Naming rights

If it weren't for the fact that I'm not fond of alliterative names, Allie would definitely have been named Laura, after Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was completely addicted to the Little House books as a child, to the point that my parents forbid me from taking any of the books out from the library again. You could look at the sign-out card for any of the series and my name would have been on them over and over.

I was fascinated with the Little House stories, starting with Little House in the Big Woods, which actually took place in my home state. That was pretty cool for an 8-year-old.

Something about the anecdotes rang home for me, and I used to think that maybe my grandmother had done similar things with her family when she was a little girl (well, I was only about 40 years off).

Things were awfully hard back then, and I didn't have any desire to actually become an Ingalls girl, but I did love to read about the adventures. Fortunately, we didn't have a boy, and I know Greg is grateful that my infatuation didn't extend to naming him Almanzo.

Fraud afoot

There's a movement going on that may mean the downfall of the huge ratings juggernaut that is "American Idol." There's a word you don't get to use every day, Juggernaut. I spelled it right first try, by the way, though I believe it's the first time I've ever spelled it. I would have been great at spelling bees, you know, if only our school had done them.

Anyway, a guy started a website a few years ago that actually seems to be having an impact this year. It's focus is to choose the worst contestant on American Idol and then twist the results of the weekly voting for who gets kicked off, by calling in for that person. This guy has gotten a lot of press this week and despite the fact that the candidate they've chosen as the worst is clearly outmatched as a singer, he's not getting kicked off the show. In fact, this week three singers who are obviously better are all on the hot seat to be removed from the show while he scored enough votes to not even be in contention to be voted off.

A news story I read said that the British edition of American Idol, "Pop Idol," was discontinued when Simon Cowell decided the U.K. public could no longer be trusted to choose the best singer. Is this the end of our series too?

I confess I wouldn't miss the show a bit. Millions and millions of Americans would, I know, disagree.

Memories

Things I want to remember about Dan's and Kerry's visit:

* Seeing them for the first time and thinking they look exactly like they do in their pictures online except that Dan was taller than I thought.

* Watching them meeting our girls for the first time and watching how much our girls enjoyed the books they brought as gifts (books I doubt we can get in the U.S., by the way).

* Showing them the building where our state government is based (is it capital or capitol, darn it) and telling them, we do a few buildings kind of like you do in Europe.

* Eating lunch in the top corner window at Noodles on State Street.

* Laughing, laughing, laughing

* Having really good food and wonderful conversation around the table at Delmonico's.

* Watching Dan drive on the right side of the road and thinking that I don't believe I want to try driving on the wrong side of the road anytime soon.

* Sitting outside on the patio at House on the Rock.

* Asking Kerry if she could stay and be our English nanny.

* Saying goodbye and being sad.

It was fun and now it's over. Onward---

Am I nuts?

Your company calls you in and tells you they're giving you a drug test. They say, have you taken any medications in the last 30 days? You say, yes, I have some kind of prescription at home that I can't remember the name of. They say, here's the cup, go pee.

After you get home, do you make any attempt at all to call your company, who are going to be getting the drug test results soon, and tell them the name(s) of the medications you're taking? After all, you don't want to fail your drug test and possibly be suspended for drug treatment or even fired.

Right? Am I right here?

Or do you do nothing and wait to be suspended when you test positive for a narcotic that, as far as your company knows, you're taking illegally.

Resting easy

Poor Kerry and Dan. Right now, they're on a plane, halfway across the Atlantic, legs aching (especially Dan, who's much taller than he looks on the internet--and no, I'm not sure what I mean by that) and watching the time tick slowly away until they see their kids and their home again. This is after they spent three must-have-been-uncomfortable nights on a much smaller bed than they're used to.

We had a wonderful weekend with them, involving lots of running around and lots of good food and lots and lots of talking. Neither Greg nor I picked up a British accent, though I think we both had times when we found ourselves speaking with a definite English lilt. Both Dan and Kerry were kind enough to make things easy for us, always translating British pounds into dollars and using American words for things instead of expecting us to know what they were talking about if they spoke without thinking.

There was one time yesterday though, when they exchanged a few words in some kind of code that I was completely unable to follow. I'm not talking about the kind of code that married couples use (Happy 5th Anniversary again, Dan and Kerry!). I'm talking about them briefly discussing something and not trying to speak distinctly for their American hosts. The result was some kind of slurring, shorthand, lilting thing that didn't even sound like English.

As I said before, they were wonderful guests, wonderful with our children (and patient), very flexible, quiet, funny, wonderful conversationists, and all-around fun. I'm already wishing they lived closer. Closer than 3000 miles away, anyway!

And now we're getting back to our normal schedule, putting the girls to bed on time instead of 1/2 hour to 45 minutes late, and heading to bed early ourselves tonight to catch up on a little sleep. If we could, we'd loan some of that sleep to the Hughes on their uncomfortable trip home. Safe journey, you two!

English politeness

I don't know what it is. Dan and Kerry are incredibly quiet guests, especially in the morning when you're trying to sleep but you're subconsciously keeping an ear out because it's rude to let your guests be awake for hours before you, time spent without someone offering them juice.

They're quiet, to the point that they put just about every other guest we've had stay at our house (and there have been a pretty good amount) to shame. What's wrong with all of you other people anyway?

Do we need to send you to England for guest lessons?

They're here!

Greg and I travelled to Chicago yesterday and picked up Dan and Kerry at their hotel. Despite the bad weather, we had a wonderful lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then we tackled the long trip back to Wisconsin.

We're very glad to have them here and we hope they're having a good time, but I can't really take the time to type more. You're going to have to take my word for it that they're having a wonderful visit, in fact that this is the best vacation that they've had in their lives.

Life lesson

If your family members aren't far away or asleep, go and give one of them a hug right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.



One of my co-workers, a healthy young man who can't be more than 30, almost died this weekend when his spleen ruptured because of a bout of mono. His heart and breathing stopped, he was med-flighted, they cracked his chest from top to bottom, and he's received 20 units of blood so far. Ironically, I gave blood on Friday, so he actually might have gotten my blood to save his life.

He's stable now and even though I'm not religious, I'm praying for him.


Go hug your family. And donate blood.

Sweet as taffy

All of the first grade classes at Allie's school have been studying whales for some time and their music teacher coordinated that unit with a special musical performance. This morning, me and about 100 other parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends went to school at 10:15 to see all of the first graders sing and recite. Who, I ask you, does not need to leave work or something important to attend something scheduled at 10:15 in the morning. Quite inconvenient, I'm telling you.

Regardless, Allie was stupendous. She looked for me somewhat anxiously, found me with her eyes, did not wave (per stern prior instructions from the teacher), smiled at me when I waved, and followed her teacher's instructions to the letter. She recited her part of the program perfectly and loudly, moved on and off the central stage area swiftly, and then smiled and paid attention as her classmates did their parts. Allie sang enthusiastically and did all the appropriate hand motions. She was amazing, truly. I say that completely without bias, of course.

Truthfully, it was all incredibly sweet and all of the kids did a wonderful job. Made my teeth ache, it was so sweet and precious. And I'm not even going to talk about the memories it brought back.

A very cool day.

The British are coming!

We just heard the above statement on TV and even though they were referring to guest stars on American Idol, it's true for us personally too. Dan and Kerry are visiting us from Yorkshire this week. So far, I've had three people warn me that it's not a good idea to let people into your life that you know only from the internet. I'm sure Dan and Kerry aren't going to murder us in our beds, right? And if they do--it's Dan and Kerry Hughes, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire . . . OR AT LEAST THAT'S WHO THEY TOLD US THEY WERE!

In other matters, Julia has decided that she can get anything she wants, and I do mean anything, just by saying please in a plaintive voice, smiling winningly, widening her eyes, and blinking her eyelashes.

She tried to get fruit snacks last night, five minutes before bed, by trying the above strategy. I started laughing at her and I couldn't stop laughing when she joined me with her giggles. She's had a particularly deep-throated giggle lately that sounds a little like it belongs to a 40-year old female smoker. Nonetheless, we laughed and she continued saying please until I distracted her with something else. You didn't think I was going to actually give them to her, did you? I'm made of stronger stuff than that.

She only gets fruit snacks five minutes before bed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

It's all gone

It took almost three weeks, but our recent stretch of warm weather and some rain has done in the huge amount of snow we had on the ground. There are only small snowbanks here and there and even they look like they'll be leaving us any day now.

On the day we hit almost 70 degrees, Allie wore her (winter) coat as she walked from the bus stop. She had her snow boots on also, but she left off the stocking cap and snow pants. Then she complained about how hot she was.

My tulips are coming up and if the rabbits don't eat them, I'll have pink and yellow blossoms in a little bit. We take pictures of them almost every year because they make me happy, even though they look exactly the same every year. A little later, my dwarf Korean lilac bush will bloom and that makes me even happier.

Spring is coming, it really is!

Don't ask how stupid this is

I listened to Wisconsin Public Radio while on the road today and succeeded in getting myself all riled up. I think that the American military's policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" is absolutely insane.

What they've succeeded in doing with this asinine policy is to discharge thousands of people who only want to serve their country and protect the rights of the weak in the world, oh, and possibly die in that service if necessary.

Got that? They're willing to die if necessary and the U.S. government is telling them they can't serve if they're homosexual. Remember, they may never actually have any same sex relations while they're in the military, but just because they say they're not heterosexual, they're out.

Can I even list the ways this is dumb? Well, for one thing, there was a case just recently when a predatory senior officer drugged and raped several other men. Except maybe he didn't rape them. The victims have said they were raped, but there's an incentive for them to accuse him of that because if the sex was consensual, they're all kicked out of the service.

So what's the truth? The truth is, we need a president who's going to stand up and admit that gays have a perfect right to serve in the military and that homophobic people are the ones who should be discharged, for harboring discriminatory ideas in this day and age. Give me a break.

Naughty again

As Greg said recently in his blog, the girls have decided that our half bath is a fun place to play. The room is pretty small, but it has the usual furnishings and a free-standing cupboard that we use to store extra towels, some reading material, and extra toilet paper. The cabinet becomes a magic house for fairies to live in and a place to hide things and who knows what else as they play.

Tonight, the girls were playing and decided that Simon the cat should join them. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but I could hear that they were laughing and having a wonderful time. Then I heard the sound of a cat meowing rather piteously, so I yelled to the girls to let the cat out of the bathroom. They protested, but let him out.

About 15 minutes later, I told the girls to come out and change into their pajamas. While I was helping to get nighties over their heads, I heard a thumping noise coming from the bathroom. I asked Allie if Rabies was in the bathroom and she said no. I walked towards the bathroom and asked again and she said yes, he is.

I walked into the bathroom and didn't see the cat, and just then Allie came up from behind me and opened the drawer in the bottom of the cabinet. The girls (meaning Allie) had stowed Rabies in this little drawer for god-only-knows how long.

He immediately jumped out, looking as grateful as a cat can look. The girls had to go to bed early, without any book reading or last minute snacks. Not nice!

I'm melting, I'm melting!

If the Wicked Witch of the West was made of the snow in our back yard, she'd be screaming this!

The snow in the front yard isn't melting so quickly, but that's the north side, so it's going to take awhile. If you get out away from the shade of the house, the snowbanks are coming down and down.

This makes Deb very happy.

Allie is worried though. She's heard us say that we hope there's snow on the ground so we can go sledding when Dan and Kerry come to visit. I keep reassuring her that it's going to get cold again and that we'll probably get more snow.

I think she may have had some kind of global warming lecture at school, because she sure doesn't look at me like she believes me. Don't worry, little girl, we live in Wisconsin---we're not done with winter yet.

I'm beginning to believe . . .

that spring is really coming. My favorite time of year is starting to tease us.

The temperature almost hit 50 yesterday and again today and that means that a lot of snow has melted. Not enough, but a lot. You can see grass again, at least on the south sides of buildings.

My sisters were here this weekend and we were out and about quite a bit yesterday, after spending a rainy Friday night inside by a fire that challenged all of my and Greg's keep-the-fire-going skills. Today, with the time change, the morning and early afternoon went very quickly before they headed home.

Allie then asked if she could play outside and I went out with her because Julia didn't want to. And by shoveling until my wrists ached, I reclaimed my side of the driveway. Yes, the driveway that was so narrow because of our blizzard weekend is back to it's normal width. There's something very satisfying about chopping and clearing ice on the driveway. I even took a stab at the huge banks leading up to our mailbox, trying to clear things out better for our mail carrier, but I didn't get very far.

Meanwhile, Allie had a blast playing in the gutter with the girls across the street. Yep, my child in the gutter, playing with the melting water and snow. I don't know exactly what they were up to, but it involved making stews for fairies with snowmelt, leaves, and grass.

The neighbor girls were just wearing sweatshirts, while Allie had on her snowpants and coat and mittens. Her mittens were soon soaked and they haven't begun to dry out yet. The house warmed up because of the sun outside so the furnace hasn't run for several hours. At night, we have an electronic thermostat which turns down automatically, so again the furnace doesn't run. I hope her mittens are dried by morning.

We had a very nice weekend and I hope it's a smooth week for us, and for you too.

Not so interesting confab

(My sisters are here for the weekend. Tell me what to write, Pam)

Talk about Simon catching dust in the sun. Giggle, giggle. Look at him, he's cute.

(How about talking about what it's like to be a guest in our home?)

I'm never a guest in your house. I haven't been here since July.

(You're a bad auntie.)

Oh, yeah, bad auntie. What am I doing today? Stop that, shut it off.

(She's going to spend money on shopping for my kids, FYI.)

We woke up this morning to a thunk and we think it was Rabies falling off the landing upstairs onto the front hall floor.

(Just like Simon a couple of weeks ago. My kittens aren't too smart.)

This is a really nice computer. Is that the newest thing, flat keys and that?

(It's because it's a laptop.)

Look at my bruise, Greg. It's getting better.

(Greg: How did you do that?)

Fell in the parking lot at work.

(Deb: she fell getting into her car, on a little very slippery patch of ice. The bruise is about four inches across. I guess I should get you some breakfast, Pam.)

Dentists are the pits

Well, today I finished the last of five appointments involving my left upper back molar. Yep, five fun-filled visits. I'm not sure it was worth it. It'll be worth the $2200 I spent, right?

I went for my regular checkup in November and found out I had a cavity, my first in a long, long time. I had a filling, which was a complete failure. I had immediate swelling and pain and redness of my face, to the point that I needed an antibiotic. I had to get an emergency root canal, which was more fun than I think I can describe here.

I needed a crown. I went for an emergency appointment with a new dentist (having given up on the old one because I wasn't sure he didn't cause this to some extent). This dentist found there was still decay in the tooth and he drilled away for literally two hours. I went to another appointment where I had to have four impressions taken. The third one was so bad that I gagged and almost threw up.

Today I went to have my permanent crown put on and the dentist discovered he needed to laser away some of my gum or the crown wouldn't fit correctly. Oh, yes. That felt really good, let me tell you, especially since I wasn't frozen up completely.

Gee, I only have 3 1/2 months to wait until I go back for my next regular checkup. Yup, really looking forward to that one.

Sleepytime?

For many years, I've been able to wake up at almost the exact time I wanted to. Since I've had kids, my actual bedside alarm clock has been set to 5:30 (on weekdays). Almost without fail, I wake up on weekdays at 5:28 or 5:29. On the weekends, my internal clock knows it's not a weekday and I can sleep in until one of the kids wakes me.

My clock even works for naps. I took quite a few naps when I was pregnant (both times), and as long I looked at the bedside clock before I closed my eyes, I could wake up in almost exactly one hour (or whatever).

Completely bizarre stuff.

Unfortunately----I have way too much work crap on my mind these days. So for the last few mornings, my body clock has decided that I need to wake up at 4:00 a.m., just so I have plenty of time to lie awake and think of all the overdue stuff I was supposed to do days ago.

Have you ever tried to turn your brain off in this situation? It's impossible. You resolve to just think about breathing.

In, out. In, out. In, out. Did you do that report for the president? Oh, shit. You didn't do it. You are so screwed. Surely they realize how overburdened you are. Of course they do. Oh, crap. No, I'm not going to think about that. In, out. In, out. So screwed, yes you are. And what about that survey that the CEO asked you to complete and get in. You didn't do it, did you. What are you going to say when he asks you about it. Are you just going to lie? You are so screwed. You need to go to sleep. You're going to be so tired tomorrow and you have to get some things actually completed. First thing, you'll do the president's report. Then you'll do the CEOs survey. Before you do anything else. In, out. Oh, shit. You need to remember about the testing. You should have called on that last week and now there's no way that vendor's going to be able to make it in with two days notice. You are so screwed. You need to go to sleep. You're not going to think about any more of this crap. In, out. In, out. In, out.

Oh, look. It's 5:00. You might as well get up. You brought your work computer home for the 400th night, so you can get a start on some stuff right away.

Sigh.

Why did the squirrel cross the road?

I traveled to one of my company's other locations today and saw the strangest thing. I was late, so I was speeding rather dramatically. The speed limit was 55 mph, but I was going at least 65, if not more. I saw a squirrel on the left side of the highway and immediately thought, Boy, I hope he's not going to try to cross in front of me, cause I ain't stopping.

Then I saw another squirrel on the right side of the road. Then another, and another and another and another and another. In the space of a hundred yards, there were nine squirrels on the sides of the road (I counted).

Granted, there's a lot of snow on the ground and the shoulder of the road is clear, but what the heck is up with that?

And Dan, no cracks about the superiority of British squirrels, please!

Spoiling pets

Back in 1989, I got my first cat and immediately started spoiling him. I bought a special videotape just for him called "Video Catnip." Someone had an idea to make a million bucks and videotaped a bunch of birds and squirrels in their backyard for cats to watch. It sounds stupid, but hey, I bought one.

Fast forward 18 years and this week, we pulled out the old videotape and made two new cats very happy. Rabies, especially, is completely fascinated by these birds chirping and jumping around and eating, but he especially likes the squirrels. We're going to have a cool time this summer when we have real squirrels running around the backyard.

The tape comes with a warning that cats may become very excited and so you are to be sure that your TV doesn't have any exposed wiring in back. They also tell you to remove all breakables from near the set, in case your cat completely goes crazy.

You know, I don't knock your hobby!

Bad cat

Last night, I was going to go upstairs to bed. Greg was already upstairs and the girls were long asleep. Greg had brought me a glass of water earlier which I'd only half drunk, so I picked it up as I started walking to the kitchen. I noticed that the glass Greg had been drinking out of was on the other end table, so I picked that up. I walked into the kitchen carrying the glasses without turning on the light, since the light from the living room suffices.

Imagine my surprise when the sweep of my eyes over the counter was met by a pair of eyes. Rabies was sitting with his paws tucked under him on the kitchen counter (next to the knife block if you know our kitchen). He'd obviously been there for some time and as I looked at him he cocked his head to look up at the vent above the stove, which makes noise when it's windy, as it was last night.

Unlike some people (my sister Pam!), we do not allow our cats on the counter and we never have. I picked him up and put him on the floor, upon which he took off running. When I told Greg about it upstairs, he asked why I didn't kick Rabies's butt.

This morning, I was standing at the kitchen peninsula, reading the paper and eating toast, as I do almost every morning. I finished and turned around to head upstairs. And there was Rabies, in the exact same spot doing the exact same thing.

He's a really quiet jumper, because he wasn't there when I got to the kitchen (he was downstairs eating his breakfast, which I'd just given him). This time, he got spanked. Bad kitty!

It's snowing again, by the way.

The devil is in the details

Greg and I are planning a trip later this year, and his parents are planning on joining us. We're excited about the whole idea, except now---it's just the details----

When Greg and I went to England and France two years ago, we only took carry-ons for 10 days of travel. It wasn't easy to pack for that, but we did so much walking, travel on public transportation, and generally, doing without a car that it really, really paid off.

We naturally want to have the same ease of movement this time, but Greg's mom is not thrilled about our restriction on luggage. We're going to have a car this time, but there's still three flights involved plus some public transportation and we're certainly well aware that most rental cars in Europe are quite small. I read some notes one woman wrote about a trip to England where she said that she and her three travel-mates spent every minute in their rental car with extra bags on their laps because things physically could not fit in the trunk (or boot).

We're also having some discussion about the month of travel. I want to go earlier. Airfare, hotels, and the rental car will be cheaper and so will meals (and probably some entertainment). Plus it's a certainty that things will be less crowded. Some others want to go later, because it'll be warmer.

Last night, we checked a temperature chart and the difference is 8 degrees between the two months we're discussing. For 8 degrees and possibly as much as $1000, I can wear a coat. Especially since when Greg and I were in Paris, they had a 90-degree day in May. You just never know what you're going to get.

Things will work out, I'm sure. Everyone will realize that they should fall into line with my ideas and we'll proceed with the planning peacefully. Until we actually leave, and then everyone will acquiesce to my decisions and we'll have a wonderful time.

I can't wait!