It's beeen a crappy week. (And as promised, pics...) (Fri 28 Sep 07)

I'm not going to go into the details of why the week has been crappy. But believe me, it has been, and it's been quite busy as well. So it was nice when the following was received as a surprise from The Boy Who Lived:

Then to make things better, we made good on our plans to make a pizza (his idea!). As in, actually make one, not just bake it. Neither of us had even done that before. And truthfully, he put forth 90% of the effort. All I did was chop up red pepper, some onion, and cook the sausages. We did cheat by not making the crust or tomato sauce; I'm willing to tackle the crust and he's more than willing to make a sauce next time. Here is the final product of Pizza No. 1 (Pizza No. 2 is waiting in the refrigerator to be baked tomorrow):

And now for a couple of pictures from last weekend...these are both motorcycle-related pics; the motorcycle belongs to The Chosen One's mother. We went for a nice ride. It's the beginning of fall, but still warm, so there was a beautiful selection of colors painted in the so-alive-it's-breathing scenery. First, me with Mira; then me with The Boy Who Lived on the bike:

Friday September 28, 2007 - 08:48pm (PST)

Comments
Helloooo, Leather Girl! ;)--julie
Saturday September 29, 2007 - 04:28pm (PST)

You are the epitome of bike chic! My week was awful, too. French feast and Omaha trip were great, it just wasn;t quite enough to steal the thunder from the craptastic events (and exes) of my life. I bought us some flowers for cheer, and my cat ate half of them. Your fleurs, on the otherhand, look lovely.--Amber,non-blogger extraordinaire

I promise to post pictures next time! :) (Tue 25 Sep 07)

Good news and bad news to report.

Bad news first:

We didn't get to go to the football game as planned. Someone was a scammer. But, rest assured, we are fairly certain that said person is now safely incarcerated. :)

Good news:

-Mira was actually pretty good in the car, even without her brother to entertain her, and without the aid of media in the form of a travel DVD player I didn't borrow from my mom. BUT she wouldn't stay asleep in the car, which was unfortunate given that most of our driving (12 hours there and 11 hrs back) was done at night. It's not 'supposed' to take quite that long to get there but we ran into traffic coming both to and fro and had to make several stops, given that we had a small child in our midst.

-I liked The Boy Who Lived's friends and family.-If possible, I like the Boy Who Lived even more. But as previously stated, I'm not sure that that's even a plausible concept.

-Mira behaved herself remarkably well (in relation to typical or probable Mira behavior based on prior experience). Although I might add it was somewhat peculiar to see The Chosen One's mom doing her hair, giving her a bath, taking her places, etc., especially given that I'd never met her before. It's all good, though, of course.

-I liked The Boy Who Lived's friends and family. (Oh wait, I already said that).

-If possible, I like the Boy Who Lived even more. (Oh wait, I already said that too).

Tuesday September 25, 2007 - 10:56pm (PST)

Comments
Rats...you missed the chance to sit in the freezing cold and watch guys run around and hit each other with a ball. But still, the cheering and the hot dogs would be fun! And beer!--Amber
Wednesday September 26, 2007 - 10:21am (PST)

That's a long damn drive for no game! Sucky. But I'm sure glad you can see the positives... and what good positives they are! :)--julie
Wednesday September 26, 2007 - 06:00pm (PST)

hey hey amber...there was no freezing cold! it was beautiful!
Friday September 28, 2007 - 08:27pm (PST)

This is a bit sudden, isn't it? (Fri 21 Sep 2007)

We're driving to WHOOPS-NEVERMIND today. Yeah, um, we'll just say, hop-skipping a state or two or three or whatever-who-cares over, a ten hour drive, and yes Miss Mira will be in the vehicle. We're going to meet the Boy Who Lived's family, as well as go to a professional football game...I'd say the team, but that'd give me away, wouldn't it? There's actually a pretty good story that goes along with how this all came about but...shoot, I need to be packing. And don't bother about the itty-bitty detail that I have to go to work, too.

Unfortunately, we have to turn around and come back immediately following the game because I have a training to attend in Omaha on Monday morning. Positive Parenting or some other possible BS, possible valuable information...for its sake and my own, it had better be the latter as opposed to the former.

Friday September 21, 2007 - 12:32am (PST)

Comments
Have a fun trip! I hope the drive is... quiet. :)--julie
Friday September 21, 2007 - 10:03am (PST)

Wooo! Have fun! Good oluck with the drive! Enjoy yourself! (GIVE DETAILS when you're back! ;) )--M
Saturday September 22, 2007 - 11:54am (PST)

Damn. Pumpkin. (Tue 18 Sep 07)

My big toe hurts.
Left foot rammed into a pumpkin as I innocuously perused produce at the grocery store about half an hour ago. Oh, whoops, stubbed my toe. Uttered a curse of some sort and went about my...OW!Why does it still hurt so much? I looked down, and saw blood trickling from under my toenail. Great, I've cracked my toe nail on a flippin' pumpkin? Feeling like an idiot, I bend over beside my cart to more closely inspect my bleeding toe. The nail's not cracked. So it's bleeding...why? And it's still throbbing with agony...why? There's pumpkin bits jammed under my toenail. WTF. My toe nail is neither particularly long nor sharp. But apparently it sliced right into that pumpkin at just the right angle...Feeling even more moronic, I bend back over, and start to pick at my bleeding toe nail...in the grocery store produce section...digging out pieces of pure-evil-pumpkin. Worse still, I'm now home and unable to determine if there's any pumpkin left under there (because damn it still aches...actually, though, getting kinda numb now) and heaven-be-damned if I'm gonna seek treatment for Pumpkined Toenail. Gross. And stupid.

Tuesday September 18, 2007 - 06:54pm (PST)

Comments
Oh. my. ow. eww. yuck. EEEEEEEP!!!Maybe you, uh, SHOULD have it looked at? Just in case? Can you imagine pumpkin rot infection in your wounded toe? SICK! (Of course wtf would they do? Look at it, shrug, and say come back if it gets worse most likely.)BTW the character left limit on here makes me amused. I mean, I could probably never meet it I just like watching it tick down super fast as I cruise along.I am way too easily amused. And off topic.Your toe. I feel for it. I'm so so sorry.--M
Wednesday September 19, 2007 - 07:08pm (PST)

I felt like such a whiny b*tch posting this but damn it was true, it DID hurt, and guess what, I DO think it's infected...great. I'll see how it feels in the morning...wait, it is morning...okay, later this morning when I'm SUPPOSED to be awake...Glad the character limit is amusing you. I must admit I kinda like it too. :)
Friday September 21, 2007 - 12:25am (PST)

I've never heard of a pumpkin infection before. Just clean it out really good and slap on Neosporin? And go yell at the idiot who put the pumpkin there in the first place!--julie
Friday September 21, 2007 - 10:05am (PST)

I had a good birthday, thanks :) (Sat 15 Sep 2007)

Thanks to the many MySpace well-wishers (and the few I did see in person too). I had a good day. It started off in usual business form, with a meeting at 9am where my agency got totally bashed and reprimanded and followed by a person who was an hour late to her appointment after practically yelling at me over the phone the day before because I couldn't pay for her grandchild's birth certificate at that very moment. But she was polite when she did arrive, and thankfully was pleasant enough throughout the rest of the ordeal. Actually, even though I was hella busy at work on my birthday ('twas Thursday, the 13th--next year will be a Friday again! Yay), everyone was at least cordial. If you don't know, I work at a Native American community cultural center as Executive Assistant and also help with family services, which is what truly encompasses most f my time spent there. I was busy all day long doing intakes, giving diapers and personal hygiene items to families and other sorts of things, but not a one of those people was rude or overly demanding, which is often the case. :)

The wand and halo were a gift from a beloved co-worker. You know, one of the few I don't feel like strangling on a regular basis. In the evening, we went to play Laser Tag with my son, my son's dad, my son's friend, two of my younger brothers, and The Boy Who Lived. It was fun, and I screamed a lot. Because, I scream, that's my thing. I don't mean to do it, I just do.

At night, we went with my friend Edie, and again, The Chosen One. Had fun. Drank a bit. Stayed out too late, but not to the point where I had a hangover or couldn't get to work in the morning.

Heaven Help Us All (Mon 10 Sep 2007)

I'm really coming to the end of my rope in terms of Voldemort. I refuse to share with him the identity of the Boy Who Lived. Absolutely refuse. No matter who he threatens to call in attempt to harvest information, despite the many insults he slings my way. Interestingly, there is a source of information right under his nose. Thankfully, that source has remained mysteriously silent. I don't understand why or how this is possible, but I am grateful for this tiny bit of censorship (because it certainly has nothing to do with any allegiance towards me).

Too Cute for Her Own Good (Fri 07 Sep 2007)

Who would believe that this child is a tyrant? And it gets worse...she's developing her speech skills at an alarming rate, finally...just try to say no to this cute little face after its corresponding cute little voice asks for "moooore peeeze" of something. Or try to deny her being picked up when she asks for "hug, peeeze."

On the other hand, she is getting very good about going to her time-out spot, and coming out of said time-out spot better behaved.

Friday September 7, 2007 - 10:45am (PST)

Comments

The time out spot is the next step here. I have serious doubts that she'll stay. But you're right... tyrant is the perfect word to describe it.--julie
Friday September 7, 2007 - 09:57pm (PST)

OMG tyrant is so unbelievable because what a doll she is. She always looks so grown up. Though time out spot? I am SUPER jealous that works! WOOT for effective punishment!--M

Saturday September 8, 2007 - 07:19am (PST)

Mama Heart Attack! (Mon 03 Sep 2007)

It's Labor Day. La-dee-freakin' da, but hey, cool, we get to stay home 'n chill. Or something like that.


So, there I was, nonchalantly cooking a gourmet lunch of macaroni and cheese and green beans. Waiting for the water to boil. Torrin and Mira had been permitted to go outside, but only on the porch. The silence on the porch was a dead giveaway to the lack of instruction-following, so I paraded on outside, slightly nervous at what may be transpiring on the perimeter of my house. Of course, they're not on the porch. Look down the west side of the house, towards the back, where we park our car and there's a ton of gravel. Mira loves to throw rocks. No sign of the two.


Okay, starting to feel a bit panicked. I yell, "Tooooooooorrin!" No response.


Back to the front of the house, look down the block to the east and up toward the west. Nothing, at first, except it looks like the neighbors a few buildings away are having another garage sale.


Wait a second! There's Torrin on his bike, coming toward the house, down the hill. He gets going pretty fast on that hill sometimes...


Where's Mira?


Oh, sh*t! She's on the bike too!

Yeah, no training wheels...they've been absent for over a year now. I guess Torrin is a pretty steady rider after all...and that four-and-a-half year age difference is seeming to not interfere much with sibling scheming...


Monday September 3, 2007 - 02:09pm (PST)


Comments
OMG I would've freaking died.
That said? That pic is unreasonably cute and Mira is really sobworthy old now!--M
Monday September 3, 2007 - 04:18pm (PST)

Makes for a great picture, though!--Amber
Monday September 3, 2007 - 06:33pm (PST)

Like, OMG, Becky, her butt is soooo big. (Sat 01 Sep 2007)

Thursday, I went to my local friendly slightly ghetto downtown YMCA. This is nothing unusual; we go there a couple of times per week. I did my typical 20 minutes on the elliptical. At one point I looked up from my book long enough to turn my head and see a little, blonde, fakely-orange tanned girl totally scrutinizing her rear end in the mirror in full view of everyone in the room, including one or maybe two men. Ummmokay. Whatever. Back to Harry Potter.

Next I set out to do my weight training circuit which is on the same floor adjacent to the cardio machines. Again, nothing unusual. In fact, since we had gone later than we normally do in the evening, it was actually less crowded and I was able to go through the first six machines without interruption or having to wait for someone to get off of something. Now, on the seventh machine, an inner thigh deal, The Blonde Butt-Checking Girl was sitting. And had been sitting. In fact, she hadn't used the machine at all in the past five minutes that she'd been sitting on it. She was doing her makeup. And text messaging on her phone.

Now this is all fine and dandy but it was pretty obvious that I was going to want to use that machine. I was utilizing the circuit, doing 1 or 2 sets of 10-20 reps on each machine, in order. And it's annoying to go out of order because they're set up in a way that you won't do two different leg or arm machines consecutively; that is, there'll be a leg machine followed by something for the arms following by another kind of leg thing and then something for your abs or back. Or whatever. Anyway, she was in my way and she was either oblivious or didn't care. So, I skipped around her, grudgingly, screwing up my sequence. I'm next to her, using an upper arm machine, as she continues to waste space (and oxygen) on herself, sitting on the inner thigh machine, not using it or anything. She gets up. I'm excited, thinking she's finally going to move. Nooooo. She just stands there, directly adjacent to the machine, in such a way that she's in the way and she has to know it by now. So what does she do? Calls up her friend. "Heeeey! I was just wondering if you wanted to go with me tomorrow to get our nails done? Or do you work? I need to get my nails done!"

You're freakin' kidding me. Thank god, she left after that.

Saturday September 1, 2007 - 10:12am (PST)