holy freeking mother of chocolate

EAT THIS! German Chocolate Cake ice cream ICE CREAM!! from frikkin' cheapo private selection. YUM!

oh great

so i added adverts to my blog just for fun. It is content-based. I thought it would show up with stuff like Biking! or Dancing! or mom stuff or something. BUT NO! It is focusing on my Phlem! PHLEEEEEMMMMMMMMMM! That was a one-time thing Google! Come on!!

Happy happy day

I have a new boss and he seems like he will be awesome. He knows a lot of technical stuff about what we do. he seems nice and friendly and not above getting in the lab and messing around with stuff! Everyone was glowing today at work. The mood is good. He won't start for 3 -4 weeks, so it will be interestting to see how the waiting period goes. It will probably be the most hopeful time yet at this job.

Then I found out that my best work buddy, Sharon, is preggers! Yay! only 7 weeks, but good enough, right? She is very excited and happy.

After work, I got to eat luch with a good friend of mine, who is having a wonderful time in her 6 month old relationship. Things are looking bright and hopeful and wonderful and lovey dovey. It makes me so happy to see her so ... comfortable ... in a relationship.

AND Maggie and I got to go for a bike ride today and we made it around the whole neighborhood loop without stopping, even that giant hill that nearly killed me last time! I am pleased to say that my lungs have remained clear and open and that they served me well today.

THEN I found some great cord pants at eddie bauer ON SALE!!! Like, more than half off! Even the TALLS!!! IMPOSSIBLE YOU SAY! NO!! TRUE!!! I ordered 3 pair. I am so happy.

AND the girls are playing together nicely in the basement!

AND my best friend Liz is getting ready to head to Texas to see my other best friend, so all my love and hugs are getting personally delivered to my oh so missed buddy and friend and confidant and best mom ever Cori! (Ok, actually I am pretty jealous that I can't go along with them, but this is the second best option.) I LOVE YOU CORI!!!!

AND it looks like all my hip lady friends who love their Vulvas are going to be able to conglomerate on teh same night for a showing of the Vagian Monologues at VT. (We mde some vagina pops earlier to promote it and to raise money for violence against women. no to PREVENT violence against women, stupid. So buy a vagina pop!)

So all of this totally makes up for not getting to the grocer4y store, right? Sure. We do need some milk though...

OH HAPPY DAY!!! Is it really possbile to have all this good stuff happen in one day? Is the world going to end tomorrow or something??

and to finish off the post, here is some art that M and I did together. I drew the outline, she colored it:

trying to out-funny me

My husband has started this new blog. He is trying to out funny me. I have to admit, I laughed my ass off.... enjoy.

"My new blog: http://kpatrol.blogspot.com KP (Kitchen Patrol)

It's about cleaning the kitchen.

If you have any stories, tips, tricks, pics, links, anecdotes, humor, DISASTERS,
etc, related to cleaning kitchens (in any way), send them my way and I'll post
em, and give you credit if you want it.

Philip has already been promoted because of his submissions.

If you do something particularly heroic and document it via submission, you may
even be granted a medal!"

ug.

My experiment in try to stay awake did not work by the way. I ended up falling back asleep around 7. when c tried to get me up around 8, I kept having dreams that I *was* awke, packing e's lunch. I finally got out of bed around 8:20. Lucky for me darling C gets the kids ready in the morning... Next time I am just going to read until I fall asleep again.

once there was a little snail

The girls came up with this poem a while ago. I really like it. Some days I feel like the little snail.

why am i up so early

yesterday i went fro a bike ride and actually made it up the big hill. Holy cow. before m and I got this tag along thing, i hadn't been biking in about 7 years. so i thought I was doing pretty good on the last few rides. well it turns out those "hills" i posted about previously were more like, um, gentle slopes, rises, dips? not hills. The thing i went up yesterday was a hill. Well, something happened on this hill. I think 7 years of phlegm released from my lungs. I don't know if it was the deep breathing, the cold air, or the near heart attack, but holy cow I coughed up some lugeees after that. Now when I take a breath, it seems to go on twice as long. I hope I am not describing some acute medical condition where my lungs actually ripped open... I hope this is a sign that I just made my body healthier. Anyway, I did think I was going to die for a little while after I got home, but now I am feeling pretty good. Not bad for a ride around the block!

So is this why I am up so early? Did I engage some super power of oxygen getting? Am I so hot burning now that I no longer need sleep? I hope so becaseu I am awake. I am going to experiment with this awake state and see if I can actually get up this early and make it through the ... uh oh I am yawning... make it through the day without an afternoon nap.

Or maybe I will go back to bed. It is warm in there. And snuggly. mmmmmmmmm... fold laundry or snuggle? This is tough...

Lusee and the wheel

I am happy to report that Lusee is running in her wheel. she pretty much ignored it yesterday, but today M and I put it up on the ceiling of her cage and suddenly it seemed interesting. it was a lot of fun to watch her jump onto it and get spun off. She was thouroughly confused for a long time. A few times, she got inside it and would overcorrect for the rocking and would jsut start swinging violently. For a little bit I was afraid she was going to break her neck in the space between the wheel and the support!

She's got it figured out now and it looks like it will be her new favorite place to hang out. she is laying down in it right now and is starting to drift off to sleep. Awwwwwwww! Her little paws are curled up under her face. It is so cute.

Ok, now I understand how people can go on and on about cats and carry cat pictures around in their wallets. I think I really like this little chica and I wold be sad if she got hurt. I also feel compelled to show you pictures.

Hi Craig!

Craig found my blog so now he is reading it. Hi!!

one more frikkin post before I let my scanner cool down

This is my mom. I dont' know how old she was, but I am gussing it was her first year teaching which puts her at about 22. She cut all her hair off when I was three or four, which is freeking me out right now, becaseu *I* cut all *MY* hair off when M was about 3 or 4. Crazy. Maybe it is some kind of genetic disorder, some predisposed way of announcing our reliquished fertility...

new blog

in an effort to keep this blog as innapropriate for kids as possible, I have created a new blog for M--tinyartist.blogspot.com see more animals there

E wanted one too. she is at http://excellentelizabeth.blogspot.com/

camel

ok. so now this blog is actually a collaborative work. I write, M does the art.
I don't know what a camel has to do with amish bread, but here it is.

it is a duck

M was happy to see her art posted, but she wants to make sure that I note that it is NOT a chicken, it is a duck. Obviously. (rolls eyes)

brrrrr

Oh happy day. everyone was in such a great mood. it was actually fun to be there again! Yay

But now I am freezing. I guess I could turn the heat up...

I had this great plan to get a bunch of stuff done today, but the few things I have done took longer than I thought. i went ot petsmart (is that Pet's Mart or Pet Smart, whatever, it isn't zooquatic which screwed me over and didn't make things right and so now after 15 years of buying stuff and defending them, I am shopping at a big box store. GRRRR Jonathan! How could you????) and got a running wheel for lusee and food for her and the fish. Lusee is completely mystified by the wheel and seems to have no interest in actually running in it. At the moment she is sleeping on top of her water bottle-her favorite spot.

well, now she is awake becaseu M came in screaming. She is very excited about the chicken she njust drew. Here it is:



gotta admit, it is a pretty kickin' chicken!

and THEN!! I tried to call Bits and Peices, which sold me an overpriced, BROKEN, peices-missing, rushed before christmas Mah jong set. I ordered it for my mother in law (who is an awesome wonderful person) and IT SUCKED. I gave it to her anyway, just to show her that we got SOMETHING for her and I have been dealing with the stupid customer service ever since. i mean, COME ON! I got a new set off of frikkin EBAY the sketchiest place in the internet, and I paid for it and got it and gave it and gave reviews on it and in the meantimes stupid bits and peices can't even frikkin refund my frikkin MONEY. hell, they can hardly answer the phone. geez. I hate buying stuff that disappoints me. grrr.

so anyway. not is is almost 4 and I have done a total of TWO THINGS. That is NOT productive. I am going to go make the Amish bread soon, which smells gross and fermenty and bubbles and has milk in it and has not been in the fridge ever. if you want some starter, leave me a comment. i have enough to share with three people. i know you all want some rotten milk bread!!!! YUM! SWeriously, though it is supposed to be good and it came from Jean C, so I am willing to give it a try, at least.

ok. I am going to go turn up the heat / stand near the oven.

hey there everybody!

First of all, Lusee appears to not be preggers. boo hoo

Secondly, wine parties are freeking fun. Jess, where were you? But dang, women are LOUD. maybe next time I should open up the ping pong table so we can spread out a bit... good wine, good food (yum chocolate pumkin muffins-YEAH!) and good people made up a fantastic evening. There were some people missing that I really would have loved to see; I hope they felt a little good energy come there way last night....


also. oh crud. i forgot wh.... OH YEAH!! I wore my socks and I DID NOT HAVE TO PEE. It was amazing. they really work! I even found some antique cream bottles in a trash pile that are very pretty. (of course I haven't brought them in from the car yet....)

I am listening to into thin air and everyone is dying. i think it might be adding to my overall stress level. Next I think I will listen to something happy and 6th gradish, such as frindle or ... I can't even think of anything. even kid books are sad (charlottes web, where the red fern grows, island of the blue dolphin.) I really want a fluff peice. Maybe it is time for Bridgett Jones again. Any recommendations?


ok, I am off to the thrift store to take all the swap meet leftovers in....

ocean

I am trying to keep this blog chipper, so I won't bore you with my never-ending complaints about work, BUT> I was having a really tough time on friday. Holy cow. So I was sitting at my desk deep breathing. iiiiiiinnnnnnnnn oooooooouuuuuuutttttt, ffffffffffffffffffff shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ffffffffffffffffffff shhhhhhhhhhhhhh, And my coworker turns to me and says, "was that you? It sounds like the ocean, it's really nice, I feel so relaxed now!" Well, i am glad it worked for him! (I thought the theory was that the deep breathing helped the breather, not observers, but whatever.)

insaniquarium

Hello faithful blog readers--

I am sorry I am not writing more. I am now trying to stay awy from my computer becaseut the is a game that is eating my life and if I stay here very long I will want to play it again. It is called insanaquarium and if you have a few hours to waste, you should look it up. It is incredibly stupid and you will gain no skills. Also, your mouse arm will hurt. it is easy enogh for kids to play but for some reaon I convinced myself that it is challenging.

It did, however, inspire me to clean my real fish tanks and keep my real fish from turning green. However, I don't think my real tanks are at risk for alien invasion. and also, my fish don't poop diamonds....


In other pet news, Lusee the rat MIGHT be pregnant. She had a hot date new years eve with a half blue, half golden dumbo, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that not only is she preggers, but also preggers with some rare recessive-recessive BLUES!!! She has been acing needy lately so signs point to yes. Also, her ankles look a llittle swollen....

love and kisses! goodnight.

knees and other body parts

Ok. It i sjanuary and like 70 degrees outside, so I went and did what most other free people did this afternoon--went to the huckleberry. YEAH! Last month, Maggie and I made the huge purchase of a tag along bike for her, esentially making my bike a tandem. Today was our second ride, and we totally kick ass. It was awesome. Everytime we get to a hil I say PUSH IT MAGGIE PEDAL HARD, and man, does that girl do it! ZOOM! It was great. We probably only went about 4 miles, but that was enough for my poor knee.

What the hell, you may say, why your knee? And to that I say yes, why? It should be my ankle hurting. That is what my medical records would indicate! I have no idea why my knee hurts, but it does,. I tmight have some thing to do with the bellly that I am carrying around... When I bike, my belly is literally laying on my thighs. Frikkin gross. I am rethinking my whole "new years aspirations" thing. Maybe I shoudl try to lose some weight. hmmm... Maybe I should try to exciereiceis excersize exsercise ug excersise every day. that would be nice. I can do that. So far so good. Day 1 - CHECK!

I am going to start taking belly dance clesses again on Wednesdays jsut for the hell of it. Plus I meet now with my troupe on Mondays, so that is two day staken care of right there. only 5 more to consider!

Craig has just interrupted my train of thought with this video: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/202/?src=rss

Now I can't rembmer where I was going, and it sounds like E is home off the bus any way... So watch the video and be entertained....

welcome Dave

My friend Dave asked to see my blog so I gave him the address. I hope he will still let his kids hang out with my kids now that he sees how often I think the word "frikkin". Anyway-Hi Dave.

sappy quote

I was just leafing through a neato catalog full of things I will really like when I am fifty and found this little quote:

The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. -Helen Keller

Ironically, this was painted onto a picture frame.

But anyway, it is a nice quote and very true and kind of fits in with the work I have been doing with Diana in Asheville...

funny childcare ad

I was reading the "local newspaper" (nrvnews.com) and glimpsed this ad for childcare along the side. ha ha. My big B boss keeps suggesting this very arrangement (he wants me to work full time)

finally spent 40% of gift money

today I spent some christmas gift money. I am so proud of myself. I actually did it!

I kind of wanted to get a composter, but that is too big of a decision and since I have a hard time following thorough/remembering things like that, i figured I would just end up with a bucket of garbage in my back yard instead of something usefull like dirt.

So I bought.... wait for it.... wait for it.....

socks. Yes. Socks. And not just any old socks. But two pairs of super high tech mega engineered uber socks for hiking. One pair is for summer hikes and one pair is for winter. These are going to make everything wonderful. Now I won't pant when I go up hill. I won't yell about bong hits when there are squirrell hunters nearby, and I won't forget to take the camera out at the good view points. Also, I will not have to pee during the hike. Yes, these socks promise everythiing! I am so happy that I finally bought magic hiking socks. I have never owned any before and I can hardly wait to go out and use this essential peice of outdoor equipment.

I can't wait to report back on the wonderfullness of these socks!!!

books

Corrie keeps a list of books that she reads. I think that is a good idea, so i am stealing it. I am reading Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose and also Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, while also listening to Into Thin Air by John Krakour. They are all good. I don't have time to read though, just a few pages a day.

Elizabeth is sick. So we all missed life today and watched movies instead. Maggie talked incessently and E and I are ready to be away from her. I hope we will all be feeling good tomorrow so that we can finally start this new year. without strangling each other.

of course

Of course. I didn't buy anything at all. I guess I will wait for a sale....

Resolutions / Aspirations

At the party last night, my wonderful admirable friend Molly set out two cans. Both had burning candles in them. One was labeled "things to let go of" the other was labeled "aspirations for 2008". We were asked to write things on a slip of paper to let go of or to aspire to and then burn them in the appropriate candle.

I didn't let go of anything. This year has been a little different than other years: Close friends moved away, I started a job outside of the home, my daughter has bounced around many different care situations... But there was nothing I could look back on and think "this was a mistake" or "I wish I hadn't done that" Each bad thing has tauht me something new about myself or my frineds or my family. Really the only things I could come up with were letting go of the regret of losing years worth of emails when my computer crashed and the ruination of a beautiful pece of art that maggie did when she was aobut 1 year old. So hey, that is not bad, huh?

Does that make me boring?

I have a million things to be thankful for. And I appreicitate so much. And even the things that I don't really like right now are teaching me so much. So what would my aspirations be?

Again, it was hard to think of. I feel like I am alread in the middle of so many transistions that I have already set aspirations without even thinking about it. I aspire to be the best i can at my job. I aspire to maintatin imporant aspects of my full time motherhood, such as be kind and caring to my kids and provide my family with a clean home and good food. I aspire to maintain contact witht he people I love who are no longer a regular part of my life.

So what did I write down? well, I want to remember to visit the old people in my life more, and ask them to tell me stories. Because old people don't move away. They die. And you don't get another chance to love them and hear them. (When i was young, my mother would bring a tape recorder with us to visit and old friend, Gyspy Gay Boothe, or Granny Boothe. She told stories of the Titanic sinking, the first car she ever saw, all of her husbands and most of her children dying, having no friends left, how people wore their hair, horses, politics of old, and so many other things. She was 102 when she died, which was some time in the late 1990's. So it was interesteing to hear on a personal level and on a historical level. I still have some tapes, though i haven't listened to them in ages.) So i would like to visit and hear and see and love all the old women of my family. I want to hear about their babies and husbands and gardens and clothes. I want to hear the story of ruth ann riding down the grain and losing her shoes with her brother.

And what was the other aspiration? I forgot. Wait! No, I remember. I want to approach each day positively. i want to take a moment each morning to allow some light in, to uplift my spirit and approach the day ready. I refuse to grumble into work. Hopefully an offshoot of this aspiration will be that I am more productive and more fun to be around.

I could have listed a bunch of other things such as:
eat less junk,
excersie every day
never yell at the kids
always be nice to husband
etc.

But I know that I can't keep those promises and I don't want to feel regretful about anything new, so i ddni't make those promises. Hopefully they will just come on thier own.

Well, now I am off to go spend my shiny new $50 gift certificate to bed bath and beyond. I will probalby be too afraid to spoend it all in one chunk and will come home with a $4 kitchen gadget, but it will be fun to daydream anyway. M is coming with me, so it should be a good time!