Fahrenheit 9/11

An excellent documentary for those who always suspected Bush was a shady character. It definitely had an inflammatory tone and I'm sure that Michael Moore is probably an asshole. The question is this: Is Bush a bigger one?

More car fun

Did I mention that Lily and I were almost hit by cars in two separate incidents on Thursday? They were serious close calls. If I hadn't jumped back, we would have been creamed. Two times, cars came careening around corners that we had the ROW to cross in the crosswalk.

I guess if this stuff comes in threes, we're even with the cosmos after the one earlier this week. Let's hope so. You'd think that the canary yellow stroller would be easy to spot. Apparently not.

12 years ago....

...yesterday, we got married. We called in sick to work on a Friday and drove to Reno to get married. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Cars that go boom

Lily and I were out on our morning constitutional today when we witnessed a car crash. We and a bicycle rider were crossing in the crosswalk with the light in our favor. The first car that was turning right stopped. The second car stopped. The third car not only hit the second car, but it crunched it into the first. We were on the sidewalk by the time the drivers were exiting their cars.

So, now I'm thinking, what is gong to happen to the guy in the second car. They didn't have any way to escape hitting the first car. They were stopped and pushed by the third car. Will they get cited for rear ending the first car? Talk about insult to injury. Two smashed bumpers *and* a ticket? The traffic gods must be angry with them.

Happy Dance

J and I decided to order the BOB Revolution Duallie for me for Mother's Day. The good part was that REI had a sale with 20% off so we saved a hundred dollars off the stroller. The bad news was that we waited too long into the sale and the stroller went on backorder with no anticipated shipping date. The good news is that when I emailed REI yesterday, they said it was back in stock and that it will be here by Saturday.

Hooray!

It will arrive with before Ian gets out of school on June 9th. I walk about 3-5 miles a day with Lily right now thus I was concerned that Ian wouldn't be able to ride that far on his bike. Hence, the great stroller search ensued. Do you have any idea how hard it was to find a stroller that would fit Ian's skinny but tall 6 year old frame? Let's just say you can't just stop by your local Babies R Us and grab one. And after giving the ones that they have in stock a whirl, I can see why most people just don't ever use their strollers. I've been astonished how many ads on craigslist include the wording, "almost new stroller" or "barely used" or "bought it and then it lived in our garage".

Blog fodder: This means you

I haven't had the blog going long enough to detail the many people in my life. But, friends and enemies, beware. You could be next.

I woke up this morning to the insistent ringing of the phone next to my head. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't a police officer, funeral home, ER director or extended family member. Instead, it was my long lost Trish (currently enduring a MS program with her DH at Penn State). What a relief. Being that I'm a crummy friend and that I hate to talk on the phone when the small people are awake, I've been woefully derelict in keeping up with her since we both fled Utah. Note to self: call Trish more often.

Strangely, this event finally motivated me to head to the Verizon Wireless store to figure out why my cell phone gets such crappy reception on our street and in our house. It appears that it's not me and not the phone. But, it is the reason why I hardly ever call anyone and generally ignore the ringing if I'm at home. I just can't hear much of what anyone says which is doubly aggravating when the little people are, at the same moment, clamoring for attention. The trouble ticket is out there and I should hear back in 48 hours. I didn't have this problem when we lived on the other side of the freeway and it may lead to upgrading this phone that I've decided I don't particularly care for.

And it sickens me further to note

That a recent study determined that an individual working full time at minimum wage would be unable to afford a fair market rate apartment in any city, county or state in America. Not one. Anywhere. In the entire country. Something about that makes me feel as though we have no hope for a future as Americans. Couple that with a war and lower taxes for the wealthy and I think we've made our priorities painfully clear.

Maybe Jonah was right about Ninevah. Maybe it really is too late for spiritual redemption in this culture of excess.

Back from hiatus

So, it's been a while since I posted last. I've been avoiding it due to a sudden upswing of emotional vampirism from needy family members. It's not that I don't want to be supportive but I just can't continue it when it's making me sick and negatively affecting my relationship with my children and husband. This has been a recurring problem in the last 15 years. It starts slowly and then suddenly I'm sick and headachy and tense physically from the incessant need to whine and complain and yet do nothing to change their circumstances. So, I'm giving myself permission to say no. No more hours on the phone listening to a litany of woe. No more of my home being hijacked at the whim of anyone not living here. I need to follow my own advice and take positive action to get back on track. I'm a grown up and responsible for the choices I make. I can choose not to get entangled in this. I can choose to let it go.

I hate people

Today was one of those days. Ian's ear was hurting so I had to pick him up early from school and get him into the doctor to have it checked. All this went smoothly. The ear is fine, he has allergies. No big surprise there considering that J and I are both dueling the pollen beasties at the moment.

So, we're driving back home and it occurs to me that I'll be going by a store that I needed to pick something up at tomorrow. The kids were getting along and I decided to dash in with them.

I was accosted. Twice. And this was after being accosted on the way into and out of WalMart in search of a cake mix to make for my mom's birthday. AND on the way into Safeway (next door to WalMart) to get Lily some water.

Some strange man hollered at me on the way in that, didn't I want to buy some candy for a good cause?" I tried to nicely tell him, "No, thank you" while wrangling the kids into the store but this kind of thing makes me instantly redline. We got our stuff, and we were good to go. I step back out of the store and this same guy is still trying to get me to pony up, "It's just a dollar." This is where I lose it. We turned on our heels and got into the car. The embarrassing thing is that I didn't take my stress out on that guy. My kids got the brunt of it since they were heckling each other in the back seat. I really need to work on that. I have this intense need for silence following this kind of crap. Situations like this just make me want to scream and who knows? Maybe that guy is an axe murderer and would have pounded me if I'd gone off on him.

What is with these people? I give at church and I give at Ian's school and to pretty much anyone that doesn't want me to buy something. I always keep a bit of cash in my wallet to give to someone to buy food or whatever. Really, I mean, what if that person was Jesus for crying out loud? But it's just beyond aggravating when they want to SELL me something. We don't have TV because I can't stand the advertising. I feel like something is wrong with the world. How can it be that everything seems to ultimately distill to advertising and sales revenue? It makes me sick.

I just can't remember

I had thought of something interesting earlier today to blog about. Of course, now it's slipped my mind so I just be boring instead. Wait! I remember now....

A friend of mine posted recently about going for a walk all by herself and how wonderful it was to spend that time alone. I was washing the dishes tonight when I realized why I like cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Nobody bothers me. They've all figured out that if you venture into the kitchen after dinner, you'll get drafted into work or possibly swatted at or snapped by an errant dish towel. But, if you keep your person OUT of the kitchen, you can fool around as long as no screaming erupts to distract me from the task at hand. For some reason, they constantly interrupt me while I'm cooking dinner which has forced me into my "get all the prep work done" fervor in the morning once Ian and J are off to school and work and Lily is occupied by crayons or a movie. Those interruptions are the ones that make me crazy because I like to cook and it would be nice to spend that time concentrating on cooking rather than on shooing annoying interlopers out of the kitchen.

Did I mention I have a sunburn? I took Ian and Lily to the park for lunch on Friday. Ian had the audacity to ask if we could sit in the shade and eat. "But Mom! I might get hot." This declaration followed an interminable period of gray and rain we suffered through for months this winter. Foolish me sat in the sun while the kids dashed about and I've got quite the tomato skin going on now. Strangely, it didn't bother me at all yesterday but my arms feel hot and achy now. This seems to happen to me every year. I get one spectacular sunburn and then I'm good to go. I just wish I'd had a sleeveless shirt on since I'm sporting a fearsome farmer's tan now.