Displaced Wyomingite

An Open Letter to Sesame Workshop

2009-08-21T14:22:00.002-04:00

Dear Sesame Workshop,

I am dismayed to say that I will not be allowing my child to watch Sesame Street. I had been looking forward to watching Sesame Street with him, but after watching several episodes, I cannot allow my child to continue to watch Elmo, in particular.

I remember Sesame Street from my childhood as being something I looked forward to, and I'm sad that my child will not have the same kind of experience. The reason I am not happy with Elmo is that he is demanding and never says please. In the past few months of watching Elmo's World, I have not seen a single instance of Elmo saying "Please." He just demands things and is complied with. Once he gets what he asks for he does say "Thank you," which I appreciate.

Quite frankly, I hope that my child will not emulate Elmo's behavior. I don't expect all the characters to be perfect, yet, your most popular character should at least be polite.

A very sad parent,
Displaced Wyomingite

Fun at work

2009-08-05T20:16:00.004-04:00

I was helping a co-worker with her latest assignment on discovering things online. I had to try it myself after I discovered the make your own motivational poster part of the website....

to make your own go to: http://bighugelabs.com/

(mine, of course, stars little Popeye from the big New Orleans trip.)

Busy Summer

2009-07-28T08:43:00.003-04:00

We have been so busy this summer. Mostly, learning about the world and visiting with people. Little Popeye came to the beach with us and had a wonderful time. He's practically fearless! He crawled right down to the water and loved it when the waves would crash against him.
We've also been in the middle of working on our yard. That and a contractor is rebuilding our front porch. That's a job we had thought we wouldn't do for a few more years, but the porch decided that it needed to be done now. It's been a month or so, and the porch is still a construction area. So it goes on any construction project.

What the heck??!?

2009-07-08T07:33:00.000-04:00

I've been going through a lot of red tape recently to try to get into a master's program. One thing that I'm doing is taking classes to prove that I will be a good student. In order to take the classes, the state of Maryland insists that everyone have 2 MMR innoculations on their records.

Because I was born before 1980, I had only one MMR.

I had to go get another one. (You might remember the post with Little Popeye and the condoms...that was the day of the shot.)

Now, it appears that I have mumps.

Will the fun never end?

I suggest buying stock in a pet store in the near future

2009-07-02T11:26:00.003-04:00

This morning I took Baby Popeye to the pet store for the first time.

Uh-oh.

He is obsessed with our cat, but I didn't think that he'd go crazy in the pet store. I was wrong. In this particular store, there is a ferret enclosure immediately when you walk in. And the ferrets were feeling frisky today.

They were so frisky, that they knocked over their water bottle. An employee came along, noticed this and opened the door to fix it. This caused much delight and squealing on the part of the ferrets and Baby Popeye. For several minutes, they all scrambled to escape their enclosures, but the pet store employee and I prevailed and no escaping was done.

We had to watch the ferrets a bit longer, and Baby Popeye cried when we left them. Then he spotted the mice running in their wheel and was entranced. Basically, the whole thing went: Baby Popeye spots an animal, Baby Popeye squeals with delight and watches said animal for a while, Baby Popeye cries and cries when we leave animal, Baby Popeye spots another animal.

It made for a very long visit.

And we had to do it twice.

It still resulted in huge tears when we left. And a lot of crying. I have a feeling that a visit to the zoo is going to be quite different now than it was a few months ago...

Belated Father's Day

2009-06-27T20:21:00.007-04:00

J wanted to go to reclamation warehouses for Father's Day. Unfortunately, most of them are closed on Sundays. So, J was gracious enough to move Father's Day to today. And we had a great time!

We drove up to Baltimore and visited all 4 warehouses of Second Chance salvage. It was awesome! We wandered among cabinets, floor boards, doors, and surprisingly...some nice antiques. Little Popeye wanted to open and close all the cabinet doors, and I wanted to take home some really nice chairs. But we didn't. It was so hard to contain ourselves, there were a ton of nice things. (And some that looked like they could use a little help...and we could help them.)

Then we drove over to Housewerks. It's a salvage company housed in an old natural gas factory and they have some amazing things. Not only that, but the building itself was of architectural interest. We explored the basement. I have to admit that though I could picture a thousand things to do with many of the items there, they just wouldn't go in our house...so we left them there. (Though I'm sure I could have found something to do with the 20 foot tall advertisement for the man with the amazing 6 foot long beard.)

Then I surprised J by taking him to Uno's in Columbia. Mmmmmm...yum. Little Popeye was a little more hungry than we thought, and made a bit of a scene. Eventually, he crawled on our table and drank from my iced tea on all fours. On the table. Hey, at least he wasn't screaming.

We finished our salvage excursion by visiting The Brass Knob Warehouse. Here, J hit paydirt and found what he was looking for...four built-in bookcases.

Then we came home and had a marvelous dinner of waffles with Bananas Foster and icecream. A perfect dinner for one of the world's biggest sweet tooths. J informed me that this is the best Father's Day ever. Yay!

Oh yeah, New Orleans

2009-06-19T09:22:00.002-04:00

Despite the fact that we just about melted, J, Popeye and I had a marvelous time in New Orleans. I especially had fun with the camera, and you can see our pictures below. Sadly, I failed in my quest to find a small (inexpensive) street sign that said "Pirate Alley," they only came in huge $30 versions that wouldn't even fit in our luggage. (sigh.)

Baby Popeye gets schooled.

2009-06-18T14:50:00.001-04:00

I had to get an MMR shot in order to be able to register for my fall class, and took little Popeye along. I didn't realize that he would be introduced to birth control methods so early in life. That basket he's playing with in the picture is a basket of colorful condoms. It was all he wanted to play with while we waited to find out if I'd be cleared to register. Well, they say that education is the best deterant...

Looking for luck in all the wrong places

2009-06-10T20:16:00.003-04:00

In case you're wondering, J did make it to New Orleans. He had to pay with our money, and then the plane was delayed about 4 or 5 hours, but he made it. Tomorrow, it's my turn with little Popeye. I'm hoping for better passage from the travel gods.

Perhaps I shouldn't read too much into the fact that I spilled an entire 32oz. drink all over a complete stranger this evening. That's just paranoia, right? Right? Right???

New Orleans Bound?

2009-06-09T07:17:00.003-04:00

As I write this I'm waiting to hear back from J about his flight. He's had one problem after another working for his latest Federal Agency, and I suppose we shouldn't be surprised by this latest one. They never paid for his flight to New Orleans. It took them two months to approve the travel, but I guess they just don't have their act together in the money department. Strangely enough, they've paid the bill for his employee (who is traveling with him).

This is starting to be ridiculous. He's been working for this agency for 3 months now and everything is a struggle. Even the transfer of his leave. He's been working for the feds for 9 years now and has built up a lot of sick leave (because J thinks he's indestructible and won't take it), but when he had the stomach flu a couple weeks after starting with his new agency, they made him take Leave Without Pay.

I won't name said agency because J still works there, but I cannot believe the amount of ineptitude and corruption he's been running into for the past 3 months. This kind of agency is the one who gives Feds a bad name. I sincerely hope that Mr. Obama is sincere about fixing things, because this is one agency that is severely broken.

Rootbeer Float Cake to try

2009-05-24T09:44:00.002-04:00

Okay, I got this from my friend Alli (the awesome) and she got it from Joy the Baker. I have to, have to make this cake sometime soon, and so I don't lose the recepie or anything, I'm posting it here. (Plus, some of you may be interested also.)

Root Beer Float Cake

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 cups root beer (don’t use diet)

1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

Preheat even to 325 degrees F. Spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray, or butter generously and dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs until just beaten. Then whisk into the cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. You can give it a quick whisk if you like, but don’t over beat the batter or it could cause the cake to be tough. Don’t worry, the batter is very loose.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and cook for 35-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely then loosen edges with a butter knife and turn out onto a cake plate.

Chocolate Root Beer Frosting

2 ounces 60% cocoa, melted

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt (you may want to use less… maybe just 1/2 teaspoon)

1/4 cup root beer

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric hand mixer, beat softened butter and cocoa powder. Once combined add the melted chocolate, salt, powdered sugar and root beer. Beat together until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake. Slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Bob Evans soothes my soul

2009-05-14T13:20:00.002-04:00

Little Popeye and I met our cousins for breakfast in Columbia this morning. And while the food wasn't exactly wonderful, it was warm and yummy and mostly healthy. (mostly) And the best, very best, most wonderful thing, I didn't make it. Oh, and the waitress was absolutely marvelous. While we waited for our cousins, Little Popeye crawled all over the place, colored the table and climbed up into the windows, and our waitress thought it was cute and remained pleasant through our entire stay.

It was so nice to run into someone in customer service who was pleasant.

Then we headed off to one of my alma-maters...one of the libraries in Howard County and played in the children's section. It was marvelous to see everyone again and it was nice to be in a familiar place where I knew that Little Popeye could wander around and be fine.

It was a long and fun morning. And I'm very grateful to Bob Evans for the serenity they afforded me this morning.

Can't Wait

2009-05-04T23:08:00.000-04:00

The cat and the President

2009-04-22T10:39:00.002-04:00

A few months ago my best friend since second grade came to visit. She's been to visit a lot in the last few years, and somehow has always missed the Lincoln Memorial. So, J bundled everyone up and ushered them out the door (while I baked and baked and baked).

A good time was had by all.

Seriously.

Don't take little Popeye's expression too much to heart, he's smiling inside, I'm sure.

I did hear that he loved how echo-y it was in the Lincoln Memorial and had a great time testing that out. I'm surprised I didn't hear him all the way in Takoma Park from the description J gave me.

long overdue pic

2009-04-20T17:07:00.002-04:00

Here is baby Popeye with Pumpkin all over. I promised this in a post a few (or more) months ago...

Baby cat

2009-04-20T17:04:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time because I've been trying to keep up with our little Popeye. He's getting to be quite a cruiser.

Today, I found him laying on the cat's scratching box, scratching at it with his little fingernails. The cat wasn't pleased even though I tried to explain to him that mimicry is the highest form of flattery.

Censorship and the librarian

2008-12-22T10:54:00.002-05:00

Today I had to do something that I wish I hadn't.

I had to tell a teenager that I couldn't post her blog because while it was insightful, it was also a social commentary. And the library can't get in on social commentary.

I'm really upset about it because she obviously worked hard on it. Not only that, but she had some really great insights and I wish that I could have allowed her to share them in such a public forum. But I'm torn because it is a public forum. Perhaps I would have felt better had we perhaps sought out a contradicting viewpoint so we could post both of them. Now, that would have been interesting.

But we didn't.

And I feel like I censored someone.

I feel like a bad bad person.

Screaming on the living room rug

2008-11-17T09:46:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure how to discourage a 9 month old from screaming his lungs out because he's having so much fun. I'm not sure if I should discourage it.

Man, this "parent" thing is a little hard. When he hurts himself, I want to cry, too. When he's bouncing around and screaming for joy, it makes me happy. And the whole time I'm thinking, "G-d, I don't want to screw him up." I just have to get over myself and let go.

Perhaps the best way to do that would be to get down on the floor and roll around and scream with him.

I exist

2008-11-10T11:53:00.002-05:00

I do, really, I promise.

J still hasn't uploaded those photos. So, sadly, no pumpkin picture.

If this gives you any idea of my life lately, I started writing this blog four days ago. Now, I'm taking a moment while little Popeye screams on the floor to finish it. (He's screaming in happiness, actually. He's reading a book.)

I'll try harder.

Baby loves pumpkin!

2008-09-12T09:05:00.002-04:00

As soon as I can finagle J to get the pictures off our camera, I'll post a hilarious picture of our little Popeye. We tried him out on pumpkin last night and it was a huge hit! It was the first time that he had his mouth wide open before I could get anywhere near it with the spoon.

Thank goodness...I thought he'd be a tight-lipped eater for the rest of his life. I guess I just had to hit upon something he really likes.

Who knew it would be plain old pumpkin?

(And why didn't he like the potato that I gave him last week?)

yes...

2008-09-10T19:03:00.003-04:00

from:everydaypeoplecartoons.com

There are so many reasons

2008-09-03T17:43:00.002-04:00

There are so many reasons that I am hoping with all my might that Sarah Palin will not become Vice-President of our country. The loudest and most upsetting of which I found in a New York Times article about Palin:

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents
said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning
some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or
passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her
job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

You can read the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=palin%20librarian&st=cse&oref=slogin

And of course, someone else far more eloquent than I has blogged on this subject with Librarians in mind.

It makes me shudder to think that this woman could be a missed-heartbeat away from being our President. I hope that millions of other people feel the same way and vote accordingly in November.

Crashed!

2008-07-15T18:44:00.002-04:00

My harddrive crashed...again. I am without computer and I am going berserk!!

Hyped up

2008-06-18T00:21:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if it's extreme sleep deprivation or what, but I am so hyper at 12:30 in the morning here. I need to sleep, but I couldn't lay there any more. It's probably a combination of all kinds of things, including the fact that my mom is in town for over a month. I'm too excited.

I feel like a little kid when my mom comes to visit. I keep showing her things that I have that I think are neat. Mostly I've been showing her all the toys for little Popeye. He has some cool stuff. And I'm pretty proud of the fact that I figured out a way to corral all his toys and books for the time being. Well, most of them at least. I never realized this until I had a baby, but I'm an organized person at heart. I just tend to let things get out of hand sometimes. I completely understood the beginning of Amelie when the narrator was listing things Amelie's parents liked to do and each of them like to clean out their tools, arrange them and put them back. I like to do that, too. Does that make me a geek?

I just joined del.icio.us and have been having a great time playing with all the links. It's actually been really helpful as a librarian to look at other librarian's links. There's some great stuff there. I'd highly recommend the site, especially if you work on multiple computers, like I do.

No time left

2008-06-01T10:15:00.002-04:00

Boy, it's not that I'm intentionally neglecting this blog. It's that my little Popeye takes up a lot of my time, and really screams his head off whenever I put him down. And I really hate typing one-handed. It's just not fast enough for me.

Besides, my life really is all about baby right now. We went to the National American Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery last week. It was great to get out to museums again. But we didn't stay too long...Popeye ran out of clothes after two explosive diaper changes and we didn't want to chance walking around with a naked baby with a possibly explosive rear-end. Not only that but the two diaper changes were such traumatic affairs that one lady actually asked us what we were doing to that child. It just added more guilt to the mound built by little Popeye's wails and huge dripping tears.

So, as you can see, it can be a little hard.

SUV...

2008-05-19T10:43:00.003-04:00

I hate mini-vans. I hate everything about them and to avoid offending people, I will not elaborate on why.

So, when J and I discovered that my cute little sedan was just a little too cute and little to deal with a car seat and two tall people (imagine someone squished in the front seat while little Popeye lounges in luxury in the back), we had to make a decision. We decided to buy an SUV. It was the lesser of two evils, and to this little displaced Wyomingite, an SUV is much more acceptable than a mini-van.

We bought an SUV. We love it. Mostly. Except that the A/C blows hot air sometimes for no apparent reason. It didn't do that on the test drive, I guess (I wasn't there for that, I was with little Popeye). And for some reason, I was elected to take it to the dealership to get it fixed. I'm not sure why since the dealership has been dealing with J this whole time and he's available today. But here's the interesting part. I'm blogging from inside the dealership. Yeah, weird, huh? They have a lounge for customers. Not only that, but they have a computer for customers. I'm not sure if I'm really allowed to do this, but since it's here and it's the customer lounge and it seems to be set up for bored people to surf the web, I thought I would take advantage.

Sacreligious Resident

2008-05-08T10:04:00.002-04:00

I live in azalea city. The man who developed azaleas lived here and the town is full of all kinds of azaleas that don't exist anywhere else. In fact, my yard is home to dozens of azalea bushes.

I don't particularly like azaleas.

They're stinky and pollen-y, and they take up quite a bit of space. I wouldn't mind if there were one or two bushes, but my yard is predominantly azalea. It doesn't leave room for much else. I'd like a vegetable garden and some fruit trees and bushes and maybe even some herbs.

I have azaleas.

*sigh*

When I tried to move some of these bushes out of my yard, I got a bit of flack from the neighbors. One in particular was pretty upset that we were getting rid of "valuable" and established azaleas. Apparently, I'm not really allowed to do what I want in my own yard. I find this rather frustrating.

Just another aspect of small town life in the big city.

Oh no, philosophical Kitty

2008-04-27T10:50:00.002-04:00

Sometimes I say or do things that I just know are insane. I wish that I could take back all those moments and all those insanities. Especially when they stand between me and people I would like to be friends with.

I looked in the mirror the other day and was surprised that there was a 30 year-old woman staring back at me. How is it that in my head I haven't aged past 22? It's not like I'm trying to hold on to "being young" or anything. It's just that the passage of time hasn't seemed to have registered in me. I think that this is a normal situation, though. I remember my grandfather being very surprised when he was watching a video of his retirement home's glee club and a very old looking man stepped out from the choir to sing the solo he'd been given to sing. He said that he still saw the 18 year-old in the mirror despite the fact that he was well into his 80s.

I don't think it's denial. I think it's just that we form an impression of our self when we are a specific age and that's what sticks with us for the rest of our life.

Baby Swing

2008-04-13T11:37:00.003-04:00

Strangely, our little Popeye doesn't seem to like his swing. He tolerates it for a little while, but after a bit the motion seems to freak him out. It's strange because when he first came home he loved his swing, he'd fall asleep as soon as he got into it.

Not that I blame him, really. I like swinging just as much as the next 4th grader, but I can imagine that swinging when you have no control over it is a little disconcerting.

The Pope's DC visit

2008-04-11T11:36:00.002-04:00

The local TV stations are all psyched up about the Pope coming to DC. One of them keeps running a loud ad announcing the Pope's "first visit to the United States." If you listen well enough, you'll hear them say "since becoming Pope," right after that announcement in a quieter hushed tone. It makes me wonder why they would want to spin that.

Not only that, but the Washington Post has a special section on its website called Pope Watch. Is it just me or is everyone WAY too excited about this? It's probably just me. To be honest, I don't much care for this Pope. He's very good at offending people.

I suppose that since I'm not a member of the Catholic community, my opinion doesn't much matter. He's not my spiritual leader, after all. But then why do I care about these things? Maybe it's my upbrining, maybe it's all the history I got in my quest for a literature degree, maybe I just like saying random things like "defenestration of Prague" and "diet of Worms."

Ah where would I be without AP Modern European History?

In a realistic world

2008-04-04T11:44:00.002-04:00

J lately made the observation that if all the insurance companies are going to save us money above the others, then eventually they're going to have to pay us to insure our cars.

From Craig's List

2008-03-30T17:04:00.002-04:00

I loved this and just had to post it here. Having worked at a pizza place, I completely concur...

To Anyone Who Orders Pizza - EVER

Date: 2008-01-22, 12:44PM PST

Having taken pizza orders for delivery for many seasons, I think there are a few things that people should know before they call to order a pizza for delivery.

1. YES WE MAKE A CHEESE PIZZA! No pizza joint in the world would refuse that request. No, you don't have to be embarrassed because you're ordering what a typical 5-year old likes to eat. No, you don't have to say "Do you make a pizza without any topppings? I mean, like, uh, just with cheese-only... and sauce?" Every pizza has cheese on it, unless you're a freakin' vegan, and no one is staying in business by offering dough-and-sauce-only treats. So, yes, no matter what pizza place you call WE MAKE A CHEESE PIZZA. Even if the menu says "The Classic" or "Basic" or whatever, if you say cheese-pizza we know what it is.

2. KNOW YOUR ADDRESS! Don't giggle, you overpaid salaried- MBA reading this during your lunch-hour. YOU are the IDIOT that calls and says "We just moved. It's by the store on the corner." Really? Thank goodness there is only one store on a corner in all of Washington State. For a moment, I thought I might actually have to look on a map to see where you live or verifiy the northeastern part of this town or the west side of the next city. Oh, and when I politely mention that I need an exact address, don't huff and act like I'M the one making things difficult. Find a piece of mail. Look on your lease or morgage papers. Go outside. You DO have an address, contrary to the nameless customer who insisted "they" took his address away (but he's got other problems).

3. NO, I WILL NOT BE THE PERSON WHO DELIVERS YOUR PIZZA. Yes, I know. I'm a girl. You're a boy, maybe even cute. I have a pleasant phone voice, which is why I was hired for this job. I don't care how wild the party is. I don't care that the parental units have left for the weekend. I don't care that you will tip me $20 just to show up. I'm being nice to you because it's my job, not because I'm trying to get a boy-friend. Also, although I'm not in this boat, just beware that not everyone who sounds like a pretty model is. Ever see the movie "Spun" ?

4. WE WON'T ATTEMPT TO DEFY THE LAWS OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD FOR YOU. Grow up, miss "I want it extra-well done - but not burnt!" Really? What the fuck do you mean? Extra-well done by definition IS burned. Would you like it simply well-done with an extra paranoid note to the kitchen not to burn it? No? You specifically want it to be EXTRA well-done and NOT BURNT! The other annoying request is for "one" side of the pizza to be well done, and the other "lightly-baked." Um, sir, you do understand what a pizza is, right? That the whole pie will go in the oven and both sides of the pie will be cooked the same amount? We haven't entered into the Star Trek technology of a half-burned, half-soggy pie yet, but we will certainly send you some coupons when we do. Shall I put down "golden brown" for now? Sound good? You mean like, NORMAL?

5. DO YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN? I think most of you do not. I hope you understand that when you leave your children in the care of a baby-sitter you should make sure that she/he knows the address where the kids live at, god forbid an EMERGENCY happens. Also, knowledge of the household phone-number would be great so that we can actually get ahold of the baby-sitter when we find out that the wrong address we were given will cause us to be a little late. I know. It's a big romantic night out and you haven't been laid in months because you haven't had enough "alone time" together. But write down the address, write down the emergency numbers, write down that your lovey-dovey brat is allergic to mushrooms so that HOPEFULLY those emergency numbers won't have to be used.

6. A REAL ALLERGY? Look, if you a seriously allergic to something, let me know. We will take extra-precaution. But if you simply don't like lots of garlic, just tell me so we don't put extra garlic on the specialty pie - don't tell me you are allergic and then get pissed off when I am reluctant to send you out a pizza that has tomato sauce on it because all of that sauce will have some garlic in it, you fucker. If you're so goddamned allergic, you probably shouldn't be eating that, should you?

7. DIETERS. Just stop it. Pizza is junk-food. Quit saying double-extra cheese and pepperoni and in the same breath say you're on a diet and do we have a thinner, whole-wheat crust? It's not going to work, baby. You're fat. You're going to get fatter. The quickest way to not be fat is to eat LESS and move MORE. So, why don't you take a walk down to where we are, order a green salad with no dressing OR go all out and order some extra sausage on that pie as well, HEAVY on the olive-oil basting.

8. STONERS ARE THE BEST. I love stoners. I didn't fully realize what a wonderful contribution they are to society until I started working here. If YOU, dear surfer-boy stoner showed up here after a long shift, I would marry you. You guys are so grateful for anything because you're soooo hungry. You are just amazed that a delivery kitchen delivers, that a pizza place makes pizza, and that we can even throw pepperoni on that. Half the time, you forget you ordered, so when our delivery guy shows up, it's like getting to actually SEE Santa filling the Christmas stockings. On a budget? I'll send you extra coupons. We should all be more like stoners. Sweet. Dude.

9. PARANOID PRICK. Yes, you rude paranoid prick. Watch out. You're lucky you are insignificant & therfore not worthy of revenge, but I want you to think through this once. IF YOU WERE IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR THE CIA TO BE AFTER YOU, I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN TO ORDER PIZZA. To the rest of the paranoid pricks who aren't as delusional about the government, think through this: you've been extremely rude to me. I, who know your name, phone number, address and credit card number. I could do a lot of damage. I know it. Now YOU know it. So watch it, because the next person you talk to like that might be a Star Wars nerd who turns to the dark-side.

10. LOVERS. True, I don't have a significant other, so one might think this was jealousy writing, but it isn't, I assure you. I know you're in love. I know "schnookims" probably gives great head, or at least a lot of it, or that "sweetie-pie" just bought you some earrings. Great. But do you realize that incessant dribble on the phone is something I'd rather not hear? You sound like idiots. And to the couples that can't wait until after copulation to call - TAKE AN ETTIQUETTE CLASS. It is NOT cool to screw during a phone call. Maybe in the 1950's it was daring, but come on! Not even the mile-high club is that daring anymore.

Will continue to post updates as time goes by....

Original posting here.

Who Knew?

2008-03-26T13:04:00.002-04:00

We were trying to keep our little Popeye awake this afternoon by playing him exciting music. Apparently he finds Rage Against the Machine soothing. He fell asleep almost immediately. The lullabies I played for him later woke him up.

I suppose this should make sense. He also sleeps all day and is alert and ready to play around 2 in the morning.

Thank you for the great comments about him. I never knew I could be as wrapped up in someone as I am with this little guy. It's weird to have your life changed so dramatically, especially since it's been changed by something so very tiny. I thought I knew what I was getting into, but really, I had no idea.

Introducing...

2008-03-10T17:25:00.006-04:00

The son of Kitty and J

We are all now home from the hospital. The little guy is doing well, eating a lot and gaining weight. He's gained over a pound in a week, which is good, since he left the hospital at 4 pounds, 10 ounces.

Now, J and I get to jump into the wonderful world of being parents in DC. We can't wait to go museuming and join in all the fun free things that happen in the area. I'm really excited about being a parent in DC since there is so much more to do for free than anywhere I have ever been.
Though really, right now, we just have to make it through the night with only a minimal amount of crying.

Joy and Sorrow

2008-02-27T15:49:00.002-05:00

Last Monday was one of the longest, strangest, wonderful and saddest days of my life. I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it without writing a book or two. J and I are now home with one of our little guys. It's surprising that he's home with us considering that he was pretty premature, but I feel much better with him around.

This next part, I don't know how to say.

Two babies were born, we heard them both cry as they were taken from the womb. And all too soon, one of them stopped crying. His lungs weren't developed enough because of other problems he'd had in utero and he left us the same day that he came to us. I find myself in a world of opposites, grief and joy, excitement and depression, living and dead. I wonder how others have made it through this, and I wonder if I can do things the right way. I look at my beautiful living son, and I am so grateful for everything that brought him to me. It's a hard feeling to sustain sometimes, but I'm working on it.

Almost...

2008-02-11T17:34:00.000-05:00

We almost had babies today.

There was a doctor in the office who wasn't used to our case and he thought we should go ahead and deliver. Luckily, our regular doctor was up in Labor and Delivery and was able to catch us before it got too far.

We got to go home instead.

The upside is that we do have an appointment for a c-section for next Monday.

Horrible Doctor

2008-02-04T17:25:00.001-05:00

I already didn't like one of the doctors who is working on our case, but I was completely floored when I got an email from her that was clearly meant for the nurse and not me. This doctor has been rude and condescending the whole time we've been going to see her, but I was willing to put up with it because the doctor I trust told us to go to her.

I'm not even sure if she has read my chart. There's something she said in the email that didn't make sense, like she was talking about someone else. And let me tell you, if I were going to write an email like that, I'd make damned sure that it was going to the right person.

All I can say is that her behavior and bed-side manner has actually caused an emotional and stressful time to be even worse. What is wrong with this doctor?

Grief

2008-01-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

J and I got some pretty bad news about one of the twins last week. It looks as though one of them isn't going to make it.

And for the first time in my life, I just don't have words.

I did find these people. And they've been a huge help. But for the moment, I think that I'm going to be quiet for a little bit...

That was a surprise

2008-01-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the soon to be coming twins, I took the car to the fire department last week so they could properly install the car seats. If you know anything about me, you know this was a very good idea. (Especially lately, I managed to pull the curtains down on my head and rip the handle off a dresser drawer all within minutes of each other.)

It was a very interesting experience. When I got there, three firemen were sitting around eating donuts, drinking coffee and shooting the breeze. Two of them continued to do that while a third started to help me fill out paperwork, all of them calling me "hon" and "sweetheart". It seems like everywhere I go lately, I have a ton of paperwork to fill out. One of the firemen was showing off goofy pictures of his 3 year old son and included me in the showing. I just became part of the group.

When another lady came in about 15 minutes later, the three of them became very officious and fireman-y. They started using big words and tried to hide their donuts and coffee. They didn't call her "hon" or anything like that. It was amazing how quickly they changed. It's funny, no matter where I go, if there's a group of men I become one of the guys almost instantly. Even when pregnant. (Maybe that's why I'm having boys.)

We went through the whole rigmarole of how to use the seat properly and where to put the baby...then we went outside to install the car seats. I never realized my car was that small. The fireman told me that I'd have to move the front seats up, which I did, and he wouldn't let me move them back afterward.

He asked me if my husband is tall.

I said, "Well, he's taller than me."

He started nodding and then shook his head, "Yup," he said, "looks like you're gonna have to buy a bigger car."

When a fireman tells you to buy a bigger car, you buy a bigger car. So J and I are in the throes of car research trying to find out which one we should buy. J took the news rather well, actually. He only sighed for about 30 seconds when I told him.

See, the problem is that there has to be a certain amount of space between the front seat and the car seat, otherwise, it's not safe. And J and I have pretty long legs. We drive with the seat as far back as possible. With both car seats in the car, neither of us is going to be able to drive.

At least the babies will be safe!

In a room full of pregnant ladies...

2008-01-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I was in the waiting room for a doctor who specializes in complicated pregnancies. There were about 7 pregnant woman in the waiting room, and no one else. Right in the middle of the room, one of the other waiting patients accidentally dropped a pen on the floor.

All of us stared at it.

And stared at it.

None of us could pick it up, we couldn't bend over! I've never seen anything like it before. I wanted to laugh, but didn't think that anyone else would think it was funny. Finally, a nurse came in, noticed that we were all staring at the floor and picked up the pen.

It's kind of an anti-climactic story, but I thought it was really funny.

Yes, it really is all about paintings

2008-01-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

We've been in our house for almost 2 years now, and just today we started hanging pictures. After so long without things on the wall, it's kind of weird to walk past a room and catch a glimpse of a landscape or painting.

I originally thought the bare walls would drive me crazy, but it turns out that with the right paint color, I really just liked the walls.

Also, since we're planning on being in this house for another 18 years, at least, it's a little scary to put up the pictures. It just feels so permanent. When I was living in apartments before, one of the first things I did was put stuff on the walls. And when I was ready to move again, one of the first things I did was take all my stuff down. Knowing that I'm not leaving for a long time makes me reluctant to permanently place something.

I know what you're going to say.

I've said it to myself.

You're going to tell me that it's my house and I can move the paintings around any time I want to.

And that's the rational way to look at it, way to go, you! But there's a little part of me that knows that once I put these paintings up, they're not coming down for a long time. And that's what makes me reluctant to do it.

Though, I have to say, once I saw all these paintings again, I realized how much I missed them and how comfortable they make me feel...

She's one cool Mom in my book

2008-01-10T18:01:00.001-05:00

I can only hope that I can do as good a job as this woman. She set her limits and she stuck to them.

The article is from msnbc and was sent to me by Aunt New York.

‘Meanest mom’ sells car after finding liquor

Iowa woman shares teen son’s misdeed with the world via newspaper ad

updated 7:52 p.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 9, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa - Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the "meanest mom on the planet."
After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.
The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."
Hambleton has heard from people besides interested buyers since recently placing the ad in The Des Moines Register.
The 48-year-old from Fort Dodge says she has fielded more than 70 telephone calls from emergency room technicians, nurses, school counselors and even a Georgia man who wanted to congratulate her.
"The ad cost a fortune, but you know what? I'm telling people what happened here," Hambleton says. "I'm not just gonna put the car for resale when there's nothing wrong with it, except the driver made a dumb decision.
"It's overwhelming the number of calls I've gotten from people saying 'Thank you, it's nice to see a responsible parent.' So far there are no calls from anyone saying, 'You're really strict. You're real overboard, lady.'"
The only critic is her son, who Hambleton says is "very, very unhappy" with the ad and claims the alcohol was left by a passenger.
Hambleton said she believes her son but has decided mercy isn't the best policy in this case. She says she set two rules when she bought the car at Thanksgiving: No booze, and always keep it locked.
The car has been sold, but Hambleton says she will continue the ad for another week — just for the feedback.

All I want is a damned cookie

2008-01-07T10:14:00.000-05:00

As is typical with a twins pregnancy, I have developed gestational diabetes. Luckily, this means I only have to prick my fingers 4 times a day. (The luckily is that I don't also have to shoot up at the same time.)

I'm having a problem with the meal plan I have to follow. The main thing being that every single meal has at least one serving of meat. And there are 6 meals.

For a former vegetarian who really isn't too fond of meat but has been eating it because she knows that's what's best for her specific pregnancy this is tough. At this point, the smell of flesh emanating from my fridge is grossing me out. I'm not allowed fruit, but I can have a lot of vegetables. But it doesn't matter, I'm still pretty grossed out.

Where I was craving meat before, I'm now gaging at the thought of it.

It's probably just because I have to. You tell me I have to, and frankly, there's some rebellious streak in me that says, "Oh yeah? Watch this, then."

I know, it's all in my head.

The funny thing is that last night I totally cheated and had an icecream sandwich...and my numbers were better than when I'm downing all this meat. I don't get it.

I think I'm just going to hang out here for awhile, watch the world drive by my living room window and contemplate the finer things in life. Like whale song...

Therapist called in sick

2008-01-03T09:36:00.001-05:00

My therapist is sick today, so I don't have a therapy appointment.

This means that you all get to be my therapist today.

Isn't it nice to know what you can do without a degree?

I unintentionally seem to have sent out an email that makes it sound like the baby that was in jeopardy is no longer there. Well, that isn't quite true. The truth is that he's still having problems and will have problems, it's just that the doctor is more optimistic that he won't die 3 days after being born.

That doesn't guarantee anything.

That doesn't guarantee that two months down the road we'll still have two babies. Or that they'll be healthy. Or that we won't constantly be in doctor's offices going from place to place with one sick baby and one healthy one who doesn't want to be at the doctor's office.

So you can see, I'm a bit stressed. I really try not to think about it, but don't think about pink elephants and see how far you get.

Ahhhh, tea

2008-01-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

I'm going to adopt this as my motto of the moment:

Both J and I aren't feeling 100% today. We've both been on the verge of colds for a couple of weeks now and maybe they finally got us. I don't know. What I do know is that the only thing that helped me feel human today was a lovely steaming cup of tea.

It was the best thing that happened to me all day.

We've decided that since I'm on house rest and no longer jumping up and running to the stacks with customers anymore, I should probably take daily walks. I never realized just how active I was at work until I stayed home for a couple weeks! We had our first daily walk this evening.

Yup.

We sure did.

It only took us half an hour to walk around the block.

Um...maybe I need more than once a day walks. Of course, I could argue that the block is actually very big and much larger than your standard block. I could. But what would be the point? I mean, it really shouldn't take half an hour to walk around that block. Even with my extra packages. (Though I'll tell you, those extra packages make it a little painful to walk...)

We'll see. Maybe we can do it faster tomorrow.

Too tired to come up with a good title

2007-12-31T08:51:00.000-05:00

One of the gifts I gave J on Christmas was a Techno robotic dog. This has caused some excitement in our household as the cat is not sure what to make of it. I guess it'll be good practice for him for when the babies come, he's so used to being the center of attention. Whenever Techno gets close to me, the cat gets in between us and demands to be pet. I guess I'm going to have to play with Techno a lot more than I thought I would.

It's New Year's Eve and that means that tomorrow when we all wake up, it'll be a new year. It seems odd to me that something that monumental can change over night. Then again, most monumental change in life is very fast, death, weddings, significant birthdays...

I guess a lot of bloggers are reflecting on the past year and talking about things to come. I don't know if I want to hop on that band wagon. For right now, I'm just living moment to moment. I really enjoyed the aerobics that the babies did in my tummy this morning. I just laid still and was amazed at all the movement going on. It's one of the strangest things I've ever experienced in life. For those of you who have never or will never feel those movements, the best explanation I can give you is: it's like big pockets of gas with minds of their own bumping around in your abdomen. It doesn't hurt and is sometimes surprising.

I'm going to skip those new years and past years reflections. I hope you all have a healthy and happy new year ahead.

Well Now We Know

2007-12-29T09:34:00.000-05:00

This is a road sign in Scotland. J and I think it should be all over the roads in Ireland, personally, but it's good to know that it's out there. And that other people may feel the same way.

I'm feeling a bit lost myself. Probably because I'm a bit pissed off and perturbed at my MIL. What's new, though, huh? And in turn that means that I'm also a bit pissed off and perturbed at her son who again did not do the right thing. So I keep wondering why is it that I'm here, and am I in the right place? Considering that my home is not my home; where I make decisions about my own life, I suppose I am rather lost and in the wrong place. Or maybe I'm just weak and stupid.

There's a reason I never went to the Geography Bee

2007-12-26T14:25:00.000-05:00

I had a lot of fun with this. And I also realized I need to brush up on my geography

This Traveler IQ
challenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog

Parent Class

2007-12-21T10:20:00.000-05:00

We just finished the perfect class for soon to be parents last night. It was called "AH! It's a baby! Now what?" It was good to know that I'm supposed to feel stupid and inadequate at times.

There were so many things in the class that I didn't know, I'm really glad we took it. Like, you're not supposed to put lotion on a newborn baby's hands (so they don't ingest it). I would have been slathering the boys in lotion from head to toe...I think. And baby wipes aren't good to use all the time, that it's better to just use plain old water and a fluffy washcloth. And even cloth diapers aren't good for the environment (thank goodness, because I wasn't planning on using them anyway, not with twins, thank you!). I'm really glad that J signed us up for the class.

I'm also surprised at the amount of people who did not return for the second session of the class. I'm pretty sure that a couple of them didn't because they had the baby between last week and this, but some of them seemed to be uninterested, especially the other couple who were expecting twins. Maybe J and I just haven't read enough about child care, but I found the class to be the best class I've taken since college. I'd highly recommend a class like this to expecting parents.

One of my favorite parts was that we could ask questions and get real answers from an RN. I love books, books are my life, but it's awfully hard to ask questions of a book. Well, you can ask the question, you just won't get the answer.

Snow, snow, snow

2007-12-18T11:11:00.001-05:00

It is finally cold here.

FINALLY!

It makes me sad that our first snowfall wasn't until December. I love snow. I know I'm really in the minority on that one. Hey, can you blame me? I grew up with huge snow drifts and my world was quite often blanketed in white. I love the way that snow softens the world.

That's why I was very excited to find that when we went to Denver this past weekend for my sister's college graduation (Go G!), there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Just perfect for a Kitty like me.

J, on the other hand, didn't like it. I guess that's what you get when you grow up here, an unappreciation for snow.

Now that I'm not working for the next few months under doctor's orders, I wouldn't mind if it snowed all the time.

And the tradition continues...

2007-12-08T16:23:00.000-05:00

Why is it that cleaning the house always produces some kind of argument?

Saturday mornings when I was growing up were turbulent because those were family clean time. And you know what? They still are! (When I can get myself out of bed.) And it's not like you end up with a result no one likes, everyone likes living in a clean house; it's just no one wants to clean it.

On my wishlist for the rest of my life is a once-a-week cleaning service. The kind that comes in, sweeps and mops the floors and cleans the bathrooms, that's all. It's never going to happen, but hey, a girl can dream.

I don't wanna and you can't make me

2007-12-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, so did you ever have mono?

Or did you ever climb three mountains in one day?

Or have you ever stayed awake for 72 hours straight lifting weights?

If you've ever done any of these things, then you might understand just how tired I am. If you haven't, well, I can't help you.

Sadly, my extreme fatigue is pissing off everyone in my life, and there's nothing I can do about it except sleep. The doctor says this is to be expected when you are pregnant with twins. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm a sleepy person to begin with.

So, excuse me if I don't feel like zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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exactly

2007-11-27T19:57:00.001-05:00

and thank you, toothpaste for dinner

If you love someone, why not destroy their house

2007-11-21T17:31:00.001-05:00

Any time that my mother comes to visit me for longer than 48 hours, my sister has to do some kind of damage to Mom's house. Last time it was a pitchfork through the back door because she'd locked her keys in the house and had to get the dog to a vet appointment in 15 minutes. This time, well, it's snowing in Denver and since my mother's gone, the furnace decided not to work.

So my sister has to put a hole in her wall.

Her brand new wall that was part of the huge summer long kitchen renovation.

Mom's supposed to come spend the summer with us to help us with the twins and work and all that. I wonder what my sister will do then...

I see my future and it is scary

2007-11-20T06:02:00.000-05:00

stolen from For Better or For Worse

Sometimes Graffiti is cool

2007-11-14T11:07:00.000-05:00

I admit it. Sometimes I find graffiti poignant. Sometimes it's funny or clever. Sometimes it's heartbreaking.

Sometimes graffiti is the only way people can really express themselves.

But I don't know if I'd like it so much if someone graffitied my property, so I'm just a little hypocritical.

A Blogger J can smile about

2007-11-12T21:20:00.001-05:00

J and I have been spending a lot of time surfing funny blogs together. It helps ease the tension and puts smiles on our faces. Considering that J spends about 90% of his hometime working on the upstairs bathroom, he really enjoyed this graphic (stolen directly from Dorky Dad)

And on very happy news we've gotten the results of our amniocentisis back. There are no genetic abnormalities in the twins and they're BOYS!

Now all we have to do is wait 2 months to see if the kidneys of the ailing twin are okay. We're trying to be optimistic. Thanks for all the positive thoughts zooming our way!

That was the week from Hell

2007-11-08T12:18:00.000-05:00

We survived the last week.

Babies are all doing better, but we still don't know if one of them is ultimately going to survive. Now we have to wait and see.

I'm drained.

Need a doctor, STAT

2007-10-30T19:37:00.001-04:00

I have never felt so helpless in my life.

There's something wrong with one of the babies and we have to wait until Thursday morning before we can really be checked out. So that leaves me time between now and then to try not to get upset or worried or freaked out. I'm pregnant...how successful do you think I'll be at that?

Of course, the doctor told me not to worry, that we'd get this fixed. But that doesn't help when I have over 24 hours to think about this. And look on the internet. Oh, I shouldn't have looked on the internet. I knew it was a bad idea even before I did it, but I must be in for self-torture, because I did it anyway.

I'd like to think of something else, but I feel like I have a big white elephant in the room with me and I'm supposed to ignore it.

I was calm this morning. Perhaps I will be calm again tomorrow morning. I think that I'm allowed a little moment of freaking out, so long as it's moderate (as my mother would say).

Oh man

2007-10-25T11:00:00.001-04:00

My college roommate talked about this Sesame Street sketch all the time. She and her brother were convinced they must have made it up because no one else remembered it...

She says she really remembered it because the people seemed pretty stoned to her.

It's pretty funny that she remembered this one sketch, but when I asked her if she remembered the typewriter man, she had no clue what I was talking about. I guess we all take our own things from Sesame Street.

nu ne nu ne nu

This is just wrong

2007-10-23T02:54:00.001-04:00

It's 2:50 in the morning and I am STARVING.

I am not, let me repeat that, not a midnight snacker. I never have been. It just has never interested me to wake up, eat something and then go back to sleep. I don't know why, apparently the rest of the human race is into this sort of stuff from all the hype it has.

I guess pregnancy changes more things than I realized, because I'm eating a banana and drinking orange juice and wondering where I can find a bagel at this time in the morning. I think I might be out of luck with the bagel, though. I wonder how early Dunkin Donuts opens. Oh, I could really go for a donut...

And...

Who's been sneaking into my bedroom and drawing cartoons of my cat?

Now I really wish I'd moved back to Denver

2007-10-16T11:46:00.000-04:00

I can not even begin to imagine what the air is like in LoDo today. The Rockies are going to the World Series for the first time Ever! I'm very excited about this. I feel like this is my team, you know. I got to vote on the name and their colors (and of course, the colors and the name I voted for won). I remember when the team came to Colorado we were all so excited. I mean, a real major league baseball team! I think a lot of people feel like that.

(Of course we can't forget the Zephyrs (originally the Bears), that minor league team that first got Denver all crazy about baseball. I remember trying to be really cool in 5th grade by taking in the 2 tickets to the upcoming game that my parents had magneted to the fridge. Considering my coolness points were in the negative zone, it didn't help much, but I did manage to impress the boy I was trying to impress. So, they were good for something.)

We were all there for the beginning. That first year was so promising, but then nothing really happened. Then the Avs came in and won the Stanley Cup in their first year in Denver and the Rockies lost a little of their luster. After all, it's hard to compete against a team that inspires it's fans to riot in the streets and start tipped over cars on fire because they're so excited about the win.

The only thing I'm really sad about is that during the World Series, the fans in the stands at Coors Field won't hear the announcer calling out the name "Larrrrrrrrry Wal-ker!!!" in the tradition that was set when Larry first came out in '95. It may sound silly, but when I was one of those fans in the stand, I yelled right along with the announcer, going crazy every time Larry Walker was up to bat. He did come close to the Series with the Rox, but never made it.

Oh what I wouldn't give to be in the Rockpile for that first World Series Game. (Because you're only a true fan if you've been up with the rough and tumble in the Rockpile a few times, drinking beer and yelling at the umps, and perhaps almost being thrown out for a game or two...) Though at $65 a ticket, it's not going to be the true Rockpile for that game.

So I'm hoping that my team, the Colorado Rockies, the one that I've been with since the beginning, even before they were a team or anyone had been drafted, will triumph in the World Series.

But in the end, even if they lose, I'm really just excited that they finally made it.

Scary things

2007-10-11T11:29:00.000-04:00

I'm very upset by my subconscious today. It all has to do with a dream I had in which, not only did I leave the baby home all by itself, but then I accidentally snapped its neck when I picked it up. And there was only one baby, not two.

I'm sure that this is actually a normal pregnancy dream. That doesn't change the fact that I am very disturbed by it.

J seems also to be having a disturbing morning. He's taken this week off from work to finish our upstairs bathroom. From all the loud crashes and loud expletives coming from the second floor, I'm pretty sure he's not having a good time. I've never heard my husband swear so much! Then again, I'm usually not around when he's doing the really hard home improvement jobs. He's a very solitary worker, but sometimes I wish that he would break down and ask for help. I think he'd be a happier penguin. Though, right now, I am not in a position to be able to help him install a pedestal sink. Sadly. Because I would love to help. I always loved helping my parents in their home improvement endeavors.

How did it get to be almost the middle of October? I'm surprised any time someone says the date. In my head I'm still back in August somewhere. Maybe that's because of the crazy weather out here. We've been breaking all the high temperature records this week and people are still heading off to the beach. In October!

And they say there's no such thing as Global Warming.

Just say No to flu shots

2007-10-09T10:16:00.000-04:00

Apparently pregnant women are more susceptible to catching the flu.

Which means that everyone pressures you to get a flu shot.

And maybe, against your better judgment, you go ahead and get one.

Then five days later, when you're still wracked with headaches, achy muscles, stuffy head, and weakness, you think to yourself...why in the world do I always listen to everyone else? I should know better. I should even know better than to listen to my doctors. They don't listen to me, so turn around should be fair play.

Obviously, I'm kind of cranky today. And very anti-flu shot. Well, anti-flu shot for me, I'm sure that for other people it's just fine. I haven't met these people, but I'm sure they're out there.

Where was this when I was in college???

2007-10-04T11:56:00.001-04:00

Banned Books Week

2007-10-03T18:40:00.000-04:00

I am feeling a bit retrospective today. Maybe it's the nap I took when I came home from work, or maybe it was work itself, I don't know. If this were a sit-com, I suppose this is when I'd do a clip show. Except, well, I always hated clip shows. I never understood why they existed.

A teenager asked me what Banned Books Week is all about. I loved her response. She was surprised to find that people still want to ban books. Actually, I'd call her reaction more shocked than surprised. Why would people want to ban books? Aren't we in an open society? she asked me. I had trouble answering her questions. I didn't want to dispel her thinking that banning books was a barbaric act done by people with closed minds. But I also didn't want her to think that the world we live in is completely harmonious either. I'm afraid that I may have helped her come to the wrong conclusion about people who ban books. She seems to think that they are only right-wing conservatives. And this, I'm very sad to say, is not the truth. There are a lot of people who want to ban all kinds of books. The thing that most of these people don't realize is that if you try to ban something, it just makes public interest in it that much more powerful, no matter what it is you're banning. If it's a picture book like And Tango Makes Three or if it's something like The Protocols of Zion, it doesn't matter. People are going to rush to at least look at, if not buy the book if you even propose to ban it.

Now I have to admit, I have no problems with either book, the first being a beautifully done book about 2 real life homosexual penguins in the Central Park Zoo, and the second being a poorly done book about the Jews' and Masons' plan to take over the world. If you have any intelligence whatsoever you will recognize each book for what they really are. I know of at least one person who I am close to who would be very upset by my feelings on one of those books. But I believe that as Americans, we have the right to choose what kinds of books to read, it's all part of that free country thing.

I fully and whole-heartedly stand behind Michael Douglas when he says in The American President: You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. Okay, so maybe it isn't Michael Douglas's personal opinion, but he did get up in front of cameras and say these lines. And I wish that they had been mine. (That's one of those speeches that you think, Dang! Why didn't I write that!)

So what is my point? My point is that we all have to be tolerant, even of those things that make us angry. That's what toleration is about...isn't it?

That's why my knitting is always messed up

2007-09-30T08:38:00.000-04:00

Just can't argue with this

Giants among us

2007-09-28T18:04:00.000-04:00

I was helping a child find a book about crocodiles today. At one point, he and I were standing beside each other and he craned his little neck up to look at me with huge eyes (in case you don't know, I'm 6' tall). He said, "Wow, you are so much taller than me!"

"Yes," I said, and then I added, "I'm a giant."

His eyes got even bigger then he asked, "How do I do that?"

Smiling down at him, I told him, "You eat your spinach."

He thought about that for a little bit and then scrunched up his face, sighed and said, "Alright." He looked a little disgusted, but resigned.

His mother silently thanked me.

The persistance of the 70s

2007-09-28T09:38:00.000-04:00

We had an awesome Teen Coffeehouse at my library the other night, and it's really too bad that none of you were there. I believe the highlight of the evening was Freebird being played on 2 ukuleles. You have not lived until you've watched 2 16 year-old boys pick out this song on really tiny instruments.

Actually, what I thought was really interesting was that all of the 16 year-old instrument players were playing songs mostly from the 70s. We had Stairway to Heaven, Tiny Tim's Tiptoe Through the Tulips, and many more. What I find particularly intriguing is that these were the same kind of "rebellious" songs that musicians played when I was in college (a mere 10-5 years ago). I wonder what these teens would think if I told them that. Especially because I'm such an "old" lady now.

Igudesman and Joo

2007-09-27T08:57:00.001-04:00

These guys are incredible! I wish they'd bring their show to the U.S. Perhaps I will just have to fly to Austria to see them...

Things needing disclaimers

2007-09-21T16:19:00.000-04:00

Okay, so my sister really didn't like my former pregnancy ticker. I know, it was kind of gross, but I liked the little blurbs underneath. To avoid further upsetness, I found a new one. The blurb isn't as cool, but hey, you can't have everything. The only thing is that the new one won't go on my MySpace...I'll have to tweak it I suppose.

I spent the afternoon watching a movie that no pregnant woman who loves her husband should ever ever ever watch. And I mean it. Don't do it. The movie is My Life with Michael Keaton and Nicole Kidman. Basically the plot is a man makes home movies for his unborn child because he's dying of cancer. (Believe me if you haven't seen it, I didn't give anything away there.) There's a way to freak out a pregnant woman. Have her watch a film about a pregnant lady watching her husband die. Ugh. I cried and cried and cried. Forget the violent movies, it's movies like that that need a disclaimer.

Pregnant insomnia

2007-09-18T03:00:00.001-04:00

Well, it's 3:00 in the morning and my errant stomach (among other things) just won't let me sleep. It's making the most interesting noises.

I'm amazed that the street outside our living-room window is so quiet at this time. I guess if I were a commuter into the city, this would be a great time to go to work. There's no one out there driving around, bottlenecking at every opportunity. Though come to think of it, the office would be eerily quiet, I'm sure.

Not that I have an office.

I think it's funny that I'm still experiencing insomnia through this pregnancy. Especially since the other day I was late for work because I spontaneously fell asleep right after taking a shower. I was sitting on the bed getting dressed when the next thing I knew the phone was ringing and it was two hours later. I was still holding the pants I was going to wear.

For the third year in a row we have missed the Takoma Park Folk Festival. We're getting really good at not going to things we'd really like to go to. Really, one day we will actually make it to something if it kills us. We did try to go to the Takoma Park Antique Car Show, they advertised as being there from 4-7. I think we must have gotten the wrong advertisement because when we walked over at 6:05, the cars were all leaving. If we were birds, I suppose we'd starve (not being early birds getting worms and such).

Sunday morning giggle

2007-09-16T07:23:00.000-04:00

This was way too funny at 7:00 this morning...

impatient kitty

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Finally I can tell you...

2007-09-13T09:15:00.000-04:00

The wait is finally over and I can now officially share with all of you that J and I are going to be parents in about 6 months. I'm pregnant with identical twins!

We just hit the three month mark, that "safety" mark when you can announce to the world that you're pregnant. So, here we are. I feel like I should have confetti raining all over the site here, but that would be distracting.

I have to say that we were really excited about being pregnant at first. Then when we found out it was twins, well, J and I were a bit terrified and overwhelmed. Luckily we're now mostly back to excited. I've been talking to other mothers of twins and that has helped me get a grasp on things.

One thing we're not doing right now is discussing names. We decided that it would be better to do that once we know what their gender is (since they're identical, they'll both be one or the other, no mixing and matching for them). J says this should cut down on the arguing. At least then we'd be arguing about 2 names instead of 4. Ah, the pleasures of twins already.

Rain

2007-09-11T10:41:00.000-04:00

It's raining! It's finally raining!

I never thought when I moved out here that I would hear about droughts here any more. But, whoops, I was wrong. We've been in a drought here in Maryland this summer. Now, let me tell you, droughts out here are nothing like they are in Wyoming. We don't have water restrictions or anything like that. What we have is people complaining about having to water their yards and gardens. And, I've noticed, people are a little crankier than usual.

They may not want to admit it, but they need that rain to feel good. I hope I won't be voted off the East Coast for saying that...they love to complain about their rain.

The squirrels are fighting back

2007-09-06T09:40:00.001-04:00

Well, it was bound to happen, and I bet that a lot of fires start this way and we don't even know it. It's the squirrels fighting back. It's just amazing to me that we move into someone's natural habitat and expect that they'll be okay with it and go away quietly. I guess that the hundreds of deer wandering around city streets aren't convincing enough. Now the squirrels are taking things into their own hands and setting fire to trailer parks in California.

More power to them.

Even if they are on a suicide mission.

aphasia without the damage

2007-09-02T09:15:00.001-04:00

I have been plagued by non-wordiness lately.

I just feel like I have nothing to say.

I'm sure that J would disagree with me, but he's not here right now. He's tiling the upstairs bathroom. (Don't get me wrong, I think that's very very important and would rather that he be tiling the bathroom instead of writing on my blog.)

Did you get hit up by the firefighters this week? I did. And since it's for children, I gave them a dollar every time I saw them. How can you resist, firefighters and children? It's a tough combination. The other one that gets me is Toys for Tots with the Marines. I really do wonder how much they raise wandering up and down the street with boots in their hands. If everyone's like me, though, they raise a lot of money!

There are so many charities and good causes in the world it's hard to know what to do.

Cat on a diet

2007-08-29T08:30:00.000-04:00

My cat is driving me nuts.

The vet said he had to lose a pound and that we had to put him on a permanent diet and only feed him twice a day. This is opposed to leaving his food out all the time. So now, he will not leave me alone in the mornings until I've given him his food. He yowls, he whines, he crawls all over me and sinks in his claws. I try to ignore it, hoping that by ignoring him he'll calm down. I try to wait until he's quiet for at least five minutes before I feed him. Nothing works.

It's gotten to the point that he bugs me so much in the morning that he's in my dreams, demanding food.

I used to like our vet.

Used to.

Damn tired

2007-08-14T08:08:00.001-04:00

The vacation was...

interesting

to put it mildly.

I must be getting old...I'm definitely in the grip of someheimer's (that is, of course, instead of alzheimer's). So my husband and his absent-minded-professor father and a girl from Burma who has a tendency to wander were off to Oregon for a week last week. All I can say is that for a control freak, that was almost a form of torture. Not that I don't like my father-in-law or the girl from Burma (because I do, very much), but 8 continuous days of trying to figure out where they'd gotten to now and how-can-we-get-to-the-airport-on-time was a little trying. If you've ever heard the expression "it was like herding cats," then you know what I'm talking about. It was like being in a really bad 80's travel flick...I swear that I saw Chevy Chase in there somewhere.

Of course, that was all my fault for being a control freak in the first place. If I could just learn to roll with the punches then I probably wouldn't be so stressed all the time.

I need a class on how to loosen up, but I don't know that anyone can teach that, really.

It was great to meet more of my husband's family. I really loved meeting them. They were nice and generous and the kind of people you'd want to spend a really long time with. They were also incredible conversationalists, people who you could just talk to and listen to for days and never want for a topic. Oh, I feel like a little girl with my first crush...all fluttery and excited.

Crankmonster

2007-08-02T07:45:00.000-04:00

Okay, okay...so no one wants to take my silly polls. I get it. All I have to say is this:

I'm a little cranky lately, and I have come to the conclusion that there is not enough sleep in the world to fix that. I think that part of it is I haven't had enough time with J on our own to get used to being an "us" again.

We're going to the West Coast for a week on Saturday. I probably will have no internet access, which means that I won't be able to hop on blogger and spill my guts to the world at large.

That's probably a good thing. I don't have many positive things to write at this point, the crankiness has taken over. It's so bad that I almost stood up and slapped a very unreasonable woman at the doctor's office the other day. I'm very glad that the nurse came and got me at that point. I couldn't believe how rude she was being. She was an hour late for her appointment and she was yelling at the office staff that it was their fault that she didn't know the office had moved. It moved a year ago. And when they call you to confirm your appointment, one of the first things they say is that the office has moved. Heck, when you call to make an appointment, they ask you if you knew that. I think she was just an example of someone who has never been wrong in her life. Not once. Not even when she got a B on that quiz in 3rd grade. That B was the teacher's fault, not hers.

I can't stand people like that.

If you mess up, just admit it and move on with life. No one's keeping score, really, so what have you got to lose?

You see how cranky I am? This happened last week and I can't let it go. I kind of wish that I'd gotten to slap her. (Which is totally unlike me.)

I think I need another nap...

On Becoming 30

2007-07-31T08:08:00.001-04:00

I don't know how to explain this. I feel too old to be 30 and I feel far too young to be 30.

But I woke up this morning and I'm now 30 years old. How did this happen? Where did those years go?

I swear I'm only 23. Okay, even that seems too old.

Not that I'm saying 30 is old. It's not. I'm just not ready for it. I don't feel grown up enough. I don't remember becoming an adult, but I suppose it just happened one day. It's still surprising to me that someone let me buy a house.

I guess that today I'm in denial. My mother would say that definitely makes me part of the family.

If you ask me how old I am from now on, don't be too surprised that I will forever be 26.

Souvenirs

2007-07-27T16:13:00.000-04:00

J is home and I am a much calmer person. Isn't it weird how that happens?

I asked him not to bring home statues or masks from his trip, specifically because we have absolutely nowhere to put them. So I was quite surprised yesterday when he showed me his souvenirs from Guinea. Hand carved wooden statues and masks. Lots of them.

Now I have to figure out what in the world to do with them.

Perhaps I should put them away somewhere and rotate them quarterly with the many statues we bought in Greece. Or maybe I should just put them away somewhere.

And I have to admit...I'm a little afraid. He's kept two things that he bought in reserve. For my Birthday and Christmas presents, he says. I can't think of what else they could be, but more statues! (He did buy me a lovely statue as an "I'm Home!" gift, and I do like the statues, I just seriously have no where to put them!)

The longest 18 hours ever

2007-07-25T18:31:00.000-04:00

Between now and noon tomorrow just might vie for the longest period in my life. J is getting on a plane at 10:00 (EDT) this evening to come back home.

Yay!!!!!

My mom will be really glad that he's back because she'll stop getting about 20 phone calls a day from me. I have to admit, I've been lonely. The first couple of days were kind of nice...spread out in the bed, eat whatever I want (like potatoes) and listen to music. But now the house is just too quiet and there's no one to share everything with. There's no one telling me stories about their job while I'm trying to fall asleep and no one's leaving applesauce all over the counter.

Oh wait, those last two are kind of nice...

I've been extremely spacey lately and would like to get my head out of the clouds. I'm sure that my boss would like it, too.

Actually, I had my evaluation yesterday. It was pretty bad (as I said, I've been spacey), but not as bad as I thought it would be. I just have to focus more. Hmmm....what's focus?

Oh, speaking of focus, I have to share this picture of my newest cousin with you all. She was born yesterday! (Okay, let's hear it.... "Awwwwwwww!")

Can you believe that she was almost 10lbs?!? My cousin-in-law sure is brave.

Not a sucker

2007-07-23T09:40:00.000-04:00

I'm so sad.

Why, oh, why did I read the book that quickly?

Scholastic hasn't even opened it's Harry Potter bulletin boards up again and I have already finished.

I just couldn't help it. I couldn't go to sleep last night before I finished the story. I had to know. And so, I didn't go to sleep until about 3 in the morning. Now, that was just plain silly. It's a good thing that I am miraculously off today so I can sleep some more.

I'm interested to see how far my mother has gotten. When I was hitting the mid-point of the book, she was on chapter 6. She's so much better at savoring things than I am. I wish I could have learned how to let something melt on my tongue instead of swallowing it directly. I'm getting a little better as I get older, but I still rush into things headlong.

A lot of the time that gets me in trouble.

You think I would have learned my lesson by now. But I seem to be rather stubborn about how I approach life. Perhaps I watched Auntie Mame a few to many times when I was young and her philosophy penetrated to my bones. "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" I didn't want to be a sucker I suppose.

It's Here!!

2007-07-21T17:39:00.000-04:00

I got my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at 1:32 this afternoon. I've taken a few breaks from reading to try to chat with J in Africa. Sadly, his internet connection is wonky, so all I got was a quick message from him that reassures me that he is alive.

I promise I won't post any spoilers here about the book. Why? Because it would make me so angry to be randomly reading someone's blog and come across some part of the book that I haven't gotten to yet.

I bet that Nielson ratings are very low for today, what with everyone reading instead...

Waiting

2007-07-20T23:39:00.000-04:00

I'm tired of waiting! It's beginning to feel like that's all I do anymore. Wait for the Harry Potter book, wait for J to come home, wait for the laundry to dry in the dryer...

I suppose I'm just cranky.

Hopefully my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will come tomorrow and that will take my mind off of other things. So glad I haven't been reading much of the newspapers lately. Apparently someone on the Baltimore Sun staff included spoilers in their review. (I haven't read it, I just linked to it in case you want to.) That's just not sporting. I don't want to know anything about it until I read it. But I'm probably not in the majority there.

The cat is attacking a particularly ferocious piece of yarn. He's had to kill it several times but it just keeps coming back to life. It must be the phoenix of all yarn scraps. At least someone is finding enjoyment here! Aw, dang it, he made me laugh and now my cranky mood is evaporating...

Argh, I'm a bad employee

2007-07-15T08:13:00.001-04:00

My supervisor came in yesterday on her day off just to give me a little slap on the wrist. Apparently, I'm not doing the great job that I thought I was. This is very disappointing because I've been having such a great time.

Hmmm....maybe that's why I'm not doing a great job.

I'm glad that I was able to finish the day by going out with a long-lost friend. One of my favorite people from high school just happens to live in Virginia Beach. We lost each other for a very long time, but through the magic of MySpace, we've reconnected. I'm really glad we did because the last time I saw her, she was training for a marathon and I was driving past her yelling Monty Python quotes out the car window. That was probably 10 years ago. (I don't yell quotes out car windows anymore.)

We went to an awesome Mexican restaurant in Penn Quarter last night. If you order guacamole they make it right at your table for you! It's so much cooler than Baked Alaska. We were originally going to go to Teaism (my fav) but were a little overwhelmed when a very large troupe of belly dancers swarmed in the door. Only in DC...

News from Africa

2007-07-12T19:27:00.001-04:00

Hooray! J was able to email me this afternoon. I'm so very excited.

It seems that he had to bribe an official in order to leave the airport. I wonder if he'll have to bribe them to leave the country, too. And I'm so excited for him. He has running water!! He was told that he wouldn't have running water except for one hour a day. He's having a great time.

Good, my tummy can calm down now.

Lost motivation

2007-07-11T08:34:00.000-04:00

Okay. So.

J is off to Africa. He's been gone a grand total of 12 hours. So far, nothing has gone wrong, but I haven't left the house yet.

I have a lot of chores to do while J is gone, but absolutely no motivation to do them. I seem to have lost all of my motivation lately. Can you misplace something like that?

Um.

I seem to have nothing good to say today. So, while I'm speechless, you should check out this awesome article in the New York Times. See...Librarians can be cool.

Tummy Aches

2007-07-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

Like a lot of people, I store my stress somewhere in my body. When I was a teenager, I stored it in my head. This meant that I had a headache my entire senior year of high school. Now that I'm older, I store it in my stomach.

My husband is going to a country where he needs to bring his own toilet paper and water.

He's leaving tomorrow.

My stomach hurts.

Why it's too humid in D.C. (a history lesson)

2007-07-06T19:15:00.000-04:00

To create Washington D.C. both Maryland and Virginia were asked to donate land, since at the time they were in the middle of the country. So they did. They donated the land that they didn't want, something that evened out to be a square of swamp.

The swamp was drained and buildings were built only on the Maryland side of this unwanted swamp, leaving the Virginia side for growth. Eventually, Virginia decided that D.C. wasn't going to grow big enough to require their share of the swamp land, so they took it back, this is now Arlington County (if you look on a map, you'll see that D.C. and Arlington County are a square when put together).

Of course, now D.C. would really like to have all that acreage, but that's kind of besides the point.

The point, if you missed it was at the end of the last sentence in the first paragraph.

Swamp.

I live in a drained swamp.

I'm from Wyoming.

There are no swamps in Wyoming.

If there were, no one would ever go near it. There's actually a place in Wyoming where the Great Divide resembles a circle rather than a line...because no water exists in that area. No water exists to flow to one ocean or the other, so the Great Divide goes around it.

I don't like humidity. It's sticky and it makes the air feel ten times hotter. Really, it's like living in clear pea soup.

I don't know about the rest of you, but my lungs are designed to breathe air, not water.

----End of lesson----

Today I miss my friend

2007-07-02T19:32:00.000-04:00

It happens every so often.

I had a great friend almost all through college. He was the best friend I had for 8 years. And then I got all weird and either I fell apart, or I thought he was falling apart. I don't know. (I am very good at getting weird on people.) And I made him go away.

Sometimes I think it was for the best.

Others, well, I just think that I was downright stupid.

It's funny how much I miss him sometimes. It's a palpable ache in the pit of my stomach. When that ache crops up, I feel really embarrassed. Embarrassed that I was such a brat to someone I value a lot. And the really funny thing is that I used to make him promise me that we would be friends for the rest of our lives...

Irony

Anyway, that's what is on my mind this evening as I bask in the beautiful weather we are enjoying. This particular brand of I-can't-believe-it's-not-humid brings up all kinds of ghosts lurking in the back of my mind.

Perhaps I should go weed the yard. Then at least I know I'd be getting rid of the right stuff.

Update on The Table

2007-06-29T22:57:00.000-04:00

It is flat.

And lovely.

And in one piece.

I would show you a picture, but even though we have a digital camera, we're pretty bad about taking pictures. We were almost done with tiling the bathroom floor upstairs when I realized that we should be taking pictures of our renovations. Especially since we're doing them ourselves.

People are still asking me for pictures of the house. I promise, I will get them up here...eventually.

Heaven help us if we ever have children. Ya'll will never know what they look like until they're 18 years old and we finally post their baby pictures!

Late to the game - but loving it anyway

2007-06-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

Okay, my sister (queen of all things cool) showed me something when I was home and I have to say, I'm now hooked.

Have you met Foamy yet? If not, and if you are over 18, and if you actually possess a sense of humor, you must get to know this squirrel. Though, I have to say, my absolute favorite cartoon doesn't have Foamy in it. It's Pilz-E singing about a Kevorkian Scarf. (Go watch it, you'll laugh so hard you might just pee a little. You get there by choosing Kevorkian Scarf from this link. Scroll down a little, it's there.)

Even though I am one of those crazy people who likes Starbucks (only for the Chai, really, which I can do at home for cheaper...) I love the rants that Foamy throws down on the barista.

And really, I'd give Foamy a nickel for his songs, if only I could figure out how to get one through my computer screen.

What's not to love about an angery cream-cheese-and-bagel-lovin' fast-talking squirrel full of Squirrlley Wrath?

Harry Potter and Darfur

2007-06-27T08:07:00.000-04:00

I did not write this, but I feel that I need to pass it on. It's amazing what the Harry Potter Alliance is doing and while I can't figure out a way to have my own house party as they suggest, I can help spread the word.

Be warned, if you haven't read the last few Harry Potter books, there are spoilers in the message.
___________________________________________________________________

How could people have spent so long denying Voldemort's return?

Cedric Diggory, Bertha Jorkins, and Barty Crouch Sr. were murdered. Mad Eye
Moody was kidnapped by a famous Death Eater. Voldemort's most loyal followers escaped from Azkaban, And of course, the two most celebrated figures in the Wizarding World, Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter told them that Voldemort had returned.

But while all the evidence was pointing towards the fact that Dumbledore and Harry were right, people preferred to be lied to then face the truth.

"it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place." (Ootp 94)

They didn't want to think about going back to the "torturing..terror
every where, panic, confusion..." (GoF 527) that used to dominate the last time Voldemort had power. And so they chose not to believe Harry and Dumbledore. They chose to let the media and government lie to them about the truth.

And that's very similar to what so many of us are choosing to do with the genocide in Darfur .

Darfur
For those of you who dont know, Darfur is a region in the Sudan (a country in northeast Africa) that has been facing genocide for over three years. Quick history: the people of Darfur were being abused by the government of Sudan . So a small group of them started to rebel....just a small group.

The Sudanese government responded by basically saying, "well...why should we have to deal with this rebellion or even have to deal with the rights of people in Darfur ? Let's just get rid of them. Let's just exterminate all of them. And let's teach everyone to be afraid of us."

And so they started hiring a militia known as the janjaweed to go into Darfur and systematically burn down every home in every village, leaving nothing behind. The men get systematically killed. The women get systematically raped (and sometimes killed as well). And so do the children. These are people that are ordinary people....who are just being systematically destroyed.

In the course of three years, the world has watched as the Sudanese government and their janjaweed militia have killed over 400,000 innocent people and displaced over 2 million. And this is not just any displacement. This is getting kicked out of their homes and displaced in the middle of the desert.

It's horrible. It's beyond horrible. It's maybe the most horrifying thing that is happening in the world right now.

And it's not like we're talking about something that happened. It's happening right now. It happened today. It happened yesterday. It will happen tomorrow. Innocent children being slaughtered by the hundreds and by the thousands. Women and men tortured, killed, raped, etc. It's happening, and still the world is asleep at the wheel.

Sure some leaders get up and make a few speeches that this is genocide...but they have done virtually nothing to end what should have been ended over 3 years ago. There are practical things that could be done that are not being done. And most of those things don't involve violence. There are ways of pressuring Sudan to stop this genocide. And yet, we have done so little.

And why? Because the leaders in the US and Europe and all over the freakin' world do not feel enough pressure to stop this genocide from their citizens. They don't realize that we care. That we will support them. We can show them our support.

HP Alliance House Parties
We can wake them up the way Harry and Dumbledore's Army woke up the leaders of the Ministry to Voldemort's return. We can wake everyone up from this denial.

And when I say "we" I mean you and I. I mean HARRY POTTER FANS. The media is watching Harry Potter fans this month! They are watching us more than they are watching the children in Darfur who are being massacred. We can speak for them. We can do something. We can make this story huge.

We can do it by taking time out of Harry Potter week when every newspaper in the Western World will be running a story on Harry Potter and throw house parties where we celebrate Harry Potter and actually do practical things that will notify our leaders that we care about this genocide ending. We can do it...every one of us...and we can have thousands of Harry Potter fans do it. Can you imagine? Thousands of Harry Potter fans working to save the lives of tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of innocent people?

Of course, it won't be just our efforts alone....we can't do that....but we CAN make a big impact. A real difference. We can show that evil actions on a wide scale like this will not go unseen and unheard. We can show that we will not turn away from genocide because it's more comfortable to just watch MTV.

We can show all those companies marketing to us that we are more than just mindless consumers...that we actually care about real issues that can affect real people.

We can show that not only do we love the idea of Dumbledore's Army, but that we are the real Dumbledore's Army.

We have the power to do it. We have the power to do something that could help save a lot of innocent people.

And we can do it while celebrating the books that we have known and loved for so long. What better way to send Harry off before Deathly Hallows comes out, than following his lead and waking the world up to fight the Dark Arts? Waking them up with our love and with our creativity!

We are going to send you all the resources that you need to make these house parties happen. Just send Jenn an email to let her know that you'd be interested in throwing one somewhere between July 14 and July 20 at jenn@thehpalliance.org

Let us help our world break out of its denial--away from our fears and towards the truth.

For like Harry and all the students at Hogwarts the time is now to choose between what is right and what is easy. Let us choose what is right. Dumbledore would expect no less--and get moving by organizing a party today.

Now if you can't organize a party, we understand. Just let us know that you're interested and will show you all sorts of ways to get involved. Or simply go to this web site..

Thank you all so much for being who are. Let's work together to do this!

Let me close with this quote:

"'But Dumbledore is gone Harry. Hes gone.'
'He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,' said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
'My dear boy...even Dumbledore cannot return from the---'
'I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand (HBP 648-649).

No, Scrimgeur wouldn't understand. But we do. We understand. Let us stay loyal and fight the Dark Arts in the real world. Let us stand together against the genocide in Darfur .

Please write Jenn today!

Thank you all and may "the Fawkes" be with you,

Andrew Sl

We can (un)screw all night

2007-06-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

My father in-law has brought us a table. A huge dining room table.

It's very lovely.

It's also in three pieces on the living room floor.

We're waiting for wood-filler to dry before it's in less than three pieces. But there's a slight problem. One of the screws won't come out. We turn the screwdriver and turn it and turn it and nothing happens.

My father-in-law has tried all kinds of things. Including hammers.

At this point, I think the consensus to leave the screw where it is and work around it. I'm interested to see what it will look like when it's done. Hopefully it will look like a flat table.

Sometimes, I think I expect too much.

Response...

2007-06-21T20:05:00.000-04:00

I just had a comment that I thought I'd address in today's blog.

Anonymous wrote: "Hello - I'm just curious if you are really from Wyoming. I live in Cheyenne. Enjoyed reading your blog!"

Hello back! Why, yes, I'm from Wyoming. I don't live there anymore, but I grew up in Casper and Cheyenne and I went to college at the University of Wyoming. I loved Laramie a lot and it hurt to move. For many many reasons it hurt to move. But a liberal arts girl like me just couldn't find a job that paid the bills, so I had to go somewhere else.

And now I live in the DC area. It's huge. Basically overwhelming when you first get here, actually. I've been here for about 5 years now and I'm still surprised at how large the city is. In my 7 years in Laramie, I had driven on every single street; I couldn't walk down the sidewalk without stopping to say hi to a friend or acquaintance. Here, if you look someone in the eye when you're walking down the street, they either freak out or ask you for money. I get in trouble that way all the time. I've never randomly run into someone I know (well, there was that one time I ran into someone from Wyoming, but that was kind of a freak accident).

It's really amazing - the difference in politeness and culture just 1700 miles east of Cheyenne. I'm also amazed by the people who assume all kinds of things about me because I'm from Wyoming. They make lame jokes asking me how I like indoor plumbing, or paved roads. They're always surprised to find out I've only been on a ranch once or twice in my life and that I would consider myself a "city" girl. Though the term city seems to be relative.

I'm also very amazed when I meet someone who has no idea that Wyoming is a state. I often wonder about those people. Did they not pay attention in third grade, or what? Am I the only one who got a proper elementary school education?

So, that's the long answer to your question. Yes, I'm from Wyoming. And if you're from Cheyenne, then I'll be we know someone in common. We can play what I like to call "The Wyoming Game." (If you're from Wyoming, you know what I'm talking about... In the rest of the world, it's something like Six Degrees of Separation. In Wyoming, you usually only need about two.) I went to Davis Elementary school, right there on Yellowstone, then off to McCormick Jr. High, and I even got a year in at Central. How about you?

I give! I give! Uncle! Uncle!

2007-06-18T17:43:00.000-04:00

Oh my gosh.

Who knew that people loved their libraries this much?

The library I work at was closed for the last three weeks for re-carpeting. Today was our first day open and WOW! You'd think we were giving away the books for free! ...oh yeah, we kind of are...

I worked only 4 hours, but I'm not sure that my butt saw a seat in that entire time! It was loud it was raucous, it was amazingly wonderful! The lines for the information desk were 6 people deep and everyone waited patiently without complaining. It was almost my idea of heaven.

Now if we could have only had The Rolling Stones playing "You Can't Always Get What You Want" behind the desk, it would have been absolutely perfect...

(if you want to hear the song...this guy does a pretty good version and the download is free...)

Lost Keys

2007-06-14T09:18:00.000-04:00

I have inadvertently lost the keys to a pet sitting client's house. This means that I have torn my own house apart looking for them. I can not believe that I lost them. What in the world was I doing?

Argh. Argh. Argh.

This morning is all about frustration and unreached goals. (Hmm...maybe I'm really just Don Quixote.)

This is my last day of "vacation" before I dive back into work full force. While I love my job, I'm not actually looking forward to going back. Perhaps it is because of the last conversation I had with my supervisor. Apparently, I'm not a team player because I work too much on the big picture, not the small one. Ah well, we all have different perspectives on life. This just reinforces my need to actually go to grad school. Darn it.

Kitty's YouTube pick of the whatever

2007-06-13T08:30:00.000-04:00

This is one of my favorite little gems on YouTube right now...

even my mom liked it (especially the end).

I have to agree with all their choices. But I do wonder, is chewing tobacco really considered a candy?