The Last Straw

Picture me as Yosemite Sam, so mad that my feet lift up off the ground and my hat comes off and floats above my head while steam comes out of my ears.

It's the garbage collectors again. They are my (what's the plural form?) nemesis.

For Christmas, my parents got me a nice big trash bin with a handle and wheels. I can easily roll it out to the curb and back, even when it's full. Our old bin had no wheels, and the handles on the sides that were hard for me to reach because I have short arms, and impossible now because my belly's in the way. If it was full, I had to drag it to the curb which made an awful racket and drew attention to me, which I didn't like, especially because I usually take out the trash in my housepants and hair all disheveled. Anyway, as you know if you read this much, our garbage collectors have a habit of hurling the empty bin in the general direction of the address they got it from, and it often lands in the street or the yard or the driveway . They never, ever place it gently back on the curb where they got it. And today, they broke the handle off my new rolling bin. It cannot be fixed. I am so mad. This means war. How I will wage war on the trash men, I do not know, but I will find a way.

While I'm at it, I might as well wage war on the insurance industry too, but that's another blog...

Some Good News for Visitors from the North

Winter blast is ending...predicted high temp for Thursday is 62.

Sadly, my nice daffodils have hung their heads low. I doubt if they'll recover. There is still some hope for the tulips though.

It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times...

WARNING: This blog will be very long and contain some negativity. But, there will be some happy news, too.

Well, yesterday started off pretty good, because I had lunch in a biergarten with Kev. It was a lovely day, about 75 degrees and sunny. But yesterday turned bad when Kevin's car got smashed. He is OK, but his car is in pretty sad shape. Apparently, as Kev was backing out of his parking space at work, a guy of questionable character in a truck came barrelling around the corner and hit Kev hard enough to spin his car around. Needless to say, Kev is really mad, and sad as well because he loves his car. It is hard for me to relate, because I have no emotional attachment to my car at all. It is just a big blue machine that gets me from point A to point B. But I think Kev is experiencing something similar to grief at the thought that his car may be totalled. And all of this couldn't have come at a worse time, with all the baby expenses and the possibilty of adding a room on to the house. Anyway, I know it could be worse. I am very glad Kev is not hurt, and that me and the Peanut weren't in the car. But it still sucks.

I am going to start an organization if anyone wants to join. It is called P.L.A.I.D. (Pregnant Ladies Against Idiotic Drivers). You certainly don't have to be pregnant or even a lady to join. I just thought it made a nice anagram (is that the right word?). Plus, there are all kinds of potential possibilities for groovy promotional items, including, but not limited to promotional P.L.A.I.D. kilts and promotional P.L.A.I.D. housepants. I have no tolerance for these terrible selfish drivers who speed through parking lots or talk on cell phones or do the crossword or put on makeup or whatever distracting and dangerous thing they are doing. I encourage all of you to be mindful when you are behind the wheel, as you are basically operating a weapon. And you must also be mindful of the others around you who are NOT being mindful, because you never know when you might get plowed into by an idiot. Be careful out there.

On a much happier note, I have received word from the good Dr. Mike Bingham, penguin scientist, that Tula's two chicks are alive and thriving. This is great news. He sent an attached photo, but we think it may have a virus. As soon as we rule that out, I will post the picture on the blog. It is very cute, and I am so happy for Tula and her family.

This weekend, we are probably not doing much, as the NBC 5 team of meteorologists has predicted another winter blast. Amazing. It was about 80 yesterday, and it is about 35 today. We are supposed to have sleet and freezing rain all weekend, and very cold temperatures. No snow, of course. Anyway, I don't mind the wintery weather so much, but I fear it is confusing to the birds and to the bulbs I planted a couple weeks ago. And I was hoping for nice weather next week, because Kev's whole family (with the exception, I am very sad to report, of Marty, who will be greatly missed during this visit) is coming to town for a long weekend.

So everybody have a good weekend, and be careful driving, especially in the winter blast.

Reunion

Yesterday in the mail, I received an announcement I have been expecting regarding my upcoming 20 year high school reunion. I graduated in the good ol' NGHS class of 1986 (go Raiders). I hadn't decided about attending the reunion, but the announcement decided for me. It is being held the weekend before the baby is due, so I can't possibly go. Oh well. I can't say I'm all that disappointed. I still see pretty much all the people from high school that I really care to see. Quite frankly, I was pretty miserable during high school, so it doesn't bring back the best of memories. Mostly, the announcement has just made me feel old. I think I'll go listen to some Duran Duran now.

More from the 70s

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_Dancer/capital1.mp3

Here is a link to one of my favorite, but infrequently celebrated songs from Sesame Street.

Wait...here's one more:

http://members.tripod.com/Tiny_Dancer/lowercase_n.mp3

Fun with Bad Food

If you are from the 70s like me, the following foods may have been big players during your childhood:

• Spam
• Vienna sausages
• Canned processed "cheese" that you squeeze from a trigger on the can
• Fried bologna

These are foods I have not eaten for many many years, and I don't intend to feed them to the peanut. If I was on Fear Factor and had to eat one of these foods, I would probably choose the cheese (my friend Bryce used to call it "aerosol cheese"), but I wouldn't like it. Also, for some reason, if I wanted a snack when I was little, my grandma would give me a piece of white bread and a bowl of maple syrup to dip it in. Weird. The one bad food I really miss from childhood is sugary cereal. Oh, how I loved my Fruity Pebbles, Coco Puffs, and Honeycomb. I would get up every Saturday and sit within inches of the greatness of the Fat Albert show, with my bowl of cereal and piece of toast. Then I would go outside and play all day long, only coming home long enough for lunch (grilled cheese and tomato soup - mmmmm). I hope the peanut will eat good food, but still play outside a lot and not sit around playing video games and begging for some Chicken McNuggets (tm). I want her to climb trees and jump on a pogo stick and learn to throw a baseball properly.

By the way, we actually have a can of Spam in our pantry. My aunt gave it to Kev for Christmas, along with some Spam recipes. He says he is going to eat it, but we'll see about that.

No Computer Blues

Last weekend, Kev and my dad painted the baby's room a lovely shade of light green while I went to Paris to visit Whitney and Co. That is all good. The room looks really nice and I had a great road trip. Paris is exactly the right distance away for me...it takes about two hours to drive up there, and it's a pretty drive with rolling hills and cows and stuff. So I packed up the car with some good CDs, the Peanut, the monkey, and some pizzalicious pringles and had nice drive and a fun time with Whitney and the girls. Anyway, when I got back, the room was all painted and just about ready to start moving baby furniture in. But the drawback is that we had to empty out the room and unhook the computer/modem and it's been unplugged all week and I haven't been able to blog or check email or anything and I am so desparate that it is Saturday afternoon and I drove all the way to Garland to use my parents incredibly slow dial-up beating of a computer today. I am completely dependent on the internet. I have needed it so many times this week. So I hope we can get the computer at home going again soon, but it may require some rewiring in the attic because the DSL only works from the baby's room at the moment. If you have emailed or commented on the blog and gotten no response from me, that is why. Sorry. I'll put photos of the room on here when I can. So long for now.

Toughest Guys Ever

I have just finished reading a great book called "Endurance" about Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic adventure. Kev got this book for Christmas (or maybe his birthday) and after he read it, he immediately wanted to read it again. He said it was "captivating." So I decided to read it after much inner debate. I like a good adventure story, but Kev warned me that many seals, countless penguins, and even dogs and puppies would lose their lives violently in the book, and I wasn't sure I could take it. Finally, I decided to buck up and just read the thing, and I will tell you what, "captivating" is an understatement. Wow! The men in Shackleton's expedition party are truly the toughest people I have ever read or heard about. These guys almost make Lewis and Clark's adventure look like a cakewalk. I would have lasted about three hours with this group. They lasted something like 15 months. The whole time, they were cold, wet, hungry, thirsty, terribly uncomfortable, and in great peril. My most basic need is to feel safe, and these guys couldn't feel safe for months at a time. So, if you are feeling sorry for yourself about your house problems, or your nocturnal hip-joint pains, or the fact that it is bathroom-cleaning day, then reading this book might give you a whole new perspective. You are warm, dry, well-fed, and hopefully not troubled with piles. And you don't ever ever have to eat seal blubber or penguin steak.

Question

What kinds of cars do President Bush and Laura Bush drive? I would really like to believe that the President means it sincerely when he says it's time to think about oil alternatives, but I think I'm at least gonna need to see him in a Hybrid first. I don't know for sure, but I reckon he's more the Ford F150 type. If he wants a skeptic like me to believe him, maybe he could start by getting a new hydrogen powered presidential limo. All I'm saying is it's a lot of good words, but I'm gonna need to see some action because I'm not really buying any of it. Please, Mr. President, prove me wrong.

Patience

The problem with things like having babies and planting tulips is that you have to wait so dang long for the rewards.