How to spend your extra day this year

Today's Fake Quote:

"There's no such thing as watching too much television." -J.Jet

Have you all seen this? NBC is showing episodes of vintage shows on their website. Just click on that link, then select the show you want to watch. They have The A-Team, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and more - all for free! New episodes every Wednesday, too!

Oh, and ABC has episodes of My So-Called Life, another show I used to love that got canceled too soon.

Just a little something to tide me over while we're waiting for new episodes of current shows!

Sisterhood of the Traveling Teeth

Today's Fake Quote:

"Sometimes even teeth need a change of scenery." - P. Farb

I went to the dentist yesterday to get my permanent crown for the lovely root canal I had two weeks ago. When he went to put the new crown in, it fit perfectly. There was just one little problem: my tooth had moved.

Yes, apparently the neighborhood wasn't to my tooth's liking and it had to scoot away from its neighbor by a few millimeters. It moved just far enough that there would have been an annoying, food-catching gap in between the two. So my crown goes back to the lab to have material added to front of it so it can cozy up with the neighbor again.

I asked if this is common and the dentist told me about 3 in 100 people have this happen. I guess I just have restless teeth. Now what happens if it gets that yen to wander again before the new crown comes in? I don't know. I guess I'll have to take away its passport.

Fun with welding

Today's Fake Quote:

"A joke should always be in good taste." - C. Rock

Last night, Hubby was laying in bed reading something on his computer. I looked over his shoulder and saw the words "butt weld." Now, I spent the entire last semester of his college career helping him study. I know what a butt weld is. But for some reason it struck me funny.

"Butt weld?" I said. "That sounds painful." He ignored me. "And how do you go to the bathroom?" More blatant ignoring. I glanced at the screen again.

"Large and varied application? I guess it depends on the person," I snickered. He groaned. I rolled over to go to sleep. But I couldn't resist one last comment.

"Hey, do butt welds ever crack?"

That's my Secret

Today's Fake Quote:

"What's that awful smell?" - P. LePew

Days like this annoy me - when it should be snowing, but it's raining instead. And it's always like six inches of rain, which would be like six feet of snow, which would be fun! But no, we get rain. Anyway...

I bought some deodorant the other day and left it sitting on the table. The three-year-old wanted me to open it. I told him no, it was for me, to keep me from stinking (what? that's what it's for!). So he said, "I stink, too!" Hehe. Can't argue there!

The testosterone has kicked in

Fake Quote of the Day:

"Everybody's got to grow up sometime." - P. Pan

We were in Home Depot the other day picking up a couple of things. My eight-year-old was with me, and kept asking if we could go to the tool department. This was unusual. Usually, he would be asking when we were leaving. So I gave him a questioning look. And he grinned up at me with those adorable brown eyes and said, "I don't know why, but for some reason I've really started to like Home Depot."

"It's because you're male," I said with a sigh. And so it begins.

Snow day!

Today's Fake Quote:

"I don't know why, but I've always liked cold weather." - F.T. Snowman

We had more snow here last night, but not much. Most of the storm went north of us. I'm a little disappointed. The boys love going out and playing in the snow - they even tried sledding on Wednesday. And I love watching them enjoy it.

It's not quite the same euphoria I used to feel as a child, but I still get that little thrill when I look outside in the morning and the ground is totally white. Kind of silly, really. It's not as if I'm getting a day off. The boys don't get a "snow day" because of it. And not only do I enjoy seeing snow, but I actually get a little annoyed when I see the radar images of huge snow storms that just glide to the north of us, like we have some sort of invisible shield around our county. And totally annoyed when I hear people complaining about it. It's snow, people! Be happy!

I found this poem the other day in a book of poetry for children and, while not the best poetryi n the world, I thought it just perfectly describes how I feel about snow:

Snow, Today and Me
by Linda Flashinski

Today, on this day
of the very first snow,
I walk and I walk,
with nowhere to go.
I'm so full inside
of the crispness of air,
of the snow on my lashes
and white everywhere.

Maybe when I am grown
this won't seem so new,
this firstness of white,
this winter-white stew.
Maybe then I won't feel
like I'm bursting inside
with this wintery fullness
I'm sure I can't hide.
Maybe then I'll just grumble
about the snow and the cold.
Maybe that's how I'll know
that I've finally grown old.

That one's for you, Dad. ;)

What is a conservative?

Today's Fake Quote:

"It's time for a change." - Every presidential candidate, ever.

No I'm not going to write about the girls on AI last night, because frankly, there were no surprises and no one jumped out at me as being fabulous. Sorry, girls. There's always next week, except for two of you.

No, today I am going to share something I read yesterday. I have never seen my political ideology explained so clearly and eloquently before, and no matter your affiliation, you should read this excellent column.

My favorite part? I was going to quote it, but then as I looked back over it, I realized I have a lot of favorite parts. Just go read it!

AI Season 7 begins!

Today's Fake Quote:

"I could've beaten those guys." - W. Hung

I have to say, for all the talk about this being the best season of American Idol ever, I didn't come away horribly impressed with all the guys. A couple of them were downright horrible. But I did, for the first time ever, pick up the phone and vote during the first round. Who inspired me to do it? David Archuleta. This 17-year-old kid not only has an amazing voice, but he's fun to watch. And he's got this whole cute Freddie Prinze Jr. lookalike thing going on, too. He's going to go far in this, if not all the way.

I also dropped a dime for Michael Johns, who has been the most consistent from day one. Setting aside the cute Aussie accent, he's got a great singing voice and stage presence to spare. He's definitely on his way to stardom.

Also impressive was Jason Castro, the dude with the dreadlocks. But did you notice under all that hair, he looks like John Travolta? And sounds like him too, which is not entirely a bad thing. He did a wonderful version of "Daydream" which Simon dubbed second best performance of the night, after David A. Nice.

My other favorite is David Hernandez, who is also remarkably consistent. He's fun to watch and I have no doubt he'll make it to the top 12.

Yep, it's going to be a fun season. I'm looking forward to seeing what the girls have to offer, since I only remember about 4 of them from the auditions.

Free lunch and free time

Today's Fake Quote:

"There's no such thing as a free lunch - unless, of course, you get lunch for free." - Y. Berra

We had co-op this morning, and for parents' meeting every week someone brings in snacks. Well, today, someone brought a whole tray of gourmet wrap sandwiches! I probably don't need to tell you that I quickly scrapped my lunch plans and pigged out. Yummy! They were from a local restaurant and coffee shop, so I might have to visit there sometime soon.

Co-op days are always good for catching up; they did "school" at co-op, so we don't do any at home. I could catch up with my DVD recorder. I record stuff constantly, but finding the time to cut out the commercials and put the stuff on DVDs isn't always so easy to come by. Right now I have a bunch of movies for the kids, a whole slew of movies I recorded for myself, and a bunch of tv episodes I wanted to keep. The hard drive holds about 80 hours of stuff, and I've only got 10 hours free, so that tells you how badly I need to get it cleaned up!

On the other hand, I have some library books I'd like to read. I just discovered Nora Roberts and can't put her book down. She lives near here, too, so I might have to go stalk her meet her. I just finished a John Grisham yesterday. Love him.

And then there's the house. It could use a little floor scrubbing and de-cluttering.

I think what I really need is a whole week of co-ops. Then I could really make some headway around here.

The reign of terror continues

"The only thing harder to deal with than little boys is little girls." - Miss Hannigan

My youngest son has become quite the little dictator. Last night in the car he ordered everyone to be quiet so he could hear the song playing on the CD. His voice became increasingly louder until I feared we'd have to replace the windshield, which would certainly shatter at his next ear-piercing shriek. Fortunately, life is not like a cartoon. I stuck my fingers in my ears and we continued home.

But he has developed the strange notion that he controls everything in the house. I know this is normal in a three-year-old. To a certain extent. But when he goes about demanding things and screeching when he doesn't get them, that's not right. He has zero tolerance for anything that doesn't instantly go his way, and no clear understanding of the phrase "in a minute" (as in "I'll get you a drink in a minute, when I get off the toilet."). He insists that all of his food be served cold and his drinks be served warm, and woe to me if I happen to serve him a cold fish stick on a day when he's decided that actually, warm might be nice. But not too warm, as I found out yesterday, or he will scream in "pain" every time he picks up a fish stick.

His latest thing is telling anyone who is saying something he doesn't want to hear at the moment, "Don't talk to me, I have a headache." Gee, I wonder where he picked up this phrase?

To quote a famous quoter...

"There's nothing you can't accomplish when you put your... what is that thing called? That thing in my head? Um, that's hot." - P. Hilton

When I was in high school, my best friend and I were really into this fantasy series called the Myth books. The author, Robert Asprin, would start every chapter with a relevant quote by a famous person. The twist was they weren't actual quotes: he made them up. As the books got farther and farther between, he claimed the reason was because he couldn't think of quotes for all the chapters.

Michele and I thought that was a lame excuse. So we started writing our own fake quotes. And because I happened to be in an independent study and had to sign my supervising teacher's chalkboard every morning, we thought it would be more fun to write our fake quotes on his board. It turns out he and his class had fun discussing them every morning, too. And we proved that if you just put your mind to it, it's not that hard to make up funny and/or ironic things for real and fictional characters to say.

But of course he was older than we were, and maybe not as flexible of mind. So I'm going to challenge myself again. I'm going to see if I can think of a relevant fake quote for my posts. And certainly, if you the reader think of any, add them to the comments! It's fun!

English sonnet

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This month's poetic form is one of my favorites, the English sonnet. Robin's assignment is to write about love, for Valentine's Day. But it's love with a twist - we're supposed to write about something we love, not someone. So here we go!

You had me from the moment we first met
Such mystery from tragedy begun!
You've never failed to tantalize me yet,
And out of all you are my favorite one.

In fourteen lines I never could explain
The things you do that keep me coming back.
The humor, twists and turns, the joy and pain
Are elements you're never found to lack.

The mysteries you weave are never through,
For just when one is solved a new one starts.
Each week we wait to learn just one thing new
That will make sense of all your many parts.

Oh how I love to watch LOST on tv!
Watch it tonight - you'll come back and thank me!

LOST quiz

This is probably who I would have picked.

Which Lost Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

I'll be back later with some poetry for PPL!

No pain... yet

Just got home from my two-hour root canal. I am SO much more impressed with this dentist than the last one. I didn't feel a thing past the initial injections. Of course, the whole left side of my head was pretty much numb, so that helped. I have a temp crown and a prescription for Vicodin so I should be good to go until the permanent one goes in two weeks from Wednesday.

Not at all happy

Not only is that back tooth broken and needs a root canal, the dentist showed me three or four other teeth that are cracked (they had this cool camera that took pictures of my teeth and then showed them to me on a computer screen. Kind of gross, actually. No one should look at their teeth that closely). Not only that, but I have at least two fillings that need to be replaced. Which only proves we had a lousy dentist and were right to switch to this new one.

So Monday morning I go for the root canal, and we'll see from there. Oh, and did I mention that all of this is coming out of our pocket? By the time my dental work, Hubby's work and the kids' work gets done, we will have spent almost three times what we spent on our Disney trip. And that's before I take the older two boys for the consult with the orthodontist.

My mom told me once that her father had all his teeth pulled and got false teeth. At the time, I thought that was a little strange. Now, I kind of get it.

Anything but that

I have a dentist appointment today. It's the first one I've had since I had my crown put in last year. I never used to be afraid of the dentist, but I've been having the same type of pain in a different tooth, and I'm terrified of another root canal. Specifically, I'm scared of the complications. That was the worst pain I have ever had in my entire life. And the really annoying part was that I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't neglect my teeth, or skip checkups or anything. I just had a cracked filling. And that's what this other tooth feels like.

If it is a cracked filling, and they do discover that the nerve is exposed like last time, I think I'd rather they just pull it. Either that, or give me a prescription for pain meds up front. I will not go through another weekend of agony.

Pirates Who Don't Do Anything

The boys and I have been laughing over this video for a few days now.

Marriage Monday

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Top Ten Tips for a Great Valentine's Celebration is this month's Marriage Monday topic (yes, I know it's Tuesday). Now, I have to be honest - Hubby and I don't really "celebrate" Valentine's Day. We might go out to dinner a few days before or a few days after, but fighting the crowds just because it's February 14 seems silly to both of us. This year, we went out on January 14, because a new Olive Garden was opening nearby. But herein lies my tip for all married couples: every day is an opportunity for Valentine's Day. It means so much more to get flowers or even a phone call on a random day than it does on a day everyone's supposed to do that stuff.

So, here are my tips for having a great Valentine's Day, any day of the year!

1. Cook something special. Maybe it's his favorite dish, maybe it's a recipe for something you both enjoyed at a restaurant, or maybe it's burgers on the grill. Whatever turns you on, have it ready for him when he gets home. If you can send the kids to a friend's house that night, so much the better!
2. Rent a favorite movie. If he's into romantic comedies, great, but try to find something you know he loves. Dim the lights, pop some popcorn, and snuggle up for a flick!
3. Make dessert. Maybe you do this all the time, but I don't. It's usually a special occasion if I bake a cake or make some other sort of confection. Pick his favorite. Share a plate and feed each other!
4. Start things up. You do know that physical intimacy doesn't always have to be his idea, right? Good. Speaking of which...
   
5. Clean sheets. Always a good idea.
6. Light some candles. Even if you're just eating meatloaf, candlelight is so much more romantic!
7. Join him in the shower. So much the better if he doesn't know you're planning it!
8. Look pretty for him. Even when you don't feel like it, just putting on a little lipstick will help you look fresh. Try not to meet him at the door wearing sweats.
9. Leave him notes. On the mirror, in his briefcase, in his lunch.
   
10. And last but certainly not least, Pray together. There is something wonderfully uniting about hearing your spouse thank God for you.
    

Joining the Polar Bear Club

Hubby told me this morning that he ran out of hot water. This is definitely unusual, and we had noticed problems with the water heater recently. But I certainly didn't expect there would be NO hot water when I went to shower!

I did my workout as usual this morning, an hour of dancing and sweating with my girl Edyta. Then I turned on the shower and got ready to get in. I felt the water. Still cold. It often takes a moment to heat up, so I waited. Nothing. I turned on the sink, trying to get the hot water upstairs faster. Still nothing. Eventually the sink water got... slightly warm. So I'm standing there, sweaty and generally stinky, and I've got no hot water. What to do?

Right. I jumped into the cold water. I did NOT wash my hair. I was not anxious to look like one of the dead extras from Titanic with ice in my hair. I quickly soaped down and rinsed, then hopped out. I'm fully dressed now, but still shivering a little. I'm sensing a trip to Lowe's or Home Depot in our future. And now for some HOT coffee!

Shop 'til you drop... the weight!

This week's shopping list is up! And remember, you can always go back to one of the other shopping lists, because I've listed all the recipes they cover at the bottoms of them.

LOST premiere!

I can't help it, I have to talk about it. I thought the season premiere last night was fantastic! Of course, in typical LOST fashion, they raised more new questions than they answered old ones, but that's why we love it, right?

First of all, the Oceanic Six? So, only six of the survivors make it off the island? Wow, that's sad. Okay, we know Jack and Kate, and now we know Hurley, so who are the other three? At first I thought Claire, but just because she gets in a helicopter doesn't mean she makes it back. And would she count as one person, or would they count her and Aaron as two? We know Sun wants desperately to get off the island, but does that mean Jin gets off, too? And would the six include Others like Juliet, because they weren't on the plane, so would they be referred to as part of a group from the plane? Probably not.

OR... what if "Oceanic Six" refers to the only six people, out of all the survivors, to sue the airline? What if it's just a red herring to keep us guessing? Either way, I think there are actually way more than six people who leave the island. But we know that something goes terribly wrong, something Jack and Hurley are afraid to talk about. And it has to do with John Locke, who may or may not be insane.

Now, about that guy that visits Hurley in the mental hospital: is he Dharma? What information is he trying to get out of Hurley? It seems like, whoever he is, he's just as anxious as Jack to keep Hurley quiet - offering to take him to a "private" facility to get him away from other people. And speaking of Hurley, how did that other guy out on the lawn see Charlie? Weird.

Sawyer's probably going to die. Why else would they have him say he's surviving? And as long as I'm on that subject, doesn't Locke remember that they just had to go over the "security" fence around the barracks? Not very secure, especially when the freighter people have helicopters.

I'm excited to see what else this season reveals, despite the fact that I know I'm going to be screaming "NO!" at the end of it like I am every year. Those writers sure know how to torture us.