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August 2007
Nothing Like Feeling Like a Total Sloth
My kids are in school and as usual, I'm wasting my day. It's what I do. Without little people to spur me on, I tend to wander aimlessly even if I have a list.
Today, though, I have managed to
- watch two episodes of Season 1 of Heroes
- watch two episodes of Extras (one with Orlando Bloom, another with Danielle Radcliff)
- drink one glass of iced tea
- answer the phone (actually, I didn't answer the house phone the first time, I waited until the person--it turned out to be Husband--called my cell, because that's when I know they need to talk to me)
- check Bloglines. While doing so, I came across this post at Bitter Betty Blogs. SHE knows how to do things with her days. After reading her post I came to this obvious conclusion: I am a total loser still in my pajamas and wondering what I can eat. (It's 12:15 where I am.) Thanks, Betty. Now I'M bitter.
It's Almost September So It's Not Too Early Too Think About Halloween
Guess what I received in the mailbox yesterday? THIS:
That would be MAKE's Special Edition for Halloween. Oh my word. The ideas. The costumes. The instructions. Things with motors, y'all. A relay board that lets your computer handle all the lights and noises so you are free to scare the beejeebus out of unsuspecting tweens that are too old to ask for candy. Flying ghosts that are motion-activated.
I must have a haunted cemetery this year.
Oh the ideas are brewing and I'm not sure I'll be able to contain myself!
The Money Tree
Kitchen renovation: A lot. But we planned for it and paid for it. We love it.
Lawn mower: I have no idea. I wonder if we can get through the next six weeks without mowing? Will the weed eater do a good enough job? I mean, it's essentially the same thing, but smaller. Like the Dirt Devil to a Dyson. Right? Our yard is small...
Dryer: About $800. But then we should maybe get the washer too so it all matches, because, you know, that's important to some people. Me? I couldn't care less. Husband? Likes the matchy-match. I'd almost rather hang dry on a clothesline if it saves us money at this point. Actually, who needs clean clothes? Highly overrated.
THE KICKER 90,000-mile check up for Honda Odyssey: $375. Except Husband already GOT the check-up (at a different mechanic) and I got it again. Let's hear it for marital communication! Then the check-up revealed another $450 of repairs (something about engine mounts being cracked). Then the problem still wasn't solved. The result: no transmission. Now we're looking at new cars.
Jimminy Christmas, people. THIS is why I'm in the fetal position watching disc 2 of Pride and Prejudice
Caption This #5
Before:
After:
Before and after what?
If you would like to post your own pictures for readers to caption, leave your link below and remember to link back to this post!
Typepad Pro Question
Does anyone know what they're doing in a Typepad Pro account? I'm no HTML dummy, but this CSS is kicking my butt. I want to add some things and I'm not having any luck. In particular, I'm interested in adding the sk*rt button and a Do-Follow thingy. Leave me a comment if you think you might be able to help. I'm oh-so-appreciative. It will save me from tearing my hair out. Thanks!
Iowa: The Farm
When I was a child I would spend a week each summer with my grandparents on their farm in Iowa. The town they live in is very small and mostly populated with retired farmers now.
I have seven aunts and uncles and almost 20 cousins on one side of my family. Many of them lived in Iowa while I was growing up, so during those summer visits I spent very little time alone and a lot of time running through cornfields and riding Grandpa’s moped or lawn mower with my cousins. I also enjoyed the immense freedom afforded to those lucky enough to live in the country.
It wasn’t uncommon to wake up, eat breakfast, then run outside to play with my eleventy-two cousins without a grown-up in sight. We would walk to our great-grandparents’ house just down the lane and play on the merry-go-round that had been built when my grandpa was a boy. Sometimes we just played on the swing set at the farm where my dad grew up. There was a huge cherry tree hanging over it and we could climb the slide ladder (the slide was long gone) and pick cherries. Once we had a handful of cherries we asked Grandma to bake us a pie.
One year we decided to take the moped out to the field behind the farm house and take turns riding it through one of the fields. At one point I hit a pothole and flipped the moped. I fell off and as I looked up I saw my cousin sailing over my head like Superman. No one was hurt, but the moped was definitely wrecked. My grandpa was annoyed only because we’d have to take the moped to Ames to be fixed, but never said anything. My grandma simply said, “I’m just glad no one was hurt.” They’d raised so many kids over the years my wreck was just a blip. In fact, when I mentioned it about 20 years later, they didn’t even remember it.
When we visited The Farm this summer, not much had changed. Grandpa has a golf cart and two mowers now. The grandkids and great-grandkids ride them all wherever they please. And they still break them and Grandpa fixes them. Grandma and Grandpa don’t mind though. It just means people are still out at the farm and that’s what really matters to them.
I really wish we could be there more too.
And Then There Was One
Libraries have always held a special place in my heart. The idea that I can walk into a library and see more books than I could ever possibly read makes my heart flutter. I realize it could easily have the opposite effect on someone and make them have a heart attack, but I am content to know that books are available at all times on all subjects for all people.
In college I loved the smell of our campus library. When I opened the door and stepped through, the familiar smell of very old books (is that mildew?) welcomed me. I knew where the art books were located, where the technical writing books resided, and where to find back issues of Scientific American (research papers for the tech writing degree; no, it's not as bad as it sounds).
My favorite spot in the campus library, though, was the top floor near the windows that overlooked the campus green. The prime spots were the worn, flat chairs positioned right in front of the windows. If I was lucky enough to find an unoccupied chair, I could sit in front of those windows and read or daydream or just watch people walking to class. If I was not so lucky, I would try to find a spot at a nearby table where I could envy the people sitting in the worn, flat chairs. Then quietly sneak into their chair when they left to find a new book. Just kidding. Sort of.
During finals week of my sophomore year, I stumbled to the top floor of the library in a sleep-deprived state to study a little before my next exam. No chairs were available and all the tables the were filled with other students doing last-minute studying. I found a single chair at a crowded table and spread my notes out as much as I could.
I'm not really sure what happened next. I'm a life-long insomniac, but this string of all-nighters was finally getting to me. I must have fallen asleep at some point, but I only assume that because I woke up suddenly at some point too.
The thing is, when I sat down (and presumably went to sleep) the table was full. When I woke up (after how long, I'll never know), the table was completely empty.
Here's the part that has haunted me all these years: the table was empty, yes, but all the people that had been at the table were not gone. They had simply moved away. All the other tables were still crowded, but mine was now empty. No one was sitting at the only empty table on the best floor of the library except for me.
I ask you: What did I do while I was sleeping that would make an entire table of people dissipate?
Maybe I was moaning. The tendency to moan during "twilight" sleep runs in my family. You know what I'm talking about, right? When you're almost asleep, but not quite, and your vocal cords completely relax and you, well, moan a little.
Or maybe I was drooling and slurping.
Or, and I really hope this wasn't the case, maybe I passed gas. It would not be the first time I have awakened myself by such method. Usually publicly.
You'd think I'd learn not to sleep in public places at some point.
Eat THAT Shalee
To all of you who say I look younger without the Groucho glasses. I count that as being carded. I love you.
Eat
THAT
(And I say that will full love, because that girl looks YOUNG! And because she can totally take a joke.)
My banner artwork is by Larry Jones. His work is copyrighted and for use by permission only. He has no idea how grateful I am to have my juggling girl. I love her.
