1,001 Posts

... and not an Pulitzer Prize for any one of them.

But, really, according to my lists of posts, I've written a thousand posts already. (Only took me, what, a decade. Imagine if I actually wrote a post every day!)

So, let's catch up ... What have we been up to? Um ...

• We go to church ...
• Michael's had rehearsal every Tuesday and Thursday (but he won't on Valentine's Day!)
  He was described, due to costuming and EPIC BEARD and the Mustache of DOOM, as either a "Norwegian Hunter" or William Wallace.
  I TRIED to talk him into painting his face blue and delivering the speech from "Braveheart" ... No dice. Oh well. It's not like I didn't try.
• Michael and I ran some errands on Friday, after he got home.
  I'm not all that impressed with Arby's Molten Lava Cake ... it's rather dry. Oh well.
• Saturday was more errands ... get ant spray and a new switch (one light switch, when turned on, was making this evil popping sound. Michael fixed it Sunday. Phew!), get Valentines for the kids' classes, get Bucket a new fish since Iris I died (So far, Iris II has been doing fine. Even when Bubbles-fish, who we NOW know is a boy, decided to chase her all around the tank.)
  
  Me: This isn't good behavior. ... It doesn't look like Bubbles is nipping her fins. *adds some food to try to distract Bubbles-fish. No go.* Why is Bubbles doing that?
  Bruise: *playing with LEGOS, matter-of-factly* Maybe Bubbles wants to make babies.
  Me: Huh. *looks it up on the Google. Yup. That's mating behavior, right there* Good call, buddy.
  
  So, yeah, apparently my kids are well-adjusted enough to handle animal husbandry. Okay. I must be doing something right. Right?
  
  We also visited with Michael's folks and headed back home to get ready (and attend) the kids' school's Family Valentine's Dance. There was a DJ and an crafts table, lots of cookies and sparkling cider (which is important in a minute). They put forth good effort into decorating the gym. They even had a couple gals from a local business come to teach some dancing. (Merengue ... I still really have NO IDEA what I'm doing. But I KNOW it involves fast marching.)
  
  Bruise danced Gangnam Style with me ... until I, like a beached whale, was out of breath and needed to sit down (Well, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was wearing Bubbles in the Moby wrap. That does make dancing a bit more strenuous, wouldn't you think?) ... and I got Bucket out onto the dance floor for a little ... until all the aforementioned cookies and cider, combined with the jumping/bouncing around, made it necessary for us to make a hasty exit. Whoops! ... But she did learn a lesson (better NOW than when she's a teenager and trying to impress boys, right?) about not stuffing one's gob before dancing.
• Yesterday was mostly quiet ... I FINALLY watched Lifeboat (Alfred Hitchcock) while attempting to make some progress at the dratted puzzle that we bought for Christmas (SPOILER: Between Michael and me, we finished it last night. Now to fix that sucker so we never have to put it together again. ... In other, related news, I'm headed out to buy Heat-n-Bond today.
  Besides that, I've been working at getting through the laundry and dishes. They never end. And my mom and aunt are headed up this week ... so I'd LIKE to get things a little cleaner. We'll see how it goes.
  But I did vacuum the dining room yesterday ... so that's a start.

Well, I think that's MOST things that're standing out in my mind ... besides that fact that Miss Bubbles is taking steps now. She's babbling a little more, which is much preferable to her nasal whinings. :P

Okay, housework/duty calls. I'd better get stuff done. Then I can go out and grab some supplies

Wow ... that's just sad ...

So, as I was getting that last (dream) post typed up and labelled, I realized something ...

WHAT THE AITCH IS A "CHONICLE?"

Yes, one of the labels that I've had for this blog has been misspelled.
FOR YEARS.

Well, it's changed now. You're welcome.
(How come nobody ever told me??? I feel like a complete idjit.)

... While I was changing that label (which takes a little longer than a simple "change all"), I noticed something else....

I obvs cannot spell the word "embarrassing."

Yup, ANOTHER misspelled label. FOR YEARS.

So, I've changed that, too.

Maybe you guys just love me too much to bring those to my attention? Maybe you were SO ENTRANCED and AMUSED by my blog content that you didn't notice my glaring errors at all?

Just tell me that you weren't totally snickering at my crap spelling and noticing-things skills.

But, well, I think now that I'll remember how to ALWAYS spell "embarrassing" (it's that second 'r' ... *sigh*) and I did learn how to change labels in Blogger ... so that's a good thing, right?

Oh ... it appears that you can use a different method to correct a LOT of labels at once.
(Since I kept getting a "You cannot change more than 50 posts at one time." ... Even when I only had, say, EIGHT posts selected. Which is quite a sight fewer than 50. Just sayin'.)

O! How the mighty have fallen!! /melodrama

Well, yeah. That's the big news of the morning. Besides Bucket being unable to find her lunchpail. FUN!!

So, I should go and do some dishes and laundry and be productive. I'll try to blog again later ... get you caught up on all the EXCITING things we did this weekend (SPOILER: Michael changed a light switch. Please try to contain your excitement).

They're coming ...*

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you're just glad that you woke up from it?

And not because it was a really, really "this-could-totally-happen"-type dream?

Yeah. I dreamt of zombies.

Part of my dream featured the fact (in my dream) that I was going to get together with Mer ... So I had more than one reason to leave the house as my childhood home was overtaken by zombies (I think I was the only person there ... so it wasn't horrible-horrible). However, I wasn't totally prepared. I had left my wallet there.
And I was trying to walk down the (deserted) street without attracting any attention. To walk the mile to get to either Mer's folk's or my Nana's old place.

Another part of my dream featured a married couple in an RV. At a gas station, they were beset by zombies. The husband got bitten. The wife made an executive decision that if SHE had to drive, forget wherever they were headed, she was going to Alaska. She merged onto the freeway and traffic was atrocious. As she was driving, she heard a voice in her head, "Look out. You want to slow down." She did so, right as something slammed from the overpass into a car ahead of her. She slammed on her brakes, panting. Then looked at the next car over, where a little girl nodded knowingly at her.

They all were at the hospital ... apparently the girl's family were getting treatment for their young son (maybe eight?). And they decided to travel together. Why not, right?

They stopped at a house to recuperate. The son was starting to change ... but they had halted the change. His head was starting to look like a skull ... and was discoloring. But he could control his appetite.
Someone (me? But I don't know how I got there) went to check on the husband.

Upon inspection, his face's appearance was completely skull like ... like a white skull imposed over his dark skin. And then he started to try to bite. It was as if his mouth were connected to a motor ... like a wind-up motor. It'd champ at things frentically, then slow ... then start up again. He grabbed my wrists ... and I squirmed enough so that instead of my hand, he chewed -- inquiringly -- at his thumb, like ascertaining the flavor of a wine.
Of course, he wasn't fooled for more than a few seconds ... but it was enough time for other people to extract me from his grip.

Then I was with several people, strangers, here in my house. There was a little girl along with some other women in the living room, gathering up things, last minute, as we prepared to flee. As they were finishing packing foodstuffs and blankets and the like, I walked to the bedroom to grab a pair of sneakers to wear on our flight away from the zombies.

I stepped into the room and saw a shadow coming in one of the windows ... on the side of the closet, where my shoes are, OF COURSE.

The zombie hefted itself in, throwing its intestines in, like some gory grappling hook. Thankfully, there weren't legs attached to it. I screamed, even though that meant alerting it to my presence ... and any other zombies in the area would hear, too. And I raced back down the hall, screeching a warning that we needed to GET. OUT. NOW.

And then I woke up.

No, I haven't been watching The Walking Dead. Not for months. Nor have I been reading zombie books. (Actually, it's been a string of romance novels ... not a zombie to be found!)

So ... yeah. Obviously my subconscious is toying with me. Great.

----------------------------------------------
* If you didn't get the reference, that's okay.
But a whispered "They're coming," is how zombies entering the screen are announced in the game Plants vs Zombies.
... And those are much cuter zombies, too.

Wow ... I apparently suck at blogging now ...

So, when I LAST blogged, what, seventeen or so days ago ... it was catching up from Bruise and Bucket's birthday ... What all has happened since then?

We've been sick ... I was hit hardest, I think. Bruise and Bucket both missed a day or school (thank goodness for so many days off from school in January, or else they'd have missed more). Bruise lost his voice and had a cough. Bucket still coughs a little ... but nothing terrible.

Bubbles had a nasty runny nose ... but, since she's gotten so many teeth in, it's cleared up a bit.
She's now sporting her bottom two front teeth, her top two front teeth, and one to the side on the top.
She's also able to wave "bye-bye," give kisses and high-fives, clap her hands, and stand unassisted. She refuses to walk more than one step unassisted ... what can I say? She likes crawling! She also will dance/bob to music. If Michael's watching Star Trek on Netflix, she is ENTRANCED during the theme song.
She's talking a little more ... no real words, really. Not yet. But she'll say "Mamamamamama" or "Dadadadada" and "Nananananana" ... and "Kaah. And "Bahh." She's still really smiley and even-tempered for the most part. She takes at least one good (1+hour) nap, usually two, per day. And she's sleeping well during the night (well, when she's not fighting a cold or whatever).

Bucket lost two of her fish -- Fishy (a fantail) and Iggy (the plesco). I took it harder than she did. We're working at getting the tank in order so that Bubbles (yes, she has a fish who's name is the same as her baby sister's online persona) will have another aquatic friend. Right now, we're dealing with nitrate levels. Fun! (Not.)
Both Fishy and Iggy received "burials at sea" in the pre-dawn hours of the morning. But I hate for things to die.
(But I'm 99% sure that Fishy had a swim bladder disease, so it was just a matter of time. Poor bloated fish. ... Iggy, well, that could be due to nitrates or to not enough [correct] food. Poor Iggs.)

There's been quite a few rehearsals for SOTW ... My costume keeps getting revamped. I started with just a dress/sheath, belt, and headwrap. Now I have a kerchief under the wrap, a piece of cloth that (with my belt) forms a pocket), and -- as of last week -- a drape over one shoulder of the robe that's been added. I joked with Michael that if this keeps up, I'll be the Abominable-Layered Israelite on stage.

I totally nailed the line (vocalwise, but not lyric-wise) that I've been stressing about. But I did it. And it was nice and loud and on-key. So ... I have proved that I (even with sinus issues) can do it, to myself, at least. That's a relief.

We had arranged to take the older kiddos and a couple friends bowling ... but one of the friends who REALLY wanted to come got sick the night before. So we arranged to meet the other friend (and his mom -- truly, we adore their whole family) for frozen yogurt. We also took a get-well gift to their other friend.

Yesterday, I dropped off Bubbles (not Bubbles-fish) with Mom and Dad C and headed off to P-town to play with my Roxy. Depressingly, I'd realized that we hadn't seen each other in person since last APRIL. That is SAD. But we went to Uwijamaya (I'd never been before) and then to a little Korean shop, out to lunch at a Korean BBQ (I tried a bit of Roxy's spicy squid ... but I was happier with my Spicy Chicken Korean Bento, even when I dropped some on my lap. *rolls eyes* But I think I should get credit for eating a SALAD with chopsticks.). After that, we went to a little Thai market (so I could get Yellow Curry Paste) and a comics/games shop ... before I had to head off and pick up Miss Bubbles and head back home.

Michael was amazing -- took the kids out to Target (and bought me both seasons of the BBC's Sherlock) and got the fish tank's water tested. Then they swung back and picked up Bubbles and me (since we'd gotten home by then) and we went out to dinner. I got my Yellow Chicken Curry fix, the kids tried Chicken Satay and Pad Thai, Michael (of course) got his Drunken Noodles (as spicy as they make it!) ... and we splurged on dessert -- The kids shared fried bananas and ice cream. Michael and I split Coconut ice cream and coconut sticky rice. SO GOOD.

Michael just got back from helping two people/families move this morning.
As he and I were discussing our calendar (mostly our upcoming rehearsal schedule), I started to get all teary-eyed ... not because it's coming to an end, but, honestly, because I'm going to be so very tired.
I don't know how I'm going to manage getting the kids' lunches set up, taking care of Bubbles all day, volunteering at the school (one day that week), ... and the last performance is on our anniversary. I know that we aren't going to be doing anything special ... especially since our performance ends around 8:30, so we wouldn't get home until around 9 ... just in time for Michael to have me cut his hair and help his shave off the beard and mustache. (I'm really not into facial hair. My dad won a beard-growing contest when I was little. I'm used to it on other people ... but it's not something that I like on MY man. When asked about it, Michael proclaims, "She [me] HATES it!" ...And it's true that I don't care for it. It's not that it looks bad ... it's just that I don't like kissing him through it. If I wanted to have something springy against my face as I kissed someone, I'd have them hold up a Slinky.)

Bruise and Bucket are playing the Wii ... a Disney Princess game that Bucket got for Christmas. Bruise is such a good brother. At one point, HE was dancing along to a game ... because Bucket had asked him to play, too. (She's a good sister, too, even though she teases him a lot.)

I just had Bruise promise me that, when he's older (14 and up), if he goes to a dance and he sees a girl that's not dancing, that he'll ask her to dance. ... And then, I told him why:
When I was 17, I was alone on Valentine's Day. And I hadn't gone to the Stake (regional church) dance. BUT, two of my friends (a dating couple) called me and told me to come ... Aww! They missed me!

I went. And it was good to be there ... but, during the last dance, EVERYONE was on the dance floor for that last slow dance. Except for me. And, like, two boys.

Yeah. Nothing really makes you feel like something MUST be wrong with you than when you are obviously not as cool/pretty/whatever as any other girl there.
(I'm TOTALLY getting what Elizabeth Bennet was feeling when she berated chided Mr. Darcy for not dancing when so many girls were sitting out because they didn't have a partner for the dance.)
(But, really, this goes further ... since neither boy was wearing a cast or anything. So, it felt QUITE CLEAR that asking me to dance was beyond a service project. It would be JUST TOO MUCH to ask ... Yeah.
Obviously I still have issues with this, since I started to cry writing about it. Yes, I do have some serious issues with self-worth and ideas of my own level of attractiveness. I have good days and bad days ... and apparently, I've had better days than today.)

(An example of a better day? When my mom was driving me to a DIFFERENT church  dance. We were stopped at an intersection. A car with two guys my age were driving by the other way, through the intersection. I got a double-take. Oh, yeah. Sixteen-year-old me was quite a dish, apparently.)

I did also give Bucket the talk that if a boy asks her to dance at a church dance, she should accept. Or decline only with a real reason. And that there's nothing preventing HER from asking boys to dance. (And Bruise, if asked to dance, will accept. We're an equal-opportunity household here. Yeah. That's how we do feminism.)

So, yeah. There you go. Catching up and a bonus story of my myriad issues.