i believe...

... crashing in rush hour, causing everyone behind you to be delayed indefinitely, (with a dead ipod i might add) should be a felony

... i need an iphone (white) on 9 november even though i know i will probably hate it 85% of the time...

... a freshly baked jelly donut from the county kitchen in walpole, ma could totally fix my sore neck this morning

... in making a wish at 11:11

... and praying for the repose of lost loved ones' souls at 4:44

... and buying things in even numbers

... but never leaving behind one lonesome can of soup

... in never leaving home without my camera and 50mm lens

... that a trip to the 99 cent store can help soothe any child ailment

... in always kissing my boys goodnight

... i have never seen Agent Hotchner and that makes me sad :(

... the jingle from the fisher price 'play laugh grow' commercial is the work of the devil

... that women that act like men and men that act like women are at the very core of what's wrong with the world (men who drink frothy coffee in particular)

... i h-a-v-e to see 'this is it' at the imax theater on wednesday :)

friday

ok seriously... i don't like corner bakery anymore - at all!! last night we went for dinner at 5:30pm. did they have bread bowls with which to make soup/chili bread bowls??? isn't serving a chili bread bowl inside a ceramic dish totally totally wrong and somewhat illegal....??? even if they give you free soda and free brownies and free whoopie pies (mmm!)??? corner bakery, it's sooo over between us and i don't care if you are related to Maggianos :| oh and another thing, my brownies are sooooo much fudgier than yours :) but your whoopie pie was gooooooooood!!

how come when i make the coffee it tastes like caca and when Aaron makes it, it tastes sooo sooo soooo soooooo much better and richer and hotter. he has even offered coffee making workshops but it's no use - he has the midas touch when it comes to making coffee

i love cash cab. not only because i can answer some of the questions but i get to see little snippets of NYC and that makes me happy :) but i wish they would show us foreigners trying to answer the questions... surely not everyone who gets into the cash cab is American??? it's a tourist town, it makes no sense that everyone knows everything about American pop culture and history... hmm, i think it's a little bit rigged. and a little bit racist :)

i want to work for the FBI so badly! i don't know that i could carry a gun without it constantly going off by accident everytime i sit down or bend over or put it on the table, but i see that Garcia off Criminal Minds just sitting in that big office, tapping at keys all day and finding out stuff about people, and i think hell, i can do that! i can find deals on hotels and which store has lasagne on sale in a snap - it's the same thing really... right? i want the cool badge (i assume she has one, right?) and cool email address that makes people sit up and pay attention. that's my random want for the day :)

off to school and on to make trees!! back later, yippee skippee!!

going
shopping for baby things tonight. i love babies r us :)

having
dinner at the corner bakery... the chili bread bowl filled to capacity with ketchup... for a change :)

planning
on making playroom trees out of rolls of wood grain contact paper tomorrow :)

looking forward to
las vegas in one week

wishing
i could be happy in the moment more

longing
for some cooler weather

stopping by
big lots to look for miniature playdoh cutters, i've looked high and low :|

pics from today... loving the wall sized chalkboards Aaron bought yesterday at the builder's yard :)

i looooove his big tall E :)

soup

why... when someone says they feel like vomiting... does someone see fit to not just say the word 'soup' out loud, but actually suggest that person have some to make them feel better?????? flu - yes i get that, soup could possibly help. but soup looks like vomit :| what in the world makes anyone think that the nauseous person would want to eat the very thing they are about to throw up??? urgh!

oriental trading company is my nemesis. i always mean to order things but then i never do and when i finally decide i do want to order, there is no free shipping. and can i pay for shipping - ever? never. i don't pay for shipping :| so now i have to wait. and then i won't order and the whole cycle will start all over again :|

i think this video has caused mental anguish to my child. Danny used to love to go and watch the trains at the station but today not so much... he sat on the bench clutching my hand and wouldn't go near the edge of the platform. hmm. i remember the nice teachers at my school showing a similar video about being run over by a train when i was Danny's age - to this day i have an irrational fear of railroad crossings and standing anywhere near the yellow line even when a train ISN'T coming... but in their defense, i've never been run over by a train. so i don't know if mental scars are better than physical scars. i need to go on Dr Phil (who i am sure will figuratively throw me under the bus)

off to school! back later xo

so i'll tell you something....

this could be love, because... even after mentally preparing for it for the last year or so... and knowing it was coming... and mourning his death, i'm still unable to play the dirty dancing soundtrack without having a little sobfest about Patrick Swayze :(

which doesn't make any sense because i never saw any of his movies and only saw dirty dancing for the first time last year - and was very unimpressed with the way they snuck around behind Baby's Dad like that, tisk tisk :|) but... he just seemed like such a genuinely good good good good guy with a really good heart, he had the same name as my Dad, the same horrible draining illness which doesn't even deserve typing out, he shared his till-death-us-do-part goodness, his handsomeness, his kindness, his charisma... so i guess he stands for more than just an actor to me...

on saturday we are going on a date. the kind of fancy date you need to reserve in advance: for afternoon tea at 2pm at a fancy tearoom in Pasadena :)

i am so glad U2 are broadcasting their LA show online for those of us too lazy to go to the concert... love Bono/hate concerts, it's a win win :)

speaking of which, i got an email from Barry Manilow today. he is doing a series of christmas concerts in Palm Springs and wanted to know if i wanted to go. for $1000 :| the price does include being served champagne by Barry himself... but i don't like champagne and the last time i was in his presence i caught the mani-flu so i am sadly going to have to pass.

pics from today.... sure, your dog can make it to the fence in 2 seconds, but i bet he can't write LSD really really big with no help whatsoever, can he?????! no, i didn't think so ;)

wednesday

again with the nausea :| and no i'm not pregnant :| can you imagine? me a brunette mother of three??! using the third row of seats? having more children than i have hands? having to still pay for someone's untouched meal on 'kids eat free' night? 3x 1000 decibels + 3 x 1000 questions per minute 3x the fighting = never in a million :|

though... i am contemplating something somewhat life-changing... watching a little tiny baby for his mama. this, i could do... he could be a new little muse! he could be a pretend baby brother for Danny! and i would never have to endure a sleepless night... she'll pick him up at night, right?? she won't leave him all night? that part, i couldn't do again....

on a totally unrelated topic (i'm looking on travelzoo...) what is up with all these resort fees everywhere? urgh. i hate taking vacations, i really do. i blame george w bush for resort fees and.... oh pretty much the entire world falling off it's axis in the last 9 years (minus the last 9 months... which have been positively rose-tinted in comparison)

vacations now are worse than real life - you can't even take your good moisturizer on the plane, you have to leave 90% of your clothes at home to avoid excess baggage fees, you have to wear daggy shoes because they slip on and off at the airport, oh and endure the stink of sweaty business men's tasseled shoes in line, and forget those boiled micro lasagnes and little frozen blocks of cheese and crackers inflight.... you have to pay $20 a day for a newspaper at the hotel, that is after the 4pm check-in time, they don't even replenish the towels "to save the environment", and they don't have a DVR :( and don't even think about running around/diving into the pool - fun is so totally NOT allowed on vacation :|

vacations suck. or maybe home is just way more comfortable these days and i am hopelessly spoiled....?

off to walk the dogs. i think it's been a week or so and their noses are pressed to the window trying to remember what outside smells like :(

recording
'obese and pregnant' on discovery health channel tonight. ooooh yeah, crap tv at it's finest!

disliking
the people who stand outside planned parenthood every single day like it makes a blind difference to anyone going inside :| if i ever snap, they are towards the top of my lengthy list of very bad things i only dream of doing...

wondering
what in the hell possessed Oprah to make a show about Nate Berkus babysitting... it was soooo sooooo soooooooooo dull (even though Nate is like, a total 'superfox' :)

boycotting
fox (the channel not the above mentioned superfox). i sure hope melrose place isn't on fox or i may have a problem...

loving hating
this skankwhore... (i bet she has major cooties)

listening
to the beatles. somedays i love them and other days i cannot stand them. today's a beatle loving day for sure :)

taking
a little roadtrip next week, just me and Sam and a lady gaga playlist :)

loving
this crazy dog who thinks he's a kid too :)

i love......

everything in it's place and perfectly clutterless counters

it being my 'other' birthday for the purpose of a free birthday meal at the wonderful hometown buffet :)

when Danny gets home from pre-k and is singing fragments of the songs all afternoon... right now he is singing 'move it back, move it back - allll dayyyy long!'

fresh, shiny lavender scented wood floors

grosgain ribbon

ruby's peanut butter chocolate milkshakes

oversized things (in particular letters and numbers)

miniature things (in particular grown-up things made kid size)

statues you can touch and take pictures of

still warm, fresh, crusty bread and eating a chunk of it on the way home

old fashioned hardware stores

jo malone nutmeg and ginger (it stops me from feeling sick)

straight tree lined streets with no cars parked on them

sigh

so far today i have:

• watched a gruesome episode of walking with dinosaurs at 6am :|
• been whacked over the head by a large rubber centipede while driving
• had to console the distraught child who accidentally did this, while rubbing the huge welt on my neck
• resued our dazed, concussed cat after he attempted to run through a glass door at 200 mph to escape the dogs who mistook him for a wild creature :|
• dragged a 50 pound wailing child around target in the hopes that they might have my very favorite caramel apple yogurt (they didn't...)
• had tears wiped all over my legs during the above episode
• had to carry him after he tripped and refused to walk anymore
• been peed on by a rat
• seen a painted mural of storybook characters that i am soooo going back to tonight for pictures! (this is in pink because it makes my heart skip:)
  
• made chicken noodle soup at 7am while trying not to vomit into it
• come face to face with the 'scary woman with tiger hair' at Danny's preschool - a terrifying ageing foxtress of a grandma, who is always carrying a teacup yorkie with bangtails and a big gold purse with studs all over it. in a completely empty carpark, she waited for me to vacate my space because it's the first one in the row :| but first i needed to read my harbor freight tools weekly flyer ;)
• and did i mention it's 9am... no more bullet points!
  
• off to make zebras from stripy gloves and work on Sammy's room some more xo
  

i'm not in love....

but i must admit, i love mrs (pre) kay soooooooo much i want to make her a sock monkey :) i fear it would seem obsessive and stalkerish. today in the car Danny started to spell out words.... and hard words too, like 'walk' and 'white'. and 'stop' (ok that's not that hard but a month ago he could care less about letters.... so it's music to my ears:)

mrs (pre) kay spells everything out.... for 22 years nonstop she has been spelling words for preschoolers. all her classroom toys are old fashioned and wonderful and like nothing Danny has ever seen before. she doesn't ask for donations for anything. there are no school pictures to buy (she takes one herself, bless her heart) mrs kay's preschool is as sweet and simple as the olden days (the 70s)... maybe that's why it feels so warm and happy there <3

another person i love:
Duncan Hines. i swore i would only buy wares made by working women like Aunt Jemima and Betty Crocker, but i have to admit Duncan Hines makes really good brownie mix. for a man ;)

wasted one entire hour of my life last night watching:
the woman with the gigantic legs. i do NOT recommend this show :| this woman has legs that weigh 210 pounds and one is facing backwards. i so wanted her to have her legs amputated and live happily ever after so i could go to bed and not have odd dreams all night. but she wouldn't do it. and i had odd dreams about not being able to run for the bus ALL NIGHT. thanks lady with the big legs :|

my least favorite bumper stickers in no particular order of awful lameness:
"my grandkids are cuter than yours" i hope they didn't inherit the obnoxious gene too :|
"my great dane is smarter than your honor roll student" which is total BS because the smartest dog is only as smart as the dumbest preschooler... everyone knows that!
"Nobama"... i have only one word to say to that: YESBAMA :)

favorite new indulgence:
yoplait caramel parfait - 110 calories (and ohhh maybe a couple more in the added condensed milk dessert sauce:)

more pics in the morn... off to climb the wooden hill :)