So I pulled out my hair dryer and turned it on and was perplexed by the dial that controls the amount of ions I shoot at my hair.

What the heck do the ions do? Do I want extra ions going very near my brain? Am I going to have to eat more blueberries to battle the free radicals that getting shiny hair will possibly cause? These are questions I can’t answer before coffee.

Please educate me!

Also I didn’t get very far. I lost interest pretty quickly as Pica was downstairs and I couldn’t hear her over the ions. But my hair does look better. More polished or something.

Apparently quite a bit. I went to the bank. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to return an ill-fitting shower shelf for which they would only give me store credit. Because everyone needs $32 of store credit at BBB during this economic awesomeness. I went to the pharmacy where, I shit you not I almost lost it. I was pushing for a Pica meltdown because it was almost noon (the hour of dread aka naptime) and she wanted to go play with the toys and I was trying to make sense of what the pharmacist was saying, but it was like she was speaking a different language. She wanted me to talk to someone named Jan or Annette or something and then take one of her business cards. Told you. I only have room in my life for one person with poor communication skills and that position is currently full. There were two more stops on my list. I made a good decision to forgo them until later. I have to buy stamps and a shelfish thing to go in the up up stairs. Ha. Not clams, I mean a shelf-ish thing to hold the tv and my 4 in 1 office miracle. I will try and get the Librarian to go with me.  It’s more fun. And more manageable when I am having a poor communication day.

Hmm, the UPS girl still isn’t here. What to do. What to do.  Maybe I should change out of my skirt and go work on the back yard. Our warm days are numbered and I need to do some pre-frost prep work.

Ok yes. Will go outside and wait for UPS. And make dinner. And maybe have something with caffeine. My good friend Kathy visited this weekend. Apparently she wore me out.  I didn’t think we did that much. Ran errands of course. It was so good to see her. I love my friend Kathy! And Pica was a huge fan- but of course she was, we all are!

We went camping this week! It was fun and soggy and we didn’t even fight when we put up the tent or took down the tent in the torrential downpour. I am proud. Pica did wonderfully. She obviously hearts camping; the flannel, the campfires, the marshmallows, the flock of Canadian geese. You know – all the normal stuff.  She didn’t even mind that it rained substantially more than it didn’t rain.
We packed up a day early (because water resistant is not waterproof in the realm of tents) and drove to a nearby town to stay in a hotel with an indoor pool and, you know, dry things. It was fun. We had a great time.

Then we came home.

To a dead mouse in our upstairs hallway.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

The cats were SO proud.

What the fuck? This makes wildlife number 3 in our house.  I think it’s a conspiracy. Or at least someone’s grand idea on initiating us to homeownership.  The first was a random bat in the attic. Animal control came and got it for free and it was substantially less horrifying than it could have been. And then following night we saw on the news that all of Quad Cities has had bat problems. I guess we got prideful or something and needed to be taken down a notch because the second was the effing chipmunk that desperately wants to squat in our house for the winter. This was his second foray into the house. The first time I caught him sneaking up out of the basement we scared each other enough that he ran back down to the basement. The second time I came home from running pre-camping errands and had left the basement door open. BAD IDEA. Zoe, the only cat we own that apparently still has some instincts had cornered it under the buffet in our entry. An hour later I chased it out of the attic. THE ATTIC (three floors up) window. I was pissed. Lt. O’Riley – the less instinctual cat hid in the closet the whole time. What an asshole.

Then this fucking mouse. Are you kidding me? I’m so not up for this. I’ve got 85 post-camping loads of laundry to do and things to dry out.  And now I feel compelled to wash everything we own that might have been touched by a mouse.  At least another 150 loads of laundry.

The thing is we’re not filthy people. At all. I do fly lady for fuck’s sake.  Granted it’s been a little lax since well, summer and all the canning and such. But it’s not like I’m all hey I just dropped a whole bag of popcorn on the kitchen floor- I’ll leave it for the mice to clean up. And we have a messy toddler, but still. This does not warrant an onslaught of animals.

And I know we bought a house in Iowa and I know living on ex-prairie next to the Mississippi River comes at a price. But, really? After vacation?

I’m going to go make some tea… whiskey tea. And contemplate how best to tackle the downstairs and weather or not Pica needs to leave the house before I douse it in Mr. Clean. I feel like Mrs. Meyers isn’t going to cut it. And where is my trusty Librarian in all of this? Umm, he’s napping.  I love him very much, but dude he’s fucking napping.

Told you. Much whining and swearing. Should go check on Pica. I left her downstairs watching The Incredibles. She’s probably been abducted by a racoon.

the in-laws are here.

if they are at your house too then i wish you well…

tuesday’s comin’ baby

And THEN this week it just all came to a head- friends of friends of acquaintances and all that.

On one hand it’s very cool and I’m again reminded that the world is small and kind of getting smaller. At least I know that maybe at my funeral people will know people and all will not be awkward and sad. Well, I know that it won’t be total doom and gloom because L just told me that he’s going to put up that self-portrait I did in college. I will be mortified in my death. But giggling slightly because people will totally pretend to like it and won’t get the joke.

When I was in college we used to play this game called awkward dinner party. It was ridiculously fun. Pick 7 – 9 people in addition to yourself (dinner parties must come in 8 or 10 – otherwise what will you do with the cutlery?) who either don’t get along or used to hook up or are just those kinds of people who are unbearably awkward and host a dinner party. Of course we never actually did it because dude, that would be torture. But it was so much fun to imagine. That guy who used to smell my notebooks in Philo Relo was always a popular choice.

I’m getting the feeling that our awkward dinner parties might not be so awkward anymore. Have we grown up too much? Honed our chit chat skills? Listen to too much NPR? We’ve got kids and jobs and yards. We’re not the starving artists (or if we are we know it’s so much less glamorous than we thought it was going to be) we used to be or at least hoped we were. And I know I’ve gotten softer. Not that I’m not passionate about stuff, but that hard edge is fading. TL might disagree. I’m still a little pissed off about stuff, but it’s changed. It’s become finite anger, I think, instead of that righteous 19 year old angsty angst. When I was just finding out about the world and myself and myself in the world and man I was so angsty.

I digress.

On the other hand I feel weird about being so connected to everyone. My phone has been, well it was rusting from the inside out. Literally. Thanks Pica, I will add phone to your list of ‘things eaten.’ And so for like 2 months I haven’t been able to have more than a 3 minute conversation and frequently miss or lose calls. As I got my new phone today I was a little I don’t know what, but it is kind of nice to not be able to be found all the time. It’s all just a little suffocating sometimes.

So go talk amongst yourselves. Who are the 7 or 9 people you would invite to create THE most awkward dinner party ever?  If you should find yourself in need of an extra person there are several I would be willing to loan out from the philosophy department. It was years of awkwardness let me tell you.

Because of the new name, new host, new colors I feel like I can rework this blog a little bit and almost kind of start over. Except it’s still me writing, so really I’m not sure how ‘new’ it can all be. Here’s hoping though. The goals are still the same. I just want some space.

So, here goes. This is me!

Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: brown, blonde and shockingly gray
–Dyed or Natural: natural
–Curly or Straight: post-pregnancy wavy
Right- or Left-handed: right
Tan or Pale: pale and freckled
Jeans or Khakis: jeans. although there’s been a lot of khaki this summer. dare i say an overabundance?
Country, Rap, or Rock: rock and folk
Heritage: Irish, German, Welsh, a wee bit Italian (you really only notice that with the whole facial hair thing. unless you’ve met my aunt.)
Shoes you’re wearing today: chacos
Your weakness(es): stuff for my house. paper. fabric.
Your perfect pizza: cheese.
Favorite color: greens.
Favorite place: my backyard. or the beach.
Goal you’d like to achieve: balance.
Your most overused phrase(s): no thank you! it’s usually in all caps aimed at Pica
Your thoughts first waking up: what time is it? can I get out of bed without disturbing my entire family?
Your best physical feature(s): i do enjoy my hair.
Your bedtime: 11 or so
Your most missed memory: i don’t totally understand this question. i miss a lot of people though.
Pepsi or Coke: coke
McDonald’s or Burger King: neither. sonic or wendy’s
Single or group dates: single. otherwise it gets awkward with all the making out and such.
Adidas or Nike: crocs?
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: luzianne
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate.
Cappuccino or coffee: umm, both?

DO YOU:
Smoke: no
Cuss: frequently
Have a boyfriend/girlfriend: i hope the librarian is still my boyfriend!
Take a shower: less than i should this summer.
Have a crush(es): nah. who has time for that?
Think you’ve been in love: I hope so!
Want to get married: yep – 6.5 years ago
Believe in yourself: yes, finally
Believe in God: yeah. i kind of have to or else this just doesn’t make sense.
Believe in your government: maybe next year…
Get motion sickness: rarely
Think you’re attractive: i’m still to young to answer this kind of question about myself. but i am happy with how i look.
Think you’re a health freak: i get a little freakish about some things, but no, not so much in general
Get along with your parents: yep
Like thunderstorms: i do until they get so bad that they’re scary.

IN THE PAST MONTH, HAVE YOU:
Drunk alcohol: yes.
Gone on a date: yes
Gone to the mall: No.
Been on stage: No.
Eaten an entire box of Oreos: fig newtons.
Eaten sushi: no.
Been dumped: no.
Gone skating: no.
Gone skinny dipping: sadly no.
Stolen anything: i don’t think so. although i wanted to steal my groceries when i realized i forgot my wallet at home when i was in the check out line. i had a fleeting thought that Pica and I could just make a break for the door with the cart.  yes. i’m serious. but i didn’t DO it, ok? sheesh.

HAVE YOU EVER:
Played a game that required removal of clothing: yes
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: yes, but only a couple of times.
Been caught “doing something”: uh yeah, like twice. and she’s not even two yet. i think we need to put a bell on her clothes during nap.
Been called a tease: yes.
Gotten beaten up: i got slapped once in 4th grade by a boy. my mom was strangely unsympathetic. darn the ghetto that is Lacey Elementary.
Age you hope to be married: i thought i’d wait until i was 30. i just turned 30. life moved a lot faster than i had planned i guess.
Number of children you’d like: three or four
Describe your dream wedding: i loved our wedding. almost everyone we loved in the whole world was there.
What do you want to be when you grow up: just me.

WHAT YOU LIKE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX:

Best eye color?: wow i totally don’t care about this kind of stuff.  why don’t they ask if you’re i don’t know more attracted to a musician or grad student? i’d say grad student then.
Best hair color?: i forfeit my right to answer these questions on the grounds that they are dumb.
Short or long hair:

Height:

Best first date location: ahh, now here’s an ok one. wherever you can most be yourself.
Best first kiss location: again, wherever you can most be yourself

IN THE NUMBERS:
Number of people I could trust with my life: a handful.
Number of CD’s: couple hundred?
Number of piercings: a few
Number of tattoos: one. hopefully 3 soon.
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: 5 or 6 – significantly more than i thought because of that whole c-section thing.
Number of scars on my body: 3

for now i’m keeping my other blog open with the link to this one on it.

now i get to set up my new design!

2 month hiatus anyone?

I’ve got a good excuse I think. We bought a house and moved into it. New city. New house. New normal.

But, now that we have a new address, what should I do about the name of the blog? Should I start anew? Just change the name and give the format some love?

What to do. What to do.

I will drink more coffee and think about it some more.

However, I will be getting the opportunity to do some home decorating soon- more about that in a week or so – and I keep seeing UO on blogs like Apartment Therapy and a couple weeks ago my friend Kathy and I were talking about it. So I thought I’d take the time to really check out the website. L is watching 300. He used the phrase “tawny and brawny.” There’s a lot of six packs and melodrama so I’m pseudo-shopping. Anyways, it does have some cool stuff. If you don’t mind scrolling through the trendy-covered copies of Catcher in the Rye and Dharma Bums. Those irritate me. Beyond belief.
BUT I found these things and I like them. A lot.

So that’s a bedspread but they also have it as a futon cover or wall hanging and it’s just awesome I think.

and then there’s this. which looks like a weirdo bullseye but is actually a pillow. a crewel work pillow. i love crewel stuff. i would like to do something when i get 1/2 a second.

and i like this lamp. we have lamps from Ikea right now but I’m thinking we need us some new shades.

I swear I would only wear this when it was socially appropriate.

like at playgroup on tuesdays.

The two best places to buy local meat, I’ve found is either in the neighboring Amish community or at the Farmer’s Market. There’s a decent selection of beef, chicken, and pork in various forms and for fairly decent prices. Or rather, I’m consciously putting a higher value on what I ingest and so I’m working on being more willing to not run to Fareway and get the 0.99/lb whole chickens. And fish just really isn’t an option for me here. There’s some weird weird stuff in the rivers and lakes here. Don’t even get me started on the Mississippi.

I’m pretty willing to stick with the basic three meat selections with the occasional turkey thrown in because I heart it.

It seems though that my farming neighbors are not. Lamb, duck, goose and goats are gaining some serious popularity. I know. Goats. I have to mull this one over for awhile. I’m not a huge lamb fan. I don’t know why really. It’s so wolly. Duck and goose I could kind of go either way. Goat however I’m just, well, L said he equates goat with “tin cans and shit” and I more equate it with nomads who have been stranded and now have to eat the last goat. I know I should be more, I don’t know, adventurous?

The quad cities puts out a local healthy paper, The Radish, and they had this recent article about goat meat.

I just don’t know folks. Any thoughts?

Ok I need to get back to my parenting duties. Pica has been humping the arm of the chair for approximately 20 minutes. I feel like that is just everyone’s limit.

So really, let me know what you think of a possible carnivorous adventure.