searching for info...

Okay, a loooong time ago in another lifetime, I was reading a webcomic. It was about a girl who had left her city, and somehow the city had disappeared - it was like the city was a legend to the people outside it. Anyway, she's walking through the forest trying to find her way home, and hooks up with a hunter of some sort that she runs across - I can't remember much more, but I wanted to know if the artist continued the story, and for the life of me I can't find the damn thing. Anybody have any help to offer?

Is it friday yet?

I am at the moment enjoying a much needed mental vacation. My mom offered to watch the kids (bless her) and I'm at a local coffee shop taking a break from reality.

I'm in that emotional slump where I've lost the ability to enjoy being a parent temporarily. It's probably because J & I have been running non-stop lately; neither one of us has gotten our alone time in two weeks or so, I think. Anyway, I sit here at a coffee shop... some weirdo in the corner just answered his phone and is talking to "Pastor Nick" and asking "so did he pray about it?" You know, I've been having a real crisis of faith lately - I do think there is something, some creator type thing or somesuch, but to be honest Christianity isn't really appealing to me right now. Maybe I'm just turned off by the followers rather than the religion.

Our landlord called this afternoon - they're selling the house we're renting from them. They're giving us first dibs on it (which is really nice of them) and will take five grand off either the closing costs or the appraisal value, whichever we prefer, and they'll be credit references for us - but they'd like to have it done in the next 60-90 days max, and while our lease is up in February and we're allowed to stay until then, if we're not the ones who buy the house, there's no guarantee the next owner will rent it to us. So we get to either buy a house or move in February - neither of which I was prepared for. I wonder how much it will appraise for?

Gotta run... reality beckons insistently. I think I'll use my gift card to buy myself a new book. I blew through the new Harry Potter already (who the heck is MAB? ARGH! I hate having to wait to find out what happens! It's the only downside to reading so quickly - the books are over so fast!) and I could use an entertaining read. Maybe I'll go re-read Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

I know I go overboard.

I don't know if it's the borderline personality disorder, or if it's my desire for the romantic, elegant, victorian, etc. side of life... nine times out of ten, I could care less if my shoes match my purse; I dress for comfort and utility, not for style... I don't wear makeup.... I do something with my hair maybe once every 4 months or so... and the only jewelry I've worn in the last year or more (with a couple of special occasion exceptions) has been my wedding ring. I hate being hot, but when it's not this time of year I like to be outdoors, getting my hands into things... I miss being in good enough shape to climb trees (gotta work on that), and I miss having a garden.

That being said - there's the frilly, girl side of me that rears its head every now and then. The part that looks at costumes in period movies and wistfully thinks of silks and brocades and elaborate embroidery and gold and jewels and occasions to dress up for... the side that likes to make edible works of art (I miss decorating cakes, and I love watching those pastry competitions on Food Network).... the side that wants to throw elaborate parties with champagne fountains and twenty different kinds of hors d'oeuvres, seven courses, and for dessert chocolate fountains with myriad things for the guests to dip in them.

So what's my point in all this, you ask?

We're throwing a party tomorrow. Only 20 people are coming (and that includes all the kids) and it's only friends and family. It's my son's first birthday party. The theme? Miniatures. (He's tiny and adorable. So it's girly; sue me.) Here's the menu:
mini corndogs
mini tacos
mini pizzas
mini cupcakes (I'm planning on decorating them with letters that spell out a birthday message; one letter per cupcake)
mini waffles with J's homemade chicken salad (you have not LIVED until you've had his chicken salad)
mini quiches
mini vegetables to dip (baby carrots, broccoli & cauliflower heads cut into small florets)
teddy grahams
mini pineapple upside down cakes (Uncle Mike is making these, and I cannot WAIT, it's been so long since I've had pineapple upside down cake!)
mini eclairs
mini ice cream bites (vanilla dipped in chocolate, chocolate dipped in chocolate, and vanilla dipped in Drumstick coating)
mini oreos
mini nutter butters
mini brussels & mini milanos (Pepperidge Farm, *drool*)
I found coke & sprite bottles that are almost half the size of the regular plastic bottles (so cute!)
I'm also doing something with jello, but I've not decided what.


Am I silly, or what? We have almost 100 mini cupcakes.
I was going to do mini hamburgers - like Krystal or White Castle - and slice up cherry tomatoes and pearl onions and quarter american cheese slices to put on plates next to them. That would have been so cute! But I'm trying to not go overboard. I'm really trying. I managed to talk myself out of making mini flowerpot cupcakes (make regular size cupcakes, put enough icing on top to make it sticky, cover sticky icing with blended up oreos, stick a lollypop in it, cut petals & leaves out of sticks of gum or fruit roll-ups and stick to lollypop & stick, and stick the head of a gummy worm out of the 'dirt' - and voila, mini edible flowerpots) because I just knew that was nuts. (Maybe for one of Moira's parties when she's older.) I kept hoping we'd find those champagne grapes (they are DELICIOUS, and so cute!) but I don't believe they're in season yet.

And if it rains tomorrow, then the whole play outside thing is shot - the inflatable jump-in thing Megan lent me, the kiddie pool, the tigger sprinkler and the slip 'n slide - but you know, come to think of it, if the kids are going to be playing in the water anyway, if it's raining it doesn't really matter... but if it's anything like the storm we had today, the lightning makes it a no-go.

Okay, time to get off my butt and go clean the kitchen (now that we've wrecked it with dinner and party food prep)

ARGH

Drives

Me

Crazy


I've gotta start locking my door.

So dad calls; we're napping so we don't answer the phone. We get up, and I call dad back. No answer. No answer on cell. No answer at home. I hope he's not trying to work outside in this heat! So I head for the utility room, where my bras are hanging up drying after doing laundry - and there he is, sitting on the love seat. I'm glad I saw him before I got too far into the room, as I was naked. *sigh*

Getting dressed now. Just had to vent. Thanks for listening.

where there's a will, there's a way...

I missed both Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Says You this past weekend... the first I can listen to online, but the second I can only listen to at audible.com if I pay for it.

However, I discovered a california radio station that plays it Tuesday nights (tonight!) that has an online simulcast! WOOHOO!

I'm SO glad J is coming home tonight. It's actually not been as hard as I thought it might be - of course, I've had company and help.

Stick me with a fork, I'm done.

Hopefully I just sweated off a pound or so - a couple of biiiiiiig pine branches laden with muscadine vines came down on my parents' doorstep during the hurricane, and I've just spent several hours cutting stuff up and stacking it at the curb. It was kinda nice to do some physical labour. I just wish the insect world weren't out to get me today. Between the weird ant-bee thing that bit me on the way to my counselor's appt. to whatever the heck it was that stung me on the finger at my parents' house to the ants that covered the pine branches and mosquitos...

I wish I could figure out what the heck that thing was that bit/stung me. It was freaky looking.

Dang! I gotta go print & mail the invites!!!

WOW

I knew my daughter was gorgeous, but... wow.





I've ALWAYS wanted one of these dresses. I should have bought one back in the day when I was skinny enough to wear it.

Well, I'm not dead yet!

Note to self:

do not put just-boiled-in-the-microwave water and Better Than Bullion goop into a plastic container, put the lid on, and then shake vigorously.

Especially while unclothed.

The resulting explosion coated my front with boiling chicken broth.

I'm fine now. Please continue to laugh amongst yourselves. Yes, I learned the "don't fry bacon naked" rule the hard way too.


In other news... mom-in-law is back from China (yay!), my sweetie left this morning for San Diego (wah!) and I'm a single mother for a few days. Hurricane Dennis looks like it's going to miss us to the left; we'll see how much wind we end up getting this far out. Unless it slows down dramatically, it looks like it won't interfere with J's flight home on Tuesday.

I have to say, I was relieved to hear from him when he landed in Houston - the recent fun in London made me worry a lot more than I usually do. I'm waiting for the phone to ring again to tell me he's in California safely.

As soon as Moira wakes up completely (Christian is messing with her right now) I'm hoping we can go play with cousins et al. Logan & Mike are selling their house and buying another one... I can't wait to see it. More room!

Okay, going to hit the shower. Hey, any of you want to come visit & keep me company in the next few days, PLEASE feel free. I've got cards & games galore, and would love to see you.

I'm a what?

stolen from ClicheMonster who stole it himself.

A cywydd llosgyrnog; I'm one. "A what?" Well, quite. There'd be no fun In being understood; I Thrive upon obliquity. Don't comprehend or follow me, For mystery's my ally. What Poetry Form Are You? (If I were not a Cywydd Llosgyrnog I would be a Haiku.)

Yesterday was bizarre. Or was it the day before? I wish I had a housewide computer (like the one on the enterprise) to keep track of days for me. Had dreams the night before about my first husband; we were having a gigantic fight, and he had dumped me and I was suicidal. It's been a long time since I've been suicidal, but the dream brought back the feeling so exactly that when I woke up I was a little discombobulated. When you're that depressed it's almost physical, you can FEEL the despair running along your nerves like a shiver. We're turning thirty this year... J & I were talking last night about how glad we are that we're past a lot of our callow youthful stupidity and immaturity - I was telling him that I don't feel like I'm 30; I don't know that I'm all THAT much more responsible and less immature than I was say, 5 years ago or more. He pointed out lots of things, saying he thought I was much more mature than I had been, and wasn't I glad I wasn't in the same place I was back then, mentally and emotionally? In spades. I think we complement each other pretty well.

Uncle Patrick came over for a bit last night - I'm so glad we're living in town again. As much as I liked the place in Monticello, moving here was worth the extra rent if he'll drop by more often. He didn't stay long enough for us to break out the cards, unfortunately, but we had fun just chatting. I worry about him sometimes; I keep thinking I'm going to get an SOS in a bottle from his liver asking for rescue.

M's speech therapist came this morning - I really like Renee. After the evaluation today, it looks like Moira is only behind in a few of her sounds; not bad at all. It's nice that she's getting this one-on-one work; I wish we could afford to hire teachers like in the old days.... I think I'll try to work that into the budget.

Hrm. Power outage. I love having a laptop. However, the ups will only work for so long, so my net connection will drop any minute now. *sigh* And just when I'd gotten the kids down for a nap, too.

That's okay; god knows I have enough stuff to do OFF line - like clean my house, or finish sorting through my fifty million digital pictures in iPhoto, or working on my website, or doing laundry...

Any excuse for a get together!

Saturday, July 16th we're throwing a party. Christian turns one on the 18th, so it's sort-of a birthday party, but it's more just an excuse to get everybody together to eat and let the kids play in the backyard. I got a slip & slide! Adults aren't supposed to use it, and if I tried I'd probably burst a breast, but it'll be fun to watch the kids do it. I remember loving slip & slides as a kid. Kiddie pool, sprinkler, Aunt Megan is bringing one of those inflatable bouncy things... and I think I'm going with a miniature theme! I love miniature things. And my son is pretty petite, so it fits. *grin* So, if you wanna come hang out with us and our crazy family, let me know! I'll send you an invite with directions.

Random conversation

I rarely have less than at least five things on my mind. If you were hanging out with me right now (and why aren't you?) here are some of the things we might be chatting about.

I recently decided to stop shopping at Wal-Mart. For a great explanation as to why, read this. I've decided that the convenience isn't worth the long-term costs. I'm going to try to read Always Low Prices on a regular basis, as it seems pretty fair - includes news both flattering and not so.

I heard on the news today that Sandra Day O'Connor is retiring from the Supreme Court. *sigh* Rhenquist was given 6 months to live, 9 months ago... so I'm assuming President Bush is going to be able to put two Supreme Court Justices into place. I wish I had faith that the people he picks would be good justices, but I really just don't.

I've been sick for a week now... sore throat that comes & goes, chest congestion, some sinus congestion, and a low-grade fever I just can't shake. I'm at 99.something right now. I would just suck it up and go to the doctor so he could make sure it's not bronchitis, but until the COBRA people finish processing our paperwork, according to the system we don't have insurance and will have to pay out of pocket, and then wait for a reimbursment. I swear, if I'm ever wealthy, I'm going to have a separate investment account/savings account for medical expenses, and I'm not ever going to give another insurance company a dime. I'll pay the doctors in cash.

Moira has a split uvula, which is evidently in the same diagnostic category as cleft palate - of course, not nearly as serious. The speech therapist (who has managed to see Moira once so far) thinks that this might be interfering with Moira's soft-palate, which is supposed to close off her nasal passages when she says K, amongst other things - which might be part of why Moira doesn't say K. The ENT says that short of sticking a scope down her nose (which would be pretty traumatic) there's no way to be sure; to go ahead with the speech therapist's diagnosis - because even if that is the problem, they'd not be able to do anything about it until she was 4 or 5, and then she'd have to go to Shands or somesuch - nobody here in town handles naso-pharengeal insufficiency (at least I think that's what he called it). But it looks like due to her evaluation, Moira will be able to attend Nana's school for free! That'll be amazingly cool. She'll have peers to play with daily, daddy can take her to school in the morning, I'll have time alone with Christian (and to myself when he's napping), and Nana is there!

Having visited Premier with my friend Diane, I'm looking forward to joining - provided, of course, somebody joins with me. AHEM. I've got about 5 months to lose some weight and tone my arms - it's a sleeveless dress. (top 8087, bottom 8090, color apple) And Erin's dress, btw, is absolutely stunning! She has great taste.

Too tired to keep writing. Besides, I have laundry to do.