Thursday, September 22, 2005
Mama Ball Says
Been worrying a bit about the family down in Texas. I think most of them have the sense to get out of Rita's way, but who knows. Looks like Port Arthur may take a direct hit, but we are still a day and half away from that and anything can happen. Hope Dad's coonass relations get the hell out of Dodge.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Mama Ball Says
Sunday ...
Great quote from Jake yesterday. He and Steve were getting ready to drive to a birthday party in Norwalk, and he turned to Steve and said, "Do you have a erection?" To which Steve replied, "No, but I do have THE DIRECTIONS." It took everything I had not to burst out laughing.
Sadie has begun making a high pitched squealing noise today that elicits the "nails-down-the-chalkboard" reaction in most humans. I know this because she was doing it through Super Stop and Shop this morning, and I got to see a variety of people having the same experience, including one poor hungover guy whom I really felt sorry for. I'm thinking I should investigate whether or not I can record the noise and sell it to Hollywood horror/alien/slasher flick makers. I'm sure they could dream up some bloodthirsty psychotic bizarro thing that would be expected to make this sound.
Sadie has also started doing the "I Want" dance, which is her dancing up and down on her toes until she gets what she wants. Most of the time we can figure out what that is, but if not, the I Want Dance devolves quickly into the I'm Pissed Tantrum, which involves lying facefirst on the floor or driveway, screaming and crying and kicking feet. Stepping over her and ignoring this tends to work best.
I am drowning in laundry, mostly because it was just too hot and sticky to get it done yesterday. Hopefully we will all have enough clothes done by tonight to make it through the week.
The fridge crisis is over, with the old one off to the dump. The one from the old upstairs apartment is now in our kitchen, and it is a good bit smaller than the old one so I am going to have to pay attention to things and probably go to the grocery store for perishables more often. On the up side of this, I cleaned out an amazing amount of science-projectish items from the fridge and realized that I hadn't done a total cleanout in at least two years. Spill wipeups, yes, total take everything out and disinfect the whole thing, no. Yeeeeccchhhhhh. Gotta put that on my calandar every couple of months. It was beyond nasty.
Great quote from Jake yesterday. He and Steve were getting ready to drive to a birthday party in Norwalk, and he turned to Steve and said, "Do you have a erection?" To which Steve replied, "No, but I do have THE DIRECTIONS." It took everything I had not to burst out laughing.
Sadie has begun making a high pitched squealing noise today that elicits the "nails-down-the-chalkboard" reaction in most humans. I know this because she was doing it through Super Stop and Shop this morning, and I got to see a variety of people having the same experience, including one poor hungover guy whom I really felt sorry for. I'm thinking I should investigate whether or not I can record the noise and sell it to Hollywood horror/alien/slasher flick makers. I'm sure they could dream up some bloodthirsty psychotic bizarro thing that would be expected to make this sound.
Sadie has also started doing the "I Want" dance, which is her dancing up and down on her toes until she gets what she wants. Most of the time we can figure out what that is, but if not, the I Want Dance devolves quickly into the I'm Pissed Tantrum, which involves lying facefirst on the floor or driveway, screaming and crying and kicking feet. Stepping over her and ignoring this tends to work best.
I am drowning in laundry, mostly because it was just too hot and sticky to get it done yesterday. Hopefully we will all have enough clothes done by tonight to make it through the week.
The fridge crisis is over, with the old one off to the dump. The one from the old upstairs apartment is now in our kitchen, and it is a good bit smaller than the old one so I am going to have to pay attention to things and probably go to the grocery store for perishables more often. On the up side of this, I cleaned out an amazing amount of science-projectish items from the fridge and realized that I hadn't done a total cleanout in at least two years. Spill wipeups, yes, total take everything out and disinfect the whole thing, no. Yeeeeccchhhhhh. Gotta put that on my calandar every couple of months. It was beyond nasty.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Mama Ball Says
September 17
Well, we started soccer again, this time at the field at Byram Beach. Jake's team this go-round is the Storms, but today they were more the Passing Showers. They didn't score a single goal! They did have lots of fun with us though. Coach Mickey is the official head coach of our team, and I just run around and shout encouragements (and occasionally kick the ball back into the field for the kids). Jake had a good time. Coach Lame came over to harass me about needing to run around and run off some of my lunches, so I laughed and smacked him. Coach Lame is really Richard Lane, who is on staff at CMS and works with me. He's running the soccer program for the town.
The refrigerator is working on a slow death, so Mike is coming over this afternoon to help Steve move the upstairs apartment fridge down from the attic. I really want a big freezer for the basement so I don't have to crowd the kitchen one or cross my fingers that the garage fridge will stay cold enough. We'll see is vacuuming out the coils and cleaning the outside pieces of the fridge will resurrect it for a little while -- it may become my basement fridge if that happens.
Sadie is doing better with Miss Lillian at preschool. She didn't cry at all Friday when I dropped her off, mostly because Lillian had her holding hands with Maeve and the three of them went to go see the fish tank in the office to say good morning to the fishies. :)
Work was a disaster zone all this week. I never want to hear "Read 180" or "corrupt printer groups" ever again. Our nice new Tiger servers are apparently eating our new staff preferences and new student information for midnight snacks, as I haven't been able to keep those stable at all. Scarlett keeps popping into my head: "After all, tomorrow IS another day!" Naturally, Rhett shows up when everyone starts moaning about things: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." With luck, things will settle out some over the next week or so. If I didn't have Nicole and Freya, I would be so far down the rabbit hole I don't think I'd ever surface again. I'm loading some new software, OmniGraffle, on my laptop for use in building websites, so we'll see how that works. The new machines at school have the new version of Dreamweaver on them and there are plenty of quirky little differences. We'll see if we can find all the things the kids need to build their websites.
Good reads this week: Finished The Riddle, which is the second book in the Pellinor series (sequel to The Gift). Excellent fantasy, very strong female protagonist who is shaping up to make some difficult choices in the next book and looks to have some amazing powers/abilities and secrets at her disposal. I've also loved Eldest, sequel to Eragon. My kids who have read it have more often than not been disappointed at the ending and mad about part of it, but it seemed very much like The Empire Strikes Back to me. Definitely necessary for the progression of the story and pretty much a setup for the third book rather than a story on its own. This is one that you really have to read Eragon first to understand and "get". Have started the third book in the Mortal Engines series, Infernal Devices,which is shaping up to be another roaring adventure like Mortal Engines and Predator's Gold. I'll let you know what I think.
Well, we started soccer again, this time at the field at Byram Beach. Jake's team this go-round is the Storms, but today they were more the Passing Showers. They didn't score a single goal! They did have lots of fun with us though. Coach Mickey is the official head coach of our team, and I just run around and shout encouragements (and occasionally kick the ball back into the field for the kids). Jake had a good time. Coach Lame came over to harass me about needing to run around and run off some of my lunches, so I laughed and smacked him. Coach Lame is really Richard Lane, who is on staff at CMS and works with me. He's running the soccer program for the town.
The refrigerator is working on a slow death, so Mike is coming over this afternoon to help Steve move the upstairs apartment fridge down from the attic. I really want a big freezer for the basement so I don't have to crowd the kitchen one or cross my fingers that the garage fridge will stay cold enough. We'll see is vacuuming out the coils and cleaning the outside pieces of the fridge will resurrect it for a little while -- it may become my basement fridge if that happens.
Sadie is doing better with Miss Lillian at preschool. She didn't cry at all Friday when I dropped her off, mostly because Lillian had her holding hands with Maeve and the three of them went to go see the fish tank in the office to say good morning to the fishies. :)
Work was a disaster zone all this week. I never want to hear "Read 180" or "corrupt printer groups" ever again. Our nice new Tiger servers are apparently eating our new staff preferences and new student information for midnight snacks, as I haven't been able to keep those stable at all. Scarlett keeps popping into my head: "After all, tomorrow IS another day!" Naturally, Rhett shows up when everyone starts moaning about things: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." With luck, things will settle out some over the next week or so. If I didn't have Nicole and Freya, I would be so far down the rabbit hole I don't think I'd ever surface again. I'm loading some new software, OmniGraffle, on my laptop for use in building websites, so we'll see how that works. The new machines at school have the new version of Dreamweaver on them and there are plenty of quirky little differences. We'll see if we can find all the things the kids need to build their websites.
Good reads this week: Finished The Riddle, which is the second book in the Pellinor series (sequel to The Gift). Excellent fantasy, very strong female protagonist who is shaping up to make some difficult choices in the next book and looks to have some amazing powers/abilities and secrets at her disposal. I've also loved Eldest, sequel to Eragon. My kids who have read it have more often than not been disappointed at the ending and mad about part of it, but it seemed very much like The Empire Strikes Back to me. Definitely necessary for the progression of the story and pretty much a setup for the third book rather than a story on its own. This is one that you really have to read Eragon first to understand and "get". Have started the third book in the Mortal Engines series, Infernal Devices,which is shaping up to be another roaring adventure like Mortal Engines and Predator's Gold. I'll let you know what I think.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Mama Ball Says
Sept 10, 2005
Took the kids to the Bronx Zoo for the first time today. Once we were at the zoo, it was great -- took the overhead tram ride and rode the new bug carousel, and saw lots of animals. Getting to the zoo was...interesting. The NYPD had shut down Pelham Parkway westbound so we took a very scenic detour through the Bronx in an attempt to find the zoo through the 'hood. We discovered that on every block in the Bronx there is a nail salon, a bodega or deli, some sort of physician's office(often for odd ailments), and at least one storefront law firm. We liked the one that listed all problems it dealt with on the window: "bankruptcy, wills, divorce, slip and fall." What if you just slip and don't really fall? Will they still take your case? From the looks of the storefront, they probably take chickens in payment for services.
Anyway, the kids had fun at the zoo. It is so big we couldn't do everything! I think we maybe saw about a third to a fourth of the zoo. The new bug carousel is a hoot! Jake rode the praying mantis, Sadie rode the grasshopper and I rode some weird blue bug. one of the bench seats that doesn't move up and down on the carousel is carved into a ball of dung being pushed by a dung beetle! Someone had a sense of humor when they designed this.
Took the kids to the Bronx Zoo for the first time today. Once we were at the zoo, it was great -- took the overhead tram ride and rode the new bug carousel, and saw lots of animals. Getting to the zoo was...interesting. The NYPD had shut down Pelham Parkway westbound so we took a very scenic detour through the Bronx in an attempt to find the zoo through the 'hood. We discovered that on every block in the Bronx there is a nail salon, a bodega or deli, some sort of physician's office(often for odd ailments), and at least one storefront law firm. We liked the one that listed all problems it dealt with on the window: "bankruptcy, wills, divorce, slip and fall." What if you just slip and don't really fall? Will they still take your case? From the looks of the storefront, they probably take chickens in payment for services.
Anyway, the kids had fun at the zoo. It is so big we couldn't do everything! I think we maybe saw about a third to a fourth of the zoo. The new bug carousel is a hoot! Jake rode the praying mantis, Sadie rode the grasshopper and I rode some weird blue bug. one of the bench seats that doesn't move up and down on the carousel is carved into a ball of dung being pushed by a dung beetle! Someone had a sense of humor when they designed this.
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