Rachel's Ramblings

If you like coffee, never, ever stay at one of the lower priced Disney resorts. We stayed at the the "All Star Sports" complex. I noticed the first morning that the coffee tasted weird. At the park, I stopped for another cup (since I didn't like my morning coffee much, I only drank half the cup), and not only was it the same weird-tasting coffee, but the only thing available to lighten it with was Coffee Mate. (But I had to drink it, because caffeine withdrawal is NO FUN!) The second morning, I noticed that the coffee serving machine said "NesCafe" down the side. Well, that explained it.

I would like to think that if you went to one of the more pricey resorts, they would have real coffee. (They did have it in the Norwegian bakery at Epcot -- with Coffee Mate, though, so I went with black.) But at the less expensive hotels, there was not a proper restaurant. Just a food court. And the food there was REALLY bad. Also, of course, overpriced. It is Disney.

On the bright side, we got a lot of walking, sunshine, and pool time in. It really was a nice break from work. And now we know my son won't go around feeling like he's the only kid in school that's never been to Disney World. Plus, Jeff took a really silly picture of me. And some good ones of Ben. Also... Ben has made some big steps toward being able to swim.

But if I ever go back (not likely, actually) I will not stay in one of the Disney hotels. I'd rather stay almost anywhere else. And I think we could save enough on food to rent a car (plus the food would be better.)

Yeah I know, that's obvious. But I can't say that I always think to check before I change a light bulb. Evidently, I didn't check before the last time I changed the bulb in my bedroom fixture. Here's what happened.

I walked into the bedroom, and the light was flickering. So I took off the cover to see if the bulb was just loose or needed replacing. When I tried to tighten, the bulb seemed to be turning freely. At that point, I noticed the clearly printed message on the socket not to use a bulb more than 60 Watts. And sure enough, the bulb in question was 75. Who would think the single socket in the only fixture in my bedroom would take a measly 60 Watt bulb?

So now, I had a bulb that would not unscrew because the glass part was turning freely inside the metal screwy thing. And frightingly, I saw some sparking and flickering while I turned it. Darn, I really thought I had the light turned off. So I went to the wall switch to make sure it was turned off, and thought about what to do. If I put a paper bag around the glass, I could probably break it off without dropping glass fragments in my bed, and then I could probably unscrew the metal part with a needle-nosed pliers. But you know what? I don't remember the knob moving when I went to turn off the light. And it's definitely in the "off" position. Am I sure there's really no electricity coming to this socket?

Well, I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. I go downstairs and break all the upstairs circuits, since I really don't what circuit this light is on. I managed to dig up a pair of pliers (why do we have 4 wire cutters, and only one pair of needle nosed pliers buried way in the bottom/back of the tool... um... box... heap... I'm not sure what to call it?) I got a paper bag. I checked that the fan had stopped moving (it was part of the same fixture as the light, so that was my proof the correct circuit really was broken.) I broke the bulb, which felt scary, but it broke really easily. I don't think there was actually a vacuum in there. I did manage to get the screwy part unscrewed pretty easily, despite the fact that it looked like part of it had melted a bit. Some of it was pretty crumbly and weak. That could not have been safe.

Then, after screwing in a right-sized bulb, I turned the light on and nothing. Oh, great. It's broke. No wait a minute -- the circuit is (intentionally) broken. I went back downstairs and reset the circuit breakers, and sure enough that light is working better than it has been for weeks. The light from the 60 Watt is way brighter than what we had before (from the broken bulb -- what do you know?) So everything worked out, but seriously -- I need to be more careful about that in future.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/6560654.html

Rabie Abdel Attie, a government spokesman, called the uproar over the case politically motivated and said only the constitutional court can decide to repeal the law.

"There is no need for all that noise. There are clearly political motivations behind this thrust," he said.

Well, duh. Is there any way a protest over a bad law could not be political?

Hello, all of you various wonderful and amazing parents. :)

We wanted to let you know that we've arrived safely at Laura's cabin. We stopped for lunch yesterday and went to the fireworks store. At the fireworks store, Laura and Carly and Mr. Skow went inside to buy fireworks, the rest of us went outside and sang by the door. Adam played his ukelele and Alex, Katy, and Evy sand along. Before we left, a store employee gave us a free firework because we "brought business". The car ride was pretty long, but we managed not to kill each other on the way up, and arrived at Laura's early enough to get some swimming in on Friday. We have some blow-up rafts set up on the lake, which are pretty wicked awesome. We spent most of today out on the lake as well, in Mrs. Skow's words "trying to kill each other." No one's actually really managed to hurt themselves, although Alex has been punched in the nose. All in all, it's been lots of fun. We have kayaks and lots of fun cool stuff and we get lots of wonderful amazing food, and we love Laura and her parental units for taking us up here because they're amazing, and all of you wonderful parents who we're writing this letter to for letting us come up here. We had to make a group effort email because the internet is ridiculously slow, and this would be a three-hour ordeal if we all wrote individual emails. We did think it was important to keep you all updated though, and at least let you know that we weren't mauled by bears on the way up here and are now dead in the woods. We will try as hard as we can to squeeze one of these loving Emails into out busy schedules.

Thank you,
Alex, Katy, Evy, Adam

So Frankie Manning died last week. I wanted to write something then, but couldn't come up with the words. I still can't. But plenty of other people came up with great words. So I'm going to quote for you, my friends, the words of someone I like very much (although I don't know her very well) because they express what I've been thinking and feeling about this better than I ever could myself. Thanks, Ginger.

Frankie Manning passed away today. For a good portion of you, that name means very little. For those of us who dance, who have a passion for Lindy Hop, it means a great deal more. Frankie was a founding father of Lindy Hop in the 1930's, whose extraordinary creativity and energy graced films and dance floors. Yet when interest in Lindy waned, he went on to spend many decades living what some might say was an ordinary life, working for the U.S. Postal Service. It wasn't until interest in swing began to grow again in recent decades that Frankie hit the floor again, and took to teaching and inspiring new generations of dancers.

Tonight, dancers everywhere were mourning his loss and celebrating his life by dancing it up. I took a special trip to Fizz Bar & Grill in Chicago to join my fellow dancers. What I witnessed was not just grace on the dance floor, but the grace that can only be seen when people gather together to show respect for the significance of another. That grace was on the faces of my friends tonight as I danced with them and as we stood in silence to remember Mr. Manning. Yet the silence only lasted a few brief moments, because how dancers express their grief and joy best is by releasing it all on the dance floor.

The energy in the room was like nothing I've ever seen before...there was stomping and clapping, cheering and laughing, the likes of which can only be created when true passion is present. As I watched and listened, I took some time to consider how one man could affect so many in such a brilliant way. I thought about how because of Frankie's dance, his creativity, and his teaching, so many people in that room had been inspired. And I thought about how that roomful of people held so many good friends, people I never would have met if they or I hadn't fallen in love with dancing. That life, a life without that dance floor and those people, would be so much less colorful.

So what I came to consider is this: Frankie Manning changed the way we dance, and through the vibrations of his stomps and spins on the dance floor, had a ripple effect on us all...bringing strangers together to become friends through four minutes of swingouts and a song. It's interesting to think of how many people's lives you can change, just by living with passion and enthusiasm and the desire to reach out to each other like Mr. Manning did. That might be all it really takes to make an ordinary life extraordinary.

Here's some nice video from that evening. To my mind, the video doesn't expose 1/10th of the energy that was in the room that evening, but I enjoyed watching it, over and over. Also, if you're any good at "Where's Waldo", you might be able to spot me (but since most of my body is hidden, you won't be able to see how dorky I look dancing.)
http://www.youtube.com/user/DougDoberman (thanks, Doug).

Also, there are now some nice videos out from the funeral in New York last Saturday. Apparently (and unsurprisingly), dancing broke out in the aisles of the church. Here's a great post (with videos!) about that:
http://www.rikomatic.com/blog/2009/05/today-we-celebrated-the-life-and-legacy-of-the-great-frankie-manning-at-the-most-swingin-funeral-i-have-ever-attended-as-i-e.html

The meme came to me from Facebook. I'm not gonna tag anyone, but hey I love to write about ME. So I'll do it here -- it'll get loaded to fb anyway. Do it if you feel like it -- I'll read it.

A - Age: 42

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Freakin' laundry

D - Dog's name:

E - Essential start your day item: Coffee

F - Favorite color: How can I have a favorite color? Different colors are good for different purposes, and in most cases, multi-colored is best.

G - Gold or Silver: It depends...

H - Height: 5' 9"

I - Instruments you play: Nothin' anymore. I can't even sing well these days.

J - Job title: Software Engineer

K - Kids: Katy, 16; Evy, 16; Ben, 7

L - Living arrangements: I have a nice little house.

M - Mom's name: Bev

N - Nicknames: I don't think I have any. Wanna give me one?

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Tonsilectomy... and some weird joint issue -- I don't think anyone ever really figured out what it was. (I wonder if it happening shortly after Chicken Pox was significant?)

P - Pet Peeves: Damp towels on my bed (or really anywhere but spread out on the towel bar, or in the laundry room waiting to be washed.)

Q - Quote from a movie: "Calling it your job don't make it right, Boss" (Cool Hand Luke)

R - Right or left handed: Right.

S - Siblings: John, Mike, Dave

T - Time you wake up: Weekdays, 5:00... weekend, 8-ish.

U - Underwear: I'm a granny panties kind of girl. (TMI?)

V - Vegetable you dislike: Brussel sprouts.

W - Ways you run late: I get to talking with someone. I can't find something I need. I forget something and have to turn 'round and go back for it. (It all boils down to being a space cadet.)

X - X-rays you've had: Who can remember them all?

Y - Yummy food you make: All the food I make is yummy. (Yes, it IS.)

Z - Zoo favorite: I'm not much of a zoo fan. (Maybe I'm adopted after all?)

The denver trip was fun, although we got some seriously bad weather to drive through, and delays on the way home due to bad weather, including road closures. We made it home around 10:30 Sunday night. And the girls definitely got some good driving experience, which was kind of the point.

We took some photos with Francha's camera (the boys weren't with us, and I'm the worst person in the world for taking pictures -- I don't even own a camera.) She's supposed to send us copies, and I'll post some when they arrive.

On the way to Colorado, we had dinner in Des Moines, and slept in Lincoln, Nebraska, so we spent time in the capitols of all the states we visited. We also had a nice time visiting a small town outside of Lincoln, and having breakfast at a charming local restaurant (with unfortunately poor service, but really good food and nice atmosphere.)

My uncle Ken and his wife Francha were super sweet, and made it a cheap and comfortable week for us. Ken actually seemed better than I expected from what I'd heard (he's had a couple strokes, the latest one pretty recent.) He was in good spirits while we were there, and we got in lots of nice visiting. He took us to Red Rocks and showed us around some (the girls did their share of running & climbing there.) We went for dinner to a really excellent Mexican restaurant. We also met some other friends of theirs (relatives? I can't remember) who stayed with them for a couple days which was fun.

My cousin Stephen was great. He worked a lot of hours in the week we were there, but spent pretty much all his spare time with us (including some he really should have used for sleep.) He showed us downtown Denver (he made a very good city driving coach for the girls, and even talked Evy into a rather small parking spot successfully), and took us into the capital building. He took us on an all day drive through the mountains and into the South Park area where he used to work (stopping for a very nice lunch in FairPlay.) Also, we got the tour of the fire station in Golden where he now works.

Tuesday evening, we took a couple of dance classes, and went to their most popular swing dance night (I think it was Evy's first official "Lindy Hop" class.) Steve tagged along for that, and was even brave enough to dance with me a couple times. The classes were good -- I definitely got some stuff to take home from them, and the people were very friendly. We had lots of fun.

Also, I have to say that I was pleased with Katy and Evy. If Ken and Francha (and Stephen) were good hosts, the girls were also pretty good guests. They were cheerful and patient with visiting, listened well, and told lots of their own stories. They even baked Ken his favorite (frosted ginger) cookies, and made Francha a couple of chocolate cakes.

Life has been busy. I'm trying to remember what I intended to write last time I got on to post.

Last weekend I went to a Saturday dance workshop in Milwaukee. It worked out really well because I ended up sharing a room, and the driving with Amy, which definitely made it more fun. There's a video of the moves we worked on here. In addition to all the fun of hanging out with Amy, having dance classes, lunch with the Chicago group, and evening dances, I also got to have a wonderful dinner with Tracy (aka PinkTruth). The dinner was really wonderful. Next time you're in Milwaukee, I'd strongly suggest you stop by Maharaja, and let the waiter help you make a good selection. I had chickpeas with spinach, and a potato nan of some kind. And I was home to catch up on laundry/housework by 11:00, and even managed to get out and dance for a short time Sunday. (I wouldn't have gone to the effort, but Ali is home on spring break, and we're so busy that was the only chance I had to see her. Anyway, I'm glad I went, because it was fun even though I left early.)

In other news, Ben is done with winter soccer, and signed up for spring. Katy is on the badminton team at school, and won her first match yesterday. She also made state for one of the math team events. And she had her choir concert yesterday. Evy and Katy are signed up for Relay for Life again.

And this weekend (day after tomorrow), we girls (Evy, Katy, and I) are leaving for our Denver road trip. Sadly, this means I will miss Swinger's Ball this year. But I don't care -- I'm really looking forward to this (although I'm a little apprehensive about being separating from Jeff for longer than we've ever been. I've got used to having him around.)

Must remember to get the oil changed Saturday morning.

I went to post a new entry, since LOTS of stuff has been going on, and LJ asked me if I wanted to restore a draft. So why not -- I'll try to finish this one.

I took the girls to see Coraline Sunday. [This was maybe 2 weeks ago now?] We expected to enjoy the movie, and it lived up to expectations. There's a ton of stuff I could talk about with that movie, but better you should go see it and decide what you think. I'm not sure how good it would be for younger children, but it did a great job of presenting a point of view for the parents that we knew would be different from what the children were seeing. (And wow, that Coraline character really reminded me of Ben.)

I thought I'd say a few words about my last shipment from Amazon that I finished.

• Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya

I enjoyed reading this. There was some really good stuff, but there were some things that made me uncomfortable about it. Weird magical stuff going on that I really didn't know how to take, and the author seemed pretty serious about it.

• We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive - Laurie Notaro

This one read really slowly for me. It just never hooked my interest. I suppose I didn't have enough in common with the writer (although, by the title and some of the description, I'd expected to.)

• Go Ask Ogre: Letters from a Deathrock Cutter - Jolene Siana

This was a really beautiful book. I loved the artwork, and it's wonderful that it was published with a quality that did justice to that. It's hard for me to know how the writing would come accross to others, since so much of it spoke to me in a very personal way.  The stream-of-consciousness style of letter writing reminded me a bit of the way I wrote letters and notes as a teenager. Some of it was very difficult to read, because it brought back a lot of bad memories. Even the dates contributed to that -- 1987 was a very bad year for me, and the writer is very close to me in age, as well. In a way, it's odd that I identified so much. It seems to me that the style, actions, relationships, behavior, motivations and problems of the writer were very different from what mine have ever been, and yet some of her words expressed so accurately feelings and moods that I can remember having.

• Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office - Jen Lancaster

This book was a lot of fun. It read very fast. I went out and bought the other Jen Lancaster book that I hadn't read yet (and went right through that one, too.)

• Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

I loved this book. I actually read it right after the Lauri Notaro book that I was kind of bored with, and it was such a pleasure to switch over to some really fascinating, high quality reading material. Honestly, I remember very little of what happened in the book, or even why I liked it so much, but I do remember that I didn't really understand what was happening at the very end (last 3 pages, maybe.) I will have to give it another read. And I must remember to get more Toni Morrison.

• Paper Towns - John Green

This book lived up to expectations. In some essential way, I thought it was more realistic than the other John Green books. However, I probably won't be looking for more John Green right away. I've sort of had my fill for a while.

Ben had his 7th birthday yesterday. We went out to dinner and Katy and Evy baked the best apple pie ever (Ben's not really a cake fan.) Saturday he'll have a birthday party at Chucky Cheese (having to go there is NOT one of the perks of being a parent.) He'll have ice cream cake (he is an ice cream fan... so see, he's human!)

I'm looking forward to Saturday, despite the Chuckie Cheese. I have my next hair appt Saturday morning, and I'm treating myself to color. This will be my second visit to Max at Linea Salon in Glen Ellyn, and the first one was great! Hah - I don't know that I've ever actually been excited about a hair appointment before.

I am the luckiest person.

Jeff and I had the loveliest evening. He booked a dinner/room/breakfast package, at the Hotel Baker in St. Charles. There were things I liked, and things I didn't like about the hotel and the food. But the highlight of the evening was the part that was really a surprise.

I was looking over the wine list, trying to decide what to drink with dinner, and guess what? The vintage on the expensive champagne was 1999. The year we got married. Now even though I don't usually like champagne, it's hard to resist the idea that this would be the right way to celebrate an important milestone. And I've had more than one person guarentee me that if I tried Dom Perignon, I would like it.

They were right. It was wonderful.

In all honesty, I have to think it would be possible to find champagne for half the price that would taste just as good if we knew how to find it. And as much as I believe truly good food is worth the price, I don't know that the flavors of that meal were, in and of themselves, worth what we paid. But the thing is, the fact that it was so expensive was part of the treat. I know that sounds crazy, but that's how it was. It was saying that this anniversary was worth spending the cost of an expensive bottle of champagne to celebrate. And for that reason, it was truly the best thing I've ever had to drink.

I have to thank the owner of my company (Doug), and my direct supervisor (Assaf), because in these difficult times, I not only have a job, but I actually got a raise and a bonus. (Not as much as previously, but more generous than necessary under the circumstances.) Without them (and Jeff getting his contract renewed), that bottle of champagne would not have happened.

Also in good shape right now are Evy's piano lessons, Ben's soccer, Katy's and my dancing, and Jeff's photography hobby. We expect to have the credit cards down to nothing within three months. The weather is beautiful today. Life is good.

Yeah, I know. It's a dumb title, but I like it anyway.

ARF is the name of the animal rescue we got the cats from. I don't know exactly what their relationship is with PetSmart, but they and the pet store people were really great. I was not sure about getting pets from an animal rescue, because I think of them as having abused and damaged animals, which I'm not ready to deal with, or taking the ones from the regular shelter that no one wanted. But actually, they seemed to have a lot of perfectly good cats. They wouldn't have let someone like me have a really messed up cat, I'm pretty sure.

Here are their pictures again, too, because they're cute:


Now the problem with "We'll just get both", is that it ignored the problem of white cat's extreme friendliness. (Remember, I've stipulated that a cat who insists on rubbing up against me and/or climbing into my lap just won't work.) The first evening, I thought things would work out because white cat (we never really settled on a name for him) seemed afraid of me. That didn't last long. Too bad, too, because he was at our house less than 24 before bringing us a mouse. (And let me say, I have no issues whatsoever with cats bringing me a nice dead mouse -- it's way better than me having to kill one, and then searching out where the heck is that SMELL coming from (or rather, nagging Jeff to figure it out, because I sure don't want to) because he died in the dropped ceiling after ingesting poison, or in a hidden mousetrap somewhere that I forgot about.) I am sure there was something to Jeff's idea that a playful, energetic cat would be a better mouser.

However, the cat did insisted on getting his dander all over me, and Zyrtec only goes so far. There's no cats allowed in my bedroom, or the bathroom where I shower, but I do need to be able to sit on the living room couch, and we shared that room with the cats. Although we had some success getting him to stop jumping onto the table anytime someone was eating there, we just weren't making progress getting him to be less friendly to me. So he had to go back.

And here's where the ARF people again were great. They were so nice and understanding, and said that we could still adopt another, calmer cat if we wanted to, using the donation we already made for the returned cat. (They didn't say, "You pet-returner, you! How dare you! You are clearly unfit to ever have an animal!) We're sticking with one, though. When I thought that 2 wouldn't be much harder than 1, I hadn't considered that the grooming expense would be doubled, and that will be significant for us.

BTW, here is the info about white cat, who really was a great cat if only I weren't allergic to him. He is sweet and playful and friendly (the kind of cat who comes to greet you when you walk in the door), not at all mean, and actually seems to be trainable. True, we couldn't get him to quit making up to me, but we did get him to quit jumping on the table. He quit trying to climb the drapes after one attempt (and we sprayed the drapes with something we couldn't smell, but maybe he could.) And we easily got him to quit scratching the couch and use the scratching post instead. And he got us a mouse, right out of the gate! Now that's a really great cat. He's only 6 months old, so he's got almost his whole life ahead of him. It was very sad to bring him back.

Molly, however is the prettiest, sweetest thing ever. She seems a little scared at times, but she's growing more playful. She's also the most super-well-behaved quick-learning cat ever. (Can't help but wonder if former owners were really mean to her over small infractions.) We don't know yet if she'll catch mice, but the way she tears after that laser toy, I think the chances are pretty good.

About 2 weeks ago, we discovered that again, for the third winter in a row, we were getting mice in the house. They've discovered us, and they like it here. (Or at least they did.) Jeff, who has been angling for a pet he knows he can't have for 10 years now, says, "Too bad we can't have a cat. Then we wouldn't have to worry about mice."

He had a point. It really was too bad. Cats actually are useful for discouraging pests, and we seem to get more than our share of pests at this house. And they're not that hard to take care of. You don't have to take them for walks. You don't really have to worry about housebreaking them. They don't require the the level of affection that dogs do.

Hmmmm. I've been taking Zyrtec nearly every day for something 3 months now. Because... it's great (and I do have other allergies to things that always seem to be around. Like dust.) It works better than Claritin, and unlike Claritin (which, IMO, ought to be called unclaritin), it doesn't make me spacey or sleepy.

And yeah... Jeff caught me actually thinking about it.

Jeff: I read that if you give them regular baths, allergies aren't so much of a problem.
Me: But who in their right mind would give a cat a bath? Especially one with claws! And how good would it be at chasing off mice if has no claws?
Jeff: Don't worry about it. I'll do it.
Me: Yeah, right. You won't. Not every week, and not without nagging.
(But with both of us working, we could afford to take him to a groomer.)
Jeff: There are people who can do it for us.
Me: A lot of times, cats scratch up the furniture. And the drapes. We can't guarantee we'll be able to train it not to scratch up our stuff.
Jeff: We can train him. There are things you can do. I don't care that much about the furniture we have now. And if we really have to, we can declaw him before we get new furniture.
Me: I don't know. I don't like the idea of declawing.
(But honestly, I don't care that much if furniture gets scratched. We have kids anyway; everthing is casual.)
Jeff: It would take care of the mouse problem. And the kids would be so happy.
Me: I won't handle a cat or its stuff. I don't want any part in its care. Someone else will have to do it, and without me nagging. I don't want to have to nag. And if it's the kind of cat that insists on rubbing up against me, or crawling into my lap, it won't work. Zyrtec can only do so much.
Jeff: The kids can help. But I'll take all the responsibility for making sure things happen.
Me: We have to get it a bath every week. And a vet appoinment right away. You have to take care of it, and you can't wait until I nag you to do it.
Jeff: I know. I'll take care of everything.
(Oh, God. What have I agreed to?)

At least, that's how I remember the conversation. Jeff might remember it differently. In fact, this is how I picture Jeff remembering in.

Me: God, I hate mice. I'm so sick of them!
Jeff: A cat would solve that problem.
Me: Hey, I take Zyrtec now. I guess there's no real reason we can't have a cat now.
Jeff: Great! I'll take care of everything!
Me: And I promise not to nag about anything...

So Jeff proceeds, without involving me, to fall in love with this cat:


So, 3 days before I said I was ready to begin looking at cats, we all troupe down to PetSmart to adopt Jeff's cat from the animal rescue. But when we get there, I have doubts. This cat looks way too friendly to me. Meanwhile, Evy falls in love with a beautiful calico (Molly.) I watch Jeff loving the cat I have doubts about. I watch Evy loving another cat who looks suitable to me. I see Katy looking all disappointed when I don't think the white cat is for us. I can't decide. We can't decide. So what do we do? You know what we do. Of course! We get both cats! Why not? They can keep each other company.

aren't such great parents.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/us_world/Adolf-Hitler-Sisters-Taken-from-Parents-Home.html
Anyone surprised?

It looks like I'm going to have to clear the really good junk food out of the house. Also the powdered sugar (because as long as there's butter, cocoa, and powdered sugar in the kitchen, you can always make microwave fudge.) Still... I did fine until after supper, and that's an improvement over most days between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

I forgot my workout clothes. But I do have a dance class planned for tonight, so that's something. And I've done very well with nutrition so far today, and I'm not even hungry at 3pm.

We got a Wii for Christmas, and frankly, I'm thinking I shouldn't have spent the money. Part of the incentive was me thinking it would give something both fun and active to do. Also, I was thinking it was better for Ben than just sitting at a regular video game. But truth is... I don't enjoy playing the sports games. The boxing is at least active, but it makes unpleasant sounds (the "music" for all of it is just awful), and the graphics are pretty much ugly. So I don't actually want to do it, any more than I actually want to do DDR. And Ben... he doesn't want to play the active games -- he just wants to do things that are really no different from regular video games. And if he does play the sports, he flicks the remote with his wrist while sitting on the couch.

Live and learn.

The so-so news: I did indeed gain the 5 pounds I knew I would gain between Thanksgiving and today. Even though I knew it, by what I was eating (and the exercise I was not doing), it was still not fun to get on the scale and actually see it.

The good news: Despite the holiday 5 pounds, I completely ignored this year's office "weight loss challenge." Because if I were to lose 12% of my body weight, I would be Emaciated Chicken-legs Girl.

The other good news: Apparently I got some kind of exercise in the last couple days, because my large muscles are stiff. Yeah, me -- it's a good start.

So... better diet today. Appointment with the workout room tomorrow. (Note to self -- remember the gym clothes). It's a good start.

Oh, and since I haven't posted since before Christmas... Christmas was great. I think everyone was happy with their gifts. I got to enjoy some good time alone with Ben while girls were away, and some girl time with them after they got back. And NYE was a blast (even if there is now some embarrassing material about me on facebook, which, thanks to my brother-in-law, my mother-in-law has actually seen.)

Okay, back to work with me!

Just check out this comment from an oldish post:
http://rsuddeth.livejournal.com/70809.html#comments
I'm pretty sure that wasn't written by one of my family members or friends. It was funny, but too sharp-edged (trollish, even) to be something you'd say anonymously to a friend. I was so tickled, I even gave it a thoughtful reply.

reading suggestions. I plan to place a new book order Friday, and I already have enough items in my cart to get super-saver shipping. Wheee!

• Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya
• We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive - Laurie Notaro
• Go Ask Ogre: Letters from a Deathrock Cutter - Jolene Siana
• Bitter is the New Black : Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass,Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office - Jen Lancaster
• Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison
• Paper Towns - John Green

Meanwhile, I have to say that Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) is the best thing I've read in a long time, and definitely on my all time top 10 list. More about that later, if I have time.

Coloring Contest
Originally uploaded by r_c_s

Yes, this is me talking. All those times you heard me say "Why did I want children?" -- forget those. I've figured it out.

So Ben and I were on our own yesterday, and went out for a very nice lunch (at Red Apple in Carol Stream -- highly recommended for breakfast-lunch.) Ben asked the waiter for a coloring sheet, and as soon as he left, we talked about what we were going to color, and I realized I should have asked for one for myself, too. Ben, being the thoughtful creature he is, knew I'd be embarrassed to ask for a coloring sheet for myself (okay that's a lie, I wouldn't be embarrassed at all, but...) raised his hand (just like in school), got the waiter's attention, and asked for one for me.

Once we got the sheets, we had to make new plans, because, to our surprise, they came with a picture already on them. But hey, we're adaptable. I did my best to transform frosty's top hat into an Easter bonnet (and of course, prompty started singing to myself about how she'll be the finest snowman in the parade...) And the scarf really needed some fringe. Now, I never use blue eye shadow on myself, but I thought it worked on Frostine. What do you think? The contouring I did to bring out her cheeksnows doesn't really come across in the picture, but trust me, it looks great in person.

Now I realize that any mother worth her salt would be putting her son's picture up on her blog, rather than her own. But this post is about what's in for me with the kids thing. And hey, I'm proud of my work. Ben also was very impressed. In fact, he insists I actually enter it into the coloring contest. It was a good idea, because honestly, filling out the back was probably the funnest part: It felt really good putting my name in the "child's name" blank. The whole thing was almost as much fun as making a real snowman (another reason, of course, to have children -- they get you to make snowmen.)

Now, if only I could learn not to BLINK whenever the shutter clicks!

I love my new recommendations from Amazon. They're so all over the place, and they all actually seem like reasonable possibilities. At least, I will say that they seem to be making a real effort to make them better (judging by the Wordle.)

Of course, bots are probably doomed to get some things wrong. I haven't read anything by Charlaine Harris, nor do I want to. And interesting that Action/Adventure gets the biggest font. I happen to read books with action/adventure in them, mainly because I read some of the stuff my husband leaves lying around. And sometimes I like these books because they're funny, or they have good characters, or they do a good job of world building, but the action/adventure part for me is always secondary, and sometimes detracts from my enjoyment when it gets too violent.