Nice asp

In all honesty, I came up with the headline for tonight's post way before I even knew what I would write about. I knew the headline, actually, at the moment I dressed the avatar in the Cleopatra outfit.

You know what's awesome about having dogs? Having to clean up poopy butts. And I'm being so sarcastic there that the emotion is dripping out of the computer. But, as I told Mom this morning, there should be an award given to any mom who has to get up in the morning and clean TWO poopy butts right away. It's wrong. Also, cleaning various dingleberries throughout the day. Also, trimming back the hair on one doggy's butt so as to discourage any more dingleberries. Poopy dog butts are gross.
You know what's awesome about having a little girl who's growing up? She gets new and cool things. Sydney got a big-girl bike and a big-girl bed today for her birthday. She seems to be okay with all the room shifting that will happen to accommodate the new bed, and in fact, was eager to get the bed together tonight. Sadly, no linens arriving until Monday, so she'll have to wait a couple more days. The mattress and pillow are airing out though, so as to be ready for occupying on Monday.
You know what's awesome about spending the day with family? It just leaves you with a happy, content and tired feeling of warm fuzziness at the end of the day. And I love knowing that we'll have company tomorrow, too. I enjoy having an active social life. It makes me happy.
You know what's awesome about The Hangover? Everything.

p.s. When I spell-checked this post, the only words that triggered the checker were "poopy" and "dingleberries." I feel as though my day is complete.

Fear the Reaper! Grrr!

Stuff from today:
1.) Sydney, Brian and I carved our second pumpkin tonight. Well ... I cleaned it out, and did most of the carving, but Sydney chose the face design, and Brian did the final bit of random cleaning out, so I guess it could be called a group effort. But not really. I don't mind it though, I'm pretty proud of the pumpkins we've carved this year! See? I'm handy on the pumpkins ... with my scythe!! Grr!!
2.) We've got company coming tomorrow for the last of Sydney's birthday parties. Brian's family will be visiting! But as there will only be eight of us, I think we'll go to lunch instead of me ordering it in, and we'll come back home for cupcakes and ice cream. Sydney is excited to see everyone, but I do hear a lot about how the house is decorated for Halloween and not her birthday. I foresee a constant issue in the coming years, and perhaps the topic of her first therapy session.
3.) Also, my feet and nose are cold. I'm wearing slippers, which is fantastic. Also, I put the thick blanket on the bed yesterday. Of course, it wouldn't be the desert if there weren't a couple hot days before it finally cooled down, and we're dealing with those now. Really? Ninety degrees on the last couple days of October? Really?

Happy birthday, Sydney!

It's weird how nostalgic I get on Sydney's birthday. I frequently find myself going over the events of that day, daydreaming about what happened, and how, really, I don't think I would have changed a moment of it. I had a wonderful pregnancy, and my labor and delivery were without complications. My kid popped out with 10 fingers, 10 toes, healthy lungs, and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen in my life. And I fell in love.
Once we got home, of course, she became remarkably more difficult -- and continues to be so, four years later -- but in looking back on that night, I get so warm and fuzzy. If I'm still, I can feel my heart skip a beat when I think about seeing her for the first time. If I'm quiet, I can still hear her first cry, and feel her weight on my chest when the nurse placed her there. If I close my eyes, I can see the delivery room, remember every detail about it, smile at the humor of Brian's amazement on how strong my contractions were, and feel the comfort in seeing Mom walk into the room right when this whole business was starting to get really serious.
I suppose the ability to conjure the entire sequence of events from the day never really goes away, does it? That's probably due to the life-altering addition to the family. Or because my priorities shifted in a blink. Or because she was awesome, from the second I met her.

I terminate any non-Halloween avatars

Today, I also begin my long-standing (started in 2008) tradition of posting Halloween avatars for the days leading up to the lovely holiday. I chose, for this October 28, to be a cyborg. I like the terminator leg. I like that, when it's dressed like this, I can fantasize that my avatar is in a relationship with Sam Worthington's cyborg/terminator in Terminator Salvation.

ARGH! My back!!

Okay. It's officially official. I am becoming an old woman ... not in spirit, by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely by body. My cold last week knocked me on my ass like no cold has in a very long time, which was the first sign.
Oh, and how youthful I was, frolicking and jumping around in the bounce house at Sydney's birthday party last weekend. How carefree I was as I leaped from one spot to another. How fearlessly I bounced from feet to butt and back to my feet. How ridiculously I peer pressured everyone else into jumping in the bounce house, as if my own joy would not come back to haunt me. I had such fun!
And yet, before the afternoon sun (or not sun, but fog-filtered sunlight) had grown dark, my back was already beginning to twinge. In fact, before the darkness began descending in earnest, I was hobbling around the house, using furniture to bear my weight as I lurched from step to step. The pain was acute, and so not cute, in my lower back. The perfect storm of a location: about a five-inch high, 12-inch wide swath of spasm right above my waistline.
It was incredibly unpleasant, and has made my last four days incredibly unpleasant as well. I'm not hobbling around as much anymore, and every day is getting better. In fact, the last two days have been medication-free, which is good and bad. I probably should still be taking plenty of Advil, but every time I think about it, I'm sitting, and the last thing I want to do is go through the contortions of getting up once I'm down. Like right now, I've got a twinge (this particular back issue does not like my living room sofa) but I don't want to get up.
Tomorrow should be a much better day.
Still though, this pain has made me feel incredibly geriatric in my body. And makes me wonder what other fantastically fun, but youthful, things I will no longer be able to do. But I think I know why I got hurt: not enough knee bending when I landed in the bounce house. Hmm .... A hypothesis to test. ... At next year's party. I should have forgotten this pain by then!

First iPad-produced post

Okay, I'm officially writing this post from a computer that is not my laptop or a desktop computer. I'm writing from the iPad. Weird. It's just feeling bizarre. Mom's got my laptop, and I thought, okay, I'll do this from the iPad, because if I remember right, I can post from an app on the iPad!
I really hope it works well, because I'd hate to spend so much time writing this ridiculous post only to have it not save or post to the blog.
I know I've been lax in posting to the blog lately, but it's always so hard to write something clever when one is sick, and then I have the added difficulty of finding a moment to write when I'm out here in California. I end up hanging out on the sofa, and getting too tired to do anything worthy of the blog.
As it is, I'm tired right now. I do find that I'm enjoying the typing on the iPad. I didn't think I would. And I've had minimal incidents of correcting.

Beautifully written via iPhone or iPad.

Even a DOUBLE rainbow!

I think I feel normal again, for the first time in five days or so. I've been hopped up on DayQuil all day, but even without that, my cold is definitely less icky today. Even having said that though, I'm having a hard time making sense of what's coming out of my fingers -- typing, that is -- right now.
I had berry pie for dessert tonight.
And pizza for dinner.
It's delicious hanging out at Mom's house!

p.s. we saw four rainbows as we drove out of town this morning. It was a trip blessed by leprechauns!!

Yuck

Honestly, I can't remember the last time a cold has knocked me out this much. I'm so tired! Like, naps for the last three days tired. Tonight, my goal is to be in bed and drugged on NyQuil at 10 p.m. I will get eight hours of sleep. I feel like, once I do that, all will be better just be virtue of my mind saying, "YOU WILL GET BETTER ON EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP."
I've got nothing else for you, and I refuse to whine about being sick. Because I hate sick.

I'd rather be here, and not sick

Jeez. I've got that taste in my mouth. You know, that taste that comes along with a sore throat and an increase in snot? Yeah, it's there. It set up camp about this time yesterday afternoon.
I caught it from my kid. She's awesome and everything, but she still doesn't understand the importance of "containing the illness," and so enjoys sticking her fingers in her nose when it's running, not washing her hands as often as I tell her, wiping her nose on my arms, and continuing to enjoy face-in-face interaction. I refuse to keep her from me when she's sick, so I know that any effort to keep myself from getting sick when she is, is ridiculous. It's a pipe dream. It's nonsensical. It's crazy talk.
So I know that when she gets sick, I get sick. The only thing now is to keep Brian from catching it.

The miners, the miners, the miners

Okay, I'm completely and utterly obsessed with the Chilean miners being rescued from their 69-day entrapment in a collapsed mine near Copiapo, Chile. I swear, my television has been on CNN ever since the rescues started last night. I'm so excited to know that the final miner will probably be brought up within the next couple hours. I had fears of having to stay up until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. to watch the final miner saved.
The logistics of this rescue is amazing to me. Every time that capsule descends the drilled tunnel to the collapsed mine, my heart starts beating faster. I love watching the miners get into the capsule to be brought up to the surface. I get teary-eyed watching the family's await their loved ones, and hold back the tears when they get their first hugs with those who have been waiting for days and days to see them.
The fact that this rescue operation was even possible was amazing. That it is working is nothing short of a miracle of technology. It's fantastic that the whole thing seems to have gone off without a hitch. I love that the whole world seems to be as transfixed by this as the people of Chile.
I'm just now watching the 29th miner hugging his wife, having just come up from the mine. I couldn't imagine the relief these families are going through as they watch their loved ones emerge from what must have been a special kind of hell. How amazing. No kidding. I'm just fascinated, amazed and inspired by the strength of the human spirit.

Harry + Hermione = 4-Eva

I know that it might be considered blasphemy, but I really think that Harry Potter and Hermione would have made an incredibly good couple. At the end of the day, and when I look at it stoically, I believe that Harry and Hermione were too smart and cohesive a team to end up with anyone else. Sure, Ron's a cool guy. Of course, Ginny is a good girl. But honestly, I think the best couple is the one that did not happen. I thought that from the very beginning. I couldn't understand what Hermione saw in Ron that wasn't abundant in Harry. Certainly, a good and strong friendship is imperative, but isn't that also paramount in a romantic relationship? Shouldn't this have happened differently?
Look at this poster for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, and tell me different.

Also, she writes a shorter novel

Am I ruining anything for you when I talk about the end of The Count of Monte Cristo? Okay, I won't go into any detail, except to say that I didn't think it would end like that. Am I a romantic? Am I so convinced that everyone should end up living happily ever after? Am I at all irritated that I just read 600 pages of Alexandre Dumas to a romantically unsatisfying ending? Perhaps.
How to solve this .... hmmmm. How to solve this ...
On to Jane Austen!!

A new girl to wonder about

This photo has been floating around online the last few days. It's very pretty, yes? I was just struck by how lovely it must be to be one of those women that sits perfectly straight on a lovely chaise, has a gentle breeze blowing their gauzy clothing in the most flattering way, and is just out of focus enough to be stunning to anyone who catches a view of her.
I've got a whole scenario about her. I bet she dressed like this every day. She had a husband and two boyfriends, all three of which doted on her and bought her jewelry and clothes, and puppies that she loved but didn't have to pick up after. She wore gardenia and rose-infused cologne, just light enough that you'd smell it only when sitting right next to her. She sipped champagne with her lunch. She had her friends over every afternoon for tea and raunchy gossip. She spoke loudly, and with a quick wit. She never forgot a birthday. She loved to read. Also, she has a very intricate shrubbery maze in her backyard.
I feel like she has a name, but it's not coming to me. I can't think of one that's cool enough, but eccentric enough to fit her personality. She's my new, weird obsession.

Happy birthday, Ollie!!

TODAY IS OLIVER'S BIRTHDAY!!
Ten years old on 10/10/10. That must be a sign, right?
A sign that he's AWESOME! Which I already knew.
Ollie got to snack on rib bones, eat some french fries, and even had a birthday cake. He had precedence over the wishes of every other person in the house. He was petted, rubbed, loved and cuddled at every moment he allowed it. He was sang to repeatedly.
He was a good sport about it, too.

Ducks on a pond

* What a lovely weekend! Brian's brother and sister in-law came into town for the day and night, so the whole family clan came together at our house for some food, laughs and drinks. They're such a fun group of people, and I thoroughly enjoy hanging out and visiting with them. Lost of food, lots of beer, lots of laughs. Good stuff!
* On the downside for today, Sydney's got an official runny nose, and Brian and I shall endeavor to not catch it. This will be easier for him because he doesn't spend every hour of every day with her. I will probably get it, but will fight it like crazy until then. I was hoping she'd lose it after her lengthy nap today, but at dinner tonight, she still looked like she's ill. Even slightly hollow and darkened eyes are not a good thing. We'll see how she's feeling tomorrow.
* Also, I used the Facebook "Places" application for the first time Saturday night. I was able to post the restaurant where we were eating, and tag all the friends that were there, too. I can see where this will become a small obsession: checking in at places -- not personal -- so it can look like my life is more glamorous than it is.
* I think I'm going to send all our Halloween candy to the office with Brian tomorrow. I can't stand having it in the house, and do NOT want to eat anymore. Like I told Trainer Dan the other day, I need someone to come to my home and forcefully remove the candy, because I don't have the heart or will-power to do it myself. Tomorrow morning, I'll pretend to be someone else, with no compunction for hurting my feelings or making me sad. I will be that cold-hearted bitch that throws away another person's candy. And I'll thank me for it.