Let the games begin!

I'm not all that into sports, personally, but what is not to love about all these nations from everywhere, big and small, coming together to celebrate and compete together?  Being on the west coast, my view of the opening ceremonies was time-delayed by many hours, but friends in London and Canada provided enticing little updates in live-time!  So, I took control of the remote, and it was good.  Kinda freaked everybody out, since I don't watch TV.

My friend in Florida just drove to NH and got hitched with the other mother of their daughter!  So exciting.  They have waited such a long time.  

W:  Some idjit woke up this morning and discovered no coffee, and had to run to the store.  Top that!

Bring 'em on -- whines and anti-whines, big and small.

AWARDS!

Esperanza wins Elevated Risk of Mullet hands-down for "it's more like cow patties and jellyfish."

And she also wins my News You Can Use Award for teaching me, "David & Bathsheba: lust, adultery, rape, attempted cover-up leads to murder and collateral damage. All activities of God's 'chosen one.' Sounds like the news, no?". Sounds just like the news, yes.

Sarah at Ratatat wins the Peter Paul Almond Joy and Mounds Award for "At least people show their crazy early enough that I don't even want to date them?" Because sometimes you feel like a nut...and sometimes you don't.

Kathy A. wins Anti-Whiner of the week, for having several good ones.

And Sue wins Old Skool for silly work whines.

Who will be our host next week? Tune in to find out!

Wednesday Whining - Game Night With Friends Edition

So we were supposed to go camping this past weekend, but it was going to pour down rain at the campground both days so we decided to bail (ha!) and made plans with friends instead.

Our friends live 5 doors down from us, and they came over and we all played Ticket to Ride and Bananagrams. And a good time was had by all, and we're going to do it again.

Yes.

If you've never played Ticket to Ride, here's Wil Wheaton to tell you how!



What's going on in your lives?

Vine Ripened Gourmet Awards

Just a tad late...  The fog has lifted, and today is a gorgeous day.  Passing some antipasto, bread, cheese, and whine for a little picnic.  And birthday cake, in honor of Sue!

Liz wins the Calling Dr. Google Award, for impressive long-distance diagnostic super-skillz!

Esperanza wins the coveted Elevated Risk of Mullet Award, for her report on ridiculous earache-related meltdowns:  "Favorite example: 'I want cows on *my* side of the car' as we drove down the road." Those darned cows, failing once again to graze on the correct side of the road.  Kudos to high-grade antibiotics.

The Tiniest Whine Award goes to Sue, who is adoring her sabbatical and can only complain that she could use more sparkling water.  Yay for a great time off!  We are also drooling just a little bit about the Candy Buffet, which probably should be a regular feature here at the House of Whines.

We are proud to award the Umbrella of Happiness to Sarah, who reports rain!  Take that, you silly drought!

The Whine of Personal Discomfort Award goes, of course, to Neighbor Lady, with much sympathy for the Epic Zit inconveniently located in an unmentionable portion of the anatomy.  There is general agreement that zits of any kind are Totally Unfair, but some are more unfair than others.

Bringing some competition in the unmentionables department, Liz wins the Itch of Doom Award for several bug bites, including one with the temerity to appear under the underwire.   Esperanza to the rescue with her own diagnostic skillz, earning the Ocean of Calamine Lotion Award for mentioning the possibility of ~~ ugh ~~ chiggers.  Not that we are sure the calamine will work, but the word "chiggers" is enough to create sympathetic itching all over the blogosphere.

Many hugs to JenR, who reported a horrible, very bad, no good day, plus "and apparently I can't type either."  The Cluestick Posse is prepared to deliver an appropriate message to the person responsible.  Kudos to the car guy, who can at least take care of the AC, brakes, and tires.  xoxo

Sarah wins the Back in the Game Award, for testing the waters of online dating:  "W/AW: if you put that you're looking for fun and friendship and nothing too serious on online dating sites...you get a lot of attention. Mostly amusing. And really, boys more than 10 years younger than me? really? At least I am amused."  

Peace and love to us all -- especially our Redzils -- in the wake of this latest horrible violence. 

Dispatch from the front. The cold front.

It's a gloomy, cold, summer morning -- perfect weather for the Feline Competitive Napping competition.  Persephone chose her usual throne, the fax machine.  Spot is showing good form on the end of the couch, with extra points for positioning himself next to a pillow with cats.  In a bold move, Polly has arranged herself gracefully in the very center of the couch, winning special recognition for artistry.

I'm still on the Giant Project marathon, and in some danger of my butt becoming permanently attached to my office chair.  AW: In what amounts to a miracle, I have scored some student intern help with a series of important but tedious tasks.  Yay!  (It may not even be so tedious for them.)

Please bring your whines and antiwhines!

5th Anniversary Awards Party!

So I thought it would be cute to look up what the traditional 5 year anniversary gift is and make a post titled: "[Gift] for All!" The fifth anniversary gift is wood. Then "Wood for All" sounded...um...well, I think you can figure it out. So nevermind.

Refreshments at this party: dark chocolate, with an extra helping for Miranda.

Decor at this party: cluestick-lined walls, with cluesticks predesignated for people who don't return phone calls, mortgage companies, and Committees to Rearrange Deck Chairs.

For the ceremony itself:
An Old Skool Award for Sue, who has large thumbs. Or a small phone. Or something. It's a thumb-phone mismatch, in any case.

A Families, What are You Going to Do? Award to kathy a, her beloved, and everyone affected by difficult sister-in-law. What an impossible, painful situation.

Work Whining Awards to Miranda and kathy a, for Great Unbloggable Projects and "What a Great Idea You Had, Boss!"

Thanks to liz for the anniversary reminder, hugs to everyone who needs one, and extra dark chocolate for all.

Repetitious Whining

Mini is in a phase (please, dear Lord, let it be only a phase) where everything she says must be repeated approximately 87 times. And anything I say must be repeated, even if she was not intended to hear what I said (ahem. You can probably think of some examples yourselves. They might involve four letters). I guess it's only fair that she repeats everything (apparently) in order to get me to listen, because I also have to repeat everything approximately 87 times to get her to listen (you may not stand on the windowsill, for example).

We are also, collectively, at the point in the summer when it seems that each day is a repetition of the day before. Fix breakfast, clean up breakfast dishes, get Baboos dressed, brush teeth, go potty. Play/activity. Fix lunch, clean up lunch, go potty, nap. Play/nag/whine. Fix supper, clean up supper, baths, bedtime. Repeat. I would like to register a whine about this, but at the same time, I'm really not asking for anything exciting in the negative direction. I would take a surprise vacation, for instance, but not a surprise trip to the ER. You get my drift, Universe?

Pixies, do you have repetitious whines, or one-timers? Whine away, in either case.

Post-Firework Awards

We Pixies have always known liz was powerful, but only now do we appreciate just how powerful: “AW: I have power, my workplace has power, and the gas stations near me have power.” I hope the rest of our Pixies are similarly lucky.

The Old Skool Award goes to emily this week, for her formerly round, now rectangular yogurt container. Change is hard!

Pixie sympathy to esperanza and the Baboos, struggling with sloth tendencies and croup (poor baby! Poor mommy!).  At least her yogurt container is still round…

Sarah at Ratatat wins the Ringmaster Award for putting on one of the largest local parades on the 4th. Happy (USian) Independence Day and Loose Ends Wrangling!

JenR’s little guy wins the Universal Pixie “Awww” for making her a cake and telling her it was roast beef all day, to preserve the surprise.

kathy a gets the Defeat of the Albatross Award, for getting a project off her list, despite workplace challenges (of the feline and husbandy kind).

I’m sending you all a dose of my chilly weather (I wore a neck gaiter and gloves on today’s hike), since I have no good advice to add to the hot weather coping tips in the comments on the last post. May this temperature drop arrive soon and with plenty of rain!

Thanks for joining this week’s whining. See you next week!

Fireworks Whining

Happy Fireworks Week, to US Pixies, and happy week to the rest of you.

W: I live too far north for fireworks to be festive this time of year.
AW: New Year's Eve is awesome.

I'll be celebrating independence by walking with the Girl Scouts in the parade downtown. They get to lead this year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting.

How are you, Pixies? Feel free to share your whines, antiwhines, and stories of independence in this space!