Stolen from Dan (a great writer)

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader   You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Fad Reader
Non-Reader

Yay for Depo!

Soon, no more periods! That'll be nice. The lack of hormonal cycling should make life a little more even for me; we'll see how it goes.

On a totally different note, I got the letter from FSU the other day. The whole "thanks for submitting your application, it's denied" letter. *sigh* Okay, I know nothing is simple, especially nothing worth getting, but goddammit I was hoping THIS at least would be simple right now! ARGH! So going back to school and finishing my 4 year degree will take a little longer to get restarted. Oh, well. When I'm done moving and trying to sell my house before it's foreclosed I'll get back on that.

Back to packing! Two weeks left! Oh, and we have to show the house this Sunday to the people who are taking it. So I wonder, if they change their minds, do we still have to be out by the 15th? I mean, why else would they want to look at it again? They've seen it before, they've seen pictures - they just want to do a walk-through. I got smart-ass with the realtor when she said they wanted to see it again; I said "tell them it looks exactly the same except the carpet is dirty."

What am I doing blabbing in here? Gotta run! Hey, if any of you would like to watch the kids for a little while in the next two weeks, any sort of babysitting would be wonderful. I love them to death, but they're killing me.

Webcomic addiction strikes again

Irregular Webcomic is one of my favorites, because of days like this one.

Where are you?

Just for fun, thought I'd go ahead and put one of these in.

Okay, I'm done with this.

I have a doctor's appt. tomorrow morning. I'm going to discuss with him the pros and cons of ceasing to menstruate, because this is sucking. J & I think we've discovered what the spike of insanity is that happens right around now in my cycle - I'm ovulating. (And my body would like to make it known that we can thank the right ovary this month. Ouch.) That spike of estrogen sends me off the deep end every time. I seem to suffer from excess estrogen (according to the list of symptoms here, anyway) - I'd love to actually have some testing over time to see what my hormone levels actually are.

Gotta get to work. No kids at the moment, yay!

Wheeeeee!

Went and saw Casino Royale tonight. Loved it. (Funnily enough, my friend Patrick evidently went to see the same flick tonight with some buddies - I have no idea if he was in the same theatre or not. heh.) This is my favorite Bond movie, and I've seen them all. I wonder if they'll do more like this? Actually going by the books, that is...

As I start to come home, I start getting a bit sad, thinking that I'm coming home to two screaming kids, and a messy house that we're packing up, etc... having just spent two hours looking at glamour (and violence, yes, but violence in very trendy, expensive places), it's a bit of a mental readjustment for me to come back to reality. And then it hits me - I'm going home to my Vesper Lynd. I married my best friend, and he's there for me when I come home - what more do I want? Bond would give a body part for that.

Not sure what to do with this... have I mentioned this already?

Every time Moira goes potty, and I ask her if she wiped (because she forgets) I get this LOOK, and she says "Don't talk to me."


Is it friday yet? Altho that's a double edged sword - fridays sort of mean I get J home more, but it also means it is that much closer to when we've got to be moved out.

I'm going to finish my champagne. Night, all.

Is it just me, or does Big Bird sound different?

I had read this comic at Somethingpositive.net (not your mother's comic strip) and now I'm wondering, as I sit here at my parents' house and my son watches "Journey to Ernie"... I'm going to go see if Carroll Spinney is still okay. I'm sure if he died there would be a big deal made about it (at least as big as OJ) - come on, this is BIG BIRD!

AHA, mine ears did not deceive me! From Wikipedia: "In recent years Spinney has had to minimize his time performing Big Bird, due to his age. The literally heavy responsibility of performing Big Bird has gone to Matt Vogel, who performs the character in the regular "Journey to Ernie" segment, and to a very limited extent, Rick Lyon."

The world turns, and our time upon this stage is so brief in the grand scheme of things.

Anyway, as soon as I'm done with breakfast, and looking to see if there are any studies at Shands for hormone imbalance type things, I'm going to get to work here at my parents' house. Wish me luck, I'm fighting years of packrat piling.

I must be crazy.

(and you all are going "well, DUH, is this news?")

Our landlord called. There are some people interested in the house that looked at it before we moved in. They need it by Dec 15th, however. So in exchange for us not having to pay the first two weeks in December and our entire security deposit back, we're going to be out by the 15th.

I think it's amazingly nice of her, seeing as how we're breaking our lease to begin with. She really likes us; I chatted with her for over half an hour yesterday. Anyway, so we have less than a month to get out now. I've decided that not everything will probably be sorted, and that's okay. The sorted boxes will be on the outside edges of the storage unit, and the unsorted ones in the middle - I can always sort through it a box at a time in my spare time.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Okay, what was I saying? I wonder what I have to do at FSU now to get the ball rolling... THAT is going to have to wait until the new year, I believe, as between moving and rearranging my parents' house, my plate is more than full for a while. That goes on the back burner. (My stove has about fifty burners right now.)

I really wish my daughter wasn't so fond of Cinderella. The Disney version has really started to get on my nerves lately. Just, bleah, you know?
And before I buy a watch online I'm going to go try some on in stores - the watch I'm wearing right now is evidently VERY small, and even a ladies' digital/analog watch (that rarity beyond measure) is going to be larger.

OH - my friend Khang sent me this link that just BLOWS my mind. I'm seriously, seriously considering trying to get my hands on some of this stuff. Part of me worries about what kind of mental chemistry mess I'd create - since I'm already a bit funky somehow now - but DAMN, could I use some... especially now!

Okay, okay, YES, I'm picky

My wristwatch is getting rusty (wtf?! I thought Timex had lifetime guarantees or something?) so I'm looking for a watch again. This time, I'm not compromising - I know exactly what I want, and what I need, and I'm willing to pay for it (especially if it won't start rusting or pitting after a year or two).

I just can't find it.

You know those men's watches that have everything? You know how hard it is to find a women's version of that? I'm fat, but I'm short and underneath the fat have relatively fine bones - I don't want a huge watch banging around on my wrist.

I need a watch that

keeps time (duh)
has alarms (4 daily alarms and 1 snooze seems common, I could really use that)
a countdown timer (the 24hr one - the ones that only go up to 60 minutes are useless)
preferably has hands (analog)
has a date (day and date a bonus)
is water resistant (I'm a mommy)
indiglo backlight thing useful
is metal (none of these goofy sports watches with rubber bands, I'm done with those.)

if it's got a nice leather band, I could stand that too.


I don't want time zones in 27 cities, a stopwatch, telememo pages, changeable face color plates, or any of that other stuff. Help! I'm going to peruse Froogle tonight while lying in bed, maybe it'll come up with something.

Well, whatever

Damn realtor woman who is going to show the house after Thanksgiving wouldn't really take no for an answer and is probably coming by tomorrow. I worked this weekend. House still looks like a battle zone. Between packing, sorting stuff that's been thrown in boxes through four previous moves (I refuse to move boxes of shit anymore, it's all getting gone through - unless I run out of time, of course. *sigh*) the house looks like hell. It looked like hell before, too. She wants to do a walk-through to see what needs to be done to "market" the house. The carpet will need washing, lady. You'll need to do some paint touch up. What the fuck do you want? So I'm stressing the hell out that the house is not clean. Having just tried to put C to bed, I have now gotten to the "fuck everything" mode and am sitting here in the recliner trying to get the world back into perspective while J works on bedtime for the kids. They both have picked up on my stress level lately (and I have to say, having this woman come by during the week & a half/two weeks that I'm a complete emotional wreck, right before Thanksgiving, while I'm packing up my house - I just want to smack her) and have been increasingly harder to put to bed.

Speaking of stress levels, while J & I were at Publix (Where Shopping Is A Pleasure But Working Sucks) getting stuff for mom & dad, what blast from the past should we run into but our old friend S. She said she found my blog - small world. I forgot to ask her how. She looks a lot happier than the last time we saw her - leaving E-net probably helped; that place would suck the life out of Shirley Temple. I hope the men in her life are treating her better, too. And her mother, that crazy bitch. Anyway, her kids are adorable (I never got to meet her daughter, and her son has grown up) and she lives on the north side, so we'll probably run into her grocery shopping all the time once we move up there. She looks at me like on some level she wouldn't mind if I drowned, and looks at J differently, but I honestly expected that. She always had a thing for J anyway, and I pissed her off. Who knows if we'll do anything but pass in the bakery.

J's mother once again couldn't watch the kids - this time she didn't have previous plans or anything; she thought she'd contracted scabies, and was going to be disinfecting the house and getting it ready for her parents, who are coming next week for Thanksgiving. I'm just going to stop asking her. I remember when her other two grandsons lived in town - even before they were planning on moving far away, she'd take them both for the day, or they'd go to her place for sleep-overs... but she doesn't ever have time for my kids. I don't know if she's just decided she needs to take time for herself or what, but when I'm particularly stressed out and could really use the help I get cranky about it. I never thought when J & I were going to have a child that she was going to spend the most time with MY mother.

I am going to go play a mindless online game and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist for a little while. Hope the rest of you are having fun.

OOOOOOOF

I now understand why they call sheet rock, sheet ROCK.

DAMN that stuff is heavy.

Must...resist....urge...

my wonderful thoughtful caring husband has found yet another incredible resource for me.

I knew you could get podcasts from universities on their classes, there are lots that aren't password protected or anything. I had no idea how MANY. And I know this isn't all of them...

J said "try to keep it to THREE. The rest of them will still be there when you're done."

As I sit here, going absolutely apeshit (I clicked on one, and then went up a folder, and suddenly found myself looking at ALL OF UC BERKELEY'S PODCASTS) J looks up, amusedly concerned, and says "Should I have not given you this gift? And you did take your medicine?"

Okay. So I'm picking three. In order, so as not to get confused.

Geez, and don't even get me started on the "other things people that subscribed to this podcast also listened to" list....

Okay, bouncing off to work! :D

Things I'm doing when I should be packing

Microsoft Word suicide letter wizard? Hey, somebody out there still using Windows, try this out for me.
LED lightbulbs are on clearance!!! But wait... now there's LEC wallpaper????!!! OMG!
A Stonehenge pocketwatch? Cool, hadn't seen that before... maybe can afford it by our anniversary for ya, J
Once again, my husband has found and sent me some of the oddest, and yet incredibly beautiful, artwork. And suggested I try it out. (I guess my combination of anal-retentiveness and oddity would work well with this art form.)
Don't try this. If you get sucked into games like I do, don't try this at all, either. Damn thing can't keep up with my speed.
This is what I'm seriously considering going into politics or public administration to do something about.

AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHH
I quit. I'm going to bed.

I'm tired

I say that a lot, don't I? Well, the sleep study is next week. We'll see if sleep apnea is increasing exhaustion, or if it's just depression.

Altho I know why I'm tired today - I was up until 2:30am doing this:













for Miss Wilma's birthday at school. I left before anybody had a chance to see it, I hope the darn thing didn't fall over before anybody got to eat it...

Dad got his hearing aid this morning, and mom and I are VERY excited - evidently dad said "I think I'll like this." WOOHOO! It'll be SO NICE to be able to have conversations with him again! He'll actually be able to hear what his grandkids say. :) He went into the kitchen because he kept hearing something that sounded like water running - finally figured out it was the refrigerator - he'd never heard it before. heeheeheehee

J is at work for a meeting, and if I don't hear from him in the next 45 minutes I'm under orders to come get him, as he was feeling awful and only went in because he had to. (Honestly, I'm not feeling great either. We're all on antibiotics, hoping not to come down too badly with the raging strep that J got.) I think I have a fever. I wonder if we could talk the kids into taking a nap when we get back from getting J....


Oh, and I can't believe I didn't mention this:

BOOYAH! A giant thank you to everybody who went out and voted. As soon as everybody in the family is well, we're going to throw a party or have drinks or something.

And an idea percolating around in my brain - Bush just said last week that he wasn't replacing either Cheney or Rummy, and now Rummy's gone.... what are the odds that Cheney will go too?

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

WOW I'm tired.

Probably because of J's snoring. He has raging strep (bad enough that when the doc looked at it yesterday, he said "WOW!" and stepped back - said it was the worst case he'd seen, and he'd been seeing quite a few recently.) and I'm desperately trying to keep the kids (and myself) from getting it. His throat is so swollen that he keeps gagging on his uvula. (Ew.) And I'm trying to pack up my house. And clean it, because the landlord is going to start showing it. And cleaning and rearranging my parents' house, so we have someplace to move in to.

Maybe that's why I'm tired.

But I'm still going to go vote! Get yourselves out there, people!

I just had a thought

and as I think it, the hysterical laughter bubbles up inside of me...

Am browsing the news. Can't get away from the latest example of hypocrisy, Ted Haggard, and his gay-prostitute masseuse and meth distributor. Came across this blurb:

"What people may not know is that Ted Haggard is George Bush's spiritual advisor. We do know that Haggard has weekly conference calls with that great exploiter of homophobia, Karl Rove. But Colorado Springs locals say he flies to Washington several Mondays a month to pray with the president."

What if Bush is gay?

Patience in the face of history

After having an impassioned conversation with my dad the other day, I remembered the advice that my husband gave me once when I was weeping and incoherent with rage and frustration over the problems in the world. He said that change happens in very small steps. He told me to be glad that at least now we're talking about the horrible things happening; a hundred years ago most of them would have been simply accepted, if not encouraged.

I have a hard time thinking that long term. As I read headlines now, I find myself wondering what history will say about this time. Will my opinions be vindicated? Will my friend's opinions (he who supports Bush & Cheney *shudder*)? And when all is said and done, will the world have taken another incremental step forward? Will humanity be any better off?

It's things like this that keep me awake at night. Sad, huh? I mean, in addition to the normal things - bills, kids, elderly parents...

I'm now watching Christian who has found a plumbers' wrench and is "working on" pawpaw's chair. I really need to get this kid some take-apart/put-together toys. Or we're going to find our stuff dismantled.

So, things to do and places to be. BTW, Hi, Aunt Robin! I forgot to tell you that you looked really nice today.

God help me

Justin tells me that last night Moira was lying there in bed and said to him "I'm fat." Justin was understandably shocked, and said no, no, you're not fat at all.

She's NOT EVEN FOUR. What the hell????

So I'm now going to be extra special triple careful not to say anything about myself being fat, and I'm going to tell Mom to lay off the "fat old lady" comments.

On the bright side, she just woke up to go potty. Yay! Last battle of potty training, there.

Have you seen this? I laughed so hard - come on, let's head downtown with a clipboard and a hundred dollar bill! People should be doing this all over the country, this is a trip.

And the beat goes on

Chatted with an old lover of mine today... he and his wife are trying poly, and he wanted my advice. I wished them all the best, and gave him some hard-learned lessons that hopefully they won't have to repeat. I still don't hold out much hope for it being a long-term success, though.

Forgot I was supposed to come to my parents' house today - yesterday mom stayed home and day before that I had volunteered long ago to paint faces at my daughters' school so I'd not been here since Monday - so I get this verbal bitch slap voice mail from my mother that pretty much derailed me. I'm recovering, slowly. It's making me question my sanity in deciding to live here. However, dad does need some help (case in point, he didn't quite make it to the bathroom just a little while ago) and we certainly need a chance to recoup some financial losses... there are honestly about as many reasons for as against. *sigh*


And I just remembered I have a conference with M's teacher this afternoon, so I'd better fly. Damn nonexistent personal secretary.