It looks like there is FINALLY some physical movement happening on the future site of the Redwood City In N Out.
This is disappointing, but not exactly surprising. At least it frees up Kiefer to be in lots more terrible movies.
I truly hate Heidi more and more every year.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Top 5 Friday!
5 things Caltrain needs:
5) Trains that run past midnight (who comes home from SF at 12?)
4) More mid-day trains (once an hour? Come on.)
3) Conductors who don't act like total jerks
2) Bar cars after 3 p.m. (Wait, what's that about a deficit? You're welcome.)
1) A hole in the floor enclosed on all sides on each car (cleaner than the existing bathrooms)
5) Trains that run past midnight (who comes home from SF at 12?)
4) More mid-day trains (once an hour? Come on.)
3) Conductors who don't act like total jerks
2) Bar cars after 3 p.m. (Wait, what's that about a deficit? You're welcome.)
1) A hole in the floor enclosed on all sides on each car (cleaner than the existing bathrooms)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
I'm about to blow your mind.
Wow I've been blogging slacker, but that's a post for different day. Today I have something extremely important to tell you.
Aspartame is more addictive then caffeine.
You know how caffeine is this highly-addictive drug? Well, it's got nothin on the stuff they put in diet pop.
As you may remember, I started on this journey toward freedom from the drug more than a year and a half ago. It was not pretty. There were withdrawal headaches, which were not ameliorated by replacing the caffeine in pop with that in coffee and taking lots of Excedrin. Then I got bronchitis, which was very suspiciously-timed, and it may be a crackpot theory that the two are related, but withdrawal can do weird things to your body. (The bronchitis morphed into walking pneumonia, but I think that was because the doctor didn't give me strong enough antibiotics.) Even though I was getting as much or more caffeine then when I was just drinking diet pop, I was cranky on days when I didn't have any pop. My weight was up and down like a yo-yo.
At first I was on an every-other-day plan and gradually scaled back till I could go a week without pop. Today I have it 2-3 times a week, almost always when we're eating out. When I've gone two or three days without pop, I don't think about it, but if it's the day after I've had some, I crave it. As for caffeine, right now I just have one, maybe two cups of caffeinated tea a day, plus the occasional pop. And I never miss coffee.
OK, so this is not a scientific sample size. But it's pretty obvious that, at least in my case, the aspartame is way more addictive than caffeine.
Aspartame is more addictive then caffeine.
You know how caffeine is this highly-addictive drug? Well, it's got nothin on the stuff they put in diet pop.
As you may remember, I started on this journey toward freedom from the drug more than a year and a half ago. It was not pretty. There were withdrawal headaches, which were not ameliorated by replacing the caffeine in pop with that in coffee and taking lots of Excedrin. Then I got bronchitis, which was very suspiciously-timed, and it may be a crackpot theory that the two are related, but withdrawal can do weird things to your body. (The bronchitis morphed into walking pneumonia, but I think that was because the doctor didn't give me strong enough antibiotics.) Even though I was getting as much or more caffeine then when I was just drinking diet pop, I was cranky on days when I didn't have any pop. My weight was up and down like a yo-yo.
At first I was on an every-other-day plan and gradually scaled back till I could go a week without pop. Today I have it 2-3 times a week, almost always when we're eating out. When I've gone two or three days without pop, I don't think about it, but if it's the day after I've had some, I crave it. As for caffeine, right now I just have one, maybe two cups of caffeinated tea a day, plus the occasional pop. And I never miss coffee.
OK, so this is not a scientific sample size. But it's pretty obvious that, at least in my case, the aspartame is way more addictive than caffeine.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Manic Monday!
I dig the way links open in tabs next to the one you're working in in the new version of Firefox.
I bought a new mp3 player so I could listen to audiobooks, since for some crazy reason my walkman doesn't support it, and am enjoying The Help.
Apparently 4 is the age at which males start holding long, narrow objects in front of them and declaring "I have a big penis!"
And behold this, the video of the week: Baby Hates Miley Cyrus, digs the Classics.
I bought a new mp3 player so I could listen to audiobooks, since for some crazy reason my walkman doesn't support it, and am enjoying The Help.
Apparently 4 is the age at which males start holding long, narrow objects in front of them and declaring "I have a big penis!"
And behold this, the video of the week: Baby Hates Miley Cyrus, digs the Classics.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
The customer is always right
Except at Celia's, apparently.
Recently I was upset with a couple of my favorite dining establishments. First I wrote this email:
I have enjoyed eating at Fresh Choice for a long time. Recently I
found out that I have a number of food sensitivities, so I have come
to appreicate the allergen info posted by almost all of the food
items. However, it's disappointing that every single soup has soy. I
am wondering if you could have one or two soups at a time for those of
us who are sensitive to soy?
To which I got this reply:
Thank you for your visit to our Fresh Choice Restaurants and for taking the time (yadda yadda yadda) ...
To address your concern regarding soy content. I've posed the question to the company that manufactures our soup bases and challenged them develop bases w/out soy. It's been amazing the response we have received in providing the nutritional and allergen information on our signs. This information has truly been well received from our guest and allows you to make an educated choice as to what to put in your body. It has also allowed us to make necessary changes such as what you are suggesting.
Thank you for dining with us!!!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Walatka
Fresh Choice LLC.
Not too bad for a national chain! At least they're listening and thinking about trying to fulfill my request.
Then, I wrote this letter, which I had to actually mail with stamp and everything because there's no contact email on their web site:
Dear Celia's Manager:
Last night, Friday, Feb 5, my family and I had a very disappointing experience at your restaurant. We were seated in the back room, and after about 10 minutes, the mariachi band started playing to the table right next to us. They stayed there for the rest of our meal. It was very loud; we had to shout to speak to the other people at our table and our ears were ringing within about 20 minutes. I asked the hostess if the band could move or if we could move, and she told me that neither option was a possibility. We ate and left. As we were walking to our car, we saw that the band was moving to a different part of the restaurant.
It was very frustrating to have our experience ruined in this way. Two or three songs would have been nice, but at the decibel level they were playing at, it was unexpected and very unpleasant. I hope you and your staff and the band can be more considerate of diners in the future.
No response.
The moral? Eat at Fresh Choice, but not Celia's.
Recently I was upset with a couple of my favorite dining establishments. First I wrote this email:
I have enjoyed eating at Fresh Choice for a long time. Recently I
found out that I have a number of food sensitivities, so I have come
to appreicate the allergen info posted by almost all of the food
items. However, it's disappointing that every single soup has soy. I
am wondering if you could have one or two soups at a time for those of
us who are sensitive to soy?
To which I got this reply:
Thank you for your visit to our Fresh Choice Restaurants and for taking the time (yadda yadda yadda) ...
To address your concern regarding soy content. I've posed the question to the company that manufactures our soup bases and challenged them develop bases w/out soy. It's been amazing the response we have received in providing the nutritional and allergen information on our signs. This information has truly been well received from our guest and allows you to make an educated choice as to what to put in your body. It has also allowed us to make necessary changes such as what you are suggesting.
Thank you for dining with us!!!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Walatka
Fresh Choice LLC.
Not too bad for a national chain! At least they're listening and thinking about trying to fulfill my request.
Then, I wrote this letter, which I had to actually mail with stamp and everything because there's no contact email on their web site:
Dear Celia's Manager:
Last night, Friday, Feb 5, my family and I had a very disappointing experience at your restaurant. We were seated in the back room, and after about 10 minutes, the mariachi band started playing to the table right next to us. They stayed there for the rest of our meal. It was very loud; we had to shout to speak to the other people at our table and our ears were ringing within about 20 minutes. I asked the hostess if the band could move or if we could move, and she told me that neither option was a possibility. We ate and left. As we were walking to our car, we saw that the band was moving to a different part of the restaurant.
It was very frustrating to have our experience ruined in this way. Two or three songs would have been nice, but at the decibel level they were playing at, it was unexpected and very unpleasant. I hope you and your staff and the band can be more considerate of diners in the future.
No response.
The moral? Eat at Fresh Choice, but not Celia's.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
"Which of these preschools will get my kid into Stanford?"
Saturday I attended the local parents' club's preschool fair. It's a tradeshow for preschools where they all come and set out brochures and pics of the kids doing cute, fun stuff and even drawings and projects by the kids. Both our kids are in lovely preschools now, but we need to figure out what to do with the older one if he doesn't go to kindergarten in the fall (that's a whole other story). Unfortunately, the one that appealed to me the most is the German school, but it seems counterproductive to put Arthur in an immersion program for one year in a language that almost no one around him speaks fluently.
The other schools fall into one or more of the following categories: not academic enough, poor location, inconvenient schedule, and priced for the Steve Jobs set. We're talking $15-20k for preschool. As I was looking at one booth, I overheard the administrator at the next one say, "We don't look at applications in the order they come in, we evaluate the child and interview the parent and base enrollment decisions on those two factors." Can you imagine your kid's school options being based on how someone else judges you? No thanks. Then there's the fancy-pants "alternative" (read: hippy) school that charges "only" $12k or so, but is already done taking applications for fall 2010. I guess I missed the memo that in this fancy region of the Peninsula you need to register your kid for preschool before they start walking.
The other schools fall into one or more of the following categories: not academic enough, poor location, inconvenient schedule, and priced for the Steve Jobs set. We're talking $15-20k for preschool. As I was looking at one booth, I overheard the administrator at the next one say, "We don't look at applications in the order they come in, we evaluate the child and interview the parent and base enrollment decisions on those two factors." Can you imagine your kid's school options being based on how someone else judges you? No thanks. Then there's the fancy-pants "alternative" (read: hippy) school that charges "only" $12k or so, but is already done taking applications for fall 2010. I guess I missed the memo that in this fancy region of the Peninsula you need to register your kid for preschool before they start walking.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Turn that noise down!
I know the decade's been over for a whole six weeks now and everyone's forgotten all about it, but I have just gotten around to listening to most of Rhapsody's "Top 100 Songs of the Decade." As I started listening to it, I thought to myself, "this is at least 50 percent crap!" As I listened to more, that number went up. I now believe that it's about 75% crap, 15% listenable, and 10% actual good stuff ("Music" by Madonna, "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World, "Beautiful Day," "Don't Let Me Get Me").
Granted, this is a comprehensive list encompassing all genres, including stuff like the hip-hop-rap-crap I would never in a million years listen to, plus country (though the boot-in-your-ass song definitely belongs on the list) and teeny bopper pop. So maybe I should check out the rock best-of list before passing judgment on the musical value of entire decade. That said, one of the "rock" songs on the top 100 is "Photograph" by Nickelback, an utterly worthless bit of sentimental drivel that was one of the final nails in the coffin for me with contemporary music. It came out in 2005, right about the time I stopped listening to non-public radio entirely. Obviously I'm not alone as a hatah of this song. But am I on to something with my belief that the music these kids are listening to today is no good, or am I just getting old?
Granted, this is a comprehensive list encompassing all genres, including stuff like the hip-hop-rap-crap I would never in a million years listen to, plus country (though the boot-in-your-ass song definitely belongs on the list) and teeny bopper pop. So maybe I should check out the rock best-of list before passing judgment on the musical value of entire decade. That said, one of the "rock" songs on the top 100 is "Photograph" by Nickelback, an utterly worthless bit of sentimental drivel that was one of the final nails in the coffin for me with contemporary music. It came out in 2005, right about the time I stopped listening to non-public radio entirely. Obviously I'm not alone as a hatah of this song. But am I on to something with my belief that the music these kids are listening to today is no good, or am I just getting old?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Mommy hungry!
So it's Week One of the zero-allergen diet. So far so... ok. This weekend I went off the wagon a bit with a cheeseburger (protein style), some red wine on V-Day and blue cheese on a salad. (And maybe a serving or two of you-know-what.) Replacing coffee with tea has caused some more headaches. I have the sniffles, too, but that's probably related to weather changes and blooming. Excedrin has been my friend.
Now I need to start a spread sheet where I record every single processed food and possible allergen I consume and then record my mood/physical symptoms and see if there's a connection. Unfortunately, my nutritionist says reactions from reactive foods can take three days to appear.
As I've mentioned before, my main goals are to increase energy and improve digestion. Eight-10 years ago I needed only 7-7.5 hours of sleep a night to feel right. Now it's more like 8.5-9. That just doesn't seem right.
Now I need to start a spread sheet where I record every single processed food and possible allergen I consume and then record my mood/physical symptoms and see if there's a connection. Unfortunately, my nutritionist says reactions from reactive foods can take three days to appear.
As I've mentioned before, my main goals are to increase energy and improve digestion. Eight-10 years ago I needed only 7-7.5 hours of sleep a night to feel right. Now it's more like 8.5-9. That just doesn't seem right.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Progress
It seems like in the last few years there has been an increase in the success of Mexican food chains that are "fast" food, but a step or three above Taco Hell. Una Mas, Baja Fresh, Chipotle, and more. This is excellent news for me, since Mexican food is awesome, and it's my three big allergens (soy, gluten, egg) are easily avoided in such establishments. I wonder what it is about Mexican food vs, say, Thai or Italian, that lends itself to this kind of franchise?
In the category of progress-yet-to-be-made, I have a prediction/suggestion for a future car gadget: a sensor built into, perhaps, your dashboard or your GPS that senses when the cars in front of you are moving so that you don't have to look up every few second or be startled by the unpleasant honking of the car behind you while writing emails or Facebook updates on your Android phone. (would probably work for Blackberry users, too)
In the category of progress-yet-to-be-made, I have a prediction/suggestion for a future car gadget: a sensor built into, perhaps, your dashboard or your GPS that senses when the cars in front of you are moving so that you don't have to look up every few second or be startled by the unpleasant honking of the car behind you while writing emails or Facebook updates on your Android phone. (would probably work for Blackberry users, too)
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
out, allergens!
Well, I'm pretty sure I've been gluten-, egg- and soy-free for at least a month. I'm still eating out, but avoiding Asian restaurants because soy is likely to be pervasive. I made muffins from a mix made by a company called "1-2-3 Gluten Free," and they were mediocre. Candy-making with the soy-free baking chips was very successful. Tastes just like the kind made with Nestle or Ghiradeli.
But I feel like I could feel better. So my next step is to cut out all possible allergens. That means no nuts, beans, dairy, coffee, alcohol...just fruit, veggies, super-organic meat and tea. I know there are lots of people that do it. Remains to be seen if I can. Even for a couple weeks...
But I feel like I could feel better. So my next step is to cut out all possible allergens. That means no nuts, beans, dairy, coffee, alcohol...just fruit, veggies, super-organic meat and tea. I know there are lots of people that do it. Remains to be seen if I can. Even for a couple weeks...
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Soy annoyed
Well, it turns out there is something to this gluten thing, after all. A couple weeks ago I decided to add gluten back in to my diet. First I ate a piece of bread with dinner. Then a donut. Then Cheerios. At first all seemed well. A week later, I noticed that my occasional breathing problems had returned. It's not really asthma, and it's not really shortness-of-breath, but it's like I can't take a really deep breath. It just happens occassionally. I saw an alergist for it a while back and inhalers didn't really seems to help. Anyway, I didn't notice it had gone till it came back.
The whole gluten-free thing isn't really that tough. Since it's a big fad right now, there are lots of gluten-free foods floating around. I am fine with the gluten-free rice bread from Trader Joe's (though the only way it's really very good is toasted with jam -- luckily, I was never a big sandwich person anyway). I can still eat potatoes, rice and corn. And there are many options for rice/corn/quinoa pasta at Whole Foods.
It's soy that's the real sticking point. As i mentioned earlier, it's in evreything, most notably chocolate. I have made some of my fantastic candies with the soy-free baking chips (which I just ordered a 5 lb bag of from Amazon, along with a case of gluten-free cheerios and allergen-free bars.
Today I got two kinds of gluten-free baking mix in the mail from "Gluten Free Mall" and there are currently blueberry muffins in the oven. And I got to enjoy my favorite part of baking: licking the batter out of the bowl...
The whole gluten-free thing isn't really that tough. Since it's a big fad right now, there are lots of gluten-free foods floating around. I am fine with the gluten-free rice bread from Trader Joe's (though the only way it's really very good is toasted with jam -- luckily, I was never a big sandwich person anyway). I can still eat potatoes, rice and corn. And there are many options for rice/corn/quinoa pasta at Whole Foods.
It's soy that's the real sticking point. As i mentioned earlier, it's in evreything, most notably chocolate. I have made some of my fantastic candies with the soy-free baking chips (which I just ordered a 5 lb bag of from Amazon, along with a case of gluten-free cheerios and allergen-free bars.
Today I got two kinds of gluten-free baking mix in the mail from "Gluten Free Mall" and there are currently blueberry muffins in the oven. And I got to enjoy my favorite part of baking: licking the batter out of the bowl...
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Our new abode
Let's review, shall we?
When we first walked through the house after the start of the lease, we made several discoveries: One of the furnaces (the one that heats the first floor) was busted. There was a giant pile of termite droppings in one room, which led to the discovery of half the living being termite-devoured. Then there was the overflowing toilet (which was actually the fault of and taken care of by West Bay Sanitary, but still). And then there's the toilet that slowly leaks (not onto the floor, but somewhere in the tank, surely wasting gallons of water a day). I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
Then this morning, Nathan discovered The Drip. In the guest room/sewing-crafting-scrapbooking room. Victims included the newspapers I was saving from the day Noah was born to put in his baby book. If actual scrapbooks had been soaked, I would have been on a plane to New York to personally punch our landlord.
So if you ever rent a house, hire an inspector. You're welcome.
When we first walked through the house after the start of the lease, we made several discoveries: One of the furnaces (the one that heats the first floor) was busted. There was a giant pile of termite droppings in one room, which led to the discovery of half the living being termite-devoured. Then there was the overflowing toilet (which was actually the fault of and taken care of by West Bay Sanitary, but still). And then there's the toilet that slowly leaks (not onto the floor, but somewhere in the tank, surely wasting gallons of water a day). I'm sure I'm forgetting something.
Then this morning, Nathan discovered The Drip. In the guest room/sewing-crafting-scrapbooking room. Victims included the newspapers I was saving from the day Noah was born to put in his baby book. If actual scrapbooks had been soaked, I would have been on a plane to New York to personally punch our landlord.
So if you ever rent a house, hire an inspector. You're welcome.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Here we are
It's Day 2 in our new house, and there are still boxes piled high in almost every room, but serious progress has been made. Aside from my one box of cookbooks*, the kitchen is unpacked. I made soup for dinner! I had hoped to get our bedroom unpacked by the end of the day, but oh well.
It's been quite a week. Tuesday I chipped a tooth, which got taken care of Wednesday morning during time I should have been packing. Wednesday my mother-in-law, who was here helping us pack, got pulled over by the Menlo Park PD for some minor infraction (she got off with a warning). Thursday the garage door motor in our old house broke down, after eight years of working flawlessly.
Friday was The Day. We didn't exactly get everything packed in time. Shocking, I know. But everything that was too big or too heavy for us to get in the minivan came over and got put more or less in the proper place. The boys seem to be adjusting relatively well. Noah even picked out a potty chair when we were at IKEA buying bookshelves and such!
Naturally Nathan doesn't have tomorrow off, but my mother's helper does, so I'll be able to get a bit of work done...
Two very good pieces of news today: one wish (see number 2) came true (it was in an under-bed box I thought sure I hadn't opened in a year) and Nathan got the cable working in time for the Tivo to record 24 and Big Love, in spite of Comcast's best efforts.
It's been quite a week. Tuesday I chipped a tooth, which got taken care of Wednesday morning during time I should have been packing. Wednesday my mother-in-law, who was here helping us pack, got pulled over by the Menlo Park PD for some minor infraction (she got off with a warning). Thursday the garage door motor in our old house broke down, after eight years of working flawlessly.
Friday was The Day. We didn't exactly get everything packed in time. Shocking, I know. But everything that was too big or too heavy for us to get in the minivan came over and got put more or less in the proper place. The boys seem to be adjusting relatively well. Noah even picked out a potty chair when we were at IKEA buying bookshelves and such!
Naturally Nathan doesn't have tomorrow off, but my mother's helper does, so I'll be able to get a bit of work done...
Two very good pieces of news today: one wish (see number 2) came true (it was in an under-bed box I thought sure I hadn't opened in a year) and Nathan got the cable working in time for the Tivo to record 24 and Big Love, in spite of Comcast's best efforts.
Friday, January 08, 2010
This couldn't have come at a better time
In late October, we decided to move. Doesn't matter why, it's too late to back out now. We're selling our lovely home in the RC so we can rent in Menlo Park.
About the same time, I learned from a nutritionist that I can't eat anything. More specifically, I am highly sensitive to wheat, soy, eggs and almonds. I'm moderately sensitive to a number of other foods, which I don't have the energy to think about. In case you didn't know, EVERYTHING has gluten, eggs and/or soy. So for the last month I've been avoiding gluten and eggs, and THINKING I was avoiding soy. But, apparently, 99 percent of chocolate goods have "soy lecithin" in them, to make the chocolate blend with the oil, or something. Gluten-free cookies from Whole Foods that taste just like Oreos? Soy lecithin. Every single bottle of salad dressing in our pantry? Soybean oil. It isn't bad enough that I can't eat Cheerios or eggs with tasty and super-healthy veggies scrambled in for breakfast, and am stuck with rice bread and apples (not breakfast food) but I can't eat M&Ms or Reeses Peanut Butter Cups anymore. Not only can I not eat at Stacks (what's there for me besides hash browns?) but I have seen no increase energy, or better digestion, or improvement in mood, which was what I went to the nutritionist for in the first place. Of course, it is possible that I may still be feeling blech because of stress, coming in the form of MOVING.
Our lease started Jan 1, and I didn't want to be tripping over boxes for weeks, so before our Christmas travels, I didn't pack much except for books. Mainly, I was trying to get rid of stuff. Purge purge purge!!! After we got home on Jan 2, I started packing in earnest, at least a box a day. We are running out of room for those boxes. Our scheduled move is only a week away now: next Saturday. Today we had a pest control company look at the house we are moving into, since we found a pile of termite droppings in one of the bedrooms. Turns out most of the living room is about to fall apart from termite damage. Fab, no? We are not delaying this move, let me tell you. If we are going to do it, we are going to get it the heck over with, get into our new place and hopefully sell this one before March 1.
Last night I was having some inexplicable flash of optimism about actually getting our crap packed up before Saturday (as long as I don't think about the garage or the side yard or the outside office, in which case I'll just start crying). But the thought of delaying the move because of the living room wall and floor having to be rebuilt pushed me over the edge. With no chocolate.
I just returned from Whole Foods with four bags of soy-free chocolate chips and 3 six-packs of gluten-free beer. Am now drinking said beer and have made gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free chocolate chip cookies that are actually reasonably good (despite weirdo egg replacer and brown rice flour).
The good news? Wine never contains gluten, soy, eggs or almonds.
About the same time, I learned from a nutritionist that I can't eat anything. More specifically, I am highly sensitive to wheat, soy, eggs and almonds. I'm moderately sensitive to a number of other foods, which I don't have the energy to think about. In case you didn't know, EVERYTHING has gluten, eggs and/or soy. So for the last month I've been avoiding gluten and eggs, and THINKING I was avoiding soy. But, apparently, 99 percent of chocolate goods have "soy lecithin" in them, to make the chocolate blend with the oil, or something. Gluten-free cookies from Whole Foods that taste just like Oreos? Soy lecithin. Every single bottle of salad dressing in our pantry? Soybean oil. It isn't bad enough that I can't eat Cheerios or eggs with tasty and super-healthy veggies scrambled in for breakfast, and am stuck with rice bread and apples (not breakfast food) but I can't eat M&Ms or Reeses Peanut Butter Cups anymore. Not only can I not eat at Stacks (what's there for me besides hash browns?) but I have seen no increase energy, or better digestion, or improvement in mood, which was what I went to the nutritionist for in the first place. Of course, it is possible that I may still be feeling blech because of stress, coming in the form of MOVING.
Our lease started Jan 1, and I didn't want to be tripping over boxes for weeks, so before our Christmas travels, I didn't pack much except for books. Mainly, I was trying to get rid of stuff. Purge purge purge!!! After we got home on Jan 2, I started packing in earnest, at least a box a day. We are running out of room for those boxes. Our scheduled move is only a week away now: next Saturday. Today we had a pest control company look at the house we are moving into, since we found a pile of termite droppings in one of the bedrooms. Turns out most of the living room is about to fall apart from termite damage. Fab, no? We are not delaying this move, let me tell you. If we are going to do it, we are going to get it the heck over with, get into our new place and hopefully sell this one before March 1.
Last night I was having some inexplicable flash of optimism about actually getting our crap packed up before Saturday (as long as I don't think about the garage or the side yard or the outside office, in which case I'll just start crying). But the thought of delaying the move because of the living room wall and floor having to be rebuilt pushed me over the edge. With no chocolate.
I just returned from Whole Foods with four bags of soy-free chocolate chips and 3 six-packs of gluten-free beer. Am now drinking said beer and have made gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free chocolate chip cookies that are actually reasonably good (despite weirdo egg replacer and brown rice flour).
The good news? Wine never contains gluten, soy, eggs or almonds.
Monday, January 04, 2010
Manic Monday
Here's a list of some random things we found during our first post-lease-signing walk-throughs of the house:
-A pile of termite droppings in the downstairs bedroom.
-A half dozen fingernail clippings in a drawer in the master bathroom
-One of the door keys is pink, studded with teeny rhinestones and has the word "Princess" engraved on it.
-The downstairs furnace doesn't work.
-The second fridge is super-funk.
-A pile of termite droppings in the downstairs bedroom.
-A half dozen fingernail clippings in a drawer in the master bathroom
-One of the door keys is pink, studded with teeny rhinestones and has the word "Princess" engraved on it.
-The downstairs furnace doesn't work.
-The second fridge is super-funk.
Friday, December 25, 2009
TMI
We got a huge pile of cards in the mail yesterday -- I don't think we even got around to opening them all before we left for our plane-viewing activity. While reading some, I marveled at the level of detail in the letters summing up the year. Do I really need to know what levels your kid has completed in some video game? Or which one of your kids placed higher with their calf at the county fair? I guess their lives are so interesting that they need to give us every detail. Much more interesting than ours, since we had such an uneventful year.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Still preocuppied with 1995
Perhaps I'm feeling sentimental because it's Christmas, or maybe I'm just getting old, but there are a couple developments that came to my attention yesterday that I just can't get out of my head.
First, there's the second X Files movie, which came out last year but which I only just saw, for some reason. I have many problems with this movie, but the biggest one is the only one that really needs mentioning: THERE ARE NO ALIENS!!!! None! Not a one! Not even a hint of one! That was the whole point of the series, right? The whole plot of the movie is about a psychic priest and some Russian guys doing head transplants. Whoop-dee-doo. Sure, this could have been a great episode back in the days of the occasional one-off creepiness as a break from the usual alien-coverup plot line (Eugene Tombs, anyone?). But in a movie you expect something overwhelming, earth-cracking, a universe-splitting plot development or twist. Maybe the priest could have had a vision of Mulder's sister. Anything, really! Even just a hint that there might be some future movie that ACTUALLY HAS ALIENS!
Then there's this Madonna problem, which is somewhat more disturbing because of what it says about American womanhood. Take a look. Yes, that's Madonna. Yeah, it sorta-kinda looks like her, but not really, because she's had so much plastic surgery that she doesn't really look like herself any more! How does that happen when you have a bazillion dollars and can hire the best plastic surgeons in the world?
Now, this wouldn't be nearly so disturbing if she was merely famous and talented and old like, say, Sigourney Weaver, who is lovely and normal-looking and fabulous at age 60-- yes, 60! Maybe she's had some work done, but she looks like herself. But Madonna is an icon, and not an icon like in the Project Runway throwing-around-"fashion-icon"-like-it's-"make-it-work" kind of way. She is the biggest pop music star of all time (sorry Michael Jackson fans) and has butchered herself to the point where she looks half her age. She's not a porn star, or even a mere actress, she's the biggest thing ever! This is so unnecessary! And what is it supposed to mean for the rest of us? If we have successful, happy lives, but look older than 40, we're done?
First, there's the second X Files movie, which came out last year but which I only just saw, for some reason. I have many problems with this movie, but the biggest one is the only one that really needs mentioning: THERE ARE NO ALIENS!!!! None! Not a one! Not even a hint of one! That was the whole point of the series, right? The whole plot of the movie is about a psychic priest and some Russian guys doing head transplants. Whoop-dee-doo. Sure, this could have been a great episode back in the days of the occasional one-off creepiness as a break from the usual alien-coverup plot line (Eugene Tombs, anyone?). But in a movie you expect something overwhelming, earth-cracking, a universe-splitting plot development or twist. Maybe the priest could have had a vision of Mulder's sister. Anything, really! Even just a hint that there might be some future movie that ACTUALLY HAS ALIENS!
Then there's this Madonna problem, which is somewhat more disturbing because of what it says about American womanhood. Take a look. Yes, that's Madonna. Yeah, it sorta-kinda looks like her, but not really, because she's had so much plastic surgery that she doesn't really look like herself any more! How does that happen when you have a bazillion dollars and can hire the best plastic surgeons in the world?
Now, this wouldn't be nearly so disturbing if she was merely famous and talented and old like, say, Sigourney Weaver, who is lovely and normal-looking and fabulous at age 60-- yes, 60! Maybe she's had some work done, but she looks like herself. But Madonna is an icon, and not an icon like in the Project Runway throwing-around-"fashion-icon"-like-it's-"make-it-work" kind of way. She is the biggest pop music star of all time (sorry Michael Jackson fans) and has butchered herself to the point where she looks half her age. She's not a porn star, or even a mere actress, she's the biggest thing ever! This is so unnecessary! And what is it supposed to mean for the rest of us? If we have successful, happy lives, but look older than 40, we're done?
Sunday, December 20, 2009
"Those are someone's babies."
Having kids changes everything about your life. It even changes the way your brain works.
Last night I was flipping through the channels and watched a 9/11 documentary compiled from random people who were in Manhattan and happened to have their video cameras handy. As they showed masses of people fleeing, I scanned the crowd for children (thankfully lower Manhattan is not a great place for kids).
When the I heard about the Virginia Tech shootings, my very first thought was, "Those are someone's babies!" And I tried to comprehend how one would deal with losing a child in the prime of their life to such a senseless act of violence.
As I watched the passengers standing on the wings of Sully's plane floating on the Hudson, I wondered how many babies or toddlers were on board, and how their mothers were keeping them calm and safe and what I would do if something like that happened to me with my kids.
I've never been the most sentimental mom, and I'm not one of those mothers who lays awake at night trying to think of bad things that could happen to their child. So I'm sometimes taken aback at what a fundamental shift in my thought process all this signifies. It's one thing to think, "Well, I'm not going to go bungee jumping, since I have babies to take care of now," and another to feel these instinctual urges coming almost subconsciously.
Last night I was flipping through the channels and watched a 9/11 documentary compiled from random people who were in Manhattan and happened to have their video cameras handy. As they showed masses of people fleeing, I scanned the crowd for children (thankfully lower Manhattan is not a great place for kids).
When the I heard about the Virginia Tech shootings, my very first thought was, "Those are someone's babies!" And I tried to comprehend how one would deal with losing a child in the prime of their life to such a senseless act of violence.
As I watched the passengers standing on the wings of Sully's plane floating on the Hudson, I wondered how many babies or toddlers were on board, and how their mothers were keeping them calm and safe and what I would do if something like that happened to me with my kids.
I've never been the most sentimental mom, and I'm not one of those mothers who lays awake at night trying to think of bad things that could happen to their child. So I'm sometimes taken aback at what a fundamental shift in my thought process all this signifies. It's one thing to think, "Well, I'm not going to go bungee jumping, since I have babies to take care of now," and another to feel these instinctual urges coming almost subconsciously.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Top 5 Fridays
5 Best Things in The Hangover:
5) The tiger
4) The baby
3) Naked Chinese mobster jumping out of the trunk
2) Jeffrey Tambor
1) Carrot Top
5) The tiger
4) The baby
3) Naked Chinese mobster jumping out of the trunk
2) Jeffrey Tambor
1) Carrot Top
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Top 5 Fridays
Top 5 Things I'd like to see turn up in the move
5) The other one of my favorite earrings
4) My point-and-shoot camera battery charger
3) The wherewithal to get rid of about a quarter of our stuff
2) My bracelet
1) Roughly three dozen Arthur socks
5) The other one of my favorite earrings
4) My point-and-shoot camera battery charger
3) The wherewithal to get rid of about a quarter of our stuff
2) My bracelet
1) Roughly three dozen Arthur socks
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