more photos posted

Here are some photos for the month of August. I'll add more as the month goes on.

hoo givs a dam uhbowt speling?

I noticed this article on Yahoo! today. So if spelling is hard, we should just forget about it? I say we do the same thing for trigonometry!

A little less wisdom

I had a wisdom tooth removed yesterday. Good golly, I hope I never have to do that again. But I have two left, so who knows.

What is it with dentists/oral surgeons who think they are comedians? You can crack all the lame jokes you want, mister, but that's not going to change the fact that you're jabbing a 2-foot long needle into my cheek. And I'm sure as hell not going to smile.

I just remembered Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" was playing on the radio just before the doctor came in. Maybe that should have been a warning.

The novocain injections were definitely the worst part. Then there were the cracking sounds while he tugged the thing out of my chin. They couldn't give me earplugs or something so I wouldn't have to hear that? And then the doctor takes a look at me and says, "Yep, her eye looks a little lower now. I guess we'll have to take out the one on the other side to make it balanced again."

Har frickin' har har.

Actually, though, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I have not even taken any Tylenol yet. Sure, it's a little tender, but nothing I can't handle. I haven't noticed any swelling or bruising yet either.

Now that I've tried it both ways (general vs. local anesthetic--good God, get your mind out of the gutter!), if I ever have to do this again, I want to be completely, totally knocked out next time.

The Girl in the Window

Read this. Trust me. Read it. The Girl in the Window

Then watch this. Video.

Just grab some Kleenex first.

Then go hug your kids.

Put down your testosterone for just a minute, Mr. Tough Guy (TM)

Allow me to set the scene. It was Sunday morning. We had just survived Underwater Adventures with Kyle. The next item on the agenda was to meet Bekah, Paul, and Cora at the Minnesota Zoo. We returned to our van in the parking ramp, loaded the Kylinator into the van, turned on the a/c, and got out the maps.

One of the many things I love about Troy is that he lacks the overgrown sense of machismo that prevents ordinary men from consulting maps. No, Troy realizes that I am little to no use when it comes to finding our way around unfamiliar locations. Plus, getting lost wastes valuable time. And Troy is not a time-waster. So he is always prepared with maps, usually several of them.

As we sat in our van in the parking ramp studying the maps, figuring out the best route to the MN zoo, a car stopped behind us to wait for our spot. Remember, it's a Sunday morning. It's not Black Friday or Christmas or anything. The mall is not crowded. There are plenty of other parking spots available. Our spot is on ground level, but it's not like it's attended by English butlers offering wine and cheese. It's not like it's the local A-list celebrity hangout. It's not like they were giving away free laptops to the first two vehicles parked within its gold-plated white lines.

But this guy wanted our spot. Our ordinary, just-like-all-the-others spot was apparently the Holy Grail of parking spots. He honked. I turned to look at him, and he threw his arms upward to signal his complete disgust and frustration that we had not left the spot. He honked again. Of course, by this time, Troy had finished studying the maps. But hell if we were going to let Mr. Asstwat have our spot. Finally, he sped away, leaning on his horn as he passed us. Several other cars who had been stuck behind this asstwat followed him.

So we finally pulled out of our spot. As we were exiting the ramp, I spotted a guy walking with his wife and two tween-age sons. I hadn't seen the driver's face, but I could just tell by the way this mullet-haired, wife-beater clad redneck was walking that he was the guy. He just looked like a guy who would suffer from roid rage. As we passed him, I made eye contact. He gestured again to me, throwing up his arms as if to say, "What the fark?"

So Troy slowed down and rolled down the windows. "Is there a problem, sir?" he asked.

Tough Guy (TM) started screaming about how we had held up the entire population of Hicksville, USA, by not pulling out of our spot the second we were securely inside our vehicle. As if there's a time limit.

Troy explained, "I was looking at the @!#$ map!"

And Tough Guy (TM) shouted back, "Look at your @#!% map later!"

Now hold your testosterone right there, asstwat! First of all, when do you want us to look at the map? While we're driving? Seriously? Just so you can have your precious magical parking spot? Do I even need to point out that you obviously found another spot very quickly, since you're actually walking from your car to the mall already? And for another thing, those cars lined up behind you weren't pissed at us. They were pissed at you. You were the one holding up traffic. Because you were the asstwat who didn't want to drive 20 more yards to find an available spot.

Anyway, the the conversation escalated into several choice words before Tough Guy (TM) walked away, trailing his over-inflated ego behind him.

Seriously, what was the guy thinking? Is there some kind of unwritten law regulating the amount of time one may spend in the car before pulling out of the parking spot? By climbing into the car, are we required to turn the spot over to the first redneck asstwat who claims it?

i learned something new today

i know it's summertime and We're not supposed to learn anything new until September, but i thought this article was an interesting look at Our language. click here

Maybe e.e. cummings was onto something.

I need a vacation . . .

What is more relaxing than a four-day vacation with a 3-year-old? I can think of a few things... getting every hair ripped from your body one by one, changing the cat litter with a spork, watching a Diego and Dora 48-hour-marathon with your eyelids taped open with duct tape....



Do you think I'm exaggerating? When was the last time you took a vacation with a 3-year-old?



OK, so I'm exaggerating a teensy weensy little bit. We actually had some fun. Kyle had tons of fun, and that's what is really important.



We began our little mini-vacation Friday afternoon. By Monday morning, we had visited the Como Zoo (including the amusement park there), Minnesota Zoo, Nickelodeon Universe and Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America, and the sculpture garden. And that doesn't include the highlight of the weekend--meeting Thomas the Tank Engine! Kyle was practically vibrating with excitement.

Our trip nearly ended before it had a chance to begin. Our hotel room was on the seventh floor, a distance neither Troy nor I wanted to tackle. That meant we had to use the elevator. The problem was, Kyle is terrified of elevators. I'm sure the other guests in the hotel thought we were kidnapping him, the way he was screaming and shouting and carrying on. Troy carried him while I tried to lug the luggage. Kyle kicked and screamed, "I not want to! I not like this!" the whole way into the hotel, on the elevator, and even after we were safely in the hotel room. I seriously thought we'd have to go home. Kyle was hysterical. Then suddenly, he wanted to go see the pool. "You'll have to ride the elevator," Troy warned him. "O-tay," Kyle said. And that was that. Kyle had conquered his elevator demons.

But even though the elevator was no longer a threat, Kyle was a bit homesick the entire weekend. He kept saying, "I want to go home!" and "I want to sleep in my bed, please please!" Poor kid. We thought about coming home Sunday night, but in the end we stayed until Monday morning. Kyle woke up and said, "O-tay, let's go home now." So we did.

I got tons of pictures, of course, so you'll hear more about the trip when I get around to posting those.

Photos Posted

I have posted my July 2008 photos on my multiply site. Click here to see July 2008 highlights.

Soundtrack of My Life

I saw this on somebody else's blog, and I thought, "Hey, that would be cool to try!" And it was a lot of fun, but holy crap, I just have to say it took freakin' forever. Maybe if I weren't such a perfectionist, I could have done this more quickly. Oh well. It's not like I had anything else to do tonight. So the next time you have nothing to do on a Wednesday night, give this a try. Just consider yourself warned: it will suck up an entire evening.

Opening credits: I Love to See You Smile -- Randy Newman

Waking up: 9 to 5 -- Dolly Parton

Average day: I'm in a Hurry -- Alabama

First date: I Knew I Loved You -- Savage Garden

Falling in Love: Something So Right -- Paul Simon

Love Scene: Amazed -- Lone Star

Fight Scene: Kiss Off -- Violent Femmes

Breaking up: At This Moment -- Billy Vera

Long Night Alone: Against All Odds- Phil Collins

Getting Back Together: You May Be Right -- Billy Joel

Secret Love: Chances Are -- Bob Seger and Martina McBride

Life’s Okay: Days Like These -- Van Morrison

Mental Breakdown: Superman -- Five for Fighting

Driving: Born To Be Wild -- Steppenwolf

Soul Searching: Hey Jesus -- Indigo Girls (Honorable Mention: Cool Change -- Little River Band)

Learning A Lesson: True Colors -- Cyndi Lauper

Deep Thought: Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) -- Baz Luhrman

Flashback: In My Life -- Beatles

Partying: Too Shy -- Kajagoogoo

Happy Dance: Got My Mojo Working -- BB King

Training Montage: Rocky Theme (Gonna Fly Now)

Regretting: Wasted on the Way -- Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Death Scene: Dimming of the Day -- Richard Thompson

Closing Credits: Forever Young -- Bob Dylan

@#!% Cows!

(Editor's note: This post will make a lot more sense if you read this first)

The hunt for cows is still on. Yesterday, I left my camera at home. The morning was overcast and cloudy, so I decided it wouldn't be optimal cow-picture weather anyway. Then I had to go home for lunch (stupid me forgot to grab my frozen meal on the way out of the house), and the sun and the cows were both out! So I took my camera back to work with me, thinking that maybe I'd finally get my cow pictures. Nope! The cows were gone.

So sorry if I seem a little moo-dy today.

(I couldn't resist the bad pun. I hang my head in shame.)