job.  When I get home on November 19th or 20th (haven't decided yet), I'll have already started on ten extraordinary days of no work at all.  Could be worse, y'all, could be worse.

Diversionary Tactics

Last night, my family shared a very strange dinner. Since I had a meeting with Asia Pac at 8:30 p.m. and I usually don't get home until after 6:30 p.m., we had to find something quick to eat, especially after The Kitten threw a 15-minute fit because we weren't going to "Old Mcdonald's" or Willie's. We had decided on Mexican, and even though I don't like it, we went to the closest establishment of this type to our house.

First, we had to make somebody come take our order, and then he came back five minutes later and took it again. Not a good sign, but everything came out ok. I was almost done with my enchiladas when I saw something move in the corner of my eye, and before I could get my camera out to take a picture of the roach walking across the wall, the waiter came up and squashed it with a napkin. Okaaaay. You would have thought he could have comped our food for that, but no. While we were waiting an eternity for the check, I started hearing something that sounded like a real kitten. I kept looking around, but nobody else seemed to notice, and although my husband admitted to hearing the sound, he thought I was crazy for caring. Hello, I just shared dinner with a roach, and there is a kitten somewhere in this restaurant! Yeah, I'm crazy.

So, we never figured out where the kitten was, and we paid way too much for nausea from the unwanted dinner guests, but really I just told this story to take some of the spotlight off this interview I gave to a derby fan who posted today. Man, I'm good.

I Always Bite Off More Than I Can Chew

Hate to admit it, but if you were planning on the return of a leaner, meaner Catazon at the Crude City vs. Bosses bout on May 15th, that ain't gonna happen.

In January, I committed to 60 days of Insanity (you know, that Sean T. Beachbody workout?), so that I could fit in my rodeo jeans. Of course, I didn't do 60 days since rodeo season kicks in around the last week of February, but I got back in the jeans and received a ton of compliments on my semi-rockin' bod. For the past month and a half, I've been trying to get back on my regular Insanity routine, while my body has been slowing moving southward again, and I was almost there when a huge project landed in my lap.

I'm trying to turn this into this before the bout. Throw in a couple of family birthdays, Mother's Day, setting up summer tutoring for The Kitten, and coordinating some home renovations, and when do I have time to workout? Maybe after I get back from my third business trip this year the third week of May?

I think the only opportunity to flex some flab over the next week will be an intro to pole dancing class on Monday, and only because I've already paid my $40.

April Fool's Lasts All Month Around Here

Here's a preview of the Catazon's April 2010:

• Good Friday - My 9/80 and The Kitten is looking forward to Iowa Tests being over...girls' day of fun!


• Easter - My 12th wedding anniversary...good way to get out of celebrating it.


• April 5th - A short trip to California...Trader Joe's is calling my name; that and a presentation on Lessons Learned (ick!)


• April 10th - My first bout this season with Crude City Roller Derby...yes, I'm on the roster of a league that is four hours away; come be a fool and watch me!


• April 16th - The day I should be going to the Tiki Bar opening in Maryland again but am instead being a good wife and mother for a change...boo sauce!


• April 21st - The day I was born, 40 years ago...and no, there will not be a party because somebody expects me to send the invitations, clean the house, buy the food and drinks, act as a hostess, etc. (Bite me!)

Now remind me why I'm not going to the Tiki Bar again. Happy April anyway! Usually the best month of the year, but this one has only a couple of bright spots.

BTW...I will be skating in Houston (against Houston Roller Derby) in May. This is not a joke...more info to come. This Cat just won't die, and maybe there's still breath in Catazonia yet.

Oh, and I'm doing NaPoWriMo again!

No, that's the real April Fool's joke.

I Should Get Paid for This

I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I'm socially inept at gift-giving. I can usually disguise it by showing up with a bottle of Patron everywhere I go, but it gets harder to hide that major personality flaw around the holidays. The Kitten, (most of) the nieces and nephews, and the in-laws aren't really interested in getting drunk and naked, you know.

What I am going to harp on is that fact that it's socially acceptable to maintain a wishlist nowadays. Get your butt online and start one. Check out this helpful post on Lifehacker for some top wishlist tools. A wishlist not only makes life easier for your socially-inept loved ones, it also organizes your own thoughts. I would never be able to keep track of what The Kitten wants for Christmas if I didn't rush to Amazon everytime her eyes widen.

By the way, if you haven't been using a reader to follow interesting blogs like Lifehacker, you really are living in the dark ages. Haven't you heard that blogs are dying a slow, painful death? Oh, wait, that's just mine.

Life is Good!

A year ago, I was flat broke. I had just injured my bad knee during WFTDA Regionals, I was emotionally spent from a year of being disrespected, and I had spent all my money trying to force an extracurricular activity into a sport.

This year, my body feels great (even if it's overweight), I can hold a conversation without yelling or being yelled at (mostly), and I just booked a real family vacation. And by real, I mean we are taking The Kitten to see and play in real snow for the first time, not just squeezing in a day's visit to an amusement park because Mommy's too busy acting like a bad-ass.

It's funny how everything works out for the best (even though I'm still a bad-ass).

Hitting a Car was the Highlight of My Week

Last Monday, I floated the Comal River like a rookie. Maybe it was because it was The Kitten's first time to float the river, and I was a little nervous, hoping she would love tubing as much as I do. Maybe it was a bit of showing off in front of my cousins on my dad's side who all are younger than me. Maybe it was way too much cider. But anyway, I fried my legs for the first time in twenty years. And not just fried all over...burned in a candy-cane pattern. Yes, I have red and white diagonal stripes up and down the fronts of my legs. Lovely!

Still, my candy-cane legs can't top the marks I received from skating the Pride Parade Saturday night. Before the parade even started, I hit a car. Poor car! It was just minding its own business, and I came along and tripped into it. It was too dark to see how bad my Catazonianess damaged it, but the bruise on my upper arm says there might have been a dent in the passenger door. The bruise is even bigger than the one when I fell in the clothes hamper, which you can actually see in the picture on my Blogger profile. Nice!

By the way, I'm waiting to see pictures from that night, so if you have any of the roller derby girls rolling down Westheimer, either on wheels or on the ground wrastling, put 'em out there! And thanks, Rushin' Cleavage, for such an enjoyable evening. ;)

I didn't think the week could get any better than once again getting the crap beat out of me by stationary objects, but then I went to a Roger Creager concert yesterday evening, right smack-dab in the middle of what I like to think of as my old 'hood (Oak Forest), and I know it's hard to believe that only about 75-100 people would brave the heat wave from hell to see him at such a great venue (a little league ballfield), but the few, the brave, the crazy were rewarded with a free beer from Roger himself. Awesome.

Summertime!

My plans for the official beginning of the summer season, Memorial Day Weekend:

1. Act a fool at my sister's 3rd Annual Karaoke Birthday Bash on Friday night.
2. Finally get a haircut after at least nine months of hippie hair (can't really remember the last one).
3. Finally buy some new tennies now that the ones I bought on the way to the 2006 HRD championship bout when I could only wear one of them are making a weird clicky noise when I walk the streets at lunchtime.
4. Be jealous of everyone on the river while I play on The Kitten's slip and slide.

I love summertime! I'm sure I'll think of more fun summertime things to do over the next four days, but that's a good start. Who knows...the last three might kill me, or at least just make me die a little bit inside.

Please Pardon the Interruption...

As previously explained, I took a brief break from reality this past weekend. I claimed to be "helping out" my Brawlers as they played one of the best roller derby teams in Texas. Once I saw the proof of it, I realized what I really did was stand around and make funny faces as well as be distracted by my reality. Yes, I'm waving to The Kitten, and yes, there seem to be a million pics of me standing around. Sometimes I prayed (see the blurry score behind me..the number not in double digits is ours). Sometimes I did look a bit like my old self (you can see my butt that sent that jammer flying). Mostly I had fun even though I felt (and still feel) pain.

I was reminded of some of the reasons I quit. My husband having to drag my daughter away from me, kicking and screaming because she wanted to stay and have fun. Being put in the penalty box for two things that I know I didn't do and not even getting a minor for blatantly (although not purposely) tripping the jammer. (Don't get me wrong on this...I respect the refs, but I think we've made their job next to impossible.) Knowing that no matter how hard I try, it's not going to be enough for somebody, anybody.

What really brought me back to reality though is seeing for sure that all the weight I lost while on the cardio program is back. I can't wait to get in that leopard-print tankini I ordered! Meow!

Boring...zzzzzzzzz

I don't know why I keep up with this anymore. I no longer participate in the reason I started this blog...derby...although I did stop by the afterparty last week. Nobody wants to hear about work...even though my job is pretty awesome now. The Kitten resists becoming involved in any extracurricular activities...although I constantly ask her if she wants to swim or dance or kick and hit things. Life has become pretty boring since I decided to relax this year.

Rodeo is done, and I'm just waiting for April so anniversary and Easter and birthdays and traveling and holidays and my favorite season can begin. Maybe then Catazonia won't be lackin' in the crackin'.

Spring Break!!!

I'm taking my first spring break in years. I'm finally in a job where I'm encouraged to take vacation, I actually have vacation to take because my employer respected my experience when I was hired, and The Kitten is taking her very first spring break ever. Boy howdy, do I need a spring break!

• Rodeo is kicking my butt...not from working, but from listening to everyone complain.


• Work is kicking my butt...The Dark Side is working against the Force.


• My husband's truck got its butt kicked by a Mustang last Thursday night...damn the rain that lasted way too long and helped to depress me on top of everything.

Wish I could use my free plane ticket and take a real spring break, but that will have to wait.

Pets, Plants, and Parenting

I used to joke about staying away from the Three P's of Responsibility: Pets, Plants, and Parenting. As long as I was free of pets, plants, and kids, my life would be perfect. Then my realtor gave me a houseplant when we moved into our current home and swore that it was one even I couldn't kill. It was all downhill from there.

Two years later, The Kitten came along, and while I'm not the greatest mother in the world, she doesn't complain...much. Her father...now that's a different story. However, we survived her first teenage fit last week when we wouldn't take her to the rodeo on our night off...remember, she's only five. By the way, I received another houseplant at the birth of my only child, and both plants are miraculously still alive. So, I think I've got the plants and the parenting down, but guess what?

I killed off another pet. Last year, we had the hamsters, Beautiful Sparkle and Foola, who lasted about six and eight months, respectively. Just a few days ago, I introduced you to Sparkly the Turtle, who The Kitten received for Christmas. Obviously, Sparkly didn't enjoy having her picture plastered all over the web, and she finally gave up this weekend after not eating a damn thing for the past two months. And yes, I did try to feed her! Maybe third time's a charm on the pet thing? What should we kill get for Christmas this year?

Happy Go Texan Day 2009!

The Kitten and Sparkly

Originally uploaded by Catazon.

The Kitten and Sparkly are celebrating. You can't see it, but she is decked out in brand new bootcut jeans and a belt with crosses and hearts outlined in rhinestones, and she's still wearing the boots she inherited from her cousin a couple of years ago. I'm celebrating, too, although I will stand by my practice of no pictures, please. It might get kinda crazy since I'm hanging out with my sister at the cookoff.