The car place today told me that the car FINALLY aligned, which means it just needed to come back from the dealer to the mechanic and be cleaned up. That was supposed to happen at 3, and it would be available to pick up at 4. WOOHOO! Score!
Oh...but wait....
At 4:20, having finished my conga line through the office, I was packing up to go get our baby (FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY!) when the guy at the car place called. The dealer had not delivered our car, and it will be lunch time tomorrow before it's ready.
Just one last rubbing of salt in the wounds. Thanks, dudes, thanks.
Yesterday was just a banner day for "Do as I say, not as I do", wasn't it? For better take downs than I could possibly do, I give you links to funnier sites than I (albeit language may be offensive to some...)
70 degrees and sunny? That sucks, you'd much rather have 30 and overcast right?
The only responsibility you had was working on bikes and riding your bike? Pshaw, back to work with you!
There's nothing like a cold puppy nose and the tap-tap-tap of a dog going from one side of the bed to the other to let you know she needs to potty, right?
And forget those healthy other cyclists, your pregnant wife who thinks she might have a touch of the flu...that's ok too!
At least Ginger brought you a "welcome home!" gift - a dead field mouse. It's no rat, but the best she could scrape up on short notice. I think the neighborhood cats should be concerned this summer that the rodent population of the green space between houses is going to drop precipitously.
The Bad News: Our car is STILL not ready. Tomorrow supposedly. HAH. Bitter. Bitter. Bitter.
The Good News: Called Liberty Mutual for more money for car rental. Their claims person has been really nice, and hopefully will be sending us a nice juicy check soon.
The Great News: Chris comes home tonight! Between the dogs and I, he should totally feel like a rock star, because I know all three of us can't wait to see him. I'll bet little rat-breath will be absolutely beside herself. She probably thinks I divorced him or something since he's been gone so long. 10 days in a life that's only 7 1/2 months long is a long time!
So I'm reading today's live coverage of the Tour of California and have found myself missing a groove in a few places.
Team Slipstream p/b Chipotle (Which I took two readings to realize that p/b isn't "Peanut Butter' but "Presented by". Anyone want to guess what my primary motivations are these days?)
"Pate signals for his team car, perhaps wanting to send JV back to the Taqueria they just passed for a burrito." What? What's John Verheul doing in the Tour of California? Ooohhhhhhh.....Jonathan Vaughters. Don't these people know that the REAL JV isn't Vaughters?
In looking up Vaughters bio, I got to the Slipstream Sports and found the rider page hysterical. Holy cow, these boys are applying gel the way some guys applied cologne before prom. If some is good, lots is BETTER!
So last year Chris and I were at Paris-Roubaix. We caught the end of Sector 18, then sprinted about a mile which got us to the start of Sector 16 in time to see the peloton come through. At the same time we were doing that, some other members of our party had pulled the van we came in up the cobbles until it was a few hundred feet from the start of Sector 16. Chris got to the start of 16 a few minutes before I did, and made his way further down the cobbles by the time the riders came in. So after I watched a bunch of riders come through, I walked down the cobbles until I saw the van, at which point the guys were frantically digging through my backpack. "Where's the toilet paper?! Where's the toilet paper?!"
er..ok... I gave them the roll and they disappeared around a little hillock.
So it turns out that a Canadian rider in Paris-Roubaix was...er...having a little intestinal problem. Of the messy stinky variety that you would hate to have in the middle of a 6 hour race. So he had pulled over, and first tried to use his arm warmers to clean up when he was done. Then the toilet paper, before he got back on the bike for another 3 hours on the road (poor guy!!!).
But things are looking up, Ryder Hesjedal is now sitting in 10th in the Tour of California.
Oh and Chris thought about liberating those arm warmers he left behind until he got a good luck at them. And considering we were in the car for about 6 more hours, I'm sure the smell would have been overwhelming, I'm glad he didn't go for those.
The accident was January 14th. The odds are they will not get the car done now until Feb 26. (They say tomorrow, I'm calling bullshit). That's 6 long weeks without XM radio, power locks, and heated seats. Oh and without a doubt, they're in cahoots with Enterprise, because our car rental bill is $1400 now. I have to call Liberty Mutual and get more money.
On the plus side, that's 6 weeks without the wear and tear of winter salt on the Accord. So maybe I shouldn't complain.
So I'm desperately trying to not have this blog turn into the all pregnancy all the time blog. I'm actually keeping a separate blog for family who want to know every hormone surge.
Having said that, I like-a to say....holy crap.
Since Chris left last Friday, we have gotten 4 bags of baby stuff mailed to us from Dillards by my Mother-in-law. I bought the "Baby Bargains" book, so I can shop smart for baby stuff. And, I, not thinking that we are producing the only grandchild, had bought a few baby clothes (two hats, two onesies) thinking that I ought to nibble away at those first year costs as early as possible. I also bought some cloth diapers since we're going to at least give them a try. (Yes, everyone I know surrendered them in favor of disposable. But the $$ makes it worth our at least trying cloth.) A huge box arrived anonymously with Huggies disposable diapers (thanks very, very much, someone!). Our best man sent us a Trogdor onesie. (How sweet! How did he know we were going to name our baby Trogdor?).
I feel slightly drunk on baby-ness. And poor Chris is off at Dude Camp (as described by the only woman there) and coming home to estrogen-a-rama. The only thing is right now I'm freaking out on WHERE ARE WE GOING TO PUT ALL OF THIS!? Don't get me wrong, our place isn't tiny, but I was thinking of adding a 10lb person to our world, not a person with even more stuff than the average full grown bachelor owns. We haven't even gotten furniture yet. Or baby carriages. And how am I to keep Spazmo from chewing all of this stuff up in the intervening 6 months?
While my husband is off galivanting around the great Southwest, I'm watching a movie about a spouse on vacation by themselves who gets into a torrid love affair. I've never seen the English Patient, but maybe I'll just stop watching and go breathe into a brown paper bag. (Yes, I know it's a wife cheating in the movie, but still...)
Hard to believe that someone gave birth to a baby at 21 weeks - a mere 8 weeks past where I am now. And that baby lived.
That's sort of mind blowing.
Yesterday and today have been probably the toughest days of the pregnancy so far. I had a nasty migraine yesterday, and it still hasn't completely released it's claws from me. I finally took some tylenol this morning to kill the last of the headache. But I'm still faintly nauseous, warm (but not feverish), and feeling overly full. I wonder if the dogs would mind if we all just slept tonight instead of, you know, going for a walk.
Man, it's a weird thing about being pregnant. I go from stuffed to starving in about 2.4 nanoseconds. The usual progression is "I could do with a bite" to "I'm feeling a bit peckish" to "I'm hungry" to "That's a hot dog stand, pull over NOW!" But since I've gotten pregnant, I now progress from "I can't eat another bite" to "Is that an oreo? Because otherwise I'm too faint with hunger to walk to the kitchen" in one easy step. Is this normal? Because it's totally WEIRD. I'm going to have to start keeping Clif bars on my person or Chris is going to come back from Tucson and find a skeleton on the couch....
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I took a little trip to Ireland. This pre-dates my move to the frosty north, and my brother's going into the seminary. The first week my brother and I rode bikes around the Ring of Kerry. Then he flew back to the states and I did a trip around all of Ireland with a group of friends.
The trip had it's ups and downs, but I think one of the high points was a day my brother and I spent at Valencia Island. Ireland, being what it is, was grey and hazy more than it was sunny. But that particular day, the sun came out, and we could see. On the climb to one of the points we passed sheep with spay paint on their sides, and tiny little wildflowers in the grass. And then we came upon Bray Tower at the South end of the island. It is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. (The photo is not mine, I don't know the person in it.)
The reason I'm thinking of this now is I'm watching the movie "The Secret of Roan Inish". And the scenery reminds me so much of that day in Ireland, that's it's startling. I looked it up, and it was filmed a bit further north on the same west coast in County Donnegal. But it's still the grey stone, wildflowers and wild grasses that predominated on Valencia Island. It's a nice movie, listed as a kids movie (which I'm guessing it's really too slow to be a proper kids movie), but I can't help but be so captured by the scenery that the story is kind of secondary. The little girl who plays the lead "Fiona" is really good, the story is interesting if you like Celtic tales, but the main reason to see this movie is because it's beautiful.
My sweetie pie is in Tucson getting warm, hanging with the guys, drinking coffee, and riding bikes. I'm glad he's getting the opportunity to have this break before we get chest deep in baby stuff and nesting, and other girly things that fill most men with horror.
Having said that, I am first of all bitterly jealous that he's warm and doesn't have to drive the car up our ice covered driveway. And secondly, missing him a lot. Even though it's not like we spend all day together, we do tend to hang in the evenings and I miss it.
Sigh, the car isn't going to be ready for pick up today. As they were replacing a part (a cow panel? What the heck is a cow panel?), they realized our windshield was cracked. So it's coming on Monday. Frustrating because I thought we'd be getting the car back the week of the 5th (although they never gave us a date, so dummy me for taking the initial 3 week estimate), then they told us the 12th, then today, and now it's Monday.
I keep telling myself that it's ok, because our driveway is a sheet of ice, and I'd rather wreck our rental than our newly re-assembled car. But man, this Aveo suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. And the wonderful woman I've been dealing with at Enterprise - Erin - has been very nice, but I just don't want to ask her for any more extensions.
So this year we had 50 degrees until late January, then last week we had sub 10 degrees for a week. And yesterday and today we alternated snow-ice-snow.
End result? My company gave us a "snow day" for the first time in the 7 years I've worked in this area. The light rail lines were shut down completely for 12-18 hours because of ice build up on the power lines. Our street, which is usually toothbrushed clean when the first snowflake hits, as it's a semi-main artery, wasn't cleared until noon today. I like that for Valentine's Day, I got to stay home. Alas, hubby wasn't quite so lucky, but I like the thought.
Why has the posting been so lame for the last 6 weeks? Light posting, lots of grumbling....no really, what the heck?
Well I have to apologize. Basically in the last 6 weeks I don't think I've had a conversation that hasn't ended in Zzzz. Which is to be expected because I'm rounding out the first trimester of my pregnancy.
Yup, folks, somewhere around August 28, 2007, we're going to be first time parents.
So if I start writing really emotional posts, or in the middle of the post start talking about the wonders of pickles and ice cream, I'm hoping you'll understand. I can't even say that things will "get better" because I'm sure after the baby's born, we'll be thinking only of how handsome/beautiful he/she is, how intelligent, and how much we would trade him/her in for a solid 8 hours of sleep.
Hmm, reading some of the stuff about the flap over Edwards's blog mistresses and some of the awful writings they have on their blogs. And my question is....should a potential presidential candidate have as an advisor, someone who is not advancing the dialog they are supposed to be having with the American people? These women got so tied up in the hating that they don't even care what the people they're demonizing think or have to say. Something about their respective blogs caught John Edwards's eye, and made him think that they more accurately reflected his views than some of the other billion bloggers in the blogosphere.
I know that some would say "Well I'm not Catholic" or "I'm not Christian" so it doesn't matter. But...it does. It shows a tin ear for finding out what people want and need. Does it really matter WHICH group was repeatedly offended? What if it's Jews, Muslims, Gay, Straight, Female or Male? Do you really want an advisor, before or after the election, who offends large swaths of the population? This wasn't a case of a single word that could be interpreted wrong, (Hello Joseph Biden) it's repeated blog posts that are pretty clear in their opinion of people who are different than they are. (The irony is, I'm sure there's a blog post or ten in there on how close minded Catholics or Christians are. Why are "open-minded" people the most close-minded people I know?)
John, really, it's too early to make this kind of blunder. Ditch these women unless that high school, name-calling mentality really reflects who you are. Because those voters who are milling around in the middle will be making decisions based on the advisors that you pick.
What a learning day this has been. First there's a CNN article about how a lot of the faux fur products coming from China actually uses real fur....DOG fur. Look, I realize that it's not logical to differentiate between dogs, minks, and other fur bearing creatures. But I curl up with two dogs at night. Fortunately I don't buy stuff with fake fur on it, because I'm just not that fashion forward. If I did, I'd have to leave work to go home and throw it out. Ick.
The other thing that amazed/amused me was that it comes from Raccoon Dogs. Who knew there was such a beastie? Can it be long before we find out that there really is some Pepe LePew baby called a skunk cat?
Loved CNN's headline for the video of Paris Hilton making slurs about every minority group in America: "The Ugly Side of Paris Hilton". Do they mean as opposed to the usual lovely side of her we normally see? The kitten-saving, tireless soup kitchen volunteer?
It was balmy here this AM - 9 degrees fahrenheit. The sick thing is, I was excited. Finally got the dogs out for their normal block this AM, with about 47 stops to brush salt off of their paws. Poor pups. The downside of all of those clear sidewalks for us is it's just brutal on them. I may have to stick to taking them to the snow covered ballfield instead.
I know I shouldn't be so amused by the whole astronaut love triangle thing, but I am. I think I started losing my sense of compassion somewhere around the point in the article where they talk about her wearing Depends so she wouldn't have to stop for potty breaks while driving from Houston to Orlando to kidnap, beat or murder (who knows) her romantic rival. As my friend Tammie put it, all for some stupid-ass man. Who wasn't her husband. Yup, sympathy slipped away never to return.
J.K. Rowlings was talking about how hard it is to say goodbye to Harry Potter, having finished her 7th and final book of the series. To which I can only say "Amen, sister. Your readers are going to miss him too. You did well."
Wow, I watched Prince's half time show tonight on You Tube, and all I can think is...wow, if I'm patient enough, it's going to be cool to like some of these old 80s bands after all.
After reading some reviews today, I've come to realize the only reason I'm disappointed to not watch the Super Bowl last night is because I missed Prince's halftime show. Damn. This link got me a little closer to being there - some audio clips at the end. And I'm thinking a You Tube fix tonight, assuming it doesn't "violate copyrights".
Wow, no sooner do I invoke "The Omnivore's Dilemma", than the New York Times has an article by the author, Michael Pollan.
It's pretty lengthy, so I'll boil it down for you: 1. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables 2. Don't eat anything processed, regardless of the health claims 3. Eat less meat. Consider it a side dish or a flavoring 4. Nutrition has been too focused on the individual components (Saturated fat, omega 3s, vitamins), and thus has lost sight of the overall picture - the interactions, the idea that two food components in a food acting in concert may be what's really important. 5. Eat less...lower cal diets seem to make you live longer
And if anyone is interested in eating locally grown food, the place for farmers markets, CSAs, etc is Local Harvest
You take the dogs for a one hour walk in the morning. While it's 7 degrees fahrenheit outside. Let me tell you, in weather like that, I am totally stylin'. This morning it was a huge brown hat circa the 1980s, bright red coat, black rain pants, two layers of socks, old crappy tennies that desperately need to be replaced, and massive purple, white, and green ski gloves from my two horrible ski outings in the early '90s.
And all the girlies say she's pretty fly for a white guy...
As we speak, my husband is doing the marathon trek through the snow to Philly for tomorrow's Mac Prom. (He has a camera, be warned). Thanks to snowy weather and leaving during Rush Hour (DOH!), he'll take about 6 hours to do a 4.5 hour trip.
On the downside, I'm missing out on seeing the Mac crew. We had a blast last year. I learned how to make a fist and throw a proper punch. And careful now, boys, the guy who taught me how throw a proper punch is an ex-bouncer. The skinniest bouncer you could ever imagine, but I know he knows what he's doing.
But anyway, that means that I get to be snuggled up on the couch with a bowl of chili and a cup of hot tea. And the realization that I don't like the movie "The Player". Oh well, easy come, easy go. I had the dogs out in the snow earlier, so they're busy snoring up a storm, which gives me an unusual evening of quiet.
And in my surfing, I found out...He's Back! Woohoo!
It's always interesting to find out "the other side of the story". Sometimes uncomfortable, but always interesting. In today's example:
I sort of thought biofuels had promise. Lower carbon footprint, renewable resource, what’s not to love?
Well apparently if you’re a poor Mexican… a lot. To the point where they mention in this article that it could start causing malnourishment in people who depend on corn tortillas for their daily sustenance.
It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm…of pish, and crawls insanely up to the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash.
-H.L. Mencken
By Ken Levine One of the writers from the TV series M*A*S*H writes about Hollywood, showbiz, etc
Class Factotum She's Baaaacccckkkkk. And as funny as ever!
Cobb I'm fascinated on this man's ponderings on being American. And being black. And being an African-American.
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman She makes me laugh. Any woman who has named her own disease - Low Blood Sugar Cranky Butt Disorder - is ok by me.
Cute Overload OK! I admit it, I love a website which uses terms like "prosh" and "paws-up-itude". I'm pretty sure I will have my engineering degree taken away now.
Fatmarc Mountain Bike, Cyclo-cross...is there anything this man doesn't do?
