Odysseys and Oddities

Perhaps it's the mood I've been in lately, who knows....but this made me cry. I just found it so very sad. I suppose it doesn't help that her smile looks much like Squeaker's.

From today's PostSecret feed:

See, now this is one of the reasons why I will never, ever be OK with this kind of gun in the hands of the general populace.
Yes, I know, guns don't kill people, people kill people. I don't think there is anything inherently bad with any kind of weapon. And yes, I know that an accident such as this story could have happened with another kind of gun, but honestly. What, exactly, would you be hunting, in Texas, with an AK-47??
That is a human-killing weapon, not an animal-killing weapon. It is an ASSAULT rifle. You don't take it out to go deer hunting!!! Hell, for that matter, I can't find anything that was legal TO hunt in Texas right now, except alligator, in a few places.
Yes yes, right to bear arms and all that....but when you can't be trusted to use a little judgment regarding the appropriateness of the weapons you choose, it's time to put some regulation in place.

ARGH! I'm just so angry for that boy's parents. Even his grandfather, the one who shot him....he's going to have to live with that, and I feel so sorry for him, at the same time I think he was a total idiot.

*sigh* Ever since Squeaker was born, I get so worked up about this stuff!

Pigloo, I HATE you.

For those who are curious:
Pigloo - Bisous D'Eskimo
Pigloo - Papa
Pigloo - Le Ragga des Pingouins

They're great little videos. They're not even particularly annoying. Squeaker adores them -- "Watch penguin again, Mama? Watch penguin one more time?" (by which she actually means, "Watch over and over and over again until you fall into unconsciousness..").

But the tunes are so friggin' catchy I can't GET THEM OUT OF MY HEAD.

/em goes off to find some Ozzy, maybe that will drive it out....

Both LibraryThing and Amazon appear to be down.

Weird.

Hunh. And my husband and all of his group members got booted from Age of Conan at the same time as I lost LT & Amazon.

Doubly weird.

Steampunk movies! Yay!

City of Ember

Now must go hunt up the book and read it first...

The Phoenix has landed!

And there was much rejoicing :)

Listening to the audio of touchdown just made me smile, hearing everybody cheering. I didn't realize that the success rate of missions to Mars was so low until I started reading the news stories about Phoenix -- so good to have another exciting landing...

R.I.P. Robert Asprin

/mourn

I want someone to invent a device that combines a smartphone, MP3 player, and e-reader.

*sigh*

I've been debating getting a Kindle, or the Sony e-Reader, but right now I really can't justify it. I also really want a smartphone, for a variety of reasons, but as useful as it would be, I can't justify the expense for that either.

Now....if I could find a device that combined all of those functions, and did them reasonably well....I might be able to convince M to get it for me as a Hanukkah present this year!

Oh well. Surely somebody will come up with such a device sometime soon.

I just sold something on eBay to a buyer in Japan.
Nifty.

I've now shipped random items to:
The Philippines
Canada
Japan
Hong Kong
and a couple of APOs that I don't know where they were.

I'm so international :)

Check it out, this is gorgeous digital work:
http://community.webshots.com/album/556308726oYaBUS?vhost=community

Have a good Pesach, everybody!

I'm making matzah brei tomorrow, nom nom nom nom

Created by OnePlusYou

Went to Whole Foods yesterday and stocked up on cheese and bread.

Yum yum yum.

Menage : lovely firm cheese made from a blend of cow, sheep, and goat milk.

Coolea : an Irish gouda, with a smoother taste than Dutch gouda.

And a brie.

Yum!

When we lived in Europe when I was small, my mom says I ate my way across the cheese plates of Europe. Whenever we traveled and ate, I would get the cheese plate and a coke, and happily sample all of the local cheeses.

Heaven!

NOTE: While all of the below is going on, I'm also trying to keep up with emails & IMs at work and actually get something done.

1) First thing this morning, Squeaker breaks a glass jar all over the kitchen floor (they're storage jars that I haven't filled yet).

2) Then, everything she insists on for breakfast, she refuses after I make it. Finally, she settles on the first thing she asked for.

3) While I'm getting breakfast ready for her, I knock the coffee creamer (a full bottle of it) out of the fridge onto my foot, the top of it flies off and the stuff goes everywhere. While I'm trying to hold it together and not turn the air blue while the baby is listening....the dog gets in underfoot to lick up the creamer and I nearly break my neck trying to avoid stepping on her. Plus, the creamer has soaked my slippers, so now I have nothing on my feet as I walk around on the kitchen floor where glass has been broken.

4) I have to chase Squeaker around the house to try to get her dressed.

5) I repeatedly have to tell her (and finally yell at her) to quit trying to hit the dog, and not pull the cats' tails, which she thinks is hilarious.

6) Get her off to the babysitter and breathe a sigh of relief. Realize that the mid-term exam for one of my classes is due TONIGHT and I haven't even started on it.

7) Go to pick up the baby, and the babysitter tells me "Oh, by the way, when school lets out this semester (the end of May), I'm not taking kids anymore." I immediately get a headache trying to figure out how I'm going to work full-time and be a full-time SAHM.

8) Squeaker breaks another glass during dinner.

9) When I turn my back to put her dirty diaper on the dresser, she starts jumping on the bed, falls off, and whacks her head on said dresser. I know this because during the two seconds my back was turned, I hear "THUD-KERWACK!" and my heart stops. Luckily, she was mostly just shocked and angry, and doesn't seem to be injured.

10) She is finally in bed, it's almost 8 PM, and I am about to start on my mid-term.

I've been stressed enough lately, and was upset enough with myself about the falling off the bed and the way I'd been yelling at her, that I pretty much lost it and started bawling myself while I was trying to calm her down. She took one look at the tears on my face (and dripping off my chin and rolling down my neck), twisted around in my lap, reached up one little hand, and started patting my face, saying "You OK, Momma, you OK?"

Oh, and let's see, last night we had to call the cops because when M came home from work there was somebody standing on our front lawn, looking in the window of the study where I was sitting (I had the window open a bit due to the lovely weather). So now I'm totally paranoid that someone's going to break in or something.

My best friend called me to let me know she has what is probably a bulging disk in her neck and needs surgery on her hip. Oh, and guess what? She's also waiting on the results of the biopsy to tell her whether or not she has cervical cancer.

Can I have a do-over please?

What in the HELL is "catwaxing?"
I see it all over LJ, almost entirely on writer's blogs. I tried to google it, and got a whole bunch of hits (mostly to LJ entries, go figure), but no definitions.

I gather from context that it has something to do with procrastination, but is it a specific type of writerly procrastination? And from whence did it spring, because I'd really like to know the etymology of that word!

Many happy birthday wishes to revrb, whose birthday was yesterday!

*throws confetti, blows up balloons*

*chases dog to get balloons back*

*chases toddler to get balloons back*

*gives up*

{{HUGS}}, B, hope it was a terrific day :)

Another grandmaster gone

*sad*

Heh. Yep, I'm making an update, and it's not a link, or a news item or anything. Surprised?

Things have been busy around here. I'm taking two classes this semester instead of my usual one, which is keeping me much more on my toes than I had expected. Work is getting busier -- I've had a year and a half of basically sitting on my butt most of the time, waiting for more work, and now things are picking up. As long as it does not get back to the level of my previous incarceration employment with them, I'll be good.

Squeaker is becoming both more of a pain and more of a joy every day. I believe that is normal for a two-year-old :) Yesterday, we went to the grocery store, and she repeated "Want a lollipop, want a lollipop, want a lollipop" over and over and over again the ENTIRE way there. Not upset or screaming or anything, just exactly like a record with a skip (surely everyone here remembers vinyl...right?). I found myself kind of bopping along to the beat of it after a while, "want a LOLLipop, want a loll-I-pop, want a lollity-lollity-lolli-POP" and had to laugh. My mom constantly remarks on how patient I am with her, and how that will be such a good thing in the years to come. I don't know...I have lots and lots of patience with people who don't know any better -- small children, people I'm trying to teach things, animals (mostly...) -- but once they get to the point that I feel like they should know better, my patience goes out the window. I anticipate that the teenage years will be most agonizing....

She is talking up a storm, and is affectionate, and generally well-behaved -- she does her share of limit-pushing, but nothing out of the ordinary for a two year old. She brings a ton of joy to our lives, and that is all we can really ask for.

We're trying to make a bunch of changes in our day-to-day life : getting more green, getting healthier, getting out of debt. I'm going to try making the switch to cloth diapers, for at least the short period of time that Squeaker's still IN diapers -- ordered a "starter kit" today, and we'll see how it goes.

Going to build an indoor vermi-composting bin this weekend (not very hard to do at all, actually!). Also looking at doing some xeriscape planting, or at the very least sticking with native plants. Plants that are native to this area of Texas tend to fit right into the xeriscape plan, of course, since summers here are not known for being particularly wet!

I've been cooking more, and walking more, especially now that the temperatures are so perfect for being outside. Thinking of getting into geocaching. I think it would be a ton of fun to do with the baby.

I'm hoping we're going to try for baby #2 this summer. I've got baby fever BAD, and I'm also starting to get up there in age. But I need to lose more weight, and get in better shape first. And also decided if I really want to do this, for really and for sure. Sometimes I can't imagine having to split my attention, or missing out on any time with Squeaker because I have to care for another child.

Heh, and I know M would be thrilled if I'd give up on having another. We had a huge, gigantic blow-up about that a few months ago. Not something I want to go through again, but I think we got it settled.

Anyway, that's it for now. I grabbed a ton of books from the library on Saturday (it's spring break), so I have reading (for FUN, even!) to catch up on this week....yay! I am trying not to buy books, at least not ones that I am not totally enamored of (there are some authors whose works I always buy). Luckily for me, the library in the next town over is very nice, and if I can't make it there, it doesn't take long for books to get to my town via ILL.

oh oh oh....I have a wonderful idea for a party when I finally finish my MLIS! I found a blog where someone described their library-themed wedding reception, and just think that would be truly excellent...and it would give me a chance to throw a party I could really decorate for, rather than just a backyard BBQ or a kids' party. But I do have to say...I'm looking forward to Squeaker getting older so that I can throw a mad scientists' party, or one of those forensic lab-themed parties, or something like that...that's going to be SO cool.

And I can't wait until she's old enough for Legos, either :-) is that sad? That I can't wait for my little girl to get older so I can play with her toys? LOL

Terry Pratchett donated half a million pounds (about a million US dollars) to the UK organization Alzheimer's Research. There is now a movement among his fans to match that amount via our own donations -- he's got so many fans that it won't take much for each individual.
Here's the link to Match It For Pratchett!!

And many thanks to fastfwd for kicking this off....

Between 2 and 6 inches of snow expected before tomorrow morning.

It's March. In Texas.

(Oh...and all the people on the local message board? Are har-har-har-de-harring about "that myth Global Warming," and how Mr. Gore needs to "give back that Nobel Prize." Sheesh.)