It always surprises me what captures Nick's attention. In most ways he's a typical 10-year-old with the attention span to match. But right now he's sitting on the couch, quiet as a church mouse, listening to the soundtrack to "Phantom of the Opera." And he's clearly listening, because periodically he asks a question about what's going on. JR is filling him in on the story line.

A few days ago Nick came to me and said he wanted to see Phantom. I think they are learning about it in his music class at school. Coincidentally, it's playing here in Tempe right now. When I first heard it was coming I thought about going with JR, who is a huge musical theater fan. But then in typical fashion I never looked into tickets. At this point I just assumed it was sold out.

But after Nick's request I thought, "Hmm, why not look into it?" Money is tight right now, but I had wanted to go to the Nutcracker for Christmas this year so maybe I'll just do this instead. I've never seen Phantom, which is just silly, so why not? The lady at the box office said the tickets are nowhere close to sold out (thank the economy for that) and that if I wait until Monday, the ones I wanted will probably come down in price.

It's 9:00 at night and I'm in my PJs and I'm going to drag my ass to the store because I am desperate for cranberry juice.

Just tell me I'm not pregnant...

Yet another new layout, now that Halloween is over. This one suits me, yathink?

Images...

white fur
red velvet
the black night of winter, and stars sharp as icicles
pomegranate seeds

an uncontrollable craving for cranberry juice

An overwhelming abundance of red

What does it mean?

There is this question thing on FB and I was playing with it tonight out of boredom. Today's question of the day was "what are 5 things you want to do before you die?"

What was interesting was reading all the answers other people had written. 95% of the answers were all variations on a small handful of themes.

1. Family/relationships--get married, have kids, spend time with my family, fall in love...
2. Financial/career--buy a house, get rich, get my dream job...
3. Creative expression--write a novel, learn to paint, play in a band...
4. Adventure/travel--skydive, go to Greece, climb a mountain...
5. Giving--end global warming, make people smile, take care of my parents...

When it comes down to it, we all want the same things. We want love and family. We want security and prestige. We want to express ourselves. We want interesting experiences. We want to make a difference. The details may differ. I want to go to Spain. You want to go to Japan. I want to write a book. You want to play the saxophone. But ultimately, we are motivated by the same basic drives.

From solar_diablo:

Walmart sells caskets.

There are no words.

From today's horoscope:

The activity level is so high that you wonder if you'll be able to keep up with it all. Fortunately, you won't have to because things should begin to settle back down by tomorrow. In the meantime, do the best you can to pace yourself to sustain your energy throughout the day.

Understatement of the year, particularly the first line. Will things really settle back down by tomorrow? I just don't see how that's possible.

This week is one of those weeks that you just have to hold on for dear life and hope you survive it.

We went apple picking at Atkins Farms the first day I was in MA:



( More photos under cut )

OMG CUTE

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=1940&f=9455

This morning I got halfway to work when I realized that I left my coffee sitting on the counter at home. I was really annoyed with myself and cursing up a storm.

When I got to work I was walking to my office with JR when I heard someone yell. JR said, "Is that dad?" It was. He had found my coffee before he left the house and brought it to me. Totally made my day. :-)

Another thing that totally made my day was singing (screaming?) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with JR at the top of our lungs in the car this morning (with the windows down, no less). It's really just one of those songs you have to belt out with an extra helping of melodrama, you know? I think I ripped my vocal cords.

Where is Bonnie Tyler now?

We are supposed to swim this afternoon. Currently it is 66 degrees, and the high is only supposed to be 84. I'm going to die.

Okay, I guess it's time to get some work done.

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

--T. S. Eliot

I'm back from MA. Had a great time. Got lots of pics but I'm too damn lazy to post them. I'll get around to it eventually. :-P

I have me a new LJ layout for Halloween. :-)

As of 5:00 tonight, I am officially on vacation. w00t!!!

And, I haz a new orange iPod. Rob gave it to me for my trip.

Today I:
* swept and mopped the floors
* vacuumed the living room
* washed the bedding
* cleaned out the fridge (kinda)
* bought groceries
* loaded the dishwasher
* cleaned up cat diarrhea and cat puke (in our bedroom. Lovely.)
* took the dog for a long walk
* practiced piano
* did some research

I think I've earned me some trashy TV, don't you think?

Penny: But you know, everything happens...
Billy: Don't say "for a reason."
Penny: No...I'm just saying that everything happens.
Billy: Not to me.

Congratulations to Joss Whedon for snagging an Emmy for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Tonight I took Frieda out for a walk. While we were walking down the street, an unleashed dog came running out of nowhere, straight at Frieda and barking like crazy. I looked around hoping to see its owners, but there was not a human being in sight.

The dog would get right up in Frieda's face, barking, then run off a few feet and then come back again. Frieda never barked, but she was pulling on the leash trying to get at this other dog. I tried to walk us slowly away when the dog would run off, but it would always come back at us.

By this point I didn't believe the dog would really attack us. It never actually snapped at Frieda and while it barked a lot, it never growled. I was just trying to edge us down the street towards home. But we were on the sidewalk, and the dog was in the street, and periodically a car would come by. It was dark out and the dog was black, and I started worrying that it would get hit. I tried gently calling to it to come up on the sidewalk, but it wouldn't come to me.

Finally a car pulled over and a couple of guys asked if I needed help (two young guys in white shirts and ties, which would have meant nothing to me before I moved to AZ, lol). I explained the situation and they managed to get hold of the dog. She didn't have a collar. We didn't really know what to do, so they said they would hold the stray while Frieda and I left the area. I think it was just seeing another dog that had her so riled up. I said I would call animal control as soon as I got home.

I called the local animal control and after listening to their interminable phone message I finally got the point where they said, "To report a stray dog, press one." I pressed one and got a message telling me to call back during normal business hours!!!! Because, you know, dogs only get loose during normal business hours. ARGH.

I don't know what I would have done if those guys never showed up, and I don't know what they ended up doing with the dog. I felt bad just leaving, but at the same time, there was no way that dog was going to calm down while Frieda was nearby. :-(

Also, Frieda is my hero. She never once barked back at the other dog, but she kept herself between it and me the entire time. I never really worried about my own safety with her there, but I was terrified I was going to lose my pup.

ideealisme made a post about all the things she's going to do when she's really, really rich, and asked her flist what we are going to do when we're really, really rich as well. Here's what I posted:

When I am really, really rich, I am going to travel the world and see EVERYTHING. I will finally learn to speak French...by living in Paris for a few months. And I'm going to learn to scuba dive...in Tahiti.

I am going to set up a fund to sponsor our children's science magazine, the one that EVERYONE loves but nobody has any money for, and so we barely manage to eke out one issue a year. I'm going to take it national, too.

I am going to keep my small house, but hire people to clean it for me.

I am going to take piano lessons and go from proficient to really, really good. I could afford piano lessons now, but I don't have the TIME for them. When I don't have to clean house anymore, and working becomes optional, I will have lots of time to practice piano!

I'm going to build Nick the underground laboratory he asks Santa for every year.

So friends, what will YOU do when you are really, really rich? The only forbidden answers are those that involve paying off debt or making sure your loved ones are cared for. I mean...duh...if you didn't plan to do that I don't think I want you on my friends list. But once that's taken care of, then what?

I got two delicious surprises today: puddles of cat puke AND a steaming heap of dog shit on my library carpet! Is it my birthday already?

And what the hell do they put in Meow Mix to make it stain the carpet that badly? Seriously, folks, my cats do NOT care if their food is a delightful shade of orange, but I DO care that my carpet ISN'T.

I hate when I get letters or emails addressed to, "Dear Valued Customer..."

Calling me a "valued customer" doesn't automatically make me feel valued, and frankly, getting a letter with such a generic greeting kind of contradicts what you're saying.

Today I had an exterminator come out to take care of some bees that have been swarming around our yard. They were actually living in our neighbor's yard, under their shed. But the shed is up against our fence, and guess where they were entering and exiting the hive? You got it--our side yard, right near Frieda's doggie door.

What I didn't know about bee removal is that some of the bees escape and they will hang around for a couple more days, totally pissed off. And instead of hanging around the neighbor's shed, they have decided to surround our house.



While we were eating dinner tonight, we heard buzzing. A bee had gotten into the house. Rob whapped it with a shoe. Then after a little while we heard more buzzing. And more. And more. We started freaking out--how were they getting in? It turns out that they were slipping through the teeny tiny crack below the sliding glass door. Rob sprayed Orangeguard around it, and wedged some shirts in the crack, and they seem (knock on wood) to have stopped coming in.

Bees in general don't scare me. If I'm outside and a bee is flying around my head I don't care. But swarms of bees? Hell yeah, that's freaking me out. I don't like killing bees, either. If I find a lone bee in my house I will usher it out the door. But these ones aren't getting ushered. I'm sure my karmic bank account is dwindling.

And Rob has my immense gratitude for taking on the role of bee-whapper, considering he's allergic to them. The man's pretty handy with a shoe!

I sure hope they've calmed down by tomorrow, although I suspect poor Frieda will have to spend the day in her kennel rather than roaming the yard. The bee guy said it could take a couple of days for the escapees to head off.