| (no subject) |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|08:23 am] |
Hmm, looks like Covenant was back in the U.S. last month- I'm thinking they skipped Denver this time because I didn't hear anything about them, but they were in TX and OR and CA... I poked around their website though and it says Joakim did not come, so that makes me worry a bit, they already lost Clas, and as much as I like Eskil's voice, I am not sure he can carry things on his own. In any case, their website also states they are coming out with a new album- "Modern Ruin" so I'm excited about that, although they don't have even one song from it on their myspace page or homepage, as far as I can tell.
I'm not a myspace fan, but it used to be a good place to find stuff on bands. None of them seem to keep current anymore though...perhaps they are moving to FB or they just all said "screw it" and decided to just put stuff on their homepages. |
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| Halloween etc |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|01:14 pm] |
Sorry, no pictures yet.
I had a busy day on oct 31, went to costco and picked up essentials (paper towels, maple syrup, etc) then went to a local pumpkin patch with G where we sank in mud several inches deep before procuring the perfect pumpkin for him- a big tall thing, very nice actually. After that JD drove me to Erie to pick up my new saddle (hooray, sold the old one) and then we headed home for naps.
G tried to make my life easy and wanted to wear the pumpkin costume I made him last year again this year. "I want to be a pumpkin. Or Tinkerbell. Or Tinkerbell that turns into a pumpkin." I felt guilty and restless and worried about the neighbors' opinion of a lazy mom who forces her kid to wear the same costume as last year, so I got up and dug through my scrap bag and cut out some black suede-ish material and felt. I cut out some triangles and a gap tooth mouth and hand-sewed them hurridly on so that he could at least be a little different from last year (and he was happy enough that his costume now had a face). I put my down vest on him for puffiness and warmth, and off we went. I don't know if any of the neighbors remembered him or not, but they still thought he was about the cutest damn thing ever. It helped that he would get flustered and say things like "Have a nice...trick or treat."
In any case I was too busy sewing to carve the pumpkin- I had drawn a nice scary face on it for G, but I wanted it carved, so woke Jesse up and set him to it. He did a great job- I'll have to put up a picture.
Anyway, back to the trick or treating- It was a beautiful night. The sky was perfectly clear, the moon was shining bright, and the weather was wonderfully mild. We were out for probably 2 hours. G got a grocery bag totally full of candy. There must be like 5 pounds of candy in there. He was stoked, and told me happily "I LOVE my pumpkin costume!". He keeps asking me when it will be Halloween again, and assures me that it was the best Halloween ever.
On Sunday however, I felt like utter crap, and stayed in bed the whole day. My joints and bones hurt so much. I had, and still have, a cough and mucous in my throat. One coworker thinks I have swine flu, but I didn't have a fever (he says it will come - we'll see).
Daycare ordeal may be nearly complete- we looked up places, visted places, took G to visit places, and then jumped through the ridiculous paperwork hoops (I HATE KAISER FOR FORMS, UGH). and I think today he may actually get to go to the new daycare.
G is doing pretty well in his swim lessons, he is able to float a bit on his own though he doesn't really know it/get it, but I think this will be his last swim course till the weather gets warmer- I just don't like having a wet kid out in really cold weather even if it's only for a few minutes. He had kind of a breakthrough in this class- he always seems to feel safer with women, and he did not want to work with his male instructor, but I made him sit at the pool for the first class and the second class I hyped him up and the teacher was very patient, and now G loves him, so yay.
I think we'll hit gymnastics next- he's still dying to try it and I remember really liking it as a kid (ha, except for bars, but even that was kind of fun after I got over the fear). |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|11:32 am] |
I've been thinking it's sort of dead around here so rather than just blame everyone else I'll try to be part of the solution.
JD and I went and visited some daycare centers, and I was feeling like a really terrible mom when G started crying when we left the room at the first one. We tried another one though and he didn't want to leave that one (however, we stayed- unobtrusively- in the room at the second one). I think the second one is a good place for him though- it was a pre-K class with a really great teacher, though she looks ready to give birth at any second, so we'll probably enroll him and two weeks later he'll have someone else. But the kids were pretty good overall, amusingly the only troublemakers were two redheads. Only 8 kids were there that day so if the class stays small it should be really great. Outside, a little girl came over to play with G. The teacher watched for a while and we came over to chat with her- she said she'd never seen the little girl play with anybody- I was like "G loves the ladies."
So hopefully the daycare thing is resolved now- it's hella expensive, but financially it's still a decent enough gain to keep working.
On the horsey front, Trudi is still her usual crazy self, but I'm working on getting a new saddle which is also hella expensive. As if that weren't enough of a pain in the butt, her hind leg(s) have been swelling a bit off and on. She doesn't seem to have heat or pain, so this might be an unsightly chronic but mostly harmless condition, or she might have hurt herself some other way, or she might simply not be strong enough to do the kind of work I want to do with her. In any case, we get to do the vet thing.
I found out how my health insurance works, and while I'm sure it's still pretty good, it kind of sucks. We have a deductible, and I thought after you met a deductible, you didn't have to pay anymore. HA. Not so. We have to pay 10% of everything after we hit the deductible. So between our surgeries this year JD and I owe like 3k. Which is of course confusingly billed seperately by Kaiser and by the hospitals. Did I mention cancer is hella expensive?
Something I have noticed which I am happy for selfishly, but disgusted by as a member of society, is that you can deduct mortgage interest on your taxes, but not health care costs unless they are like over $4k or a certain percentage of your income. How the hell does that make sense? Shouldn't everyone's medical expenses not get taxed unless it's something like a boob job (which actually I would be ok with if the person had breast cancer, but I'm sure you know what I mean). |
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| weekend update - vendetta festival |
[Sep. 29th, 2009|07:52 am] |
On Saturday I went and rode, and gave Trudi a bath. I was out at the barn for about 4 hours, and when I got home G strongly chastised me for being away so long. He started to give me a spanking, but I put a halt to that. Still, it was nice to know I was missed. :)
On Sunday, I went to pick up some foundation and mascara, and on 104th I realized I wanted to turn and needed to get in the right lane to go down Federal. I got stuck at a long, useless light, and traffic got backed up, so I put on my blinker to wait a few cars so I could get over. A big pickup comes up behind me and honks and honks. I throw my hand in the air and keeep looking for an opening. He honks some more. I flip him off. He pulls into the left turn lane, starts to pass, cuts in and HITS MY CAR. He hit the mirror first, which fortunately just did the oopsie fold-in thing and was not damaged, but also bumped the body just above the front wheel and put a small dent in it. I decided I did not want to change lanes and took off after him (gee, is anyone surprised he wouldn't stick around to exchange insurance?). I followed him almost down to Sheridan, honking and yelling at him to pull over and pointing out the window- he eventually cut somebody else off in order to get away from me and almost had an accident with them. I swear I wished I owned a gun, and I would have had no problem shooting his truck and perhaps him as well. Maybe not kill him (though that would probably save someone else's life), but put a bullet in him? You betcha. I'd like to report him and have the fucker caught, but I'll probably have to go to a police station, file a report, and then never have him caught- I couldn't read the plate and I couldn't find my cell in my purse to take a picture of it and still drive.
Anyway, eventually I got home and got all dolled up, and JD and I left for the concert. I was running late (as usual) and felt really bad about it- but the band was supposed to play at 7:00 and we got there at like 7:05. Turned out that the Vendetta Festival had a pretty good screw up with the main stage, and they didn't even have the doors open- not to mention that nothing was labeled, so I had to ask about a half dozen people where the Exdo stage was. 2 hours went by before they finally let us into the room, where the first band was still doing a sound check. The first band, "Dismantled" finally got started (still with some problems with the sound system) and tried their asses off. I wasn't totally in love with their music (though I didn't mind it) but I really appreciated the effort they put forth, they were great.
At least our two and a half hours of waiting were somewhat productive- we were front and center, right next to the stage.
Next Rome came out, and they tried to do some soundcheck stuff, and suddenly they were doing a song. They finished it and were like "We're sorry- that was an accident. There are problems with this sound system and the schedule is all screwed up." I said "We love you anyway." and everybody clapped for them. The sound system was awful for the first few songs- there was feedback just from the guitars. They struggled through it though and it got a bit better- and then they played "Reversion" (YAY!). They played a couple more songs and I requested "The Accidents of Gesture"- JD poked me, but later, for the one encore we managed to get, they played it. ^_^ (Double YAY!!!). The set was over way too soon, thanks to the staff turning up the house lights to tell us NO, NO MORE ROME FOR YOU, but I'm so glad we got to see them (especially so close) because they will probably never want to come back to the U.S. again. I'd love to see a whole long show with them where the sound system works and they can really pull out all the stops. |
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| Rebuild of Evangelion, part 2: You Can (Not) Advance |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:36 am] |
I normally consider myself a geek by proxy, but I'll own this. I am pretty much an Eva otaku.
In the wake of NDK it seems suitable that I should have stumbled across the second part of the fifth remake of this anime (fourth really, I don't think re-releasing the TV series on dvd again with some brighter colors is really a remake).
It wasn't really painful to watch, but pretty confusing and I consider myself something of an expert. The artwork is good, the voice actors are super (and seem to be the originals), and there is a lot of action. The new eva designs are not quite as slick as the old ones, imo. After 20 years the evas are getting a bit thicker around the middle, as we all do.
The makers of this series know that rabid fans are still HUNGRY for this series, as it was appetizing but not satisfying for most of us, and they do give us some of what we want in expanding on some of the interesting stuff about SEELE and the Dead Sea Scrolls. We want to know more about human instrumentality, we want to know more of what happens during and after third impact, and why. This movie gives a little more of that.
Spoiler ALERT - Proceed at your own risk.
( Read more... )
There are 2 movies left in Rebuild- I think they should probably be called "You Can (Not) Do a Better Job This Time" and "You Still Can (Not) End This Series". |
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| Our kid. |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:02 am] |
A few days ago I pulled into the garage and turned off the ignition. G got out of his seat and pushed his baseball cap toward me. He had stuffed it full of the toys I keep in the car for him to play with.
"Here Mom," he said. "You can have a special treat."
"Oh," I said, "You want me to take one of these?"
"Yes," he replied, "It's your special treat."
I select a little car that lights up when you press a button.
"Thank you," I say, "I can play with this tonight?"
"Yes," he replies.
"And then I'll give it back to you tomorrow?" I say.
"You can have it tonight, and tomorrow night, and... it's your special treat."
My heart melts. My kid wants to give me one of his toys as a special treat.
The next day....
G is getting ready for bed. I get his PJs on and send him off to go to the bathroom before I tuck him in.
He comes out with a big smile. "I had the biggest poop!" he annouces proudly.
"Good job!" I say, holding out my hand.
He gives me a high five.
"And my hands are all dirty!" he says emphatically. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 14th, 2009|08:55 am] |
Bleh, I feel like crap today.
Trying to catch some sort of illness, I think.
Good times yesterday getting to say hello to people we only see like once a year at NDK though. :) |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 8th, 2009|08:12 am] |
Thursday night, G and I baked a cake for JD's B-day. I followed the high altitude directions, except I forgot the extra couple spoonfuls of flour. Baked the cakes, set them out to cool, got caught up on the internet, and came down an hour later to try to remove them from the pans.
Of course they came out in pieces.
I almost tossed them in the trash, but stopped myself and got out a plate, put the two pieces of the first one back together, and carefully frosted it. It stayed together so I put the pieces from the second one together on top of the first, and managed to frost that too. The trick is to use a lot of frosting and spread it across the top and work down, to remove any crumbs that get into the frosting, and not to overwork areas that have holes- once they are covered, LEAVE THEM ALONE. The next day I let G put on some sprinkles and mini M&Ms, and we were in business- not gonna win any food network challenges, but a respectable homemade (yes, from a mix) birthday cake- the request was for chocolate with cream cheese frosting, so that is what he got. Tasted good. :)
Friday night, we went to dinner at Lone Star. We sat at the table and G handed me his kid's menu, which was all folded together to form a pouch to hold some crayons.
"Open this," he said, handing it to me.
I unfolded the menu.
"Here, you want this back?" I asked.
"No," he said, totally deadpan. "I just want the front."
The comedy stylings of my 3 year-old. Apparantly he just keeps me around to play the straight man while he delivers the punchline.
On Saturday I realized I could not ride my horse until some work was done on her feet. My farrier (horseshoer) cancelled on me last week, and I couldn't get another appointment till 8 days later. I took a farrier class in college, so I brushed up on some internet videos and went on the hunt for basic farrier supplies.
Call 1st feed store, closest to my house. "Do you have a hoof knife? Yes? Nippers? Yes? Awesome."
Go to bank, drive to feed store.
"Oh, I guess we are out. Of both items. Ooops."
I drive to the next closest feed store.
They are closed for labor day weekend.
I drive on, to the tack shop.
"Oh, we sold out of hoof knives. We had them priced at like 50 cents and someone bought them all. They were kinda crappy though, made in China. My farrier got me a good knife though."
Yes, bully for you.
I drive home and call one other place, which says they have a "complete farrier supply" and ask hubby to drive me to Brighton (I am afraid to drive there because of the positively pyschotic roundabouts which lead to and from several highways, and there are two of these roundabouts in a row. Yes I am kind of a wuss that way).
I go in and poke around- gobs and gobs of western saddles, a couple cheapy hunt saddles, lots of feed and supplements. I finally give up and ask where the farrier stuff is. They laugh at me and say "In the farrier room of course" and send someone to escort me.
The farrier room is in fact 2 rooms. The first is a very large room with shelves full of boxes of horseshoes, three kinds of hoof stands, anvils, forges, and about 2 dozen different kinds of rasps. It is a fairly large room.
The second farrier room is smaller, but has a dozen kinds of hoof knives, clinchers, and 3 dozen kinds of nippers. I kind of started looking glassy-eyed from being COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED and bought a somewhat expensive hoof knife "THE KNIFE" and a little pair of not completely cheap but also not $140 nippers. There are always a couple of rasps floating around the barn so I couldn't justify buying any.
On Sunday I tried my hand at hoof trimming. Geez I hate trimming feet. I am sooooo sloooow and it is sooooo hard and soooo tiring.
Went ok though. I only did the front feet. Took 2 hours to do it. It normally takes a professional about 15 - 20 minutes to do 2 front feet.
Trudi was actually very patient and good standing in the croosties all that time, and during my breaks I fed her carrots and hay. However, she leaned on me something terrible when I tried to work on the right foot, which was much worse off than the left foot, and I was already getting tired.
I did learn a lot. There is nothing like actually doing something to have some things fall into place and have the little light bulb go on. The nippers were great, the knife started out great, but either her soles are SO calloused, or I already need to sharpen it. I think it's the former- probably also my technique and my muscles need improvement. I think I am probably capable of giving a competent trim- I will need a stand to do all 4 feet though.
I was very conservative and I think I didn't do anything that will make things worse for the farrier. Even just trimming a horse's feet is a sort of tricky- there are a lot of ways you can make a horse lame by doing something wrong in a trim. There is balance from side to side, concussion from the hoof hitting the ground, breakover, and alignment with the leg.
I rode her the next day, and am happy to say she was NOT lame, so good-o.
After my ride on Monday, we went to El Dorado Springs park and hiked. The "easy to moderate" trail involved almost constantly scrambling over large rocks- and here we thought it would be a slightly hilly gravel path... LOL...
We had an amusing interlude with a chipmunk- stopped to get a pic of JD and G, and a little chipmunk popped up right next to them. I called to G to turn and look, and of course as soon as he did the chipmunk disappeared.
We had lunch in a shady clearing on top of a large rock, and everybody was tuckered out and filthy. Good times. |
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| All squishy inside.... |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|08:04 am] |
My boys were especially affectionate last night- JD was all "Talk to me, spend time with me, I enjoy being with you." :)
G: "I weally, weally love you. I will take care of you all night, and all morning. And all night and all morning. I pwomise."
I am pretty much the luckiest girl in the world. |
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| the heavens |
[Sep. 1st, 2009|12:29 pm] |
This was the sky when I went out to ride yesterday...
Looks like God is gonna step right down out of the clouds.
Wish I had my real camera- that's from my cellphone. |
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| Office conversations: |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|11:25 am] |
Coworker 1 to Coworker 2:
Coworker 1: Smashburger?
Coworker 2 (drooling): 7 more days!
Coworker 1: You been to Fatburger?
Me: You know, I want to start my own burger chain. "Gluttonburger."
Coworker 3: You know, I bet that would be popular.
Me: Yeah, but maybe I should make it sound a little nicer. "Hedonistburger"? |
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| Weekend updates |
[Aug. 25th, 2009|08:45 am] |
2 weeks ago we took G to see "Ponyo". It is a very cute movie- we all enjoyed it. It was quite amusing to have Liam Nesson as a wild orange-haired sea wizard...Like most Miyuzaki films, it's also very pretty.
Lots of funny stuff to laugh at too, and I admired the fact that they managed to pronounce the name "Sasuke" correctly....
It was the first time we've taken G to in a theater (apparantly he already saw "G-force" [vommit] with relatives- but it was the first time with us), and he was great- he really loved the movie and only asked, about 15 minutes from the end, whether it would be over soon. He was pretty good about being quiet too- but near the beginning of the movie, a little girl in Sasuke's class is being mean to him. G solemnly pipes up, "That's not very nice." The entire theater cracked up.
Last weekend we took him to an ouside water park near our house- there's a big pool, a kiddie pool (with a slide), and 4 other waterslides. G had a ball and we enjoyed it too, though we got there kinda late (thanks to me, and my dinner making efforts). I'm kinda hoping for another hot weekend so we can take him again. :) |
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| work |
[Aug. 21st, 2009|01:56 pm] |
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I don't think it's ever possible to delete thousands of websites and not feel a little uneasy. |
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| 1 more update |
[Aug. 20th, 2009|10:39 pm] |
Another scar pic . It's been a month already since the surgery- life is pretty much back to normal. Scar actually itches sometimes now- I still have some numbness but it may be shrinking or fading, or I might be getting a little more used to it.
G has been trying his hand at negotiation-
Last night we were driving home and I said "What would you like for dinner? Some mac & cheese? Soup and a sandwich? Maybe a grilled ham and cheese?"
G makes a suggestion: "Or maybe some cinnamon rolls?"
Me: "Un no. Not for dinner."
G (not dissuaded) "With bacon?"
Me: "No. Maybe for breakfast this weekend. Not for dinner."
G (tries out another option) "Waffles?"
Me (sighing): "No, not for dinner. Waffles are not enough for dinner."
G (not missing a beat) "2 waffles then."
:D
Did I mention my child is persistant? |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|09:15 am] |
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I have ridden my horse 3 days in a row. It feels GOOD. |
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| The mouths of babes and the bellies of men |
[Aug. 8th, 2009|10:19 pm] |
We went to Barnes and Noble tonight, and JD took G with him to get another Thomas the Train book while I browsed elsewhere. As we were leaving the store together, JD said "We were walking around and we passed this very obese man. And G said, 'I think that man is going to have a baby.'" |
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| Spelling G |
[Aug. 7th, 2009|09:21 pm] |
So tonight we went for a walk. I was savoring the mild warmth of the evening, and said to JD, "I think tonight would be a nice night to have some I-C-E C-R-E-A-M."
G pipes up, "I think that spells ice cream. Can we get some ice cream?"
My jaw dropped.
What could I do? When we got home I gave him some chocolate Hagen-daaz.
I better watch it and not spell D-O-G around him. |
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