*Big DumpTruck*

Uh oh, gas jumped up to 1.35 today. I should have filled yesterday and saved 35 cents.

Chicken is good. Really.

Update on instant review: DO NOT LET YOUR FOUR YEAR OLD WATCH THIS SHOW UNLESS YOU GO TO THE NICK SITE AND READ UP ON HOW TO TALK TO YOUR KID ABOUT THIS EPISODE!

My son was a sobbing mess at the end as Steve was leaving. "I want Steve!" Oh my gosh, it was like someone died. I really hadn't anticipated that. Stupid me.

Instant Review:
New guy on Blue's Clues? Hottie.

I remember what I wanted to write about.

I'm in the middle of reading the Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil. I'm only vaguely aware of the story, having put off seeing the movie until I read the book (which I finally started last week).

So I'm reading the travel section of the local paper this morning, and I see that there is a small article about Savannah, and how you can visit all the houses, the cemetary, etc. from the book. Oh, and it proceeds to "spoil" the book for me. Nice. Last place I expected to have my book ruined was in the Sunday travel section.

If it wasn't such a great book I'd probably move on to something else in the stack.

Note to self: on Sunday, the CVS I use closes at 6pm. *sigh*

I was going to say something here about something my mother said this evening but instead I went and added it to the Dump that I posted Friday night. We haven't had a crush of visitors anyway, so I thought it would be okay. If anyone read the Dump already, you can go back to see the new section. Or not. I mean, it's not going to change my life.

I've been in 2nd place in my fantasy baseball league the past couple of days. See, I told you I couldn't hold on to the top spot all season. And I forgot to look over my pitchers today and I didn't "unbench" my only starting pitcher who is actually playing today. THAT will cost me a few points.

There was something else I wanted to mention. I thought of it in the car but now I can't remember what it was. I'm sure it would have been great. Or not.

As I mentioned in Wednesday's Blog entry I was supposed to make an attempt at de-cluttering. I am happy to announce that the closet is 3/4 finished, there's a box of stuff for a yard sale, and I have almost a full bag of rubbish ready to go. And as I feared, doing one thing led to me having to do something ELSE, etc. etc. and not only did I get the patio furniture put outside as part of the same effort, but I washed the bathroom floor and made a box of books to donate. I told you that I couldn't just clean one space without having to move and do something else. Oh, yes, other things done related to this were finding a new location to store all my laundry soaps, etc., dusting the television, putting together all the pieces of our electric ice cream maker (!) and reorganizing all my mixing bowls. Isn't this fun!

The problem is, the closet is still pretty full at this point, so I'm not sure where I'm going to put the office supplies that are slowly taking over the living room. I think for now I'm going to just make cleaning up all Junior's toys and moving them into the basement the next priority. Priority three will be to maybe take the blue bin we use as a kind of a coffee table (pitiful, I know, but the one I want is $350, and the blue bin was only $10) empty everything out of it (I think I know what's in there) and put office supplies in it. I already have priorities 4 and 5 in my head but I'll save that for another post.

I have to update the main Dump tonight because it might be included in an email going out on Sunday to a LOT of people who subscribe to Linky & Dinky. Gotta sweep out the cobwebs and put fresh doilies on the arms of the sofa.

(No, I don't really call it a sofa.)

Search term of the day: Someone went to google and searched for "Jody hell she can make for a man" and I'm apparently the number one hit for that phrase. Yes, I can make hell for many a man. Try me.

Mike the Fish is still alive and kicking. Seems to be in better spirits, and ate all his breakfast this morning. Just now he was swimming backwards, so who knows what's going on in his little world.

Well, I got him to eat a few pieces of food, so maybe he's not on death's door, but we've had him since January 12th and that's the FIRST time he's ever not eaten his breakfast.

Okay, I'm trying not to freak out, but according to this listing on Yahoo! Weather "snow will be heavy at times this evening...Falling at the rate of one to two inches an hour...For a three to four hour period. Snow accumulations are expected to Range between 3 and 6 inches...Before the snow tapers off around midnight. In addition...The heavy wet snow May Result in scattered Power outages tonight."

What the HELL?

Uh oh, Mike the Fish isn't interested in his breakfast this morning. That is very much unlike him. I hope he's not feeling poorly.

Great Invention Number 426: The juice box. Sure, it's a drain on the environment and landfills, but darn it all, he can get his own beverages now!

Does this make me a bad mom?

This morning's english muffin had peanut butter. Mmmmm.

I spent about an hour on the phone with a friend last night, and I promised her that by the end of the day tomorrow I will have filled up one box with junk to throw away. She's attempting to de-clutter me, and her threat is that if I don't do it, she's going to come over here and do it for me. Uh oh. So I'm going to start with the closet in the downstairs bathroom/laundryroom. If I can clean that out of all the stuff I NEVER EVER use, then I can use that space for food storage, laundry detergent storage, and perhaps even have room to put some of my office supplies. I'm notorious for not wanting to throw things out. I always assume that I'm going to need something I have there. I'd hate to throw something out and then have to buy a replacement because I needed it! That was just kill me!

So I'm going to find an empty box and begin to clean that closet. I may start it today, but I'm job hunting this morning, so I don't think the bulk of it will be done till tomorrow. Then next up is sorting through all of Juniors toys. That should be fun.

Shaws had a buy one get one free offer on english muffins this week so I'm eating em up! I don't always buy them, which makes them seem much more special when I do. The plan is to attempt to make a egg sandwich on one for lunch today, but I don't know if I have the skill to pull it off. I'm good with scrambled eggs, but not over medium, and that's how I want my sandwich. I'll give you an update later, if I do actually try to make this.

It's been raining for about 3 hours now, so I guess I don't have to make that "is it too cold to water the grass" decision today.

Remember that whole thing with the 90 degree temps and me actually wearing shorts in April? Well it was snowing earlier this morning. Nothing more than a few flakes, but dang it all, it's a whole month into spring and I don't want flakes! None! I wasn't even sure if I should water the patch where I'm trying to grow grass (from the shrub I finally removed) but heck, if it's that cold, maybe it's not good to water it. I'll check again later.

If you can believe this, I'm STILL in first place in my fantasy baseball league. Last year, I was never in first place, this year, I think I've been in first all but 2 days. Wow. I may have a new career ahead of me!

I was trying to figure out what I'm doing different this year, and a lot of it had to do with our draft. Last year I was goofy and I wanted to pick players I liked so I put in for a lot of Red Sox players. Now I love the Sox, but their players aren't the best in the league as individuals. Sure, they play well together (so far, so good, we're about a game up over the Yanks) but you don't want them on your fantasy team. I also didn't necessarily put all the "best" players at the top of my draft request list. I looked up stats on some of them and picked a bunch of [what I think are] 2nd tier players, and while everyone else was battling it out over Sammy Sosa et al, I got most all of my picks (including Nomar, who surprisingly is one of my weaker players.)

Anyway, I also left them all in. Last year I was trading players if they had one off day. Not this year, at least not yet. But I will say that trying to maintain 1st place isn't nearly as fun as being in 8th place and trying your hardest to move up a few spots. But I can't stay in first all season, can I?

Yes, I was still in bed asleep at 6:50am when the earthquake happened. What I want to know is why everyone I know was already up?

This morning I woke to the thought that I was having an epileptic seizure, or that maybe I'd developed Parkinsons and was in the throes of an attack (no seriously, this is what I first thought of, remember, I'd been asleep).

Then I thought "wait, if I'm shaking, the bed would shake but that doesn't explain the lamp banging into the wall.

Yep, earthquake woke me up.

Yahoo! News - 5.1 Earthquake Rattles Northeast

Next time someone tells me that I should be using soy protein instead of red meat to help me lose weight, I'm going to point them to this article on Soy's Thyroid Dangers. I've been listening to Mary since her book Living Well with Hypothyroidism led me to request a blood test, at which time my Hashimotos Thyroiditis was diagnosed.

I have to remember to ask her about chinese restaurants, soy sauce, etc. I'm trying to think if I feel "worse" the day after I eat chinese food. Please, I cannot give up my crab rangoon and peking ravioli!

My brother-in-law thinks he's SO good with LEGOs...but he hasn't seenAmy's LEGO Projects.

We're back to more normal temps today, so I'm back to wearing long pants. You may put away your protective eyewear.

I have to go put some water in a container to let it "rest" so I can add it to Mike The Fish's tank. I just noticed he's a quart low. Actually, I should probably clean the tank. Can I use the sponge in there without removing him, is the question. He FREAKED out when I took him out of it the last time, and I don't want him having a little fishy stroke.

Wow, missed a couple of days, AND left a bad HTML tag exposed for three days. SO sorry about that! I should be ashamed.

Gas still $1.33 and Cherry Hill is apparently open on weekends from noon to 9pm. All is right with the world. Other than the record breaking heat. I have shorts on today. And it's already sticky at 8:30am. NOT normal for April.

Listen, I can't be held responsible if you go to Yahoo games and lose a few years of your life being obsessed with the game JT's Blocks. I just can't. Trust me, this one going to get you.

Went to McDonalds today to pick up lunch, and after I got home with it I was looking at my change (14 cents) and realized one of them was a wheat penny. I turned it over and it's an INDIAN HEAD penny from 1889! Holy cow, that's better than the prize in a happy meal! Two websites I visited says it's worth between $3.75 and $5 (I have no idea if that's true). I like getting change that's worth something!

Sign at the local KFC today:
Blazin Strips and Twister

Wow. I didn't know it was "that" kind of place.

This morning at least three of those giant INCREDIBLY LOUD army-type helicopters flew overhead. One of them while I was getting dressed this morning. The whole house was shaking - these things are LOUD. And they weren't flying very high.

The other two were flying together, while Junior and I were out putting some things in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up, so it was about 8:30 (I was running late today. Didn't hear the radio this morning when the alarm went off. I think I REALLY needed the sleep.

They were flying very low, but didn't seem to be going to the Firchburg Airport. So I'm puzzled. And there is really no way to find out where they were going. Or who they were.

Filled up with gas this morning: $1.33 (still). Red Sox blew a 4-1 lead and lost. Nomar was 0 for 5 and that dropped me down into 2nd place in my fantasy league, but just barely.

I'm getting ready to go check in with the unemployment office, to prove that I've been looking for work for the past 16 weeks. Actually, once I got it all down on paper I realized I've sent out a LOT more resumes than I thought I did.

And has anyone called me? No.

After a day in 2nd place, my fantasy baseball team, the Bench Warmers, is back in first place. I can't believe it. I guess I really did learn something last year.

Wow. I have to tell you that if you have a minute to spare, don't go to Snopes Urban Legend page and hope to stop reading at the end of your minute. That site is just one of the best to browse. I love urban legends.

Zoinks! I had my first official business meeting with a BirchBark client today! It felt so GOOD to actually sit there and ask intelligent questions and have people like the draft work I did for them. Ahhhh, I needed that. Is it possible that I could really make this work?

Oh my GOD this is so funny! If any of you have clicked on my link to the Little.Yellow.Different. blog (see left) you'll appreciate this:FourStones: Feature

Well, slap my butt and call me ump, I am still in first place in my league! Wow! I don't think I was in 1st place for even a single DAY last year. It's good to be me.

Oh, gas is 1.33. I think it's been that for at least 48 hours, if not longer. I just want the gas that's IN my van to hold out a little longer. Maybe until it's $1.37? (Kidding). And what's with the odd numbers anyway? Why can't it be 1.32?

Oh, ya, this is what I needed to know. I feel better now.


The Completely Pointless Personality Quiz

Uh oh. I think I put in a bad tag in the last entry, and now I can't edit it...
Okay, it's fixed now. Whew!

My Fantasy Baseball team (over on Yahoo) is in first place in my league! I'm soooo excited! I even took a screen shot of the league scoreboard so you could see!
That's me, the Bench Warmers!

I watched "That Touch Of Mink" with Doris Day today. Holy cow, when that came out there must have been some controversy over the content! I'll try to write a summary when I'm more awake.

Okay, I need to take a break from building the new site for BirchBark. My mouse hand hurts. I need to rest it by letting it hold a Diet Pepsi while I finish looking through the Maui Writer's Conference brochure. I think that's what my hand really needs.

Oh, and I got the stitches out this morning. My Doctor kindly pointed out that this wouldn't have happened if I made homemade soup. Nice guy.

I get my stitches out tomorrow. I don't know that my finger is ready. I may show up tomorrow and they'll have me come back next week. I think I'm okay with that, because I would like it to heal properly. On the other hand, if they extend it I'll be forced to go out and buy another box of large bandaids because I only have enough left to get me through until tomorrow morning. You can see what a dilemma this is.

Was that thunder? Sheesh. That's interesting.

I joined the Fantasy Film league last winter...you pick some stars and based on weekly box-office, you movie makes money. I picked my Summer 2002 movie and called it Mr. Bean in Space. I decided to write up a summary of the movie.

Mr. Bean In Space, Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Written by Jody LaFerriere

Rowan Atkinson, reprising his Mr. Bean role, teams with Lucy Liu and Ashley Judd romantically and professionally. The three are the astronauts who will fly the new Comet X Rocket in an ultra-top-secret mission to steal all DirecTV's satellites and hold them for ransom. Danny DeVito plays "Smitty" the down-on-his-luck security guard who his hired by Kirsten Dunst, a Nobel Prize winning genticist, when her baby monitor starts picking up cordless phone conversations regarding the Comet X mission.

Featuring a special appearance by Hayden Christensen in the role of James Earl Jones.

I was just looking back at some of the old Blogs (read 1/9/02), and when I saw this, I had to laugh, because, well, two days later I got put on semi-permanent vacation. It's just that's not the kind of vacation I meant.
I've got the placeholder for the new website up. http://www.birchbarkwriting.com. Now the content pages can be finished up and the links added.

I'm not feeling as good about the Red Sox as I have in years past. I am part of a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League, and I only wanted two Sox for my team. During the draft I got Nomar and someone else nabbed Pedro. I see names of other decent Red Sox players and think "Oh, cool, he's available" and then realize that person isn't ON the Sox any more.

Should be an interesting season. I'm lighting candles that Pedro just had an off day on Monday.

Gas is up to $1.31 today at my station. Maryellen at the Bagel Inn says it will be $1.50 by summer. Actually, she said $2.50 but when I questioned that number, she realized she'd made a mistake. Still, $1.50 isn't small change.

I also tried to find the SmartRoutes website this morning and got a 404 error. That can't be good... I'm hoping they just accidently erased the index page. I can hear a TON of sirens this morning, and I'm assuming it's something on Route 2. When I got back home a firetruck and two ambulances were screaming down Prospect, which is where they would come from if they were down around the Mechanic Street exit.

Cute conversation with Junior today:

Him: I'll kiss you on the cheek so you won't get sick. If you get sick you'll have to go see the doctor.
Me: I actually have to go to the Doctor's Friday to get my stitches out. He'll use scissors to cut the threads.
Him: Big scissors or little scissors?
Me: Oh, little ones. I think he might hurt me if he used big ones.
Him: And then you'd need more stitches.

It must be spring, and it must be raining; my driveway has approximately 300 worms on it, which gave putting the rubbish out a whole extra level of excitement.