The Big DumpTruck

We took the kids to the drive-in tonight to see Shrek 2 (my step-kids hadn't seen it yet) and boy, is it COLD out there. Picture a parking lot full of kids sitting in lawn chairs in sleeping bags. The kids, not the lawn chairs.

Packed, this place was. Junior last outside for half the movie, his sister stayed out the whole time. We didn't stay for the 2nd movie, it's just too late for Junior. But there's nothing like the microcosm that is a drive-in movie theater crowd.

Somehow, I forgot to change my Sidekick last night. This thing goes through batteries like my son goes through grapes. And grapes go through him.

So it's not on today, because even though I thought I'd put it on the car charger during the commute, I unplugged it when I dropped Junior off at his daycare place because I didn't want to leave it on the seat, and then I forgot to plug it back in. Honestly, how can I be trusted to care for a child when I can't handle plugging in my phone?

Where's my coffee?

Our area has another plane crash, this time on the road beside the airport. According to the Worcester Telegram, a passerby helped get two men out of the plane, both alive at the time.

It gets scarier and scarier all the time to live within a mile of that airport, and I've lived within a mile of it my whole life. My parents lived on the take-off path, and I now live on the landing approach. I don't know which one is worse, given that planes have crashed near their neighborhood, and the big one last year was near mine.

Night 4 of thunderstorms in the wee hours of the morning. I'm actually getting used to it - probably because they haven't been as close to me as they have to some other areas in Mass.

But they pale in comparison to the backup battery in the 1st floor smoke detector getting low, prompting a quick chirp from said appliance every 1-3 minutes last night, starting at about, oh, 3am.

I wasn't about to stumble downstairs to replace the battery at 3am, given that I'd need to reach it, remove it, then figure out if I had the right kind of battery. The smoke detectors in our house are hard-wired, so it's not like I risked it not going off. Which would have been the case if I unplugged the damned thing until the sun came up.

So it turns out we did have a 9 volt battery in the collection, and it's back up on the ceiling being a silent sentry. God, was that ever annoying, though. I am sick and tired of not sleeping through the night - I mean, at least when it happens because the baby doesn't sleep through the night, you have the side benefit of having a baby. You know?

Sheesh, if anyone ever spots something broken here that shouldn't be (like, say, the archives?) could you just drop a note? Even if it's a comment to a post, I'll get it! And then I can fix it!

Thanks Mitch for being brave enough to drop me an e-mail, and in quivering voice, mention that my permalinks were hosed. Your Dunkin Munchkin is in the mail.

I know some of you sponsored my sister on the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, so I thought I'd show you a photo of her, and our best friend, at the end of the two-day 36 mile walk. It was in the 90's the first day, and raining in the 50s-60s the 2nd. Two weather extremes, neither of them conducive to a 36 mile walk, but walk they did, and apparently in the top 5% of finish times.

Thanks guys!

I have no right to complain about thunder storms, not with the destruction tornadoes brought over the weekend.

But two days in a row the booming woke me at 4am. Hey, God, I have to work, you know? And Sunday is my day off (sort of like yours). How am I supposed to have a day of "rest" if you wake me up at 4am?

So anyway, here's a quick shot of the rain on my cafe table. Looks better full sized, but this is a blog and you don't want to be downloading a 1meg image file, do you?

I have to believe that my sister was pulling my leg when she told me that my niece, 4 tomorrow, wanted a "Cali Ken" to go with her Cali Barbie. Cali being a series of surfer dude and dudette dolls. I had already purchased a princess bathing suite, princess sandals and a princess summer tote bag (speaking of PINK, as I did yesterday). But I wanted a little something more toy-like to add to this haul. Deb suggested the Cali Ken. Which meant I had to go into a store and buy it. *shiver*

Gah. Nice hair, dude. I also got him two outfits, cause really, maybe he'll get tired of the mesh tank top and want something a little dressier. Oh, look, little plastic boat shoes!

Well, she loved the bathing suit and sandals, and the 4 books (Junie B. Jones) that weren't a gift - we were done reading them and I wanted to pass them along. Ken? Well, Ken eagerly awaits being released from his box. Isn't that just the way?

I realize that I don't need a mini iPod. I just want one because I can get a pink one and I've decided my life needs feminizing. I think having pink things will make me look younger. As in, maybe junior high age. I want to Lizzie Maguire my life, you know? But when it came time to add it to my Amazon Wish List I got all "well, it's not practical to pay 50 dollars less for 9 gig less space just to get a pink one.

So unless someone is going to buy me an iPod (and I know at least one of you out there must have some chump change out there to spend on little old me, right mom and dad?) I guess I'll just keep carrying around the pink one they had in the cool Apple ad in People Magazine last week. Sure it's just a little cardboard picture of one, but at least I look cool.

Well, I made the first of ? purchases at a garden shop today. I got my 2004 clematis (I allow myself one a year, I'm up to three) which is a Josephine Evijohill. I include this information because it turns out two friends of mine are "collectors" and they actually do want to know information like that. They refer to them by name, as in "My Josephine bloomed early this year." I will forget what ones I have within minutes of misplacing this little plant tag. But I like that these are so pretty and come up every year. I have a new appreciation for perennials, especially because all the ones I planted last year came back up and gave me no-effort flowers! I mean, sure, you pay more, but if they come up every year, well, what a bargain!

I'm not a green thumb, and I moved some plants last fall that either weren't perennials, didn't survive my moving them, and/or got eaten by something. When I finally pulled up the dead stuff, the bulb roots were mushy and rotten and full of little worms. Ick.

Anyway, it's yucky and wet out, and I guess will be for the next few days, so I may just go out in disposable clothing and get the new stuff planted.