Da doo doo doo, da da da da….is all I want to say to you…

My title has nothing to do with my post. I had this song stuck in my head earlier today and it seemed like it would work okay.

CRASH BANG!
I played volleyball over my lunch hour. It’s always a good day when I get to do that. Wednesdays and Fridays are volleyball days. We have an online folder at work and people post messages and say which days they can play. If we have enough people, it’s game on!

Last couple months a lot of the regulars have dropped off (big weanies!) and we haven’t had enough people to get a game going. But recently a new crop of people have started coming so hopefully there will be a lot more VB in my future. It beats walkin’ the treadmill – makes me feel too much like a hamster.

Good game today – 3 on 3. Harder workout than I’ve had in a while - this group can get pretty intense.

One week and counting
The next week and a half is going to get very nutty. Darling daughter’s very first dance recital is next Friday, dress rehearsal is a week from tonight. We’re having her birthday party Saturday morning.

WHO THE HECK SCHEDULED THE BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR THE MORNING AFTER THE DANCE RECITAL!?!?!?!? Oh wait…that was me…

My avatar dresses better than I do!
Check out the new outfit on my avatar! I don’t have a thing in my wardrobe that comes close to what she’s wearing. I thought it was cute. Why can’t I find this in the stores when I go shopping? :-/

Wah?
I took this quiz I found at The Laughing Frog. I am a Pixie. Who knew?

You scored as Pixie. One can find you swinging on a garden swing among the irises and snapdragons. You like to play pranks on skeptical humans. Your sceptor is a flower, and the garden is your home. Twilight Mistress Fairy 56% Pixie 56% Druid Fairy 50% Raven Fairy 48% Rose Thorn Fairy 42% Autumn Fairy 42% Ethereal Priestess Fairy 38% Goddess of the Golden Dawn 38% Snow Fairy 13% Which Firefly-Path Fairy are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Lest we forget...

When you get a second, drop by JT's blog and write him a quick note. He is currently serving in Iraq.

Picture: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/memorial-day-flags-in-2004.htm

Update: I swiped this pic from JT's blog (hope you don't mind JT).

Sinking feeling…

Give me a clogged drain, a corroded trap, a disintegrating slip joint and a stuck piece of pipe and I’ll show you how you can have fun all day.

Problem now requires a hacksaw and a new connector. And to think this all started because of a slow drain.

We're not giving in and calling a plumber...yet.

Sigh…

Don't scratch it, you'll only make it worse: DaVinci Code revisited

I wanted to leave this alone... I wanted to walk away and let sleeping dogs lie but I just...can't...help myself!

Deep breath....

This letter to the editor appeared in the Des Moines Register on Thursday, May 25.

Church doth protest too much
I am shocked at all the hoopla about The Da Vinci Code. Granted, it was a great fictional book, but it was just that — fiction. I personally can hardly wait to see the movie, but I know it is fiction.The Catholic Church should worry more about the sexual abuse going on with their priests than what Dan Brown writes in a novel.No one knew that Frank Sinatra was associated with the mob until he sued the writer/publisher of “The Godfather” because he thought they were writing about him.So what is the Catholic Church hiding when it goes after a fictional book?

— Ann Danielson, West Des Moines, Iowa

Sigh....

So the golden nugget of what this person is saying is this - Since the church vehemently denies the proposterous story outlined in Dan Brown's book, then that is proof the church has something to hide and there just might be some truth to this fictional book.

Given that logic, if I am falsely accused of adultery and I vehemently deny it and take up an agressive, pro-active stance to correct the lies and dispel the rumors then I must be guilty of adultery. Or in the very least there might be a grain of truth to the story and I am trying to cover it up.

Ex-squeeze-me?

Another point - the writer says the Catholic Church should worry more about the sexual abuse going on with its priests than the DaVinci Code. Yes - the church should be concerned with the sexual abuse but that doesn't mean they should ignore false information that attacks the very origins of Christianity.

Back to my adultery example - that would mean if I am falsely accused of adultery but I am also an admitted (insert vice of your choice: drunk, jaywalker, speeder, Chia Pet collector...etc...) I can't address the false rumors of my infidelity until I am successfuly treated and "cured" of my other problem? Why can't I address both at the same time? Why would a human failing in one area prohibit me from addressing false accusations in another?

Some polls have shown that people who have read the DaVinci Code (Christians and non-Christians) are asking if the story could in fact be true, completely overlooking or are ignorant of the fact major points of the historical timeline presented in the book are false. Falling away of the faithful? False information turning away potential new believers? If that isn't a concern the church should address, then I don't know what is.

I'm not usually one to come to the defense of the Catholic Church but the questions being raised because of the DaVinci Code impact all of Christianity and not just Catholics.

Working in a coal mine...

Work...work work work.... Work is a four letter word. It's not that I hate my job - cuz I really don't, it's just that I'm not sure I want to do this for the rest of my life but not sure I would want to do any one thing for the rest of my life either.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

My inner Murphy Brown and Donna Reed are just sitting and staring at each other. (Come on girls! Snap out of it!)

My department is going through some changes and projects are being reshuffled. Goodbye old and familiar and hello learning curve. Maybe it's a good thing. New challenges, new faces, new projects...sigh...

I took Monday and Tuesday off from work this week. Golf on Monday and a trip out to Iowa City on Tuesday - just hubby and me. It was lovely! We were selfish parents and dropped darling daughter off at daycare instead of taking her with us. Hubby says I shouldn't feel guilty about it but my mommy instincts still twinged off and on - guilt spasm.

Taking time off early in the week feels weird - like a preview to retirement or something. If this is retirement then bring it on, baby! I told hubby I could get used it. Only another 30 years to go!!! (hoo-rah) Coming back to work on Wednesday was rough. At least we have another long weekend coming up.

Speaking of long weekends...

You did what?!?!?!?
Will this torment ever cease?!?!? This Saturday will mark the third weekend in a row we have plans to see darling mother-in-law. First it was Mother's Day - to be expected. Then it was her birthday - also to be expected. But then hubby agreed we would have dinner with his mom and some of her friends on Saturday night!!! Why oh why?!?!?

Must log off now and search for knitting needles to plunge into my eyes...

They say it’s your birthday, but where the hell are ya?

We hosted darling mother-in-law’s birthday party at our house on Sunday. My day started with wiping up melted ice cream out of the bottom of my refrigerator and off the floor at 7 a.m. (before my first cup a coffee – not good). I didn’t realize a grocery bag mother-in-law dropped off the day before had two half gallons of ice cream in it. My fault – I should have checked. I thought it just had bags of salad.

Mother-in-law wanted us to go to her church with her on her birthday but didn’t tell us until after we arrived when the service let out (11:30 a.m.) or when the rest of the family was showing up at our house (12 noon). It takes 30 minutes to drive back to our house. Anyone notice a problem with this timeline? Even with leaving the service early, we still had our guests waiting in the driveway (and doing the potty dance) for 30 minutes.

I put the lasagna in the oven as soon as I got to the house - it was another two hours before we could eat. Thank heavens for the relish tray and multiple bags of potato chips. (…sigh…) This is the last time I allow mother-in-law to control the timeline when we are hosting an event.

Not Martha
I may not be Martha Stewart but I do have certain standards when I have company at my house.

1. Be at the house BEFORE guests arrive; don’t let them wander around the backyard like refugees.

2. Make sure bathroom facilities are available - having your guests die of ruptured bladders/colons will not get you a favorable mention in the society pages.

3. Don’t let guests starve or die of thirst; serve food/drinks in a reasonable amount of time.

4. No matter how much you want to, do not pummel the guest of honor with dinner rolls. Wack her upset the head with a frozen lasagna.

Playing around…
…of golf. (get your mind out of the gutter!) Hubby and I both had the day off today so we played the front 9 at Grand View Golf Course. A final wedge shot up hill, over a bunker and on to the green kept me from giving up the game completely.

The whiniest song ever written
Overheard this little toe tapper (not!) while eating lunch today with hubby in a local restaurant - Everyone else is having more sex than me. Sheesh! Romance is dead…

Your guess is as good as mine
The case of the missing bricks has been solved. A seven year old neighbor boy took them and tossed them down a nearby storm drain. We had just enough spare bricks to fix the wall.

Wocka wocka wocka!

For those who know me, this should not come as any great surprise.

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!" You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up. If only your routine didn't always bomb! You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

HT: Nancy Dancehall

More Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise

Verily I say unto you, freely partake of the my bloggy Lutheran potluck. Take all you want but please eat all you take.

Happy 100th post!!!
Can you believe it? When I started this blog in September 2005, I had no goals or milestones in mind. I figured I would continue to write as long as I had something to say. I hope you have enjoyed my posts as much as I've enjoyed writing them.

The Duh Vinci Code
I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to jump into the fray with posting anything about the Da Vinci Code. I read the book and I was unimpressed so why waste my time commenting on or going to see the movie of a substandard novel I wished I hadn't wasted my time reading in the first place? I wasn't going to until I happened upon this quote from Ian McClellen,

"Well, I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction. I mean, walking on water, it takes an act of faith."

Of course it takes an act of faith! Christianity is based on faith and faith alone! Thank you for pointing out the obvious and insulting millions of Christians worldwide all because you're a little miffed by the criticism of your precious movie. Mr. McClellen, you may be a brilliant actor but you are still an ass.

HT: News Busters http://newsbusters.org/stories/dv.html?q=node/5402

Lucky, lucky, lucky me...
Guess who gets to host mother-in-law's birthday party on Sunday.
Guess who thinks I am incapable of cleaning my own house and should hire a cleaning lady to come and make sure MY house is clean enough for HER party.
Guess what evil thoughts are currently going through my mind about my mother-in-law.

Insulting a woman's ability to keep house is like questioning a man's skill with power tools. Everyone has a cross to bear and mine comes in the shape of a 5 foot, 2 inch, 250 pound elderly woman.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil.
- Psalm 37:8

All in all it's just another brick in the wall
When hubby and I got home from work last night, we discovered someone had taken six bricks from the top of our retaining wall in front of our house. It's not a huge deal. The bricks only cost us $1 a piece and we have left over bricks to fix the wall, but it bugs me some deviant is making off with our stuff. And what kind of knuckle dragging moron steals landscaping bricks?!? I hope whoever did it drops one of them on his/her foot.

We called the police and filed a report. No - we're not expecting them to put an APB out on a pile of bricks but we thought if other people in the neighborhood were having stuff taken from their yards then at least the police would have a record of it.

Love that man of mine!
I have to brag about hubby for a minute. He just got his grades back for this semester and I am very proud to say he has finished his first year of grad school and is a straight "A" student! Just two more years to go!

Long weekend ahead
I'll be playing the part of domestic diva tonight and tomorrow cleaning for the aforementioned birthday party on Sunday. After that, I'll have plenty of time to relax since I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off from work.

For more bloggy potlucks with no nutritional value whatsoever:

• Lime jello marshmallow cottage cheese surprise (burf!)
• A second helping of lime jello marshmallow cottage cheese surprise
  

Gross jello picture from http://www.swankola.com/md/jello/jell01.html

Return to Treasure Island

Isn't it funny how some stories are retold over and over again?

That's what my mom said after I told her about watching Walt Disney's Treasure Planet with darling daughter over the weekend. The animated movie is a retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island with a space age twist. The movie was released in November 2002 but like most movies I'm just now getting around to seeing it.

I thought it would be campy and lame but I was pleasantly surprised. Sure they took some liberties with the plot - Long John Silver was not a cyborg in the book - but they did do an excellent job of keeping the "heart" of the story. They even recreated the "apple barrel scene" - if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the book.

Speaking of reading the book, that is exactly what I am doing. I decided to go back to the source and re-read (or is it re-re-read) Treasure Island. I remembered quite a bit from the book while I was watching the movie but I want to read the story again to see where they added and subtracted.

I'm kind of funny about the classics. A couple years ago, I re-read To Kill a Mocking Bird simply because I heard some pin heads on a school board somewhere banned it from the school's library.

Chi-O gals

I had a fabulous lunch with gal pals "Paris" and "Salsa" today. Best line from lunch.

"...and that's when the bi-polar disorder took center stage..."

What a laugh riot! Great lunch! Can't wait till next time!!!

Mother's Day - Part II

I'm happy to say I got rid of my blues. Mother’s Day was chaotic, crazy, funny, stressful, and tiring….in other words, it was just like any other day. The day started with cards and a gift – a card from hubby and a card from darling daughter. I like my gift - a croquet set with its own travel bag – sounds silly but it was something I had been wanting for awhile.

On to church…no Sunday School or children’s church so little girl had to sit with us through the service. When Pastor said good morning to the congregation, little girl shouted, “Good morning!” The whole congregation laughed and all I could do was laugh right along with them. I could have done without her squirming, hiccupping, and asking, “Are we DONE yet?” every five minutes but we survived. Her audible fart at one point during the sermon was a very special Mother’s Day moment.

On to mother-in-law’s for lunch…Despite all my worry and petty whining last night, lunch was fine. No dramatics, no power plays or guilt trips. Mother-in-law gave me a little coffee table book, Thank Heaven for Little Girls. It’s filled with poems and pictures of well behaved children in Victorian dress playing with their dolls and having tea – about as far from my reality as the East is from the West but it’s a cute little book all the same.

It’s sad I’ve come to expect the worst when we have these family things – special days or holidays. I always get so tense. I admit – I have issues with my mother-in-law. There was a time, early on, when I would have welcomed a closer relationship with her, but too often we’ve been on opposite sides; her tugging hubby one way and me tugging the other.

She sees him as her son and under her rule alone. She is fond of quoting scripture, “Children obey your parents.” She always skips the second part, “Parents do not frustrate your children.” She knows he has obligations to fill as a husband and a father but forgets when those obligations are at odds with what she wants.

We never openly fight and we do have some very nice visits like today. We interact like a dog and a cat living in the same house – tolerant and occasionally friendly but never overly affectionate or warm towards the other. Do I have the power to change our relationship? Perhaps - but maybe it would just be too hard now.

I really didn’t start this post with the intention of turning it into a “confessions of a weary daughter-in-law.” Just thinking and typing I guess…

Mother’s Day blues

Don’t ask me what I want to do for Mother’s Day because it doesn’t matter. I have to share the day with darling mother-in-law and it seems like more often than not we do what she wants to do.

This is how things are in our house. I do not have any complaints with hubby – he does the best he can. She is his mother. She lives alone and hubby is an only child. He’s a good son and a good husband but it can be a strain. Even hubby freely admits his mother is a lot like Marie from Everybody Loves Raymond.

Side Note: If there was ever a case for having more than one child, this is it. If you think you might become demanding, childish, overbearing, highly emotional, pushy, manipulative or just plain crazy in your old age, be sure to have many children to help spread the crazy around.

Someone should create a chart that can measure the amount of anticipated “crazy” and give you a corresponding number of recommended children you should have to help absorb said “crazy.” The alternative is to make sure you never become too much for one adult child to handle and no one could ever guarantee that.

Tomorrow, we are going to mother-in-law’s house for lunch. This will sound very selfish and childish but I’m not really looking forward to it.

Who am I?

It's not a good night for quizes. I took this Harry Potter personality quiz twice and came up with the same result but the problem is I don't remember who this character is. Somebody help me?!?!?



Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

HT: Nerd Heaven

Left Brain, Right Brain

Not sure what this means. At first I thought, "Woo-hoo!!! I'm using 106% of my brain!!!!" But then I read that because they test each side of the brain separately, the results could add up to more than 100%. Then I was bummed because that means I'm not using either side of my brain 100%....explains a lot.

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (46%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (60%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?(word test)
personality tests by similarminds.com



HT: My Utopia

I hate wind

Today will be a hat grabber in Iowa

It's stupid. It's senseless. But it is true. I hate wind and I'm not talking nice gentle breezes - I'm talking gale force.

Hubby thinks it's silly I get mad at the wind. It's not like I shake my fist at the sky and yell obscenities, it's just that wind ticks me off. Why you ask? WHY?!?!?!?

If you've ever had a car door blown shut and slam on your leg while trying to get in or out of your car; if you've ever been almost blown off your feet into a busy street while unknowingly standing on a patch of ice; if you've ever had your car practically blown into a ditch; if you've ever had things ripped out of your hand, articles of clothing blown off you, things blown at you, your hair blown to bits, tiny grains of sand blown into your contact lenses or knocked off your bike from a sudden gust, you know my pain and no further explanation is needed.

Wind combined with any other type of weather makes it 100x worse.

Rain - not so bad, until you put a good wind behind it strong enough to pull your umbrella out of your hand or blow the rain sideways making your umbrella pointless.

Unbearable heat - add a nice hot wind to go along with it (not a cool refreshing breeze) and it's a little slice of hell. Park yourself in a hot oven with your hair dryer turned on high and tell me how refreshing that feels.

Unbearable cold - for all the obvious reasons.

Snow/hail/sleet - those nice, fluffly, innocent little snowflakes turn into flying shards of glass aimed right for you face! Hail and sleet become weapons of deadly force.

So yes - YES! - I hate wind. With a white hot intensity of a thousand suns, I. HATE. WIND! I'm sure there's a 12 step program for me somewhere.

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!
Crack nature's moulds, all germens spill at once
That make ingrateful man! (3.2.1)

- King Lear

Winds of change
Got word a co-worker has resigned and is moving to another department. Not entirely unexpected. The person who resigned is above me in the food chain. It will be interesting to see how the shelving is rearranged. Could be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

Picture: www.despair.com

Wasting time

I was at home all day yesterday with darling daughter. She woke up with a funny tummy so I was on puke patrol for a couple hours. Once she settled down and was quietly dozing on the couch, I was free to get caught up on some household chores but first I needed a few minutes to "waste time."

"Idle hands are the devil's workshop!"

That may be true but we all need a brain break - we all need unstructured, unfettered time. I highly recommend it for all of those type A personalities out there who are always complaining about having to much to do and yet are constantly looking for more things to add to their list.

Too much time is spent discussing how to maximize our time; how to be more productive; how to achieve more of our goals. Feh! The most important stuff always gets done. Why do I want to sit in a seminar for six hours listening to an overpaid time management guru talking about personal productivity when all it will do is stress me out thinking about all the things I haven't done yet? "Be still, and know that I am God..." - Psalm 46:10

I did get around to household chores eventually but here is what I did during my "wasting time" time. It was a complete and total waste of time and therefore met my objective. It amused me. I hope it will amuse you too.

Avast ye land lubbers!!! It be time for celebrity pirates!!!

Captain Dean likes to yell - a lot!

Don't be fooled by Captain Clooney's catatonic expression. He has lightning fast reflexes.

I am disappointed with Captain Pelosi. She came out looking more like Yule Brynner in the King and I. That and she looks too frightened to be a good pirate.

Feelin' silly

I don't really have anything I feel compelled to write about so I will post a few pictures. I gave darling daughter a computer lesson a few days ago. She practiced her mouse skills by drawing pictures with my paint program. I have a touch mouse pad on my computer so it is kind of tricky for little hands to master both the mouse pad and the buttons. Here are a few samples of her work.


I thought this was quite lovely!

A landscape perhaps?

From her blue period.

Then mommy got to take a turn. Gave both of us the giggles. :-)

It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a pirate to burn and pillage a village.

Food fight!

Urbandale, Iowa - Wendy Dershem had a battle at the buffet last Saturday. Dershem was told never to come back because her family wastes too much food. She argued that - hey, it's an all-you-can-eat buffet. But management at the Dragon House, 10912 Douglas Ave. in Urbandale, said it's not an all-you-can-waste buffet.

Buffet owner won't fork over food to family that wastes

This article reminds me of a story hubby told me. A friend of his went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Iowa City for lunch. He went back for seconds and the little old Chinese woman behind the counter stopped him. He pointed to the sign that said "All you can eat $3.99." To which the little old Chinese woman replied (INSERT UN-PC CHINESE ACCENT) "You HAVE all you can eat AH-READY!" He quietly went back to his seat. It is unclear if he wanted to avoid an international incident or if he was intimidated by the thought of the 4 foot 11 inch, 90 pound Chinese grandmother going all crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon on him.

Waste not, want not
I don't know if the woman in the article was wasting food or not. I wasn't there so I don't know how much food she was taking versus how much food she was actually eating. But any restaurant running an all-you-can-eat buffet has to factor in the cost of some customers taking more and some customers taking less. At the end of the day, it should balance out evenly.

On the other hand...

As a general rule, I try not to take more than I know I will eat when I go to a buffet. I usually end up leaving some food on my plate but hopefully not in excess. If this woman was a regular and was known for wasting unreasonable amounts of food (the key word here being "unreasonable"), then I can see where the restaurant might have a legitimate "beef ."

What if a customer camps out in the restaurant for 8 hours and eats the equivalent of three meals? Or how about the customer who goes back for a 12th helping of roast beef? Or the unruly teenagers who pay for the buffet but then use it to do John Belushi Animal House impersonations, "I'm a zit! Get it?" Surely we can all agree the restaurant would have the right to remove/ban those types of customers.

So what exactly is all-you-can-eat? Most reasonable people don't need an explanation but for some people further enlightenment is required. I think it can be summed up nicely with this statement - Eat all your want, but don't be a jerk.

And now an announcement from our corporate newsletter...

On Friday, May 26, the cafes are celebrating Memorial Day with
a themed buffet to kick off your holiday weekend.

Commemorating?
Honoring?
Observing?

Surely any of these would be better than "celebrating"! Themed buffet?!?! I shudder to think what macabre feast they are planning...

Stink-O de Mayo
Sorry – I’m just not feeling terribly festive after all the ILLEGAL immigrant protests. “Bitter - party of one, your table’s ready!"

Greek salad to go

In downtown Des Moines, there is a restaurant at the 801 Grand skywalk level called Basil's Prosperi. It's a very popular lunch spot - great pasta, sandwiches, soup/salad...etc... They make a Greek salad I just love - lots of fresh tomatos, olives, feta cheese, cucumbers, onions and it comes with fresh bread! Mmmmm-mmmm! Good eatin'!

The dressing is so good you want to lick the bottom of the styrofoam container (I don't actually do this but I have thought about it). I usually treat myself to a Basil's salad every other week.

Yesterday, I went there to get my Greek salad to go and my debit card was rejected! Turns out it had expired - that's when I remembered I received the new card in the mail but hadn't put it in my wallet yet (duh!). Very embarrassed, I told the man at the register I'd have to cancel my order.

The older man who usually runs the cash register (I think he's the owner) has started to recognize me since I'm a regular customer but I was still floored when he said, "No no! Go ahead and take your salad. You can pay me later." I offered to pay by credit card (I try not to buy food on credit - why pay interest on something you eat?) but he insisted I take the salad and said, "Pay me when you see me next time." I went there for lunch again today and made good on my debt (two Greek salads in one week!!! Yummy!).

I just wanted to write a quick post because this man's generosity is so rare! What a wonderful example he is!!! What he did may not have been the best business decision - had I been a less than honest person I could have stopped going there until he forgot I stiffed him for the salad - but he took a chance I would come back and pay up.

I repaid him for the salad but I want to do more and pay him back for his generosity. I thought I'd "give him the business" meaning encourage everyone I know to go to Basil's for lunch!

Basil's Prosperi - 801 Grand, skywalk level

They also have a restaurant in the East Village at 407 East 5th street, and a pizzaria in the food court at 700 Locust Street. I have not eaten there but I hear their pizza is excellent! You could tell him Des Moines Girl sent you but since he doesn't know me by that name (or any name for that matter) he'd probably think you were nuts! ;-)

Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran…

Don’t go getting your shorts in a knot. I’m not really saying we should bomb Iran…at least not yet anyway. I was just feeling…musical.

Bomb I-ra-an-an!
He’s a crazy ma-an-an!
Mahmoud’s got a pla-an-an!
To fry us with a nuke and he makes me wanna puke.
Bomb Iran, bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

I admit – it needs work but that’s all I got right now. Have you ever tried to rhyme Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Have you ever tried to pronounce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? I’m having a hard enough time typing it.

Don’t laugh…you’ll only encourage me.

Grammar Nazi
I’m not usually a grammar Nazi…but if I hear one more reporter use the phrase “global pandemic,” I will drive to their television station and hit them over the head with my dictionary.

As I understand it...

Epidemic – an outbreak of an infectious disease in a specified location
Pandemic – an outbreak of an infectious disease that has spread world wide

So you see, to say “global pandemic” is redundant, just like "...suddenly, and without warning," or "hot water heater."

Domesticity DMG style
The weather was gorgeous today. A big improvement over the cold rain we had all weekend. Hubby had a meeting so it was just darling daughter and me for dinner. Popped some Zydeco in the CD player when I got home. Pasta in the pot, cheese bread in the oven and presto! Dinner on the deck! We had a great time watching the birds in the backyard.

More rain predicted tomorrow…

In the CD player -

Ya Ya
Give Him Cornbread
Your Mama Don’t Know
French Rockin’ Boogie
My Toot Toot
Hot Tamale Baby
Turning Point
Uncle Bud
Broken Hearted
Follow me Chicken

Monday Monday....what a meme!

Thought we could all use a break from hot button issues. Here's a fun little meme I lifted from My Utopia.

20 years ago I was:
- finishing up my first year of high school in Colorado . Highlights for the year - joined the volleyball team with mixed results, discovered the Forensics team and Drama Club with much better results. Slowly still adjusting after having moved from another state the previous year.

15 years ago I was:
- Older and wiser Sophomore at Drake University and learning some hard lessons about life and love. Made the decision to stay in Des Moines and work over the summer instead of going home. That summer was as educational as any classroom could have been.

10 years ago I was:
- having a mid-20's crisis (similar to a mid-life crisis only with a lot more unnecessary angst), still working my first real post college job but getting itchy feet, and still learning a lot of hard lessons about life and love. Living in my own apartment all by myself and enjoying my freedom but struggling with loneliness.

5 years ago I was:
- Happily married, no children but planning to start a family very soon. Working my second post college job. Experiencing the joys and heartache of home ownership - celebrating our one year anniversary in the house. Mourning my grandmother who went home to be with God in January of that year.

3 years ago I was:
- Planning my daughter's first birthday party. The sole breadwinner while hubby was on unemployment for 7 months and struggling to make ends meet. Working my second post college job and trying to balance work and motherhood. Wondering if I needed to start looking for a new job but not ready mentally/emotionally.

Last year I was:
A year and a half into my third post college job. Really annoyed at having been handed a crap project that would last the entire summer and beyond. Still balancing work/motherhood and struggling to make ends meet.

This year I am:
-Planning my daughter's fourth birthday party. Will reach my third anniversary with my current job - getting itchy to try something new but not ready to commit to a plan of action. Celebrating 7 years of wedded bliss. Still haven't mastered work/motherhood but getting better at it. Still struggling to make ends meet...wondering if they ever will.

Yesterday I:
- Enjoyed our traditional Relays Sunday Brunch with the usual suspects. Watched Chariots of Fire with hubby and for the first time I did not run in slow motion through the room during the opening credits.

Today I:
- went to work, wondered about the sanity of my fellow human beings, had an uncharitable thought about a co-worker, ran a yellow light (twice) , hugged/kissed my daughter/hubby and said 'I love you', thanked God for my many blessings, complained to God about lingering problems, experienced great optimism for the future, doubted things will ever change, thought about a friend overseas, thought about a friend in another state, thought about my parents/siblings, read my favorite web sites, put off working on a project, finished a project, sighed in frustration, laughed at something absurd and listened to my biological clock tick.

Tomorrow I will:
- get up and do it all over again.