Headline News: AWARDS!

Top Story: Welcome to the world, Mini-Baboo! Congratulations and much love to Esperanza, Mr. E, and Sweet Baboo!

In related news, Esperanza wins the Remembering What It's All About Award, reporting that Mini-Baboo is a champion breastfeeder already! Ouch.

Old Skool Award to Madeleine, whose trip featured a musty hotel room. Ah, the aroma of sogginess in the air!

Creeping Winter Yucks Award to JenR, who complains: "I think my whole family is getting sick, and the little guy is getting teeth, too. We are a crabby bunch." Oy. Wish y'all speedy recoveries.

Stylin' Humor Award to Liz, who shared some of her favorite iPad jokes! (Really, who thought that was a good product name? I understand how they ended up with it, but...)

Fireplace It Award to Sue, whose challenging week was capped by yet another meeting, in -30 weather. Or the headache. Or the funeral. Or the zombies! Or all of the above. We prescribe kittehs and nappage.

Succinct Award to Days, who complains: "Bone-deep weariness. Frustrated with the Fates."

Perils of Parenting Award to Neighbor Lady, whose son's young guest not only mooned him during a playdate (yeah, those little talks about rules of the house are a joy, no?), but the boy also turned up with lice. LICE! We're all scratching in solidarity. ~shudder~

Footsie Awards to Elizabeth, who has blisters, and to Sarah, who has warts.

Lemonade Out of Lemons Award to Elizabeth for her "Antiwhine: good excuse for saying 'talk to your father about it' when my son started to tell me that I might want to do some laundry." Excellent delegation!

True Story Award, Taxi Division, goes to one of our intrepid travelers, Madeleine: "On the list of Things You Don't Want to Hear From Your Taxi Driver: 'So I was home all day yesterday with this bad cold. I'm OK today. I took some Dayquil. And I didn't have a cough but I took some cough medicine anyway. And I guess there is something in that that makes you sleepy.'"

Exposed Award to Liz, whose formerly anonymous blogging is no longer so.

Many hugs to Amy, whose daughter is having a rough time after the loss of Grandma's dog.

Best to all as we forge ahead through the coming week!

Mid-Winter Post & Courier

Kicking off the whines early because this week is already roaring at me, and it is due to start raining again. Again!

Weather report: After three years of drought in California, we are getting all this peculiar weather news. On the one hand, it could rain the rest of the season and the drought won't officially be over; and on the other hand, flooding. Drought! Flood! It's two, two, two contradictory disasters in one!

Local news: Cats still amusing. Mostly purry, with scattered reports of wanton silliness. In a dire development, kibble levels are dangerously low in the storage bin.

International report: Daughter urgently needs shipment of boxed mac & cheese.

Business page: Remember the Project of Doom? I work with that person on yet another unbloggable project that just came out of hibernation. Yesterday, several difficult emails received. The person is very stressed about something unrelated, rightfully so, but getting huffy with me was not the best start to Next Project.

Food news: I have a crush on my crock-pot, which might be the greatest appliance of all time. Don't bother telling me about your buff food-processer, or that cute coffeemaker; they will not steal my heart.

Looking forward to reports from our far-flung and hardy band of correspondents!

Anti-Whines Aplenty! And some of the other...

The Pixies have a lot to happy-dance about this week! First, CONGRATULATIONS to Jenevieve, who passed her boards and will soon be a genuine, certified veternarian!

Hugs and excitement for Days, who is just one document away from being able to bring her son home, after such a long wait for his international adoption!

Much love, too, for Esperanza and her Mini-Baboo, who have achieved 38 weeks! Fingers crossed all around Pixie-land for a smooth landing, and that the last few days feel better.

Old Skool Award to Emily, who brings the whine of things that need to be fixed under warranty, which requires service calls, parts, more service calls, and the need to be home the entire time that the service call might happen (as she mentions, "some time between Feb. and April").

Elevated Risk of Mullet Award to Sue, who gave us a good laugh with her Toothbrush of Doom: "I can't turn off my spinning toothbrush or remove the batteries. I have taken to whacking The Horrifying Spin Brush of Doom with a large screwdriver (not the drink, the tool - although the drink doesn't sound bad right now....). That isn't working this morning. So we're still with the buzzing, buzzing, always the buzzing." It turns out that many Pixies distrust the darned electric toothbrushes, and this is proof of their evil intentions. Who knew?

Keeping with the appliance-related theme, Neighbor Lady wins the It Is, Too, Making a Funny Noise Award for her car, which clanks all the time, except when the repair shop gives it a diagnostic spin. On the up side, NL's hubby awarded the consolation prize, a new battery so she and the kids won't be stranded on the side of the road, providing the clank does not turn into something worse.

Pithy Political Whine Award to Elizabeth, for "Impending Gridlock in the Senate." Many Pixies are shaking their heads in agreement.

Pithy Personal Whine Award to Esperanza, whose friend has an unbloggable and painful whine, summed up as "Mean People Suck." Amen. Hoping the sorrows resolve.

KLee wins the Bodily Fluids Award, as Aunt Flo visits with a vengeance. This, too, shall pass!

Friendly Gesture Misunderstood Award to Sarah, whose effort to support a new Mama was evidently taken as pushy. We blame the hormones and overwhelmedness, too.

Amy wins the Let's Be Developmentally Reasonable Award for thinking that if her 15 month old falls over in his boots, he's not ready for the boots yet, even if her parenting guru thinks she is enabling future oppositional behavior. Oy.

Scritches and good thoughts for Sue's Ouzo, as his kittieness struggles again with not feeling good.

Nimble Fingers Awards to: Madeleine's Snuggly Girl, who carefully placed a bandage kind of close to a finger cut; Liz, whose fingers don't look so good after a tense week (but those fingers are hard at work on a glorious Gryffindor scarf!); and Days, whose finger is swollen and painful, and who knows why? Passing the cute bandaids, ice, and kisses for the ouchies.

Housekeeping Fairies to Jenevieve, who complains that her flat is so filthy, she suspects that if it caught fire, the firefighters would just let it burn.

Safe and Happy Trip to Sarah, as she travels to the land of sogginess.

Best Turnaround After Cluesticking Award to Sue, who reports that the formerly obnoxious son of the deceased had a complete change of heart, and was so grateful for the service honoring his mother.

This week, the Cluestick Posse will pay informative visits to Small European Country about the insanely convoluted adoption procedures that have caused Days sadness and anxiety; and the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts (except Neighbor Lady, who tried). Normally, the Posse does not address the misbehavior of entire countries or states, but desperate times, desperate measures. Maybe we should stop by Capitol Hill on the way back to headquarters, and deliver some messages there, too.

If you missed whining (JenR, I'm thinking of you), feel free to catch up in the comments. See you next week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
ETA: Meeting From Heck Award to JenR, who had to put together something for a nice but clueless person, the message being: "This job? You have to actually do it to stay here."

I Have a Dream Edition

So much to think about -- the dreams, the progress, the promise still unfulfilled. And then, oh, Haiti.

Whine big if you want. Whine small, too.

It's been pouring rain here, which is actually good news for the drought. But the garage roof leaks right over the washing machine and some other things, and I just had a refreshing spell scooping foliage out of the drainage to avoid floodage. Woo. Hoo. In anti-whines, the Duke of Earl's intestinal problem worked itself out after a day in solitary confinement with the baby food diet, during which the junior cats held a vigil outside the bathroom door, and one attempted to dig him out. We were planning to eventually replace the carpet, anyway. Also, daughter got her best grades evah this last term!

Let the whining and anti-whining begin!

Awards: Time, Time, Time, See What's Become of Me

And the sky is a hazy shade of winter.

Sometimes Simon and Garfunkle say it best. Time management, the eternal cycle of life, and the need to hold onto your hopes, my friend.

A moment of silence for the terrible catastrophe in Haiti. All of our whines pale in comparison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even in Grief We are Human Award to Sue for putting up with a most unpleasant Person while planning the funeral of Person's mother.

Automotive Fluids Award goes to kathy a.'s son's car, with hopes that the leaky radiator behaves itself. Bonus McGyver Award to kathy a. for solving the problem with duct tape and a ziplock bag, and for recommending the same approach for Sue's unpleasant son-of-the-deceased.

Biblical Proportions of Fluids Award to esperanza for the dreaded deluge which is predicted for the day of a long car trip. (With a side of Happy Dance for the full-term Mini-Baboo!)

Bodily Fluids, Feline Division award to Sue (or her spouse with the iron nose?) for continued encounters with teh RunnyStinky. Here's hoping canned pumpkin and/or baby cereal are the magic you need.

Old Skool Award also to Sue for the fresh cup of coffee spilled in the parking lot (fluids, fluids, fluids for you this week!)

Best Backhanded Whine Award to Miranda, for this sentence with whiplash:
"My dog is still missing but my daughter, who bruised her back in a nasty tumble down the schools stairs, is almost totally back to normal." Eeep!

Whine of Style and Prodigal Whiner Awards to Yankee, Transferred, who popped in after long absence with a charming verse about familial financial betrayal. Oy, YT. Teh Drama! Teh Lawyers! So sorry.

Ouchie Ouch Ouch Award to Days for dental pain during work travel. Ouch. And to KLee for unintended physical comedy which led to undesirable physical pain (and drug testing? Hunh?). I hope you are both feeling better by now. If not, here's a mega-sized bottle of virtual ibuprofen.

Warm Comfort Food Combo (Whine and Anti-whines) Award to JenR for the roast beef that needed some time to mature and the magical reappearing gift card. Yay for free beverages!

And, back to the theme of the week, the Time, Time, Time Awards to liz and kathy a., for expertise in time management. And let me say I'm bailing that same leaky boat.

Projectile Wrench Award to Sue, whose boat is in good shape, except for the hole from that flying tool. (Heh, tool! I made a pun.)

Take care, be strong, love each other. See you next week.

Fluids and Near Fluids

Mucus and slush, slush and mucus.

I crashed on the couch and slept for an hour and a half this afternoon while being intermittently pestered by Snuggly Girl for something I'd already said "No" to. (As previously established, I don't understaaaaaaaand!)

I went back to the doctor this morning and said "I'm still coughing two months later" and he suggested starting up the inhaler again, as well as an X-Ray just in case. Then it occurred to me to wonder what the just in cases are, and I thought of bad things, and decided they are extremely unlikely. Probably just some lingering inflammation, darn it all.

I'm not sure if I'm actually feeling sicker today or if I just gave up pretending I wasn't.

Whew, one minor illness and I'm whiney as all get-out. Keep me company pixies, whine with me.

Sleepytime Edition

The Pixie Nation appears to have a sleep disorder, and the results are not pretty! To Sleep, Perchance to Dream Awards to Sarah, whose daughter does not want to fall asleep unless Mom's in the room; to Esperanza, who is so so tired and yet awakens at 3 a.m.; to Klee, who is contemplating a sleepover; to Amy, whose Tater has graduated from using her as baby furniture to merely needing her to stay right by him all night; and to others afflicted by not sleeping for any reason.

Congratulations and Mazel Tov to Debangel and her sweet baby Arianna!

Hip Hip Hooray to Esperanza and her Mini-Baboo, who will achieve full term status this weekend!

Happy Birthday to KLee's Offspring, who will be 14!

Thank you for the good wishes for my daughter, whose birthday is the 8th, and it is already that date in Japan!

Old Skool Award/Fluid Division goes to Madeleine, whose current cold causes spontaneous nasal drippage.

Beam Me Up to the Planet Oblivion Award to Emily, who complains of walkers and shoppers so absorbed with cellphone conversations (or those little voices, sometimes it is hard to tell) that they block traffic. This was an extremely popular whine, winning widespread acclaim.

Further Addition to the Lexicon Award to Sue, whose cat Ouzo brought the cat "pook" as well as the cat bark this week. We hope the little man is feeling better soon!

In a related vein, the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award goes to Sue, who notes that her husband's former occupation (funeral director) makes him ideal as the cleanup person, as he is unaffected by odors.

Tooth Fairy Award to Sarah at ratatat, whose son lost his first tooth and managed not to swallow it!

Craft Queen Award to Liz, who finished a sweet baby sweater in record time! Having barely just enough yarn to do the job!

Romance is Taking a Nap Award to Redzils, whose boyfriend endeavored to make up for a lack of holiday presentage with a very thoughtful and heartfelt gesture, a new alarm clock. That thwacking noise you heard was jaws dropping. The Cluestick Posse is all over this one.

While the Posse is saddled, it will also pay a visit to Amy's doctor, and everyone else who wants her to put Tater in the crib and let him cry it out. Panicky, puking, climbing baby doesn't sound like such a hot idea for sleep.

Remembering What It's All About Award to Debangel, whose boobage has expanded operations in light of recent developments.

Fun Times in the E.R. Award to JenR, whose boy hurt his ankle, but it was miraculously better by the time he decided he didn't like what was going on with that machine. Sigh. Hope the limp is gone asap.

Sending warm blankies to everyone shivering with this week's cold snap. See you next week!

It's a Whole New Year!

... and in late-breaking anti-whine news from last week, there is a brand new baby Pixie, Debangel's Arianna! YAY!

My own baby girl will turn 21 on Friday. What's up with that? I swear, those years went by too fast to imagine. Just the other day, she was cheerfully spitting up all over me; and then, convincing her entire kindergarten class to pretend they were cats and dogs; becoming an avid reader; performing in holiday musicals and at a Gilbert and Sullivan summer program; marching with the band at her university. Tomorrow, she goes back to Japan. She'll celebrate her birthday by returning to Yokosuka, the city where she was born, and Kamakura, an ancient nearby town with a very large bronze Buddha. There had better be facebook updates.

Today's the day when a lot of people are back to work or school. Don't know about you, but I'm still looking for my work mojo. Maybe it is where ever the lost dryer socks go.

What's the news in your end of Pixieland?

Ring Out the Old, and Ring In the New!

Happy 2010, Pixies! As I stated in the previous post, I wish you all only good things for this upcoming year. I hope that all those good wishes don't totally deprive our beloved WW of content, however, but I hope that the serious whines -- The Big Stuff -- falls by the wayside.

And, now -- on to the Awards!

A Sister, I Feel Your Pain Award goes out to Sarah at Ratatat for her Year in Review Whine: "Whine of review: I tried to be frugal this year. And looking at my progress, I was OK...until Christmas. Bah!" I know that many pixies will be shuddering once those bills come tumbling in. Me, included.

A Red Tide! Award goes out to Kathy A., who is apparently such a Fertile Myrtle that Aunt Flo will sync up with visiting friends after lo, these many moons away.

My Patented Morton's Salt Award for the endless raining and pouring goes out to Sue for both the return of the Dreaded Headaches *and* the return to full-time work. I view insurance execs in the same light that I view education administrators: Some of them still know what they're doing, but most of them have been out of the classroom for so long, they can no longer relate. Sue, keep plugging away. You're worth it, even if they don't deserve you.

Esperanza gets the "Woo-hoo!" Award for the Mini Baboo's stick-to-it-ivness! We are all so glad that Mini Baboo has managed to hang in there for all these weeks! Wishing you an easy delivery, and that MB has all requisite fingers, toes, and ability to melt Mom and Dad's hearts in an instant. I know you'll be busy after, but please keep us updated!

Is there something in the water? Debangel returns to let us know that her little one has a case of the Mini Baboo's "stick to you like glue" and that we're on watch for Baybee Gurl Angel! Deb gets the "It's All About ME!" Award for self-centeredness. Honey -- you're pregnant! And due to deliver! OF COURSE it's all about you! And, it shouldn't be any other way. (As an aside, I hear you on the stripping of the membranes -- oochies!) Best wishes for a speedy, TIMELY delivery, and keep us in the loop. We're starving for adorable baby pictures!

A Year's Worth of Free Maid Service to any and all who care about clean refrigerator tops. This won't apply to me, though I sure could use the blinking maid service since I *still* don't care whether the top of the fridge is sparkling clean or not. I can *SEE* the top of the fridge, but I still don't care. Sue, if I ever make it to Canada, we're going out for a night on the town, and to hell with the fridge top! Don't you DARE clean it! We Pixies have standards to maintain!

Amy gets the Huh? Who Am I? Award for Tater's nighttime restlessness, resulting in little to no sleep for her. So sorry, Ames! Is it still illegal to drug your children so you can get some rest?! Drat. Yep; still illegal. I have one word for you, Amy: Dimetapp. I hope that Hubs' job situation gets better, and that you all know where you stand with that very soon. Very little is worse than feeling unsure as to your employment -- please let us know if we can do more than just be a friendly ear to listen.

Kathy A. gets the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award for her cleanliness haiku:

"clean fridge tops are for
people who lack good hobbies.
pixies united!"

Love it! And, it's so true! Pardon me while I dig my way past the fridge dust to the craft room....

Whine of the Year Awards go out to:

Esperanza for her stressful Butt-On-Couch gestation of the Mini-Baboo. I know it was hard, but not as hard as giving birth at -30 weeks. We wish you, and the whole E family all the best, and know that MB will be healthy, whole, and drop-dead gorgeous; Sweet Baboo will continue to rick the house with reaching milestones, and will be a devoted older sibling; and Mr. E's flock will be loving and supportive.

Sue, for the return of the Headache of Doom. This is an issue that impacts me WAY more than I would like, so I feel much love and sympathy towards Sue's struggle. I wish you luck with the Occipital Nerve Stimulation and hope you can get into the program and have it WORK for you. Let me know if it does!

and, lastly to Kathy A. for her sister's cancer and multiple family funerals. I'm sure that Kathy will agree with me that 2009 is a year she's glad to be seeing the back of! As if only one of these isn't enough stress for you to deal with -- you've got all of them together. I'm glad that you are testing negatively for cancer, and that you are keeping an eye on your own health. Please accept our condolences on the loss of your loved ones, and wishes for the continued health of the surviving members of your family.

Honorable Mentions go out to Liz, for snowy roads combined with political shindigs AND awesome knitting skillz; JenR for "help" from a little one in cleaning the basement; and Sarah at ratatat for the 10-hour-a-week job time suck.

Thanks to all for making WW *the* place to spend the New Year! I hope that you all return often to whine during 2010, but may they all be whines of the Old Skool variety. May our community lighten your load, and provide you with much-needed support and laughter. Happy 2010, Pixies!