As The Food Turns: Saturday Edition

Look - I really don't want to talk about it, all right? No item-by-item list this week; I'll just leave it all to your imaginations. But that jam jar on the top right? You're right - you have seen it before.

I blame Thanksgiving for the shameful fridge-cleanout results this week. And my parents' visiting and taking us out to dinner for a few nights. And just the general chaos of life. And, hey! I started a new job, too! So cut me some slack, will ya?

Why Convents Are A Good Idea

I let Anna bike alone to the library yesterday. She returned a few hours later with the exciting news that a strange man in a red pick-up truck had stopped and asked her if she were from Czechoslovakia (I spelled that right the first try, thanks).

Me [mentally clutching heart]: And you kept biking, right?
Her: And I said I wasn't from Czechoslovakia...
Me: And then you biked away!
Her: No-o-o-o. And then he said, "Well, you look very pretty anyway." Isn't that neat?
Me: And? And?
Her: Then he got back in his truck and drove away.
Me:
Her: He was very nice!

Yes, most serial killers are, aren't they?

And no, she's not biking alone again. Ever.

Dream On

I admit it - I didn't clean out the fridge yesterday. My negligence came back to haunt me in my dreams last night (what is it with all these dreams, anyway?). There were leftovers everywhere; I turned on the oven to preheat it and discovered (too late) that there were Pyrex storage dishes full of food in the oven, their plastic lids melting in the heat. Opening the refrigerator, I found single-serving cups of yogurt far advanced enough in the fermentation process to have burst through their foil tops. There was an entire dinner entree that I had no memory whatsoever of preparing. Larry walked into this scene of housekeeping carnage and said something to the effect of, "What is wrong with you, anyway?"

(A side note here: in the dream, I had to yell at David for attempting to save one of the aforementioned yogurts from the trash. His packrat tendencies irritate me, even in my sleep.)

Is there no rest for the weary? Is anyone else out there tormented at night by their daytime housekeeping inadequacies? Inquiring minds want to know...

Dream Weaver

Last night I dreamed that Larry moved all of us to Central America for a few years. To some small, nowhere town in the mountains (Are there mountains in Central America? Must check), where no one knew any English. And we don't speak Spanish. I expressed some trepidation over this situation and he said, "Don't worry, honey. The language immersion will be great for the kids."

Only a homeschooler would dream that.

Anyway, the day after we moved to this strange place where we couldn't communicate with anyone, he went on a 3-week business trip.

But he left us presents. I got a kit full of hand- and ankle-weights.

So maybe he thinks I need more exercise and that I talk to my friends too much. But I do think he should keep those thoughts to his own dreams and stop interfering in mine, don't you?



Boy, that picture looks weird. Was everyone on drugs in the 70's, or what?

Shopping and Knitting and Puppies!

I took 3 daughters to the mall today to help Anna find a dressy white blouse for Anna for her concert. No, it wasn't easy; but mothering girls is not for the weak. If you can't stand the heat, get the heck out of the shopping center, all right?

We emerged from the mall victorious. And then I came home to undone laundry, a half-done dinner, and general chaos all around. Because I wouldn't want to feel like a success or anything...

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Orchestra carpool tonight - that meant that I had almost 3 hours to sit around and knit. This is why it is a good idea to encourage musical interest in your progeny.

Although you do have to give up some of your yarn money for those darn lessons....[oh, hey, no pun intended - but that was pretty good, wasn't it?]

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If I don't remember to get the recycling out on time tomorrow morning, I am going to have to buy a new house to live in that isn't filled with old newspapers or empty plastic bottles. But at least that isn't as embarrassing a reason for a forced new-house purchase as this one. It's hard to feel sorry for these people, I must say. Anyone stupid enough to e-mail naked pictures of herself to her husband's cell phone and then be surprised that other people saw them deserves online infamy. And now they are suing people over it. I hope the judge laughs at them and tells them to go away. Oh, and confiscates their cell phones, also...

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While I finished preparing dinner, I kept the younger kids busy by letting them watch this puppy-cam site. Anna, hearing them oohing and aahing over the fluffy little things, said, "Isn't it sort of pathetic that they have electronic pets?"

I can't imagine where she gets that sardonic wit from.

Awww - I just went to the site again to copy the link, and all the widdle puppies are settling down to sleep....

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Have you noticed? I don't think anyone has thrown up here since July 4th. That must be some sort of a record. I might even have to take "Vomit!" off my header. Gladly.