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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Super Groundhog Week Edition

Lot of excitement around the nation this week! I heard tell of some big football game featuring commercials and a halftime show -- isn't that so done by now? The brand-name groundhog had one prediction about winter, and an upstart groundhog had another. A lot of us are infested with Wall-to-Wall! Political! News! in our particular states.

I have a grouse or two closer to home. The fireplacing heater went out [igniter took an early retirement], coldest night of the year. Slept in a jacket, and awoke with a small herd of cats sleeping on top of me. On the rodent front, I'm just glad that none of the groundhogs live nearby, because it was bad enough that the dogs found some other critter and left it as a gift. Outside, thankfully.

Voted this morning. The terrific people at the polling place had an election official out there because nobody gave them a key to the scanning machines, and they didn't have enough pens for the duration [one was a teacher, who explained that they always have to keep track of the supplies], but they were cheerfully dispensing ballots and "I voted" stickers -- and they brought cookies and bagels to share. Gotta love them.

What's the news in your neck of the woods?

38 comments:

Liz Miller said...

There are people round here who actually think that MH would make a great president. What????

He seriously believes the Earth was made 9000 years ago. He wants to bring the Constitution in line with his own personal Bible and...and...and....

And what's even sadder is that some of those people, that think MH is wonderful? Some of them are helping to plan a party to help us recover from the smilingsmilingsmiling.

Head, meet desk. Desk, head.

KLee said...

So flipping tired. This week is going to kick my butt. On tap -- Today; afterschool workout, home for 30 minutes, then to a marathon Girl Scout meeting. I'll see very little of my family tonight.

Tomorrow: field trip. That alone is enough to kick my butt from here to Friday.

Thursday: early morning workout and my craft workshop after school. In addition to a long school day.

Friday: Offspring's Girl Scout meeting.

Saturday: audition for a musical in the late afternoon.

Boy, I'm glad I'm not overbooked this week!

Andy said...

Hey, my fake secret lesbian lover at work that I'm planning on moving in with in a month's time might actually be in love with me. And not so much a lesbian. And she still has a very jealous girlfriend living with her. That I was also planning on moving in with.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by any of this. I was, after all, voted "Most Likely To Become a Lesbian Homewrecker" in high school.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm not sure that you can call what Andy posted a whine exactly.

But he wins anyway.

kathy a. said...

nominations are open for what to call andy's award.

Anonymous said...

oh my, oh my. that's one not-so-good sitch there, andy.

Don't know what possessed me to say 'sitch' but um, yeah.


I should be asleep. But I need to share my anti-whine. (And frankly, back a couple of weeks ago when there was discussion of the future of WW, I wanted to comment that WW just.could.not.go.away because I thought I might have this anti-whine soon. But I couldn't give away the anti-whine, could I? Lest it get jinked you know. Also, it was kind of a selfish reason.). Okay, onward:


Anti-whine: I am pregnant!

Yes, after hearing me whine and whine and whine about not being pregnant and literally weeks before I called up doctor(s) for fertility testing...well, no more! Yay for me! Yay for the sqvirrel! And yay for all of you here who always had great advice and so many hugs for me. Thanks and I'm glad I could share this anti-whininess with youse guys.

kathy a. said...

woooo hooooo, turtlebella!!! xoxo

Anonymous said...

Yahoo turtlebella. Excellent news. May you have nine very quiet months with nary a whine in site!

Andy... um.... what can I say? Maybe that's a situation that might bear rethinking? Is that diplomatic enough?

Whine: We are ALL SICK...me, still, kids new illness with fever, severe crabbiness, sleeping a lot (thank Jeebus) and muscle aching. If I catch this from them, they are OUT.

Whine: Registry of Motor Vehicles in MA is crazy. Like totally nuts in a box. Fighting with them is like fighting with a wall.

Whine: My city is even worse. All I want is a fireplacing drivers license. Is this too much to ask? Evidentally, yes it is, because they insist I owe excise tax from 10 years ago when I was living in CA, and even though I have proven up one side and down the other than I did not live in this state, they don't care because I haven't turned in my 10 year old plates. So they want me to pay $600 in excise tax that I don't owe and will not give me a license until I pay. Um hello, you're keeping me a prisioner in my home. I can't fly, I can't drive, I can't write a check because I HAVE NO ID. How stupid is this?

Antiwhine: Lost another 2 lbs last week and I'm still going down. No more plateau at last.

Antiwhine: Am loving my cardiac rehab class. I thought I would hate it, but I don't. 1 hour of exercise, 1 hour of yoga and meditation, 1 hour of nutrition and 'snack'. It's like grown up kindergarten only we don't get to nap on the floor.

Antiwhine: Attended party last Sat night with WorkItMom.com women and it was a blast. Made new friends. NEW FRIENDS! Man, do I need new friends. Food, wine, conversation. It was heavenly.

Whine: 2 doctors appointments tomorrow and one on Thursday. That's 3 in 24 hours and I bet at the end of it I'll still be sick. I am incurable.

Liz Miller said...

Andy gets the "What is this? A Seventies Sit-com?" Award.

Sue said...

Good Award name Liz.

Most unfortunate situation Andy. I think. I don't really know. What do you think? Was their relationship doomed anyway? Were you simply the love catalyst that moved things along? Tune in tomorrow...

Sorry, I haven't watches soap operas in a loooooonnng time (since my university days).

YAY turtlebella!!

I'm with KLee and Margalit in the "This Week is Kicking my Butt" category.

Today is Ash Wednesday, my secretary just went home with the stomach crud, I'm dying from Teh Headache and my work day will not end until around 8:30 this evening.

Blech.

No news on the Headache Camp. I'm on the urgent list and am ready to go whenever they call. Until then, no sleep, lots of pain and I'm back to having panic attacks at night.

I feel like I'm surviving each day, not living it.

Anti-whine: my partner is the best ever. He does everything he can to make my life easier.

No politics in our part of the world. That suits me just fine. On the other hand we are presently under an evil conservative regime that will be in place for at least a few more years.

Move over Liz. *bangs head on desk*

OneTiredEma said...

Mostly stolen from Friends: "Every Day is Lesbian Lover Breakup Day!"

Yay for turtlebella!

AM has a virus. To quote the pediatrician, "the viral load is expressing itself as a rash." Um, yeah. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but it has a rather "Outbreak" quality. But since he has gone more than 36 hrs without fever, he's not contagious. Hope I can convince the nice grad student at speech therapy of that.

Oh, and also? Teething. And a mouth full of cold sores. Gah.

I was up late contemplating the possibilities of McCain running with Huckabee and getting very scared. 'Cause, you know, I need more reasons to be up in the middle of the night.

JenR said...

Yay turtabella!

One more week, same whine as before... Baby still inside, still no signs of impending labor. But wait, there's more! Preeclampsia testing, due to teh headache of doom and very swollen feet/legs/hands. Blood pressure is still in the OK range, but on the high side for me.

AND... record breaking snowfall going on right now. My mom says this means the baby will decide to come today, when it's nearly impossible to get to the hospital.

AND... my office is closed due to weather. So everyone gets a free day off. Except for my department, because we all have laptops and can do our jobs anywhere. My boss calls it a great day to get stuff done without interruption. I call it no fair.

Liz Miller said...

YAY TURTLEBELLA!!!

Jenr, you need the "Olly olly oxen free" award (AKA, "Come out, come out!")

Sue said...

Oh jenr, I hope all is well with the bebeh, and that the snowstorm does the trick just like your Mom suggested. Emerg services will always get you to the hospital. They have ways...

Wait - you're ready to give birth and still getting work from your boss??????

kathy a. said...

hugs to margalit, sue, onetiredema, and jenr!

a work whine has turned up. i've employed a student the last few months, and there is a high flakiness and irritation factor in the arrangement. so, imagine my surprise when i got a call from a prospective summer employer, saying she listed me as a reference!

listen up, ms. future professional: it is polite to ask before you list someone as a reference. it is politic to do what is needed before assuming you will get a good reference.

i think i'm going with not having a lot of knowledge about her work skills in the areas this summer job will require.

Madeleine said...

Love and hugs to the whiners and anti-whiners. (Woo-hoo! Pixie baby boom!)

I am crabby.

I am officially sick of winter, due to the second storm in a week. Our school board does this great trick where they keep school open but cancel the buses. This is fine if you walk to your neighborhood school. Guess who sends her kid to a magnet school? Right.

At least this time the city actually plowed the big main street near my house. Last Friday, morning rush hour, I was slipping around in 4 or more inches of snow on The Longest Street in the World. Today, I had My Love call me from the subway stop to tell me if it was plowed or not.

And if the snow gets more intense this afternoon, as they are predicting, I'll have to cut out of an interesting meeting early to get on the subway to pick her up.

JenR said...

Sue - Unless I'm willing to use my limited vacation time, my maternity leave doesn't start until I'm either in active labor, or put on bed rest by my doctor. Basically, stopping work can only happen if it's "medically necessary." Being crabby, tired, and incredibly uncomfortable doesn't apparently count :-)

Liz Miller said...

jenr - I fireplacing HATE that.

Sue said...

jenr - that totally sucks. Move to Canada - we have really good mat leave policies.

Anonymous said...

madeleine, That's the craziest ass policy I've ever heard about...school but no busses? It doesn't make any kind of sense! So sorry, hope it all works out okay.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to turtlebella! Woo hoo!

Whine: babies do eventually learn to sleep through the night, right?

Votes for jenr and for sue, as always. And Andy's "whine" stumps me completely.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Turtlebella! And probably Andy.

esperanza, babies DO eventually sleep through the night. How eventually is the question. My 13 mo daughter has gotten the change of it, but I will have to let you know when my 3 yo starts STTN consistently.

Anti-whine of being firmly ensconced in my warm home instead of driving in the muck, waiting on delivery for dinner and having my thesis work properly backed up at last.

KLee said...

Had the Worst! Field! Trip! Ever!!! today. Well. let me clarify -- the actual *program* that we went to see was fine, but the whole "getting there" part was awful beyond comprehension.

To start off the morning, when we load up the bus for the trip TO the venue, the driver is crabby (because he was late), and is insistent that our 96 kindergartners will NOT fit on the bus. We sit them three to a seat like every other time, and he's right. They DON'T fit. The reason that they don't fit, he chooses not to tell us until later, is that he's signed out the wrong bus.

We then sit the kids FOUR to a seat (can you say "sardines"? And, most likely, "illegal"?) and then we try to settle the adults. There are not enough seats for all of the adults. We have four of us who will absolutely not fit. So, I elect to drive and so does another staff member. We each take another person with us. The bus driver is still grousing because we're late. Yeah? Well, buddy -- we're late because not only did you SHOW UP late to begin with, you brought the wrong freaking bus, and we had to play musical chairs to get everyone on! And STILL didn't get everyone on!

I follow the bus to the location, just to make sure that I know where we're going. Nothing like being lost for your own field trip, right? Well, I didn't want that to happen, so I followed the bus.

The bus driver is driving like an idiot, running at least three yellow lights and two red ones. Being behind the bus, and unable to see the traffic lights myself, I run them as well. The dude is driving like an idiot to make up for the fact that we're running late.

About halfway there, I get a call on my cellphone. It's from a teacher on the bus. She has a message to pass on to me from the bus driver: I'm following too closely, and I have to back off. I tell the teacher to tell him that I'd be HAPPY to ease off some if he'd stop running lights, which necessitate me sticking close on his bumper. Jerk. Then, he drives around the ass end of the world to get to the location.

So, we finally get to the program, and it's already started. We get all the kids seated, but guess what?! There's no seat for me, or for another adult. We have to stand. After 45 minutes, my knee locks up, and I have to go the the complete opposite side of the theater to find a seat.

After the show, they people in charge start calling out the names of the schools who already have a bus waiting for them. Our school is the first called. We proceed outside, and there's a group of older students from our school getting on the bus. The bus takes off without us. There IS no other bus there for us. So, we have to stand our five and six year olds -- all 96 of them -- in a teeny space for 40 minutes while we wait for OUR bus. Our bus is the LAST that arrives.

As the kids get on the bus as if finally arrives, I head off to my car, panicking at the thought that the money I put on the parking meter ran out about 25 minutes ago. Luckily, there was no ticket on my car. The bus loads up and leaves. I follow for about 30 seconds, and then I head off on my own.

I actually get back to school before the bus does. The kids are so worn out that they stumble through their lunches. After that, we turned out the lights and watched "Clifford" for about 15 minutes. That was all we had energy for by that point.

You know, if I drank, today would definitely be a margarita kind of day.

KLee said...

Oh, and YIPPEE!!!!! to Turtlebella!

Susan Anne MacKenna said...

Our departmental assistant needs to learn the definition of the word "assist." That is all. She is from H-E-Double Hockeysticks, and she. must. go.

That is all. Crying baby. Bathing 3 year old. Husband in abstentia for the eve. Oy.

Courtney said...

Spouse is working constantly at this new rotation, which is so not conducive to romance OR watching the Duke/Carolina game with him tonight! (DMD, you'll understand the importance of that one.) He says he'll be home by 9:30 tonight, so we can watch then. (ie -- not done until 11:30, which is past my bedtime, to put it mildly.)

In other news, got a speeding ticket. Rrrr... Just blew $80 on two crappy books I need for a class I'm taking. And have teh headache as well.

So here I am, waiting for the Excedrin to kick in. Three cheers for Turtlebella!

Susan Anne MacKenna said...

Quin: Mr. Mac is at Mock Trial practice. Says it's gonna be a while. Game on (what's with the "Wanted" posters for Henderson??)

Sue said...

Hugs and votes for KLee - holy moly. They don't pay you people nearly enough for all the crap you put up with. Really.

Courtney said...

DMD: Well, Henderson is sort of our "thug." Broke Hansbrough's nose last year. (But I kinda like him!)

Courtney said...

Which reminds me: Anti-whine: DVR.

Elizabeth said...

Congrats to turtlebella.

Whine: the big boss at my organization manages to drone on for half an hour at a time at meetings, not actually saying anything, but stopping anyone else from getting a word in and moving the process forward.

Anti-whine: We have a new heater just in time for the cold weather to come back.

Anti-whine: I get to vote in a presidential primary election that means something for once in my life.

Anonymous said...

I am happy for pregnant people who want to be pregnant, hopeful for people who want to not be pregnant anymore, and in general sending supportive thoughts for the rest of you.

And I cant do my own whining or I will have to just Quit Everything. I cant afford that, so must drag grimly on and not think about the details...

Rev Dr Mom said...

Yay Turtlebella!!!!!

Miranda said...

Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear.

I'm almost 35 and four years ago, I decided I should go to college so I enrolled at the local CC. I did well and earned a good scholarship to the commuter R1 nearby.

I picked my major because I like social science and I like its general methodology. Plus, it translates into business if need be. I've received awards for being such a strong student in my area. However,I don't really like the study in my area even as I feel like it is a good area to know.

Last semester, one of my professors (a notorious heterodox thinker) really pressed me take the course of colleague whose background was the same as ours but who found a home in a different department. He felt that the course would be interesting for me and that his colleague would enjoy working with me. So I signed up and I am having a good time in there.

Out of the blue, my prof from last term (let's call him Norman) emailed me to ask how it was going in Cliff's class (not his name either). I explained I was enjoying it.

Norman replied and wondered if I thought of pursuing a PhD in this other related program that is not ours. I replied that I had no idea there was even a PhD in this field. How cool!

Norman thinks I should consider the top programs in the country. None of them are in the Rust Belt, where I and my children make our home. Norman thinks that with his and Cliff's backing, I could really do this and they do have the clout to pull it off.

I've always dreamed of doing research and I love this stuff. Furthermore, it feels "easy" unlike my program which isn't "hard" but graduate work in it would likely make me go insane. It's very cutthroat and the teaching load tends to be rather high at most schools. However, it has value on the outside.

I have until December to take the GRE and assemble applications. I think I want to do it but the thought of moving for school is beyond scary. I'm not even sure I can do it because of the whole kid situation and I doubt my spouse (don't ask how the separation is going. It's not right now) would agree.

Ack.

Anti-whine: Zilla's asthma is back under control. We didn't sleep for almost two weeks. It was his first bad attack and I don't think I did so well with it. It felt so scary. :(

*Turtlebella* I am so excited for you! Congrats!!!!

*KLee* I agree, they don't pay you enough. At my kids' school, parent chaperons have to drive themselves and pay for themselves. The trip to the state capital was similar to your experience.

*Margalit* I nominate you for the "Most Deserving of Break (but not a Kit Kat)" Award.

*Kathy A* Your intern lacks perception, yes?

*Andy* How about the "Not Sure If Bringing the Bodily Fluids Is A Good Idea" award? ::jawdrop::

Now I must get some sleep so I can try and get some work done on my thesis so I disappoint my advisor, who is also friends with Norman and Cliff and wants me to do my PhD work at my current school under the auspices of the more orthodox.

Night!

Uccellina said...

Yay for Turtlebella! I would jump up and down, but I'm too d*mn big to do that anymore.

I have no real whines, other than being diagnosed with an "irritable uterus" at 31 weeks (we're 32-and-a-bit weeks along now). Doctor encouraging me to quit work immediately. Boss, not so much. I'm cutting my hours to about 2/3 of what they were and giving babies frequent pep talks about how awesome the uterus is and how they should really consider staying in for about 6 more weeks.

(Don't worry, JenR, I won't say that loud enough for your baby to hear.)

Uccellina said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Andy--whoa, that's a tough one. An award for trying to choose between Montel and Jerry Springer to tell my side of the story? :)

Congrats Turtlebella! What happy news!

Much sympathy to JenR...bur great hope that the birthday will be soon. And that snow will stop. Just a reprieve for a few days. Two snow days in 2 weeks is too much.

Klee--that field trip sounded terrible. Just the risk that means I rarely can put my name on that chaperone form.

And congrats to Miranda, even to have such options to consider is a nice anti-whine.

I am not as whiny as I would expect for the snow day today. And my son developed a fever in the night and slept poorly. he seems better now...I have that tough one--do I send him to preschool tomorrow? He only goes 2x a week for 2 hours at a time (an whine in and of itself) so missing it sucks.

Since I am whining...I am taking my daughter to the audiologist tomorrow. She complained of not hearing well...she had fluid behind the eardrum, and that seems to have resolved. But she still doesn't think she is hearing well. But she is 6 and I have no idea if she is a good judge of that. And we are barely doing an adequate job treating the ambylopia...I am not up to facing a hearing problem.

debangel said...

whhooOOOOAAAAAAaaahhh! for Turtlebella! (that was "the wave"). Congratulations and many virtual boxes of saltines to you. Trust us on this ;)

Whine: It's kind of a bad week to have given up chocolate for the next month and a half. I feel like I should be wearing a sandwich board that says "Out of Order" until Easter! At least I can still have salt. Hey Turtlebella, I think I need one of those boxes of saltines back.

Antiwhine: Well, there is one big piece of "chocolate" that I can enjoy for some time to come! We adopted a chocolate Lab mix puppy from a local shelter! He is 9 weeks old and too adorable for words. I named him "Baci", which is Italian for "kisses", and also the name for a chocolate candy by Perugina. So his name is also kind of an homage to my recently-departed Italian greyhound Raffles. (Slight whine here: my two year-old is still asking for him, and I have to keep telling her that he is "with the Rainbow", aka the Rainbow Bridge. Owie.)

Oh, and you know how pets tend to look like their owners? My neighbor even commented that his fur and my hair are the exact same shade of brown. We both have green/gold eyes. And on his white markings (face, chest, and paws), there are little brown freckles. I'm covered in beauty marks. It's hilarious. He is cuter than me but I have better breath ;)

Enough bragging...anyone for a margarita with extra salt?