Those of you who pray

Please keep my father in your prayers/thoughts/meditations/whatever.

He fell Friday afternoon. He stayed home thru the weekend, but seemed to get progressively worse.

To make a long story short (cause I'm effing tired) he has a compound fracture of his L1 vertibra. He'll be in the hospital for at least 3 days and in rehab for "weeks" according to the doctor.

Not the best news for an 85 year old. Keep your fingers crossed.

It's crack!

Those of you familiar with J's incredibly yummy chicken salad can imagine the taste of this... those of you who aren't, GO MAKE THIS. SOOOOOOOOO good.

Chicken salad
In a big bowl, put:

3 large cans chunk chicken (white & dark in water)
12oz diced celery
6oz chopped walnuts (don't skimp!)
oregano (dried)
parsley (dried)
dill (fresh)
tarragon (whole leaves, dried)
celery salt
kosher salt
cracked black pepper
2 tbsp dill pickle juice
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
2 tbsp brown mustard
at least 1 cup mayonnaise (adjust for consistency)

liberally salt and pepper the insides of four de-topped and scooped out green bell peppers, stuff with chicken salad, top with swiss cheese, broil in oven until cheese is bubbly.

Wow. Just, wow. And incredibly filling.

Gotta go run quick bath for kids. G'nite, y'all!

yummmm, pork loin

Patrick made us dinner at his place - one of the best pork loins I've eaten, which is saying something considering how well J cooks.

The entertainment for the evening, now that was something.

I have one thing to say about Napoleon Dynamite: wtf? And yes, the cymbal player at the Prism concert looked just like him.

Robots - now THAT was a trip! Of course, it was an underdog sort of film, so nobody's surprised that I liked it, I'm sure. Besides, it's got Robin Williams! How can you go wrong?

We went to the MagLab open house thing on Saturday - it was amazing, but not as much neat stuff as I was expecting. I was expecting something like a magnet hands-on display like what you'd see at a science museum for the kids. And J & I laughed about this, but it was weird nonetheless: I felt okay when I got there. Started feeling progressively worse. Finally felt so crappy I told J I was done, and we left. As soon as we left, I felt better. We couldn't help but wonder if the high magnetic fields were messing with my funky body chemistry. So, next time we go, I'll see if it happens again. Of course, it'll be hard to test, because I might make something happen psychosomatically... but what the hey.

Am taking the kids into the doctor today for a look-see. Let him listen to their chests, check their ears & throat, that kind of thing. They've been sick for a couple of weeks now, so while I figure it's a virus, he'll know if there's anything bacterial going around or whatnot. {looking at clock} Which means I'd better go hit the shower with Christian.

Some random comments for the day

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

About Cheney, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (R): "If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety."

Remember when Ann Coulter said the voters in Palm Beach County "stupid" and "feeble-minded"? She couldn't vote in the correct district herself! Hello, pot, this is kettle - YOU'RE BLACK.

Bob Cesca made a great point, which I'd like to restate here and add to.

The chances of you being killed by a terrorist attack on US soil is 1 in 88,000.

But you're more likely to die of....

Heart Disease:1-in-5
Cancer: 1-in-7
Stroke: 1-in-23
Accidental Injury: 1-in-36
Motor Vehicle Accident*: 1-in-100
Intentional Self-harm (suicide): 1-in-121
Falling Down: 1-in-246
Assault by Firearm: 1-in-325
Fire or Smoke: 1-in-1,116
Natural Forces (heat, cold, storms, quakes, etc.): 1-in-3,357
Electrocution*: 1-in-5,000
Drowning: 1-in-8,942
Air Travel Accident*: 1-in-20,000
Flood* (included also in Natural Forces above): 1-in-30,000
Legal Execution: 1-in-58,618
Tornado* (included also in Natural Forces above): 1-in-60,000
Lightning Strike (included also in Natural Forces above): 1-in-83,930

The more specific figures are based on 2001, the most recent year for which complete data are available. Other odds, indicated with an asterisk (*) are based on long-term data.
All figures are for U.S. residents.

According to the National Priority Project, using data from Congressional appropriations, the cost of the war in Iraq is currently about $242,029,505,571. (It will be higher by the time I finish typing this entry and click 'post') If we had spent that money in cancer research, motor vehicle safety, firearm safety, increasing healthy eating & excercise to reduce strokes & heart attacks, funding for fire fighters, swimming lessons, mental health support, building basements... we'd have saved more Americans and made the United States safer than what we're doing now.

You want to talk world-wide? You're more likely to die as a child from malnutrition & diarrheal diseases. We could put that money towards improving food production and distribution around the world, and funding medical access programs in third world countries...

*sigh*

woooooo!

There's a special place in heaven for Patrick, who has taken us to the Prism concert for two years in a row now. Or is it three?

I'm going to go all fangirl and write FSU and ask if the amazing marimba player would autograph my program. Then in a few years I can start looking for recordings by him or something.

heading to bed. Sort of. I'm down to 40KB on my harddrive, so I have to delete some things.

I think I'll make sure J takes multivitamins more often...

It's 9pm, and he's been asleep for half an hour or so. Maybe more. The kids are asleep, and I'm seriously contemplating going to bed too. If everybody in this house is asleep before 10pm, the devil better start knitting a sweater, you know?

Valentine's Day tomorrow - I hope it's a good day for everybody out there, whether you have a significant other or not.

AAAAAUUUUUUUUGH

spent all that time downloading the torrent, only to find out it was the wrong movie.

(#*&@(#$&!@(#@(&$#@#($*#(

And I was really in the mood to watch it, too. Have been for weeks now.



I'm going to bed. Hopefully I can leave the weekend's moodiness behind me and start tomorrow fresh.

OOOOOH, we're gaming Wednesday night! I'm so excited. I was thinking back; I'm not sure I've ever been able to finish a game - something always happened. J is DMing, and I can't wait to see how it goes - I think he's going to be really good. And a very close friend, whose reputation I don't want to damage by naming him here, is going to play with us! {SQUEEEEEEEE!}

For my Babu....

I'd just like to thank you
For all of the things you've done
I've been thinkin' about you
I just want to send my love

I send my best to you
That's my message of love
For all the things you did
I can never thank you enough

Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth
Falling off the face of the earth
Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth
Falling off the face of the earth

I just want to tell you
You sure mean a lot to me
It may sound simple
But you are the world to me

It's such a precious thing
The time we share together
I must apologize
For the troubled times

Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth
Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth
Falling off the face of the earth

Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth
Falling off the face of the earth
Feel like I'm falling
Falling off the face of the earth

--- Neil Young, "Falling Off The Face Of The Earth"

late night musings

I was listening to Bush speak a few days ago; they were playing a clip wherein he said "I'm mindful of your civil liberties"

Does that strike anybody else the way it struck me? I wish I could find transcripts of, say, Clinton's speeches, and look for him saying something about civil liberties - the liberal in me bets that he would have said "OUR civil liberties."

I'm probably placing too much importance on this one little word, but it really seems to underscore the whole attitude that Bush seems to have of not being "one of us."

flotsam & jetsam from my brain

I think I use this blog more as a way to create some history for myself than anything else - my memory is so crappy that I have large holes, and while I can't seem to keep up with a journal well yet, I am managing to at least babble here occasionally so as not to lose track of everything...

What is the deal with all the cats lately? I frequently see possums, armadillos, even the occasional racoon roadkill - but in the last week or two I swear I've seen five times as many squished kitties as anything else.

I've introduced Moira to oatmeal toast, buttered & salted and dipped in milk. She's hooked too. {grin}

In an effort to allow my poor husband a good night's sleep, we have tried snore strips for me - which evidently work perfectly. I have to say, it's hard not to spiral down into depression when I think about that - I'm thirty, and I find things that make me more like my mother every day. God help me, you know?

On the bright side, Khang has turned over a new leaf, and I can't wait to go biking with him & his sister & J & Moose - he's biked down to St. Marks & back, which would probably kill J & I, we're so out of shape. Not that J & I can afford bikes right now, unfortunately. Nor a kid trailer, which would be cool. Altho I suddenly have a vague recollection that they rent bicycles down there.. hrm.

Have been working on the family web pages. I love Dreamweaver. iWeb is cool, but somewhat limited, I think. I'm beginning to get the hang of CSS just from looking at them - I should just take a few hours to actually look through a tutorial and I'd probably be set.

Is it cool or what that you can get an RSS feed from the Government Accountability Office for their reports et al?

I was at the concert so I missed the State of the Union address... not that I'm sure I could have stomached it anyway. I've never played a drinking game, but I was thinking about playing the SOTU drinking game at Fanatical Apathy.

Looks like there's a pretty strong storm band heading this way... which is nice in some ways (I love storms) but kinda sucky in others - J took the car today and I've got both kids here at the house; I was hoping to let them play outside some. *sigh*

So, I'm stuck at the house today with the kids and no car. I'd love some company, if any of you are in the mood.

OMFG

I haven't laughed so hard in days! You HAVE TO HEAR THIS.

In a performance that deserves an oscar nomination Keith Olbermann ridicules the Fox News poster child Bill O'Reilly.

Well, it was nice to get out of the house, anyway...

Went with my friend Paddy to see Son Volt last night at Club Down Under. The songs of Son Volt I've heard I've liked, but they sound different live. The recordings I heard have the singer(s)' voice(s) mixed in such a way that you hear the voices more than the instruments - but at the concert the instruments were WAY louder - which made the band sound more like a mix of REM, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and They Might Be Giants. (All of which I like, actually, but on recordings they sound more countryish, which is what I was expecting.) The main problem was that it was SO FUCKING LOUD. (Pardon my swearing, but it was awful.) The #($*@$@( sound guy kept turning up the volume - I wanted to go slap his hand and take over the board! Part of it was where we were sitting - I don't remember ever having been at Club Down Under before, but we were in the cave downstairs. Bad place to hear a band.

The opening act, however, was awesome. Patrick bought her CD - her name is Shannon McNally and I really like her too. (She's not hard to look at, either. {grin} Patrick joked that he's going to become her stalker.)

J was an unbelievable sweetie; he volunteered to stay home & watch the kids since last time he got to go out without me - he even got both of them asleep! And Christian didn't cry himself sick! WOOHOO!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again - lucky, lucky me.

Moira is back at school today after being kinda sick yesterday - I let her get lots of sleep; hopefully that nipped it in the bud.

Now to get busy with the fifty million things on my to-do list. TTFN!