Saturday, May 30, 2009

All Over The Place

Has no one noticed that I have been without a working dishwasher for several weeks now? Do I receive no kudos for not even complaining about this situation? Does anyone even realize how many dishes I have washed by hand in the past month?

I think I'm needing a little pat on the back right now.

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I'm not sure whether I've ever addressed this issue here before, but Larry tends to be a very thorough person. Whatever he does, he does to sort of an extreme (I mean, let's face it, he's got 6 kids). So when we bought this house 2 years ago and decided we needed to install ceiling fans in several rooms, the man went into hyperdrive. Whereas most people would have moseyed on down to the local Home Depot and come home with some fans that same day, Larry devoted a good 2 weeks of his life deciding which fans to buy and where to buy them.

He researched. He Googled. He compared and contrasted. There were spreadsheets, people, comparing various fans and their attributes. Larry was going to get the very best fans, by golly, so he wouldn't ever have to replace them and go through this process again.

He tends to go a little overboard, okay?

So! We installed the fans (ordered over the Internet) in 5 bedrooms, the dining room, the kitchen, and the family room. It took the electrician all day to get the job done. When he left, Larry proudly showed me what excellent fans he had purchased by flicking on the one in the master bedroom. "Look at this power!" he said. "These have the best motors!"

Folks, when that fan is on, it feels like a gale force wind. It is strong enough to alter local weather patterns. When we turn on all 4 bedroom fans upstairs, I wince. I expect the entire roof to lift off and go sailing away under their power.

And then there was the matter of the light fixtures. Larry chose them, because looking at all his spreadsheets made me whimper. The master bedroom and the kitchen fans ended up with this fixture where the chain for the light hangs down through a hole in the bottom of the globe. As the fan whirls, the chain tends to describe a small circle in the air, reminding me of that scene in The Graduate when Dustin Hoffman takes his date to a strip club, and the stripper stands over their table and twirls the tassels on her pasties (what? you don't remember that scene?).

I've told you all this just to explain why as I lie in bed - clutching the covers to keep them from blowing off and staring up at the chain twirling around and around - I am always trying to remember the name of the actress that played Anne Bancroft's daughter in The Graduate.

I guess sometimes a ceiling fan is not just a ceiling fan.

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Tonight was my last night at the bookstore. In theory, I start my new job next week. But I've received no formal notification of that. I feel as if I made the whole thing up - you know, that thing about flexible hours and work from home and do you mind making 25 dollars an hour and setting your own schedule? Next thing you know, I'll be telling you I'm going to be an astronaut, or perhaps a trapeze artist. Hey, if I'm going to make things up, I should go a little wild, right?


Friday, May 29, 2009

Repairmen And Pinkeye And Naps, Oh My!

I'm still here! There's been a mutiny of sorts by the labor-saving appliances in this household - both the dryer and the washer joined the dishwasher on the endangered species list, so I've been too busy beating our clothes clean on a rock by the creek (and, boy, did that piss off the golf course people - who knew they considered that to be trespassing?) to find time to blather on about my woes here. Fortunately, the repairman showed up yesterday and fixed the washer for free and the dryer for almost free, plus gave me a long lecture on the maintenance requirements for both machines - requirements which render the moniker "labor-saving" just a tad inaccurate, I believe.

Anyway, he looked at the dishwasher also and extricated a 50-cent paintbrush from its innards. He took the time to point out to me what I already knew - that throwing out the dirty paintbrush and buying a brand-new one might have been more cost-effective than replacing the now jammed dishwasher motor. In other words, sometimes frugality can really bite you in the butt.

I managed to refrain from pointing out to him that stupid people like me are the ones who keep him in business. Aren't you proud of me?

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Tonight was Theo's high school graduation ceremony. The speaker, for reasons unknown, found it necessary to tell us how great homeschooling is. You know, those of us in attendance already knew that. Or we wouldn't have been there. Sheesh.

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We were supposed to go strawberry picking today. We couldn't find a place and we were getting a late start, so we decided to visit the zoo instead. We had a tradition of Larry taking the kids to the zoo whenever I was home with a new baby, a tradition that worked well for me because I hate zoos. They smell like animals and poop. But no new baby has come along in 4 years, so we thought we had better break with tradition and go anyway.But by the time we got to the zoo (which took a while), the parking lots were all full.

Okay! Plan B! Or, really, Plan C - drive across town and visit an air and space museum. Museums are better than zoos, anyway - they have air conditioning and no animal smells. But it took forever to get there. And you know what? I hate being in a museum for more than 45 minutes. I have the attention span of a gnat.

It was not a good day.

By the time we got home it was past my nap time. I don't know what's wrong with me lately; but if I don't get a nap between 4 and 5 PM, I can't even function. I LOVE MY NAP! I NEED MY NAP! I AM CRANKY AND UNBEARABLE WITHOUT MY NAP! Apparently, if you have had a napping baby/toddler for 17 years, it rubs off on you. And it sticks. No one needs a nap in this house anymore but me.

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Time for bed. I've got to be awake and alert tomorrow so that I don't mess up anyone's medications - we've got two outer ear infections and one pinkeye patient, and all those little bottles of drops look alike when I am sleep-deprived.

No vomit, though - and for that, I am grateful.




Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Why Bad Things Happen To Skinny People

You know, I think now would be a good time to just sit back and enjoy a bit of poetic justice. I mean, who amongst us would have dreamed that showing off our bods in skinny jeans could be so dangerous?

And - while we're busy asking questions here - who says that life is unfair?

Not me. Not anymore.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Title Currently Unavailable

Today was Susie's birthday and I've decided to spare y'all a picture of the cake. You're welcome. She received several presents, among them a pack of M&M's, a Hershey bar (with almonds), and a small carton of iced animal cookies. Also, a plastic pail and shovel and a coloring book, all from the dollar aisle at Target.

I know, I know, we spoil her. She is, after all, the baby of the family.

The bicycle from Grandma and Grandpa has not yet materialized. I couldn't bring myself to buy the Dora the Explorer model. I haven't sunk quite that far yet. Give me another day or two, all right?

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It's raining again. I don't mind the rain so much, but I do mind Susie peeing in her rainboots. It gets old.

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Remember Larry's plans for a flagstone patio? Apparently, one of our neighbors complained to the local housing association that our backyard has been an unsightly mess for a year now. I wish I knew who it was, so that I could thank him/her. I should have a finished patio within a month.

And, no, it wasn't me who complained. But it wouldn't have been a bad idea.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Surprise!

Susie's birthday is tomorrow, and Grandma and Grandpa want her to have a bicycle. Simple, right? I went to Target this evening after Susie went to bed, but all they had in her size was a Dora the Explorer bike. I couldn't deal with that, so I moseyed on over to KMart and found a simple pink bike complete with training wheels. Mission accomplished!

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I crack me up!

I came home and woke up Larry to assemble the bike. Ever the dutiful husband, he complied while I went out to take care of some other things. When I returned, he was crawling around the den floor searching for a missing nut. The bike was completely assembled except for the seat, and I waxed ecstatic over the pink pedals, agog with anticipation of Susie coming downstairs in the morning and discovering her BRAND NEW BIKE in the middle of the living room. It would be the best present ever!

"Can you help me look for this thing?" asked Larry.

"Sure! Maybe it fell in the box! Let's see...hmmm....oh, wait....wait a second...whoa..."

"What?"

"Uh, there are no brakes."

"What?!"

"It says right here - no brakes. Why would someone make a bike without brakes? Do they hate little kids?"

"No brakes..."

"Yeah..."

I wonder how early Target opens in the morning?