*Big DumpTruck*

Happy Easter! Had a day where I relived part of my childhood. Every Easter my sister and I would get new butterfly nets, and after lunch my parents would take us to Crow Hill to hunt for salamanders. Well today our kids all got "bug hunting kits" and after lunch my parents took all of us to Crow Hill. We thought for SURE we wouldn't find anything. But Dad, true to form, found a HUGE tadpole, a fish (yes, he caught it in the net and we put it in one of the containers for about a minute (they held water), and a salamander!

The boys, only 4, were more interested in throwing rocks into the water, and junior fell and got a great scratch from a stick near his eye (yikes), but my sister and I were suitably impressed that dad can still gather creatures on demand.

Okay, for those among you who want to see the finger picture, here it is. Remember, it's not for everyone.

Okay, so far today I came up with a 35 and a 34 letter sentence. I'll probably keep trying. But I want to read the book, and the author keeps throwing out the efforts of the townspeople, and I don't want to steal their good "z" words. Here are my two:

"Wave a box of crazy milk jug quilts, Daphne"

"Quick crazy hogs milk a box of new pet doves." Oh crap, that one is missing a J. Back to the drawing board.

Oh, and I didn't say they'd be GOOD sentences.

I currently reading Ella Minnow Pea : A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable, which I can't summarize in this small space (so click the link and read the Amazon summary.)

So the main task facing the characters in this book is to create a sentence using only 32 letters, which employs all the letters of the alphabet, to replace "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".

So now I can't continue reading the book until I come up with my OWN sentence (35 letters or less, because quick brown is 35 letters) because I don't want to cheat and be influenced by their sentence.

At some point tomorrow I will take a webcam picture of the frankenstein finger. I may not put it directly on the dump page, but will at least link to it. Watch this space or the main dump page....

They sold the house across the street. There's a lot of activity over there, with a lot of people involved, so it's hard for me to tell who actually lives there and who is just helping. I think I've picked out the owner...he looks about my age, and he smokes (I say that, because he was standing on the front steps smoking when they delivered his fridge yesterday). Can't tell if it's a single guy or what. There are four cars over there now, so I'm not going to be able to figure out who's who today.

When I told Junior that they'd sold the house, he did say he hoped the people like kids. Odd, I never expected him to be aware of people who do and don't like kids. He must have picked that up somewhere.

I see that the news is finally discussing my jump in gas prices (I paid 1.29 today). This is the AP story:Yahoo! News - Gas Prices Begin National Climb "Analysts say a recent decision by OPEC (news - web sites) and other oil producers to hold down production, and the traditional spring rise in demand as driving time increases with the warming weather have shaped prices."

They say it's the biggest 4-week increase since they started keeping records in 1990.

Doing better today. Have a more normal-sized bandage, which means I can do things like type the letters "T, R, F, and C" again.

I updated the The Big DumpTruck with my latest adventure instead of putting it here.

Gas update: It was up to $1.29 at my station this morning. I knew I should have stopped yesterday, but it was raining and I'm a big baby.

Just because I own a copy of Struck and White's The Elements of Style does not mean this blog will follow any of the rules on a regular basis. If you knew how little effort I actually put in to writing one of these entries, you'd call me names. No, really, if I thought I had to actually do more than type, I wouldn't be able to update every day. So it's up to you.

Oh, okay, I'll try to at least re-read what I've written before posting from now on.

I'm telling you, after pawing through the real stuff in this week's People Magazine, this picture of the wedding from The Daily Probe doesn't look all that odd to me.

The People article said they want to adopt 4 kids. So now I'm torn, thinking "who would I rather have for a mom, Angelina Jolie or Liza Minelli?"

I just realized that I have three books here that I need to return to the library...the Acton library, because my brother-in-law checked them out for us a few weeks ago! Good think the library isn't like Blockbuster. I do feel bad that I have overdue books on someone else's card. Well, not THAT bad. So Bob, if you're reading this...I promise to return them, maybe even today.

I didn't watch the Oscars last night. Does that make me un-American, or just someone too tired to stay up until midnight or later to watch people win prizes for movies I haven't seen? I read the results this morning, and it all looks good to me. I'm glad Denzel and Halle won, and maybe next year we can get back to looking at the quality of the acting, and not get all caught up in the color of the actors. Yes, I can appreciate what a big night it was for them to win Best Actor and Actress, but by making a big deal of it, it will continue to be perceived as something "different" instead of something they deserved to win on merit. Or something like that. I'm just babbling.

I did see Gosford Park, and loved it, but I didn't have any hopes that it would win.

I bought a new pillow last night, for $6.99 at JC Penney (hey, I just can't afford a twenty-five dollar pillow right now), and it has changed my life. Yes, I now understand that proper bedding can make all the difference in one's life. I had three weeks of horrid sleep where I couldn't get comfortable and couldn't get my pillows just right. I decided to replace "Old Smushy" yesterday, just because I was willing to try anything. Voila. I slept like a baby last night. First time in three WEEKS I didn't wake up in the middle of the night at about 1 or 2 am, only to not be able to get comfy and fall back to sleep for 40-60 minutes. I am so HAPPY today. I can't wait to go back to sleep tonight!

Next up: Replace the mattress and the bed frame. The bed frame squeeks and I hate it. HATE IT. I am ready to just put the boxspring and mattress on the floor. The only thing stopping me is how HEAVY the damned things are.

Hey, The Dump is the Aortal Link at bluezFire (dot) Org today. I wonder what that means? Anyway, looks like a nice site. Love the design. I really need to redesign my site. Really.

Well, I'm off to do my part to save Whalom Park. Wish me luck, because I normally hate this kind of thing (standing in the mall talking to people). But I really feel strongly about this!

I am so digging Fridays these days. New Spongebobs! New Fairly Oddparents! Life is good!

Still 1.27. I think it should be free to anyone will to stand out in this bitter wind to pump gas. Feel like the coldest day of the whole winter, and, wouldja look at that, it's not even winter any more.

It was 1.27 tonight at my regular station. I haven't had to fill it since it was what, 1.21? I don't know when it went up because I didn't drive past it today or yesterday.

My driveway is way bigger than I need it to be. I say this because I shovelled the whole thing this morning and now I'm DYIN' here. Ouch. No fun. I kept Jr. home today so I wouldn't have to rush this morning (he needs to get to daycare lady's house by 8:15am, because she leaves to take her son to school and she doesn't always come back home right away. Today I'm sure they went sledding.

Anyway, I dragged Jr. out with me to shovel, and being four he immediately started throwing snow into the parts of the driveway that I'd already cleaned. I sent him in the back yard to play, and finished most of it up (it's a warm day, so once you cleared off a spot, it would melt to bare pavement). He came back and asked to go in the house but I had to finish the end of the drive. Next thing I know, I look at the front lawn and he's lying face down in the snow. On purpose. Except I don't think he knew what to expect and he came over to me to make his face feel better, and started begging me to go back inside. So for the record, HE dragged ME in, not the other way around.

Two giant thumbs up for ARCTU. Great stuff. Considering the show is about my kind of people (tech writers) maybe it was funnier to me than someone who has never been in a position where they could destroy a city of mer-people.

I can't wait until next week...I like to get past the pilot show where everyone is introduced to see how the plots are developed. But you really should watch this one. For me. For Andy. He's so cute.

I Tivo'd Andy Richter last night because I wasn't home right at 8:30. I'm going to watch it while I eat lunch today and I'll give you my review after that.

While conceptually this is a pretty nice webcam I've got, it's starting to really annoy me. It stands on three legs, and you have to attach the cord to it in the right place or else the camera will look up at the ceiling instead of at whatever you want it to. I do miss using the QuickCam I had, but they don't make that model any more. Plus, this is a laptop and it wouldn't have been able to sit on top. There's nothing worse that the view looking up at you if you're trying to look .good for the camera.

Tech writers all over the country will be popping corn and cracking open beer to celebrate a sitcom about a tech writer - Andy Richter Controls the Universe.

I loved Andy on Conan. LOVED him. For a while, MSNBC was playing Conan's show on a two week delay at a time when I could actually watch it, and I got hooked. I don't care if the show stinks (an the review I just linked to doesn't seem to hate it. It's not the Sopranos, but what else is?

Still $1.25. Maybe because I'm watching them. When I wasn't watching, it kept going up. I do control the universe, you know. Or I think I do. I'm a lot like a character in a Vonnegut novel that way.

Some day maybe I'll have a blog THIS cool. For now visit Who Would Buy That? (auction oddities from all over the web).

The people across the street moved a lot of their furniture out yesterday. No sign that the house is sold-in fact, someone went to look at it today. I'm not sure how they are handling showing the house, because I can see both cars in the driveway. So I'm not sure that they were actually gone when the realtor was there 30 minutes ago.

Aren't you supposed to leave the house when someone is showing it? I'd be kind of freaked out if the owners were sitting on the couch as I was looking around. Actually, when my sister was house shopping, we went to see a few with her and at one of them I assumed the owners were hiding out back behind the bushes. Not only was the tv on (showing the Poseiden Adventure) but their pet bird was loose, sitting on top of its cage. Very very odd. (She liked Miami, so the whole house was painted coral, light teal and dark teal. Not our taste.)

Chuck, get back to work. Really now.

p.s. Gas was still 1.25 this morning. Oh, and it's snowing, or it was. Okay, still is. It's not sticking to the road but it's sticking to the grass and trees. At least it's not going to be a foot of snow -- they are predicting only about an inch.

Still $1.25 today. That's two whole days in a row!

Man, I was up TOO late last night. I shouldn't have taken that nap yesterday afternoon. Actually, I was just going to read for a little while, and next thing I knew I was waking up. Uh oh. So anyway, I was wired until about 1 in the morning. Not cool when your kid wakes up early every day.

I'm off to price gas, wish me luck.

First, yes, it IS up to 1.25. Sheesh. So that would mean 1.27 tomorrow or Monday. I'll keep a close watch.

Wait, I did an update yesterday. I know I did. Where is it? Okay, gas price update for yesterday was 1.23. I'll check it later today to see if it's 1.25 (I'm seeing a trend.)

Saw Gosford Park last night with my sister. EXCELLENT movie, but we both said the same thing...we spent the first half hour of the movie not understanding a damned thing they said. I don't know if our ears just adjusted to the accents or if there was a change with the sound quality/speed the actors were speaking. Seriously, I need to re-watch the first half hour to see what I missed. Nothing like having 20 characters introduced in 5 minutes and not understand a thing any of them are saying.

Loved Emily Watson. Just loved her. See the movie.

Angie must have been on TV again...I'm getting a TON of visitors from Angela Nissel's website. She wrote a book called The Broke Diaries, which I read and loved so I wrote her a fan letter, and she wrote back telling me that she loved my web site, and put it up as one of her links. Anyway, every time she's on TV to talk about the book (say, for instance, Oprah) her website gets pounded, and a few brave souls wander to my site from her link. 42 of those people came by today from her site.

I know I've written about it before, but I highly suggest you buy a copy of the book, or at least borrow it from the library. It is a GOOD book.

Quick, someone notify my doctor - I dragged my butt outside and walked for 20 minutes. Now that doesn't sound like much, but it was more than I've done in the three months prior, so cut me some slack. You people and your whole "health" thing, you make me sick.

Gas price update: Today it's 1.21 at the same station. So two days ago it was 1.17, yesterday 1.19, and today 1.21. I'm seeing a trend. Problem is, I have no idea [i]why[/i] this is happening. I don't think I've read anything about it in the paper. But it's been only a week or so since it was 1.07, so this is a HUGE jump.

This is the best page I've seen in weeks. I adore this kind of stuff. ADORE IT. They Thought You'd Say This

And remember, "Hand me over those moccasins. -- They will not help you much, they are like a singed cat."

Found this lovely USA Today article about Thomas Kinkade, the "artist" and I have to tell you...I haven't seen anyone this high on himself since L. Ron Hubbard founded a religion based on his own science fiction novels. Kinkade even refers to his fan base as "the cult of Kinkade."

The article is just so jaw-droppingly amazing that I should just let you read it for yourself. I think the two items I will remember forever is that he thinks God became his art agent, and if you buy an upper end painting with a signature, the ink the machines use to "sign" it are mixed with his HAIR AND BLOOD. Free DNA for the price of admission!

Gah.

He dismisses all criticism and feels that one day in the future his works will be considered important. I'm sure the artists who made all those pictures of big-eyed children in the 60's/70's felt the same way. Kinkade might want to take another gander at some of the things his art agent said in the Bible, and maybe spend a little less time being prideful and attempting to amass wealth. I'm pretty sure God isn't pro-consumerism.

Just checking to see if things are working again. The gas was up to 1.19 today and I was forced to buy some. I think if I had gone to the gas station just half an hour earlier, it would have still been 1.17, because one of the four islands still had the old price in the little sign on top of the pump. When I pointed that out, the guy said, ya, I was just doing that and didn't get to finish. The big price by the road was 1.19, as was the price inside the machine.

Oh, and for those who might be wondering, the web cam picture of the day is of my new teapot, which I got for the bargain of $15! The little bee is actually sitting on a sunflower, which is the removeable top. Today's Tea: Lady Grey (which I guess is related to Earl Grey.)

Wow, gas went up 10 cents in one week. Did something happen when I had my back turned? I need to fill up too. If I am very careful and don't use the heat in the car, is there a chance it will go back down before I run out?

Uh oh, Blogger doesn't like me right now. Let's try this again.

It's been found! WOO HOO! You may go back to your regularly scheduled lives.

I misplaced my wallet and it's making me insane. I cannot for the lfe of me remember if I put it in my pocket or not this morning. I had it here in the house because I took out three dollars (I had to pay for my son's field trip) and I don't remember what I did with it after that. It's not in any pockets, purses or the van. So if I didn't put it in my pocket, I might have dropped it into my son's daycare bag. I left a message with the owner to see if she can spot it in there.

If it isn't in there, I will assume someone stole it or it dropped on the ground and I never saw it. I don't think that happened though. I never drop my wallet. If it's in my coat pocket it can't escape. Did I leave it on the seat of the fan and someone grabbed it from her driveway? I don't think so. And it wasn't in the van when I was at his daycare because I would have seen it. Maybe I'll cruise the parking lot at the daycare but seriously, it just has to be in his bag at her house. I hope she gets home soon.

Bought one of those little scented candle thingies they sell in the Glade Plug-Ins aisle. Glade Candle Scents candle. I got apple and cinnamon, cause I thought mixed dead mouse and, say, jasmine, wouldn't be good.

I haven't been back in the closet since I did that. I assume everything is good. My mother thought I was a total reject for not going up into the attic to harvest the little bodies. "Do you realize I'd have to go through pulling up insulation to find them? I'm just going to let them decompose. Eventually the smell should stop, right?"

Is it time to list things I am thankful for again? Cause I have some. I am VERY VERY THANKFUL that the trapdoor to my attic is in the closet of a room we don't use much cause IT STINKS OF DEATH AND DYING IN THAT CLOSET! Holy shit, what would it smell like if it was actually HOT outside? I'm telling you, I went into the closet to put back the stuff that I'd moved for the exterminator, and PHEW! I thought maybe someone had stored a litter box in there or something. Gah.

That smell will go away, right?

You know what's really cool about living in New England? You can drive through multiple states in just a couple of hours. Today I accompanied my parents to Freeport Maine to go to the LL Bean store. The big one. The main one. They have a trout pond in the middle of the first floor.

How cool is it to leave Massachuetts at 8am and be at the Maine border before 10am? Pretty good. Unfortunately, a cold day, 37 when we got up there. That was WAY TOO COLD. Tomorrow should make up for it...69 !!!! You won't be seeing ME online, baby!

Lunch Rating:
SmartOnes Roasted Chicken with Sour Cream & Chive Mashed Potatoes

I'm giving it a 3 out of 5. It had such potential. Wait, it's diet food. Maybe it's a 3.5 because it's better than a lot of the frozen diet meals. I can't judge it against REAL mashed potatoes.

I need to dust. I need to do a LOT of things, but suddenly, I'm tremendously busy. How did that happen, anyway? I am leaving in 20 minutes and then won't be home until 6pm, then am gone ALL day tomorrow. Sheesh, I am suddenly a woman about town, aren't I?

I'm editing my brochure again tonight, based on the feedback from 4 wonderful people who looked it over and actually had suggestions! That's so much better than "hey, looks great!"

My big crisis right now is that one column doesn't fit if I put in headings, and I HAVE to put in headings. I don't want to call the person who suggested the restructuring (which I am doing) so I guess I can't finish until tomorrow morning.

Ugh, what a night. Nothing like a puking child to make you appreciate your washer and dryer. He seems fine now. How can that be? Boy, they are resilliant when they are young. It it had been me I'd be in bed still. He's ready to face the day, but I can't send him to daycare because I have no idea why he was sick.

I don't know how I managed this, but today's doctor appointment wasn't a physical, it was just a follow-up to my last appointment to see how my new medication was doing. (Just fine, thanks!)

So I got all stressed out for nothing. Sheesh.

I have a physical tomorrow. Ugh. I forgot I needed to get a blood test until last week, but I must have had it in time because I got a report today about my results. My cholesterol is still high, but it is on a downward path, and the note at the bottom of the page said "lipids improved" so I guess I'm doing better. I've been a bad girl lately in the cheese department, so I'm going to have to start working on it again. I have decided I will eat oatmeal at least 3 times a week.

Oh, and the note also said "continue with diet and exercise" and now I'm wondering if they paid attention to who the report was for. Continue? Howzabout "start".

It's horrifyingly windy outside (was close to 60 today, won't get above 38 tomorrow, you do the math. It needs to get down to 38 or below by midnight.

Anyway, in the winter you just don't hear the wind the way you do in the summer because of the lack of leaves. But tonight you could hear the wind and it was just a freaky sound. I don't think bowels of hell-level, but that is a sound that just gives me goosebumps. In the bad way.

I was putting the rubbish out, because they pick up tomorrow, and I hate to rush to beat the recycling truck. So I'm not open to taking odds on all the recycling and rubbish being at the end of the driveway by morning.

Oh my word, I can't believe they've remade this Classic Football Game! I can't possibly be the only one who remembers it! I should order one...it's only 12.99 and maybe It will allow me to pretend I'm still in elementry school.

Had a very fun morning. My brother-in-law told my parents that today was one of the Acton Library's book sales, so we headed over to it with them. It's probably a good thing I didn't have more cash in my pocket, because I literally spent everything I had on me! I got 6 books for me, and 15 for Junior. A little pricier than a yard sale, but all the books were relatively new and in excellent condition. A hardcover adult book (not THAT kind of adult) was $2.00, but we're talking something that's 19.00 at the local bookstore right now, not some hardcover from the 70's on fixing your typewriter. I stuck to paperbacks for myself, but actually got some from authors I really enjoy, like Nora Roberts. So I paid a dollar for a book I would have paid $8 for new, and it goes to the library.

Speaking of which, back when I lived in Boxboro, I used to go to the Acton library a lot. They rebuilt the whole thing, expanding it, and it is just BEAUTIFUL. I mean, jaw-droppingly beautiful. And the children's section is astounding. I wish we lived closer, I'd spend way more time there than I do att the Leominster children's room. I need to find out there hours. I may just start going there every week or so just for a change of scenery.

My computer just started screaming at me for no reason. Well, I'm sure there is a reason, but geez, I almost jumped out of my skin just now. I guess I'll have to see what is doing this to me.

Seriously, I'm not sure how they got this to work, but I have those excellent Maytag Neptune washer-dryer combos that cost as much as a small car. One of the things they promote in the advertising/sales literature is the fact that they are "synchronized." I have no idea how this is supposed to work, we never bothered to ask. We just figured ALL wash cycles and ALL dry cycles lasted exactly the same amount of time, or something like that.

But that can't be true because you can LOAD these suckers up, and they do take longer if you've packed in a load of towels, versus doing a few delicates. But every once in a while, I'll be doing laundry and both the washer and dryer finish at the same time. It's very wierd, and the reason I mention it is that it just happened now. The washer finished, and then the dryer finished about 30 seconds later. Great stuff.

Had to make a corporate decision: update the Big DumpTruck or vacuum. Old Jody would have sat down happily to update the BDT. New Jody thought to herself "Hmmm. I don't remember the last time I vacuumed under the bed, maybe that would be a healthy thing to do."

I also counted that as a little bit of exercise, because the vacuum I was attempting to use required more work than I wanted to put into it. I really want to get a new upright, something VERY light but VERY powerful. And it shouldn't cost much. I'm sure there are just so many uprights out there that fit the bill. My Dirt Devil needs some sort of repair right now but I don't like it AT ALL so I'm not going to get it fixed. It's too loud. And too heavy. So there.