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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Earth Day Edition

Earth day is actually Tuesday, but let's not be picky. As everyone knows, I like to post early anyway, in my ongoing effort to avoid work that needs doing. On the other hand, I'm feeling all whiney about delays that aren't my fault, resulting in a state of brokeness.

One of the top stories in the L.A.Times this fine day is titled "L.A. and San Francisco Vie for Title of 'Greenest City.'" Give me a break! The basic argument is that even though Los Angeles has far less ambitious plans (and, although they don't mention it, all that freaking smog), it is a much larger city, so their ideas for the glorious future count more. Who needs the cartoon page when this is on the front page?

My dogs are celebrating Earth Day by digging another fat hole by the fence, gleefully tossing mud to the path below a short retaining wall. We keep putting clay pots in the holes, to discourage them. This time they dug around a pot. Have I ever mentioned I am a cat person? There are reasons.

Let 'er rip, Pixies!

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Los Angeles as a "green" city?! I haven't read the article to see what makes it green but I'd have thought all those cars would disqualify it automatically! Whatever.

Here's my whine that shouldn't be a whine: I've lost 14 pounds. But you aren't really supposed to LOOSE weight when you are pregnant! Avocados and ice cream (it's calcium, right?!), here I come! There's an anti-whine in with my whine. :)

kathy a. said...

oh, turtlebella. at least it will ba good diet!

Liz Miller said...

Anti-whine: Home-made Pesto (from home-grown basil) on noodles for dinner.

Whine: Never-ending Garlic Breath of Doom

esperanza said...

OK, it's an ongoing saga in the need for a Pixie Cluestick Posse. There are lots of boring and identifiable details, but here is the synopsis, in just a few easy steps.
1. Church hierarchy suggests move #1 for hubby, six hours away.
2. Hubby says no because Sweet Baboo is on oxygen, ya know?
3. Church suggests move #2, only an hour away.
4. Hubby says ok, thinking this is a good compromise, as well as a good opportunity.
5. An unofficial, secret meeting is set up with a few members of church #2
6. Goes well, official meeting is set up.
7. 30 MINUTES later, while we are house shopping, official meeting is called off.
8. Hubby berates self for screwing up golden opportunity.
9. Esperanza sighs loudly. And repeatedly. And waits for Wednesday to arrive in order to whine.

Criminey. All I can say is no church official should be calling my house anytime soon. At least not while I'm answering the phone.

In other whining news, sweet baboo's on the oxygen for at least another month.

Antiwhine: Sweet baboo is way cute and sleeps well at night.

Elizabeth said...

Hugs to esperanza and her sweet baboo.

Whine: Combination of kitchen renovation and Passover results in very limited food options. I'm hanging in myself, but am so sick of listening to my son whine because he can't have sandwiches, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, waffles, or pancakes.

Anti-whine: Kitchen is nearly done.

Miranda said...

Let's play Jeopardy, okay?

Category is: Totally fireplacing inappropriate.

Answer: Number one place one doesn't expect to get a contact high from one's table companion(s).

Question: What is the Seder at my brother's house? With lots of small children.

My daughter, who like me is not one of the Chosen People, remarked later, "You know, Mom, I think it was only our family paying any attention when they read the Haggadah."

Courtney said...

Happy thoughts to Esperanza. And Miranda, can I take "Totally Fireplacing Inappropriate" for 400?

Answer: This is a bad place to masturbate.

Question: What is Quinn's history class?

Needless to say, a female student complained, and now I have to explore the options (attempting drawing the line between standard male itchiness, which means no discipline, and full-on, um, "helping hand," which means refer to the disciplinary board.)

In the anti-whine category, the chilluns are frightfully cute these days...

Courtney said...

Um, yeah, just read that over and realized that the "full-on" was probably not an appropriate adjective in that particular sentence. Sorry.

Miranda said...

Wouldn't the world be a better place of people had some common decency?

That was, eww. I tell my sons that we touch only our genitals in private. Even my oppositional six year old can manage that one.

Thoughts for pixies....

Esparanza: Clue stick brigade, reporting for duty. But first we want to coo over the sweet baboo.

Elizabeth: That's a unholy alliance of food related whines.

Turtlebella: Enjoy your new diet! Yummmy.....:::drool::::

Liz: :::drooll::::

That Mommy said...

Ongoing nausea and general malaise apparently cannot be attributed to thesis defense stress, since said thesis has been defended, and wellbeing has not returned.

Raise. End of tuition payments. Sleeping without dreaming of dissertation editing. Summer vacation.

Cluesticks for anyone who needs redirection on appropriate genital touching or seder-with-children behaviour. Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

esperanza said...

Ew. These touching-oneself-on-inappropriate-occasion whines make my whines seem silly. Such is the blessing of WW, no? Yuck.

KLee said...

I'll have some cheese with my whine, Mr. Trebek!

Anti-whine -- I'm taking a trip on Friday, only the second time in my life I've ever flown. I get to meet other people in my profession, and I may even be able to squeeze in some time with the lovely Liz while I'm at it.

Whine -- I have to get up at 4 in the morning to do it. My flight leaves at 5:30. AM. That's hell for a definitely-not-morning person.

Extra little whiny-whine -- I arrive back in my burg on Sunday afternoon, just in time to throw my stuff in the general vicinity of my house and trudge off to rehearsal. Oh, joy of joys....

Liz Miller said...

I was so sure I'd get Elevated Risk this week, but no.

Madeleine said...

Chiming in to say "Ewwww." and also "Ewww." But not to Liz, to whom I say Yumyumyum.

Liz Miller said...

Anti-whine: hope of seeing KLee this weekend!!!

Sue said...

Yay for bloggy meet-up! KLee and Liz, have a great visit and be sure to toast all the pixies! I'll send good flying vibes for you KLee

esperanza - What The Fireplace!??? Unbelievable and yet not surprising. From what I can tell, your hubby didn't screw up anything. It was teh Stupid Church Committee.

Make room pixies while I coo over the sweet baboo...

Do I even need to say...EEEWWWWWW to quinn? That's just over the top gross. Sorry you have to deal with it.

Kitchen renos and food whines aplenty - my sympathies for all of them.

Whine: Also food-related. I have zero appetite - probably due to a combination of mega-pain and depression. I need to eat, but everything looks/smells/tastes unappealing.

Anti-whine: I've lost 10 pounds.

Whine: The only time in my life that I have reached my "ideal" weight and appropriate BMI has been during my worst depressions. The universe is sneering at me once again as I look fab-you-lous and feel like crap. *sigh*

Whine: Late night on Monday/Tuesday with Pain: The Extreme Edition. The image of the creepy, horrible doc who looked after me (or more accurately, failed to look after me) during my last ER visit kept me at home. I probably should have been at the ER, but alas, wasn't going to happnen.

Anonymous said...

Hugs to Esperanza, and joy for sleeping babies. Not to scare you or anything, but I would be delighted if my 4 and 6 year old were sleeping more consistently.

And wow, Quinn, that will not be a fun investigation. Good luck.

And so much sympathy for Sue. It seems absurd to have the weight headache continuum...best wishes for something good on the pain front.

My whines are just a general pregnant moodiness. But after other peoples reactions, IMO over-reactions, to my moodiness last week, I am trying to express it less. Repressing moodiness just makes me feel sad and repressed. I guess it is good it seeped up last night and not Thursday night, when I'd have to wait so long to have an appropriate forum to whine. :)

My immediate whine is that I have somehow gotten into a cycle in which my son takes a nap during the day. And he consequently, won't sleep at night (11:30 last night, usually he's asleep no later than 8:30. And he napped--3 hours...Fireplace). And so today, I am going to keep him at home all day and quiet. Just to see if I can make him sleep tonight. I need him to sleep tonight.

Anti-whines...anti-whines...
something will come to me...

Liz Miller said...

((((Sue)))) However, you should know that the BMI is bullshit.

Liz Miller said...

(((Sarah))).

Liz Miller said...

(((Esperanza)))

Sue said...

Thanks for the link Liz.

Ya know - I've always wondered about the BMI. It was supposed to be better/different than the standard height to weight charts of the past. But it's no different. And it sets up unreasonable ideals. Phooey!

I am, however, left with the problem of needing some new clothes but knowing that as soon as I feel better, they won't fit. Either that, or I find a big rope to use as a belt.

Liz Miller said...

Sue, summer's coming. All you need are shorts or casual skirts and tees. Your larger tees will fit and shorts and casual skirts are cheap.


Speaking of growing out of things: Anyone here want some worn-but-still-in-good-condition Wacoal Minimizers in thirty-six double-dee?

Liz Miller said...

Seeing as I'll never see that size again without surgical intervention?

Anonymous said...

Oh my fireplace. Someone needs to have a little chat with the masturbating guy in quinn's history class. Or rather, some parental figure should have had the talk miranda had with her kids. Sheesh. One would have thought the talk would be unnecessary but clearly not!!!

Down with BMI!!! That that that ... fireplacing thing does more harm than good, in my opinion. I love kate harding's illustrated BMI thing- it's horrifying who is "normal" - they all look severely underweight to me! But I am sorry about your depression and the major amounts of pain, sue. Horrid combination.

Hugs for all the pixies today!!!

Anonymous said...

Esperanza: arrrgh to the church officials. Hugs to you and the sweet babboo.

Miranda: yes, that wins inappropriateness from me! Oy. Just oy.

Quinn: ai yi yi. But perhaps when discussing this with the class, you want to avoid the phrase "explore the options."

So sorry, Sue. Oddly, my migraines push me the other way on the weight continuum: with a full-on headache, I only want to eat soft, sweet carbs.

Liz: yes! I think those'd work for me, and I love Wacoal. Thanks!! Let's plan a meetup with the Lego Star Wars-obsessed kinderlach . . .

Biggest whine: obnoxious and noxious co-worker, commenting out of nowhere, in a voice that could be heard all over the office: "For goodness sakes, G., isn't that ankle of yours EVER going to get better?!"

It's only been a month since I sprained it; I've graduated from air-cast and cane to soft brace, so clearly it's improving; who the fireplace made her the judge of how long injuries should take to recover?
And if it was taking unusually long to recover (which it isn't), wouldn't I be frustrated enough about that without having to have her butt in unasked with her opinion, let along have her bring it up in the first place?

As my favorite co-worker later pointed out, Toxic Co-worker didn't say this out of concern for me, she said it to needle me. I need to work on retorts that don't invite her in to my life (I first said "EX-CUSE me?"" with a raised eyebrow, but then made the mistake of launching into the facts of how it is in fact improving on a reasonable schedule. Not her fireplacing business.)

This was at the beginning of an encounter in which I approached her (which I usually don't, as I avoid toxic people when possible) so that I could do a favor for someone else I like. Will not make that mistake again. I was so ticked off about this yesterday and I'm still somewhat fuming today.

Minor whine: when I put "Passover cereal" on the shopping list, I thought DH would get enough for the week. He got one box, serving size 5 servings. With two of us eating it, that's 2 1/2 days, if the "serving sizes" weren't too small, which they were. Welcome to the rest of the week of getting up early to make matzoh brei. Can't just do eggs when that's what we're sending the kiddo for lunch.

Anti-whine: meeting good friend for coffee before my physical therapy, and she emailed that she picked up a small gift for me on impulse and can't wait to give it to me. So kind and thoughtful! So well-timed!

kathy a. said...

hugs to everyone, especially esperanza, quinn, miranda, that mommy, sarah, and sue. world class whines this week!

liz, you make me feel positively upbeat about the task of finding some decent stuff to wear, despite being short and roundish and not of a shape/size on anyone's charts. :)

Liz Miller said...

I'll bring a cluestick for your noxious co-worker when I bring the Wacoals to you.

Liz Miller said...

There's also a photograhic height/weight chart that is fascinating

Anonymous said...

OMG, am crying over meaningless stuff. thanks, pregnancy!

Sue said...

Liz - summer's coming???? We are still having frost most nights, so I'll have to take your word for it. Shorts - interesting concept... :)

Bringing the body fluid whine: Our big boy cat has started doin' his bidness (not the watery kind) anywhere but the litter box. He's going to the vet next week, as this is very out of character for him.

So far, he's managed to limit his deposits to the back porch and hallway. It upsets him so much. Our only response has been to try and get him to the box before he's finished. Poor little man...

Corporate Oppression Whine: I just stopped eating shrimp. Is it even remotely surprising that the Evil Wal*art Empire buys the slave labour shrimp??? I think not.

Madeleine said...

Liz, that photographic height/weight chart is fascinating! It's like that thing on "How to look good . . ." where they show a woman a line-up and ask her where she fits. Many of us don't know what we actually look like.

esperanza said...

Thanks for all the love and cluesticks. It is teh Stupid Church Comittee, but when one's ego is bruised...it still sucks.

And, late-breaking antiwhine: a scientific experiment on the sweet baboo is currently underway. It's a "wean off oxygen" project, beginning while she's sleeping. (Opposite from the "normal" way of weaning, but that is when she does the best, so there). An hour into said experiment, she's doing great and I haven't had to turn it back on. Woo hoo! Might as well revel in it, because she still does terribly while awake.

Liz Miller said...

Sue, would it help to put a box on the porch and one in the hallway?
Too cold for shorts? Sweat pants or leggings! Warm and cheap and infinitely expandable.

Esperanza, I'm rooting for the sweet baboo. Way to breathe baboo!!!!

Anonymous said...

Go babboo!!

Thanks for the cluestick, Liz.

Anonymous said...

Yay for the baboo!!!

Sue said...

Yay for the sweet baboo!!

Sue said...

Hugs for amy (((amy)))

Anonymous said...

I feel bass-ackwards, because I am starting with my anti-whine, but here goes…
AW: I made the short list, so I have an interview for my dream job on Monday
Whine: I had an exhausting all-weekend commitment this past week and something this week that will soak up a huge chunk of Saturday.
AW: I am, apparently, the only INTERNAL candidate (4 interviewees, counting me).
Whine/AW: That means that everyone on the search committee knows me—both my strengths and my quirks & failings
Whine—the search committee has TEN(!) members
AW—one of them is my friend
Whine—they want the massive, 20-lb portfolio of doom so they can “get to know me as a colleague.” It would be easier to give them my firstborn child, except that she’s 27 & married, so her husband may object.
Related whine—I lost a lot of the material that would be perfect when my hard drive crashed in November
AW—2 words: Tenure Track
AW—one of my references told me quite a bit about what they asked her during the reference check. She reportedly gave me a glowing reference.

Keep your fingers crossed, pixies. I’ve been working towards this for a good many years.

Hugs to Esperanza—count me in on the cluestick posse.
NUD

KLee said...

Good luck to NUD! All appendages are crossed for you!

And, Genevieve -- next time your Toxic Co-Worker makes snide comments about your ankle/foot and the length of your recovery, quirk your brow at her and say, "Hm. I wasn't aware that you went to medical school." That ought to be snippy enough to get your point across without being assholish should she care to complain. You know?

Amy -- you need a care package? I'll put it on my to do list with the three other packages that I need to assemble and mail out....:)

Unknown said...

Hugs for Esperanza. Those fireplacing church morons? They need a mega cluestick.

Quinn: ewwwwwwww. Happened to me when I was teaching sped kids.

W: My allergies have felled me. I've been in bed for two days. Blood noses, vomiting, can barely walk, head in a fog, no food at all, can only manage seltzer and diet coke. Ears hurt. Head hurts. Bones hurt. Muscles hurt. I hurt.

W: Darling daughter left her 4/20 escapades in writing in her room. I was SOOOOOOO pissed off. She is mega grounded. For life. Until she learns how to choose better friends.

W: Very hot weather means open windows. Open windows mean pollen inside. Not hot enough to put in ACs. I am officially dying of pollen.

W: Daughter's school did not put in her NVLD in her new IEP. I refused to sign IEP. They send me back letter saying they have no knowledge of NVLD. During school vacation. So I can really work up a head of steam. God do these idjits need a cluestick.

W: THIS IS MAJOR. BlogHer. HATE THEM. They demanded that I take down their ads, citing that my content didn't meet their needs. Lying scum. They are playing the Mean Girls game, where if you say anything against them, either on your blog or in someone else's comments, they just toss you. I am working on a blog post. HATE THEM. If you belong, question why. They aren't doing anything for you. It's all for them. They're getting rich on your blogs and you're getting buptkus.

AW: Son continuing to be good egg.

AW: Since I am no longer eating, Passover is easy as pie! (Matzoh pie)

W: Friend's husband, who is world's biggest asshat, went ballistic TWICE during seder. Second time I had to separate them like two year olds. It worked. She's filing for divorce...finally.

AW: have spent a lot of time reading and just put up 6 book reviews on my blog, which I can now do because blogherAds are no longer on my blog. Heh.

And that's about it.

Liz Miller said...

NUD - I've got all my appendages crossed.

(((Amy)))

Anonymous said...

Thanks, KLee and others sending me hugs. I think I'm all right. I had an OB appointment today, at which I positively bawled my eyes out. She told me it makes sense because I'm 16 weeks, and weeks 16-20 are the worst for emotional outbursts of the moody or sad variety. She was also very comforting (because she is teh awesome), and she told me that if it gets worse before it gets better, I'm ordered to call her. Love her.

So, I went to my car, cried a bit more, composed myself, and went to the mall to buy myself something pretty. It's something just for me. No one else in this house will touch it, look at it twice, or care about it in any way - so basically it's the perfect purchase. (That and it falls under the Retail Therapy clause in my marriage agreement so there is no husbandly griping about how much it cost.)

It's a slow cooker. I love it.

Anonymous said...

oh! how could i forget?
@maraglit: i'm with you on the death-by-pollen. i seemed to be done with the morning sickness, but then the almost-not-quite warmer weather came and the post-nasal drip is looking to make me relive the puking. i don't even know how people lived before antihistamines. i almost die every spring, and i'm on @llegra daily.

blech.

Sue said...

NUD - crossing appendages here too.

margalit - I'm sorry about all the seriously whine-worthy material you have. I'm especially sorry to hear about the Mean Girls. I don't know much about that group, but honestly, what little I do know has always left me a bit leary.

I think it's sad that even teh Intranets have a cool kids club. I was officially and permanently banned from all Cool Kid Klubs somewhere around grade 2. That probably explains my intuitive feelings of ick whenever I encounter one.

Elizabeth said...

Can I whine on behalf of my sister in law, who is still pregnant? She went to the hospital this morning with regular contractions, but they stopped, so they sent her home.

Courtney said...

It's still Wednesday where I am, so I'm back to vote. Votes for death by pollen, for pregger concerns of all stripes (yes, Elizabeth, anybody can whine for someone still pregnant when it should be out by now!), and e-kisses for the sweet baboo.

Anonymous said...

NUD, everything's crossed for you!

Amy, empathy for you on the pregnancy weepies. I've had (non-pregnant) hormonal weepies and hate the out-of-control feeling, so I feel for you.

Elizabeth, good luck with Passover sans kitchen and the filial whining thereof! and best to your SIL, sucks to be sent home.

Margalit, wishing you a better week and boo to Mean Girls.

Klee, that's an excellent suggestion - thanks! Mild retorts are exactly what I need.

Tiny happy anti-whine: used CD store a few blocks from home that closed when its block was being developed has reappeared on other side of the street. Yay! Love my funky little local walk-to shops, love browsing for used music. My new jazz CD will make me happy today.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and anti-whine of Remembering What It's All About: took a chance on a super-sale ($9.99! with free shipping!) bra from Land's End, figuring that even if it didn't fit, the cost of getting it would be off-set by not taking the time to go to Teh Mall (yeah, I should go get fitted again). But it fits! As I have very little in that department fitting right now, this was a very good thing.