Sep. 23: Why I blog

Day #23, blah-dee, blah-dee, blah… Today’s topic:

Why did you start blogging?

I said in this post that I started my blog to easily share news and photos when we were expecting our first bebbeh. A lot of the things I posted back then have since been deleted, not because they were ultra-private but because the way I used to blog was really, really dumb. Back then, apps like Blogger were not readily-available; I had to edit HTML pages. Instead of updating a page with new news and photos, I would simply replace old content with new. See? Dumb.

My blog really hasn’t changed that much since it started, except for a few years in which I blogged almost every day. I still share family news and photos, still post silly images I find around the ‘net, still try to make y’all believe I’m a better wife than I am. I’ve occasionally tried new types of post, but nothing really *sticks* for the long term. Sherilee has posted a “Friday Night Grateful Moment” every week—such dedication! Some people do “Wordless Wednesdays” (photos only), “Throwback Thursdays” (an old photo, sometimes accompanied by fun memories), and other regular post types. I do my monthly summaries, but I don’t think there’s much else you can count on seeing on a regular basis at Stuff Jen Says.

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of posting something because someone says to. It’s one thing if you’ve set up the tradition for yourself (like Sherilee’s), but if you’re blogging only because some all-powerful site says “post a picture today but don’t use words,” well, shouldn’t you just do that any time you feel like it? I realize that this month I’ve been blogging exactly like someone’s telling me what to do, and as I’ve hinted over the last few days, I’m getting tired of it. However, Sherilee and I came up with the list of topics on our own (yes, some topics were inspired by other blog challenges, but we still put the month together ourselves) for the purpose of getting back into the habit of posting regularly. And I’m pretty sure neither of us will continue posting every day, answering questions that we answered two days earlier.

I’ve been trying to get my mom to start a blog for years. She enjoys writing, and there’s nothing like the good practice you get from writing for publication. Well, she finally obeyed my command (ha!), and I’d like to recommend her blog to you: Flying Free. It’s been up for a couple weeks now. Take a minute to leave her a comment—it’ll totally make her day.

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And now I’ll share a story with you that makes me glad I have a blog on which I’m allowed to vent.

Sometimes Fighting Cancer is really super-duper annoying

The other night I went to a poker fundraiser for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I knew there’d only be one other person there that I’d ever met (Theresa, one of my BFFs), but because L&LS is an organization I care about, I didn’t mind spending the evening with strangers. Of course, Theresa and I ended up at different tables and I was stuck playing poker with six people I didn’t know. They all knew each other. It wasn’t the most comfortable setting, but, y’know, it was still POKER. I loves me my poker.

Our table was very long; I was seated at the end and struggled to deal cards to the players at the opposite end without flipping them. EVERY time I dealt, this loud guy at the other end would say NO, NO, START OVER. YOU MESSED UP. I’d stop and count, along with everyone else at the table, and the rest of them would say KEEP GOING, YOU’RE FINE because I hadn’t messed anything up. Every time, he’d yell. I really wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but I kept quiet.

At one point he yelled at me that I needed to get the cards “somewhat close” to the person they were for because the wrong person would touch them. Did he want me to place his cards directly in his booger-stained hands? Why was this jackass telling me how to deal? I kinda channeled Val for a sec and yelled right back: NO ONE ELSE IS COMPLAINING. IF YOU WOULD JUST PAY ATTENTION IT’D BE PRETTY EASY FOR YOU TO FIGURE OUT WHICH CARDS ARE YOURS. I even threw him a dirty look. (Val, aren’t you proud of me???)

He made a big deal about the rules of the game, betting amounts, and playing only when it’s your turn, blah blah blah… I didn’t have a problem with his know-it-all-ness, because there were newbies at our table; it was good for everyone to be reminded of the rules. Funny thing was, sometimes after the cards were dealt he would just get up and leave. He might have planned to fold when it was his turn, but he didn’t tell anyone that, so we’d sit there and wait for him to come back. People would call for him, but there were three other full tables in the place, and he was doing lots of socializing. BUT if someone else at our table got up during a hand, this a-hole would start a very loud countdown and then declare their turn “lost.” He also changed the rules of betting increments halfway through the game. There was no use arguing with this guy, so I didn’t say a thing.

One time after I dealt the cards he accused me of dealing too many to him. He actually hadn’t turned in his cards from the previous hand, but when someone suggested that, he insisted that that wasn’t it. Yes, he was probably right—I dealt two cards to everyone else, but four to him. That makes perfect sense.

As the evening went on, the beer was flowing and a lot of it went straight into his giant, noisy, asshole-y face. He started arguing with two other players about who was dealer and how he’d been the big blind for at least three turns in a row. I wasn’t drinking at all (I know, I can’t believe it either), and was obviously the only player who could focus enough to see what was going on, but even when I spoke up he wouldn’t stop insisting on whatever he was so “completely, 100 percent, totally, definitely, bet all my chips sure” about. Blerg.

After two hours, the hosts started moving players around so we were down to two tables. I was getting my things together and looked up to see Mr. Loud Guy pick up my chips, knock a bunch to the floor, and take off to the other room. I went up and said WHAT ARE YOU DOING?, grabbed my chips back, and he bellowed (yes, bellowed!) I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU. I should’ve have blamed it on how drunk he was, but I had reached my limit with him and was D-O-N-E DONE. I got down on the floor to pick up all the chips he’d dropped and he came back to me, yelling down at the back of my head that he was just trying to help. I yelled back I CAN TAKE CARE OF MY OWN CHIPS. I had been doing really well in the game, had four full trays of chips, and would have loved to keep on playing, but I soooo needed to  punch that guy in the throat. It was time to go. Theresa had left. I had contributed to the L&LS fundraising, and that was the important thing.

I handed my chips over to someone else and asked her to finish for me. I thanked the hosts and headed home. Theresa texted me yesterday to say the host contacted her and wanted to apologize to me for Mr. Loud Guy’s behavior, which was very kind of him. Too bad he has such a d-bag for a friend.

As if cancer isn’t bad enough, trying to prevent it means having to deal with jackholes like this? Yikes. Not that I want to stop fundraising for cancer, EVER, but maybe next time I’ll bring Val to be my bodyguard.

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If you’re a blogger and want to do our blog challenge with us, let me know and I’ll send you our list! Otherwise, tune in here (and on Sherilee’s happy little blog) every day in September.

Nov. 30: November in review

Barely finished before the month was over! Here’s my review of November 2012.

Special days I celebrated this month and how:

• Jack’s birthday was the big November holiday in our house. He turned 11 and proved it by giving us a wish list with one thing on it; that kid has gotten so choosy about stuff lately! If his friends don’t have it, he doesn’t want it either. Grrr. His gifts were video games, several gift cards, overpriced Nike socks, and a Kindle Fire HD. He was one happy boy.
• Vic had to work on Thanksgiving (boo) so our dinner wasn’t until evening. Darlene and Wellington hosted this year, and Mother Mary joined us. It was great fun, even though I had laryngitis and no one could hear me speak. Pretty sure they were all thankful for that. Meanies.
• I guess the outcome of Election Day made me feel pretty celebratory.

Gifts I gave and/or received this month:

• Gave: Jack’s birthday stuff.
• Received: goodies from my mom. She’s the best.
• I started Christmas shopping. I LOVE Christmas shopping! Actually, I love Amazon. Amazon is what makes me love Christmas shopping.

Books I read this month:

• I finally finished The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. It was really hard for me to get into, but once I did, the story was lovely. Sad, but lovely.
• I decided to re-read the Tales of the City series, by Armistead Maupin. I’ve read too many dark and depressing books lately; I need something lighter and these books are perfect.
• We had a moms’ book exchange the other night. I love those! I think we should have them more often, and not just because it’s an excuse for me and Tina to eat that banana cake at New Seasons.

Movies and TV shows worth mentioning:

• The new James Bond movie came out. I haven’t seen it yet.
• A lot of other movies came out and I also have not seen them. It seems to be really hard for me to make the effort to see a movie these days. I don’t know why.
• Downton Abbey returns to American television on January 6!
• Smash returns February 5!

New recipes or restaurants I tried:

Tonight I combined a few recipes to make a guacamole that turned out quite tasty. The key is avocadoes, people. You must have avocadoes.

Special or unusual purchases I made:

• Beekeeping supplies for some cool Christmas gifts and that’s all I’m sayin’.
• Way too many Miche shells—couldn’t resist their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.
• Furnace parts (see below).

This month’s disappointments:

• Being sick has certainly been no fun. Although I have my voice back, the ickiness in my sinuses lingers.
• Jack’s football team made the playoffs, but lost their game.
• Our furnace tried to die, but our neighbor saved its life. For the past few weeks, we’ve noticed that the furnace hasn’t been responding to thermostat changes like it should. I made fun of Mother Mary for walking around my house in a coat, but now I feel bad because I think maybe it really WAS cold (I was sick and couldn’t be relied upon for such accurate information). Rob looked at it, immediately saw what was wrong, and put a temporary fix on it until the parts we need arrive. Thanks, Rob!
• Now our refrigerator is being kind of an asshole.

My accomplishments:

• At school, we rewarded the kids for their fundraising efforts at Jogathon. I love seeing them get so excited about making their school better! It feels good to have that project out of the way.
• Mom and I completed our project with the beekeeping supplies—huge task, but lots of fun. That’s all I’m sayin’ about it.
• I finally got the kids’ Christmas gifts decided (and mostly purchased). I did my best to stick to the “something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read” rule, but there are several gifts that don’t fit into any of those categories. Where’s the part that says “something Mom geeked out over and just had to buy them”???
• Victor and I survived chaperoning the fifth grade field trip to the state capitol. Never. Again. Them kids are turds. It was fun to be in the Capitol building again, though; I think it had been about 30 years since I was last there.

Anything else noteworthy:

• I learned two disturbing things at Jack’s parent-teacher conference: he’s totally two-faced and he hears voices in his head.
• A few of us got together to play poker last week. Mother Mary was kicking our arses for a little while there—beginner’s luck—and now my friends kinda hate her. I won the “first out” AND “bad beat” prizes, and Vic got third place—probably our best $$ wins ever. Ready for Vegas!
• There’s a new baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo! She’s so cute.
• Here are silly pics I’ve been collecting:

That’s it, doods. Happy December!

Jun. 12: Fuzzy memories

The following things may or may not have happened over the past four days:

• On Thursday, Tina and I hosted a last-day-of-school party at our houses and 72 people (half kids, half adults) showed up. Likelihood that I am making up the number of guests, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 1
• We prepared recipes from the e-book 100 recipes for whipped cream vodka for grown-ups. Likelihood that the shot glass sized sample cups kept us from having a lawn-ful of passed-out adults, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• The weather was perfect. Likelihood that this is finally and fabulously true, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• I asked Cassie to help me pull a piece of celery out of my teeth. She grabbed it with both hands and put a foot against my knee to brace herself, but we were laughing too hard to get anywhere. Victor finally came to my rescue. Likelihood that this actually happened, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 2
• I recorded a video in which I later realized I had a bad case of Narrator Hiccups. Likelihood that my hiccups were actually vodka burps, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• While recording, other things also happened. Likelihood that this is true, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 3
• While recording, other things were also said. Likelihood that this is true, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 4
• I cannot make this video publicly available, as I will soon be a PTO c0-president and it would be highly incriminating—comparable to the head of NAACP telling racist jokes. Likelihood that this is a smart decision, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• ***But come on. If you’re gonna dance to “Single Ladies,” the Chicken Dance is never the right choice. NEVER, I tell you. Never. Likelihood that I am righter about this than I’ve ever been about anything I’ve ever said, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5 ***
• Cassie laid on me in an effort to show her sincere gratitude and to say goodbye. Likelihood that this actually happened, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): a fuzzy 3
• Cassie straddle-hugged my husband on the couch to say goodbye. Likelihood that I was sober enough to actually give her permission to do this, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): a less fuzzy 4
• Dawn stole vodka. Likelihood that this is actually why she found it on her counter the next morning, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 2
• I hugged Rob. Likelihood that we were both totally sober when this happened, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 2
• Unlike last year’s party at Dina’s, I did not spit on my friends. Likelihood that I remember this incorrectly, and did indeed spit on my friends, possibly even more than I did last year, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• Wendy’s daughter’s only word is “drink.” Likelihood that this is hilariously true, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• Friday morning I woke to find my house surprisingly still clean, and we invited friends over for a poker party that evening. Likelihood that this was an excuse to drink more of that whipped cream vodka, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• Hurtful insults were thrown about. Likelihood that most of them came from me or Val, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 4
• I won a large-ish pot with a pair of twos. Likelihood that this made Fancy Lori™ mad, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 4
• Fancy Lori™ played scales on my grade school flute. Likelihood that she’s really good with the low notes, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• Anthony played our ukulele that we’ve never tuned. Likelihood that I said “DUH!” when he said it was “totally out of tune,” on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 4
• Anthony played my grade school flute. Likelihood that this actually sounded good, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 1
• Fancy Lori™ is going to be Funner Lori™ from now on. Likelihood that this will happen, if you ask me and Val, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 3 (we forget stuff easily)
• I slept very, very late on Saturday morning. Likelihood that I totally needed this, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• Victor and I cleaned the garage. Likelihood that we spent all of Saturday and most of Sunday tackling this long-overdue task, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• You could eat off the floor of our garage. Likelihood that I recommend this, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 1
• We filled the van with donations and six garbage bags with trash. There’s another pile that will end up at the dump. This hard work has cleared up enough room in our garage that we could fit a vehicle in there, if we so choose. I have many storage boxes to go through before I feel like we’ve really pared down our belongings. Likelihood that this was still a tremendous and much-needed de-cluttering, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 5
• There is a beat-up old freezer on our front porch. Likelihood that there have been worse things there before (like a toilet!), on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): 4
• Tomorrow you will hear me and Victor complaining about sore muscles from all our hard work this weekend. Likelihood that listening to us will drive you crazy, on a scale of 1-5 (5=extremely likely): BITE ME.

May 22: Daybook

I think the Daybook is supposed to be a Monday thing. Meh.

Today…

Outside my window... there are things happening about which I’m not complaining... much. We had a beautiful few days of weather, and today we had some rain showers. ‘Tis okay, as long as the sun promises to return. Our yard came alive with new blooms last week, but it’s still got a long way to go. Come back, sunbeams in the yard!

This weekend, I… worked on getting my office better organized. Somehow, even with all my screaming and griping and cursing, it’s still the room where everyone dumps stuff, and it gets super-messy super-fast. Grrr. One huge task I actually completed was organizing all my PTO stuff into a file box. As co-prez, I sense I’ll be a bigger PTO nerd than ever before, so organizing that stuff is high priority.

This weekend, we did some family things: on Friday night we played poker—well, Katie watched the Disney channel while the rest of us played poker. Jack had a bad night, and he was really bummed. In our last hand, I went all in, even though I didn’t have anything, and so did Vic. Jack won the hand, and he was the happiest little guy EVER. It was so cute, I didn’t even bother explaining side pots and all that; we just let him have everything. We acted all angry that he beat us and were all FINE, THEN YOU CAN CLEAN UP THE CARDS AND CHIPS. Sneaky, huh?

Today we went to the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. We all really liked it. There were several fun action sequences that got me a little sweaty-palmed, and overall the movie was better than I expected it to be. We give it eight thumbs up.

All the talk about pirate movies this weekend reminded me of how Jack used to be obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean. He was five years old, I think, when he “read” the DVD cover and said, “See, it says ‘Pirates. Of. The. Carrot. Bean.’”

Also, this weekend we… were not raptured. Huge surprise.

I am thinking... that I am NOT ready for school to be out. There are only 12 school days left. I haven’t even begun to plan the kids’ summer activities and I just know they’re gonna be bugging me every day: I’M BORED! I’M HOT! I WANT TO EAT! So demanding, those kids.

I am thankful for... my friends and how they make me chuckle. Today April texted me when we were at the mall and said “Does your friend Val have a green and white lightweight jacket? We’re at Nordstrom and see someone who looks like her in your pics on Facebook.” I texted Val to ask if she was at Nordstrom and freaked her out a little. She said that yes, she was shopping, and I said my friend April saw her and I think that freaked her out a little more because she doesn’t know April. Unfortunately, April was on a very short shopping trip, so we didn’t get to meet up. We stalked Val to Jamba Juice though.

I have to say that the first time I remember ever seeing Val, I immediately knew who she was because I recognized her from Sunshine’s Facebook photos. April’s really not creepy, Val, I promise!

I am creating... piles of things to take to Goodwill. It’s such a good feeling to fill up the trunk with donations, or better yet, the back of the van. I went through kitchen cupboards and filled up the empty boxes our new dishes came in, so I’m getting rid of as much stuff as I added. Yay me!

One of my favorite things… is when Justin Timberlake hosts Saturday Night Live, like he did last night. He’s right up there with Alec Baldwin as BEST HOST EVER, at least in my mind. Every episode he’s in is so, so funny. LOVE. Watch it here if you want.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Work, a party, a trip or four to Goodwill, hopefully a date with my girls.

Here is a picture I gotta show you: This is the Google street view of my mom’s house. At first, I thought it was probably from before my mom lived there, but then I recognized Erin’s car in the driveway and Erin’s husband and Erin’s dog. I guess if we know the date Erin and Kevin visited Mom, we can pretty well pinpoint when the Google camera came down her street.

I’m so disappointed; there’s nothing exciting on the Google street view of our house. It’s obviously autumn, and this was done before we tore down our front porch rail and re-landscaped our yard. Booooring. Pouty/yawn-y face.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Mar. 28: Daybook

Today…

Outside my window... there are tons of new blooms in the front yard—the daffodils, crocuses (crocii?), and hyacinths have all popped open, and the tulips are well on their way. It’s so cheery and lovely that even with the grey skies today, it seems like spring is on its way.

This weekend, I… enjoyed Poker Night with friends. It was a blast, as always. I remember a lot of loud talking and grabbing of Val’s boobies and way too many kids downstairs and at one point I looked down and all my chips were gone. Someone stole them, I just know it, because how else would they have disappeared? I spent all of yesterday recovering from Poker Night. Yep, this girl overdid it just a bit, but it was worth it. **

**It wasn’t actually worth it. I still feel like someone kicked my head in.

I am thankful that... we went to Medford last week. It was good to get away from home—it almost felt like being on vacation. Thanks for having us, Mom! We found a new bead store that we loved, and got to visit with Uncle Paul and Claire, Nana (stories later, I promise!), my favorite cousin Deanna, and GILLY GILLY GILLY.

I am working on... some new décor ideas for my office. See, I have these IKEA boxes:

…and I want them to look less boring. I found this paper (the photo is a super-duper close-up of the teeny-tiny print):

…that has the new wall color in it, and I hope to combine it with other colors to pretty up those plain white boxes. I’m not sure yet how it will all come together, but if it looks even halfway purty, you can be sure I’ll share a photo or seven.

I need to tell you about something I love: stamped metal jewelry. You know what I mean:

etsy has tons of it, and I am going to learn to do it too. I don’t think metal stamping can really be just a hobby—the supplies are far from cheap—so I might just have to start my own etsy shop. That’d be a darn shame, right? I found this site that tells all about metal stamping, and I’m very excited to get started! Can you just imagine how satisfying it will be to pound out letters on metal? The hammer! The noise! The dents in all my furniture! I predict my anxiety levels will decrease dramatically with the first strike.

I am kind of excited because… Fancy Anthony™ is talking about creating a Stuff Jen Says iPhone app! I have no idea what it’s supposed to do, but it sounds way cool, because, um… STUFF JEN SAYS IPHONE APP. Hello! Suggestions friends came up with while playing poker: a drunk Facebooking translator, a keyboard that creates gibberish, a breathalyzer that locks me out of Facebook if my blood alcohol content is above “legally shit-faced,” and I just realized all of the features have to do with me being a drunk. Hm. Not so excited all of a sudden.

A few plans for the rest of the week: work, a visit with Sarah Vowell tomorrow night, PTO thangs, more work. Tentative plans: daily naps. One can hope, can’t one?

Here is picture for thought I am sharing: It’s more art from Curly Girl Designs. I just can’t get enough of her creations.

Have a good week, my pretties.

Want to blog your own Daybook? Here’s the info: The Simple Woman’s Daybook.

Feb. 18: IDCEAYWTPFriday

It’s Friday, and that means you get a post called I Don’t Care Enough About You to Write in Transitioning Paragraphs Friday. I haven’t done one of these in a while, but please don’t think that means you can expect anything interesting.

• I worked a couple long days this week and spent the rest of the time doing PTO-related things. Today I pretty much didn’t do anything all day long, and it was awfully nice. I get tired of having to use my noggin. As much as I love the work I do, it’s a constant brain-drain.
• Since Katie has a new iPod, we’ve all been trading music back and forth and in the process I’ve decided that I’m tired of my music and need new music and I’m saying the word “music” way too many times in this sentence. Nothing in the iTunes store appealed to me today. I stopped by the free mp3 downloads section on Amazon and found a whole bunch of stuff that—in preview mode, anyway—sounds great! The Benjy Davis Project is my favorite album so far, but I downloaded five others that I hope I’ll like too. I always forget about that section on Amazon, and sometimes it’s pretty cool. Today it was pretty cool.
• As I wind down in the evenings, I try to find something mindless to do. This week it was playing Texas Hold ‘Em online that helped me get sleepy. It’s fun, yes, but it’s nothing like hanging wit’ my peeps for reals on Poker Night. And you know something that really drives me nuts? I swear, almost every time I get beat online it’s by a pair of fours, but when *I* play a pair of fours, I lose to, like, a nine of a kind or something. Every time! Something else I hate is when somebody goes all in before the flop. HELLO! Now  none of us can play, thankyouverymuch. I guess my point is that my opponents online are jackholes compared to my opponents who are my friends.
• Speaking of friends and poker, WHEN IS OUR NEXT POKER NIGHT? Pretty sure we’re overdue, folks.
• Did you watch The Office last night? Threat Level Midnight was the best movie I watched… um… all day!
• I spend a lot of time at the kids’ school, and not just because rubber cement is so readily available there. Here’s one of the other bonuses: reading student projects. I saw a report by Fancy Riley™—she did “How to Train a Dog,” and I was impressed at how thorough (and fancy!) it was. But the one below hers really caught my eye, and here’s why:

Yes, that says “How to draw a bunny that got ran over by a car!”

Awesome, right???

• I’m following advice and have begun to compile last year’s blog posts and messages into a document that will tell the story of how I kicked cancer’s ass. I’m not very far into it yet, but just setting up the document was a big step. I don’t know what I’ll end up doing with the finished product; it may just be a story for my grandchildren. Whatevs. I need to do it for me, too. It’ll be therapeutic, especially if I stick to the truth. I’m debating fiction vs. nonfiction… because how else can I work Agent Michael Scarn into the story?
• The other night I woke up to something super-smelly. At first I thought it was Vic (because I’m kinda mean and because he’s sometimes stinky) and then I thought the dog farted. But the smell just wouldn’t go away, and I finally got up to see if I was the only one smelling the B.B.O. And what did I step in on my way to the light switch? One of six or seven soft turds the puppy had left outside the bathroom door. Curses! So, in the middle of the night, we spent 20 minutes picking up poo and scrubbing the carpet and swearing at every dog who has ever lived in the history of the world. It was 40-ish degrees outside, but we opened the windows wide anyway to air out the stench. It took a really long time to get back to sleep, and I kept thinking, is this a good enough excuse to get me out of work in the morning? Because my dog pooped?
• I have two new iPhone apps to share! Ted, my brother-in-law, makes fun of how I write entire posts about iPhone apps I like, so maybe he just shouldn’t read this paragraph.
  
  Both apps have free versions, and might be available for the Droid.
• SoundHound will tell you what song you’re listening to. It just hears it and displays the song title and artist, lyrics if they’re available, and a link to download the song. You can even sing into it and it’ll tell you what song you’re singing! So cool.
• IntoNow is similar, but it works with the TV. It listens to what you’re watching and tells you what it is.
• Here’s something I’m feeling grateful for this evening: Katie’s going to the new Justin Bieber movie with her friends next week! I don’t have to take her! I don’t even have to make up an excuse for why I can’t/won’t! This is a very, very good thing. My Mother of the Year crown may be crooked and tarnished, but it’s still on my damn head.

Jan. 25: Poker Night haiku

Saturday night was Poker Night for a bunch of us. I think the best way to commemorate the evening is with haiku. (Duh.)

 

Tasty meal by Jim We crowd around the table Eat until it’s gone.
	“I can’t stop staring” Says Chris F about The Beard He’s so George Clooney.
		The whipped cream vodka With orange juice and ice cubes  Creamsicles? More, please!
The Fancy™ Fam’ly Makes perfect gin and tonics And velour tables.
	Here is your green chip It’s worth five hundred dollars! (Of play money. Pffft.)
		Ev’ryone brings snacks Val shares her communion bread Oh, the holiness!
Chris B tries to bluff But Jen has a run of luck He’s such a baby.
	The Beard makes us cry Yes, it’s the stuff of nightmares George Clooney nightmares.
		Ace/king look pretty But don’t win. “That’s an Anna Kournikova.” Ha!
Booze flows. Lori turns. Falls right off her chair. We laugh. She looks so confused.
	Big and little blinds Become huge and monster blinds Where’d all my chips go?
		It’s late, time to go. Jim and Eric split the pot. We all stumble home.
Can’t wait for next time!  Let’s do it tomorrow, please Will The Beard feed us?

Nov. 19: IDCEAYWTPFriday

It’s Friday, and that means you get a post called I Don’t Care Enough About You to Write in Transitioning Paragraphs Friday.

• We’re supposed to leave for Sunriver today but there’s so much snow in the passes, I’m not sure we’re going to get there. I love being in Sunriver when there’s snow, but I’m not so big on getting there when there’s snow. We’ll see how the next few hours go before we decide.
• Last night we played poker at Chris and Val’s house. TWO times, I got to reach across the table and rake in the pot! One was big, the other was smaller, but it was way cool both times. Even better was the guy next to me, who kept asking how to play, and by the game’s end he had piles of chips in front of him. I usually hate players like that, unless I’m married to them. He went home with $50 and now I’m going to make him pay to touch my goodies.
• (Um, that might just make me a prostitute.)
• (Meh.)
• On a completely unrelated topic, my new favorite adult beverage is gin and tonic. I especially like them when Val orders Chris to make me another one and another one and another one. Since I typically go for brightly-colored drinks with umbrellas, I’m feeling all grown up that I like something unblended. Look at me, bein’ all normal. I’m damn near alcoholic.
• Wait, that’s not good.
• Here are some photos from Jack’s birthday party.

Yes, Jayson is pouring Mountain Dew into his Pepsi.
All five boys blended their sodas and I’m sure it had nothing to do
with how noisy they were about 20 minutes later.
(Both are caffeine-free, by the way. I’m not insane.)

Jack’s party was video game themed, and he made a cake topper with
a LEGO dude playing basketball on the TV.
I thought it was quite impressive. Here’s a close-up:

• It’s looking like one of my clients is moving forward on two big projects that will require my services. This is good news; as long as I have the energy to get out of bed in the morning, I’ll actually get paid for working my arse off. Not that I don’t love my PTO work, but the good feelings it gives me don’t exactly pay our mortgage.
• Looks like my nephew’s band, The Rouge, has a new video:

You can hear more of their noise in my sidebar on the left

• My PET/CT scan results have been seen by my oncologist. Her nurse called today to tell me they are “super,” according to Dr. O, and “everything looks great.” As much as I would love to rejoice in this good news, I’ve heard it before and still been told to continue chemo for many, many months longer than I thought. That’s a big pisser right there. I want more specific answers before I do a happy dance. Am I in remission? Do I need to continue treatment? Will I have to go in every month, or six months, or year, or what? If OJ isn’t completely gone, how often will we scan to check his size? And why isn’t he completely gone after all this chemo? Pardon me for not being super-duper excited; I promise the proper reaction will be had when I know for sure it is time.
• I like this quote:
  
  Life is not the way it’s supposed to be.
  It’s the way it is. The way you deal with it
  is what makes the difference.
  (Virginia Satir)
  
• And this photo makes me smile. It makes me ever-so-thankful for my good friends:

 

Victor just got home. Looks like we’re going to attempt Sunriver. Later, dudes.