Monthly Archives: August 2007

sounds like a great place for a hike

0830web.jpgDid you hear about the spiders going nuts outside of Dallas, Texas, my hometown?

Tens of thousands of mosquito carcasses sucked dry of their blood weigh down the webs, which look like hammocks stretched horizontally from branch to branch……Hissing cicadas, croaking frogs and red fire ants live in the area around a small pond next to the web-covered trees. Poison oak and ivy speckle the ground at the base of the juniper, hackberry and oak trees…….A foul, musty smell greets visitors as they turn the bend toward the bunched-up webs.

(photo from Dallas Morning News)

All that and 90 degrees and 90% humidity.

Hard to believe I never liked the Great Outdoors when I lived in Texas…..

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weighing in

My anxiety rises. It permeates the house atmosphere, even more than dirty dog smell. From my first waking moment until I go to bed at night, a low level buzz is present.

The end of summer blues? No. The start of school for Kid? No. DH’s constant travel-schedule-and-subsequent-assimilation-back-into-the-family stress? No.

You see, DH has a project replacing garage door openers. Which he did, but he also wanted to replace the springs. Why do I care about this at all? I mean, my car has been ousted from the garage by a variety of ever-constant house project materials as of this spring, so I have no need to ever go into the garage again, except of course to look for more popsicles in the freezer. Or to look for a missing spouse.

The thing is, as part of this project, he needed to know what the garage door weighs. He guessed way off and got the wrong springs.

So……….he bought a scale. A perky, shiny bathroom scale on which to lower the door and learn its weight (70lbs).

And me, I have not lived with a scale for years. They make me nervous. I think these household ones (versus the doctors’ ones) were created by Satan to make women go nuts. Get on it? No. Maybe. Well, okay, just this once….ugh.

Then, the next day: Oh, no, a pound more. Hmphf. Well, I did drink a giant mug of tea first and eat that toast. Yea….
Then, the next day: Oh, whew. It’s okay after all.
Then, the next day: Oh, crap! Better not eat anything today. Which attitude invariably makes me crave a couple gallons of peanut M&M’s and Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food. Together. And that’s just breakfast.

The rest of the day becomes filled with “should” talk in my head — “should eat that,” “should not eat that,” “should have that,” “should not even smell that,” “should be good,” “should not be bad“….. I go mental.

The scale looks all innocent and white and like you’d put it in your dollhouse. Digital and sparkly clean. Whatever. Don’t be fooled. It’s still evil in there. Lurking. With a menacing soundtrack.

I think I will put it away.

Maybe in the back of a cramped closet where it can whine at me, in that tone no one else hears, as I walk past the closed door. Maybe I should rip out its tiny, battery brain and leave it, blank-faced and mute.

Or, maybe smash it to smithereens with an ax. So I can relax.

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read the mouse report

A quick note: Good news!! Remember Mouse 464? How could I forget, you say. A poignant and heartwarming story of DH saving a baby mouse. After constant questioning from DH about his little patient’s status, I finally called the wildlife shelter. I was scared to hear, yeah, well, we tried our best, but that baby mouse was a goner…..

But no! Mouse 464 was deemed well and strong and released back into the wild! Hooray! They (smartly) decided that the mouse might have a better chance if he was not living next to Becca’s house. So he is hopefully scurrying around the north end of the island, dodging barred owls and feral cats, breaking into other people’s garages, as I type.

Nice to have a little good news. Just what the world needs, right? One more mouse.

Well, we’ve done our part.

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wanna add this to your lunch menu?

j0409393.jpgOur neighbor’s 4 year old was over fighting playing with Kid today, and as they got hungrier, they began playing waiter-waitress, taking each other’s orders.

He asked for (and got) a cheese and cracker sandwich. I know you are imagining two crackers with a piece of cheese in between, like a sandwich. But you would be wrong.

He wanted layers of crackers interspersed with cheese slices all surrounded by a bread slice on the bottom and top. It was a tall sandwich. He really needed a step ladder to attack it, or an army boot to press it down like a panini. He merrily bit into the skyscraper of sandwiches and ate it straightfaced, humming along, like he has it every day at his house and what’s the deal with my weirdness over here in our loony tunes rat mouse hole at never having heard of such a thing, geez lady.

I kept looking and shaking my head as if I were that cat cartoon character who keeps getting the anvil smashed on him so he has spirals for eyeballs.

I mean, peanut butter, bananas and potato chip sandwich, I understand. But this….this would never fly in my mother’s house. There were way too many carbs and no fiber unless you count the extra stale and crunchy crusts of the bread.

The more I think about it, I’m kinda surprised he failed to request mayonnaise or marshmallow creme on the bread.

I guess we all had odd-ball sandwiches we ate as kids (never as grown-ups, of course…..), right?

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still in party recovery…..

BUT, what’s the point of having a blog if you a) can’t rant about bad products, like this or this, and b) SHOW OFF A BIRTHDAY CAKE you lovingly made (stop the tallies; this makes me the best mommy ever, right? right?)

Ta da!
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Except for the three and half days to make it, the sticky mess up to my elbows, and the screaming “stop spreading now!” and “put down the spatula!” to Kid, it was totally worth it. All 33 inches of it.

The party went well, but not without the usual spats amongst young female chimps vying for the last banana (or juice box). No one had apparently given the other partygoers the memo from Kid that she gets everything she wants when she wants it on her birthday. Oh, yeah. They can’t read.

Here she is mad during one instance:
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Maybe more than the birthday girl, who scored the most? Becca, of course! And she didn’t even have to steal food directly off of plates. I mean, the children were offering those cupcakes, right? In their hands, at dog-snout level? I’m pretty sure….
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Burp!

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the day after

Well, bear with me. I am recovering. Just as my cold began to clear up, Kid had her walapalooza birthday party extravaganza (once I find the camera cable, I’ll post a few choice pics). I’m now doubling up on therapy sessions for PTSD.

Meanwhile, for all you nursing moms up in the middle of the night on the west coast, be sure to look out the window to see the lunar eclipse tonight. 2am-ish, I think.

Let me know how it goes. I hope to be dreaming of blue waters and sunny beaches…..

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fake internet contests suck

I, along with 100′s of others, posted about a contest for $2500 (which I shall not link to). Guess what? If it sounds too good to be true…..

This guy shed some light on the scam.

Bummer. I was all ready to buy a new kayak, too…….

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