Melinda Musil dot Com

Archive for August, 2008

I think I am developing full blown arachnophobia.

That’s “fear of spiders”, for all of you out there who need to brush up on your Latin.

Some of you may recall my experience with insomnia and spiders a few days ago.  It was very strange and VERY frightening.  I concluded that the spider in that experience was a wolf spider, a large, ugly, but generally harmless spider.

Last night, just before I went to bed, I used the restroom.  As I sat on the toilet, I looked up and noticed something sitting on the towel.  It was either a spider or a very strange lump of brown lint.  I finished up and approached the towel with a lump of toilet paper in my hands.  Sure enough, it was a large brown spider.  I looked at it a bit more closely, then reached out and attempted to grab it in the toilet paper.  He was a FAST little sucker, and got out of the way.  Eventually I had to shake out the towel to find him, and I managed to trap him between my toilet-papered fingers.  I looked a bit closer at him before I squished him.

I’m 99% sure it was a brown recluse.  I killed him with no troubles- no bites.  But I’m totally freaked out now.  When I went to bed, I tossed and turned because I was so convinced that I had spiders crawling on me.  And brown recluse spiders are venemous!

I’m definitely freaked out now.

When my sister moved from Texas to Boston, she hired a moving service.  That was, I think, the first time our family has hired moving trucks.  We are definitely old school.  When my sis moved to and from college, and later, when I moved to and from college, we borrowed a friend’s pickup truck and did the moving ourselves.  It’s not the easiest way to move, I suppose, but it is cheap and effective.  Though, when you get into really long distance moves (like texas to boston!) it can be much more cost effective to hire a van, especially when gasoline is nearly $4 a gallon.

My grandpa and “G2″ (grandma 2) were featured in a July article in the Washington Post!

The article is about relationships and online dating.  Grandpa and G2 met through Match.com.  Both were widowed and both turned to Match.com in a search for companionship.  Their unique and wonderful relationship was featured in this post article (they are near the end of the article).  I’ve hyperlinked this whole paragraph because, frankly, I’m just that excited!

Grandpa, I don’t know if you read my blog, but I want you to know that you chose well.  I love Ruth and am so glad that you have brought her into our family.

I’ve never really had a lawyer.  Never needed a lawyer.  A couple of times in college, I consulted a lawyer about some educational issues, but not enough to actually PAY for his expertise.   My mom met some good lawyers once when she had jury duty.  Hopefully I’ll never need a lawyer.  But, for all the bad lawyer jokes out there, there are plenty of good lawyers around.  Like Chicago personal injury lawyers.  Not bad at all.

I love rain, and it’s a good thing too… tonight we got plenty of it!

Dad and I went out for dinner tonight.  Mom is working late, so we went to Chic Fil A for dinner.  Yum!

It was POURING rain when we got there.  Since we were parked next door, we had to run across the street in the pouring rain, and the street had basically become a giant puddle.  So naturally, splashing through the street, we got water on our pants.  My jeans basically got totally soaked from the knees down.

Then of course, there was so much rain that my top got fairly wet as well.  Unfortunately I was wearing a white tshirt, but luckily it didn’t get too wet so I think it was okay.

I love running around in the rain.  I love jumping in puddles and feeling the rain falling down on me.  Must be ‘cuz I’m a midwesterner… but I love thunderstorms.

I’m thankful that for my “mini” small business, I’ve never had to seek a business loan.  I don’t think business loans are bad, by far… I am just glad that I have been able to avoid that debt.

But there’s a reason I call my small business a “mini” business.  It is really, REALLY small!  It’s just me, and although I am busy, I am able to do all the tasks that my business requires, by myself.  There are times, in life, when debt is necessary.  For example, I suspect that the vast majority of people don’t have enough money laying around to buy a house.  But if you get a good mortgage, with a good bank, good insurance rates, and so forth, and if you commit to paying your monthly payment every month, then a mortgage is a great thing.

Cars are another thing that requires a large investment.  Now, I absolutely think that when possible, you should pay cash up front for a car- cars just lose their value so quickly.  But especially when you’re just starting out, that’s not so easy to do.  I was blessed to receive a hand-me-down car as a gift when I returned from Africa, but some of my closest friends have purchased cars with payment plans.  Again, if you commit to paying your bill every month, this can be extremely helpful.  I’ve also learned that, if you pay your car payment every month, it’s a great way to build your credit (something we all need when we are first starting out!). (by the way, stop by thearmywife.com and congratulate Jess for paying of her car! congrats, jess!)

Education- there’s another place where loans can be fantastic aids.  Be smart about it- there’s plenty of banks out there who are trying to rip off students.  But again, it’s a place where debt can be a necessity.  Our neighbor is a doctor who graduated med school with at least $200,000 in debt.  But he knew that as a doctor, he would be able to pay it off, and he did.

So anyway, back to business loans.  If you really have a good idea, if you are passionate about it, but you just don’t have the money to start your business, business loans can be a powerful aid.  Also, I think that if you have a debt, it will serve as a powerful drive to work harder and make money.  Do you need a small business loan?  Be smart, look for a bank that will give you favorable terms, and go for it!

I’m single.  I don’t have a boyfriend.  I haven’t dated a whole lot during my lifetime, though usually because guys aren’t asking me out.  It has taken me a long time to become okay with this.  When I was younger, I was self conscious and made silly assumptions like “the reason guys aren’t asking me out is because there’s something wrong with me” and other dumb stuff like that.  Ah yes, that’s being a teenager!

But I’ve grown to the point where I really like being single.  I see how much time my friends have to put into their relationships and I’m thankful that I have this time to work, to write, and to grow.  I’m also thankful that God has protected me up to this point.  I’ve never been kissed, and I’m thankful that I have saved that gift to give to that one special guy someday.

I’m not anti marriage, and I’m not gay.  I do think that I could probably live and die single.  I still hope that one day I can have a “Hollywood romance” – that I can fall in love and have the amazing experience of, well, falling in love.  But (usually) I’m content to wait.

Movies like the one Stephanie and I watched last night tend to make me more impatient!

Stephanie and I watched The Love Letter with Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  I don’t want to spoil the ending, so I’ll try not to talk about the actual movie too much.   But needless to say, Campbell Scott is a hottie and the movie had an amazing “Hollywood romance”.  When I watch one of those movies, it really makes me catch my breath.  It is just the amazing example of an incredible romance, of a guy who comes and sweeps you off your feet.  When I see that, I do wish for it, a little.  Who wouldn’t?  What girl wouldn’t want to be beautiful and swept off her feet by an equally handsome man?

Today I’m single… but maybe tomorrow I’ll be swept off my feet.  I’ll be watching for him!

I was thinking yesterday about what a great exercise it would be to write stories from titles… take some random words, put them together, and write a story to fit the title.  Like… “Faster, Better Stronger”.. of “Stolen Innocence”… or “Surefire Saint“.

See, I used to be a high school English teacher.  I quit because I was working with such a horrible administration, and as a result, some really awful students.  I wasn’t allowed to do anything fun with them or really even teach them much.  I could’ve been such a cool English Teacher.

Firefox 3 has this fantastic new feature.  Anytime I close FF, it asks me “Do you want Firefox to save your tabs for your next session?”  I love this feature.  I always say yes.  Every night, I shut down my computer with the assurance that my tabs will be waiting for me the next morning.

This morning, I started my computer and opened FF.  The computer was behaving a little finicky- I had probably triple-clicked instead of double-clicking on the icon.  So it opened two FF windows, the first with my tabs from yesterday and the second with no tabs.

I closed the no-tabs FF window but for some reason, the computer closed both FF windows.  When I went to the FF icon to open a new FF window, I received an error message – something like “Firefox is already running.  In order to open a new window, please end your current Firefox session or reboot your computer.”

Okay, that’s easy enough.  I reboot the computer.  Once the computer is rebooted and running, I returned to my Firefox icon.  Double-click, wait…

Then, I make a cruel, cruel discovery.

Firfox has lost my tabs.

I push down the lump of shock and fear developing in my stomach.  How can I go on without my tabs?  I will have to re-create all my tabs, all over again!

My window is now only pitifully tabbed… All my best efforts, and I can only remember eight of my tabs.

Oh Firefox, faithful friend, you have broken my heart!

Soon I’ll be leaving to go over to my friend Stephanie’s apartment.  Sorry, she doesn’t have a blog.

She and I are going to watch The Love Letter with Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  It is definitely one of my top five favorite movies.  Plus, let’s be honest, Campbell Scott is hot.  I wish I had time to find a photo for you.

She and I also trade publishing tips.  She’s aiming to become a children’s book writer.

I will probably stop by Subway on my way over to her house to pick up dinner.  The ‘rents are doing their own thing tonight.  I love Subway sandwiches, especially the hot ones- steak and cheese, meatball, italian… I haven’t tried the beef briscuit sandwich yet but it looks awfully good.

Naturally I have plenty more work to do online afterwards.  Seems like a never-ending battle.