*Big DumpTruck*

Floating

From the announcement e-mail that went out telling 157 people that there is a new issue of the Main Dump ready to read:

So I'll see you all next year, when I float around town completely covered with
roses, tree bark and mustard seeds, sponsored by the Kodak company.
(I've always wondered, would "dirt" actually qualify as a legal Rose
Parade Float material? It's all natural, right? But nobody uses it.)

Happy Last Day of 2002

I am so done with 2002. Enough is enough is enough. I'm ready to plunge headlong into 2003. I've got the maple syrup, I've got the waffles, I'm ready for anything.

No plans for the evening. I could do some first night activities here in town, but I don't know if I'd get my money's worth out of the badges, and things are very tight. I'd rather take The Boy to the movies. Hell, maybe we'll do that. He's unaware that it's New Year's Eve. Actually, I'm not sure he completely grasps the concept of years, other than that he knows he's about to turn 5 years old.

Le Dernier Lundi de 2002

Did I write that correctly? Well sue me, at least I tried. The last Monday of 2002, and I woke up feeling very yucky. I'm going to ignore it and soldier on. But please please please tell me this isn't the start of a cold or flu. That will make me sad. Very very sad.

To top it off, looks like we're in for more weather tonight. Could be an ice storm or 4-6 inches of snow. You know, the lesser of two evils. If I'm in full cold mode by morning I will NOT want to mess with snow and ice, I can tell you that right now.

So I'm off to order The Boy's birthday cake. He wants one with Arthur on it. I'm going to Joyce's because I love their cakes. Mmmmmmmmmm. Cake.

Did I forget to mention here that the other day I decided I have maybe outgrown frosting? I'd been looking forward to having sugar cookies with this green Christmas frosting on it. So I made the cookies, put the frosting on three of them...and couldn't eat it. Gah, how much sugar can one human ingest? Was it me, or was it the cookie-frosting combo? So sad was I. So I built it up in my mind for weeks only to not eat more than half a green-frosted cookie.

So Far, So Good

Aaaah, a normal Saturday. I wonder if it's busy out there in the Real World? I wouldn't know, I haven't bothered to leave the house. Not that I wouldn't, I have no problem venturing out. But I haven't had the need. I have food. I have drink. I don't have any presents to buy. Ahhhhhhhhh.

But please, someone needs to tell me where the Spanish cartridge for Kasey the Kinderbot ended up. I don't think I opened it, so it will be in a box, about 5 x 8 or so. And yes, I've looked in all the normal places. I just don't know that it actually came home from my mom's house with us. She says she doesn't have it. I really don't want to have to pay to replace it, seeing as it CAME with Kasey. I find this stuff VERY frustrating, because it makes it look like I'm a slob or careless, and that just isn't the case. And yes, I have already dug through the trash. Twice.

Dad Jetpacks Into the 21st Century

My sister and BIL game my dad a digital camera for Christmas this year. NIIIIICE camera too. I can't wait to see how they put it to use. I should set up a website for him, but I'm sure it would just add to MY workload. Ya Dad, if you're reading this, I'm talking about you!

Candied Pecans

I made candied pecans this morning. I don't even know if they're good or not. I think the pecans might be a little on the old side, and I'm wondering if that would affect the flavor of them. Or make the mushy. Because I expected the nuts themselves to be a bit crunchier then they are. Other than that, they're pretty tasty. I may have to try this same recipe with other types of nuts.

Shopping? Not Really

I don't think what I've been doing counts as shopping. See, I've been looking at some of the add-on kits for the Imaginext Battle Castle Santa brought us. Apparently you can only get these sets in Europe and Australia, even though the box came with an insert with pictures of all these products. And the pictures are also on the Fisher-Price website. But I cannot find any ANYWHERE online. And the FP customer service person was oh-so-helpful. So I've spend the afternoon searching for them. That doesn't count as shopping, does it?

Snow Thank You

Jeebus, what's with all the white stuff? Is it too much to ask that we not get more than 4-5 inches of snow at a time, and make it that fluffy stuff please? Got up this morning and had to get rid of a driveway full of snow. It's dambed windy out there so you get the joy of some of the snow blowing back into your face as you snowblow and/or shovel. I hate when that happens.

I can't tell you exactly how much we got because it drifted all night. Some spots were up to my knees, and there was one area where you could almost see grass. Very odd. According to the only reports I could find, we got about a foot. That seems about right. And most of it dropped in a single hour.

Merry Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope the snow doesn't screw up anyone's happy holiday. We're expecting 10-20 inches. I'm not a happy girl, but what are you going to do?

Off to mom's for ravioli...

Christmas Eve

Santa has only three more gifts to wrap. I think everything else is all set. Now we just sit and wait. Actually, we decide if we're going to the 4pm mass with my family (will The Boy and I burst into flames if we set foot in the Church?) and then do Christmas Eve at my parents' house. And then wonder if we'll make it out of the house tomorrow because apparently as a laugh, God is dumping a foot + of snow around here, starting at daybreak. Yea. That's JUST what I wanted. Forget having lunch with my whole family, I'd rather stay here and try to figure out what to eat.

Do I risk going to the grocery store? No freaking way. It would have been busy enough with just the people buying last minute Christmas food. Now they'll be buying storm food too. Oy, what a nightmare. Well, I have the staples here already, so if it's horrible, we can have the traditional grilled cheese dinner. Mmmmmmmm. (NOT)

No Complaints Yet

We started delivering the presents wrapped in the wrinkled up paper, and so far nobody has said anything about it. Then again, who is going to complain when they are getting a free gift? I wouldn't, that's for sure.

I'm very angry with the unemployment office today. I made my weekly call (or tried to) first thing this morning, thinking that if I got in early, I might get the check by noon on Tuesday. Got through the whole routine (and let me tell you, it's a total pain in the arse, and take about 5 minutes of button pushing every week) and right when I was supposed to get my confirmation that I entered everything I needed to, I got a message that there was a problem with the system and I'd have to try again later. GRRRR. So I did...same thing happened. I'm SO done with that. I'm NOT calling again and going through everything to get an error message. Why not have that come up FIRST? Sheesh. So my weekly claim may be in, but I doubt it is. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

That Paper

Oh, ya, I forgot to mention, that wrapping paper is my internet wrapping paper. It has pictures of Santa's computer, Santa on a cell phone, Santa taking pictures of Rudolph with a video camera. Text on the paper says "Click Here" "Boot Up" "Cyber Santa" and lists a couple of web addresses that seem to be owned by people trying to sell me things via pop-up, so I won't include them here. It's cute enough in person, but in that photo below it looks positively quaint!

Am I Done Shopping?

I think maybe, just maybe, I'm done. I have a couple of art projects that we're working on that need finishing, but I don't think I have to spend any more money. In fact, the distribution phase has begun. Okay, I need to go and push Junior to hurry up and finish these projects. Sheesh!

Oh, and for you in the back, this is a photo of why you need to keep the kids away from the wrapping paper.

Christmas Specials

The main dump has been updated (click link at the top of this page) and the list this time around is about Christmas Specials. I invited people to come over here if they thought my list was incomplete, so here is the official post where you can correct me.

Ah, Monkeys

Just when you think the world is kind of boring and normal, CNN gives you this:

New Blog in the List

I just added a link to CUBICLE DWELLER. in my blogroll list. You've GOT to go there and read about the preparations for Canadian Christmas. I hope after the 25th he puts everything in the correct order somewhere on his site to download. I just love it.

Xmas Specials

I've got so many Xmas specials programmed into the TiVo that I'm starting to have them scroll off before I get a chance to watch them. EEEK! That's BAD! Good thing I recently bought a dozen blank VHS tapes on sale. Today's transfer to tape is the Patrick Stewart version of A Christmas Carol. After that I'll probably do some of the oddball Xmas specials - The Town that Christmas Forgot, Fairly Oddparents Christmas (Can I please get the Fairly Oddparents songs out of my head? If it's not "I Wish Every Day Could Be Christmas" it's "My Shiny Teeth and Me." This show just has the BEST songs.)

So nobody admitted where they're from. That's okay. You can be anonymous. I don't mind. I'm going to pretend you all live in Bangor Maine. It's just easier that way.

My Christmas Present to Me

I was going to buy myself jewelry, but then I decided I really really really wanted a copy of The Complete Goofy on DVD. I'm going to watch Goofy learning how to drive until my eyes bleed!

It's Not Just a Tissue You Always Use...

Stole this link from Mr. Pants. God I love Mr. Pants. He makes me smile. Anyway, you don't need to load the japanese character set to enjoy Tissue-San.

Wed Nez Day

Did I miss Tuesday somehow? Very odd. Of course, I wasn't near a computer until almost 8pm, so that would explain it. I guess I should update you on the Monday entry.

Cards. Found 'em. They were in my bedroom (of course!) on the floor in a box (of course!) I don't think anyone came close enough to "win" the "prize". And I did not find a white bra or a dozen picture froms...sorry ladies.

So what should the next comments questionnaire be? Shall I ask "Where are you from and how did you find this site?" That sounds like a good one.

Two More Things

Okay, I found my address book. I mean, I remembered that I had one and what it looked like and it wasn't where I thought it would be but I did find it rather quickly. So that's good.

Now I can't find the Christmas cards I bought. I bought 2 boxes, even though I'll probably only send out one box. So now TWO boxes of cards are missing. Now if my family is reading this, they will say "That's not surprising" because my house is just a black hole. I lose things all the time. BIG things, too. So you guys can help me look for the Christmas cards. Just add your suggestions to the comments below, and if/when I do find them, the person who comes closest to the actual location will get, um....a Christmas card. Unless you live out of the country because I don't have enough stamps for that. We'll work something out.

Open Letter to Spider-man

I'm not talking about the cartoon character, or even Tobey Maguire. I'm talking about the guy with the missing teeth who wouldn't stop talking to me at the Unemployment Office last August. He's the one who told me that based on spider activity in his double-wide (I crap you not, and I live in Massachusetts, so this is at least a tiny bit unusual) it was going to be a very snowy winter, and it was going to snow early.

Okay, buddy, you were right. You were right you were right you were right. The novelty of a pre-Christmas snow had worn off by December 1st around here (we don't normally have all that much snow prior to mid-December, if you can believe it). It's snowing AGAIN out there. I don't even want to know how much we're expecting. Maybe ignorance is bliss. But it's the sticky crap again, so I've got to make sure I shovel every 15 minutes or it will be too heavy to move.

I'll put the snow-cam on for you (link is over on the right) so you can "enjoy" it from the comfort of your home or office.

Tiny Bubbles

Okay, I consider this a family-friendly website. So consider this fair warning that while the link I'm about to provide is at worst PG-13, some of the other images on that site are not. So if you decide to browse that site, you are responsible for any items that burn your retinas and cause you sleepless nights. Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached a new low in art. I give you Tiny Bubbles.

Friday the 13th!

Geez, I didn't even notice until now! Do you think it would have made a difference in my life if I had? Probably not.

Me: I'd like a Whopper Junior with Cheese, no onion no pickles.
Drive Thru "Person": What size?

What the hell kind of question is that. Are you telling me that the Whopper Junior comes in multiple sizes? Or are you telling me that you're barely paying attention to my order?

Oops!

Gosh, I missed Friday! Sorry about that, kids. I actually had some web development work to do and I got kind of absorbed by it. You know how it is, right?

So it's the weekend, huh? I think maybe I'll sit my butt down on the couch and just not move for the entire day. Does that sound bad? Ya. It does. Okay, I'll try to come up with some other options.

Wet Snow 1, Jody .5

Yikes, that was some nasty stuff. The snowblower refused to move the stuff down at the end of the driveway. I am seriously very lucky that my back isn't broken from the effort to remove the snow from the driveway. Heavy isn't the word for it. I eventually just put the snowblower away because it wasn't doing much for me. The slush was basically gurgling up over the top of the blower back onto the ground in a new location.

Junior was ever so slightly more helpful this time around. He had a little wagon and he was taking lumps of "coal" to the "garbage factory".

Me: So wait, it's a factory that makes garbage?
Him: Ya, the dumptrucks come and get it.

Hey, it made shovelling interesting anyway.

Snow and Ice 0, Jody 1

Okay, so we got our ice and snow storm, and didn't lose any trees. The power did go out for about ten minutes in the middle of the night - I happened to hear the big popping sound down at the substation right before it happened. Power was only off for 10 minutes, luckily. I have to say, we've had amazing luck with the electricity in this house (other than the night it went out 5 minutes before they announced the winner of the 2nd Survivor and didn't come back on for 2 hours). It might have something to do with being so close to the substation AND that our power lines are all underground. I have to say, it makes for clean lines AND nobody can knock out our power by ramming into a pole.

I told my dad this morning that last night around midnight when I was watching it snow, it was sticking to everything like blown-in insulation. I knew it was that back-breaking sticky wet snow. And now it's time for me to go outside and deal with it. I guess it's going to be my first attempt to use the snowblower. Wish me luck.

TV Catchup

I have no idea how I'm going to catch up on all the television I have stored on the TiVo. It's the time of year I love the most, and I've got buttloads of Xmas specials now, never mind my regular stuff. And my regular stuff I can't watch when Junior is around so I guess I have to break my "no TV during the day" rule to catch up on the Osbournes and the Sopranos. Sopranos are done for the season so I can cancel HBO now. In fact, I'm going to go do it RIGHT now.

The Red Asterisk

Uh-Oh. When I looked at my yahoo page for all today's news and schtuff, there was a little red asterisk next to the word "Leominster" in the weather box. You know what that means. It means there's some sort of weather crisis about to break. This is the "*severe weather alert" system. Ugh.

Let's see what we can expect for severe weather this week. Says here: "...A mixture of freezing rain and snow is likely for much of southern New England late Wednesday into early Thursday..." Oh terrific, I just love freezing rain. I want to be just like North Carolina.

Soup Update

Soup = very very good. I did an excellent job, thank you. Had it tonight with carrots and elbow macaroni. I'm very full right now. Part of me can't help but think that I could have just paid 99 cents and cracked open a can, but then I would have risked losing a finger.

The tree smell is now stronger than the soup smell, which makes me happy. See me smiling?

Mmmm...what's that smell?

Yes, that is a big pot of chicken soup on the stove, who wants to know? In fact, I think it's almost time to pull out the chicken and all the cooked veggies and get all the meat off the chicken. The smell of the soup is drowning out the smell of the Christmas tree, and while I enjoy the smell of chicken soup cooking, I wanna smell the tree, dammit!

Ho Ho Ho

Ze tree, she is up. The picture over on the right (the link to the streaming video) is of my current favorite ornament. We went for a "small" tree which means when you're at the tree lot you look for something about exactly half the height and width of what you think you want/need. So we get this tree that looks like it will fit on the counter, and it's not the one junior wanted, but it was only $18 and that had EVERYTHING to do with why I liked it.

Well, now it's in the house and decorated and I think it looks absolutely perfect. It is exactly what I had hoped for, I'm glad I forced myself to go for the "too small" tree. The branches let down some inside and it looks fuller. Plus, this tree is very green. I have a feeling this will be the best tree, fallen needle-wise, we've had in years.

Mr. Dump came with us to buy it, and he and I were stuck trying to remove the bottom of the tree because we forgot to have them do it at the tree lot (which is actually the Lunenburg Fire Station). So we used (or tried to use) in order: hedge clippers, a branch pruner thingie, a chainsaw that wouldn't start, a Ginsu steak knife, a Ginsu cleaver, and the pruner again. We broke both of the Ginsus in the attempt (no big whoop, actually, as I got the whole set for $2 and they seems very flimsy to me from day one). So that commercial where they show it sawing a branch? Not so much.

Anyway, the order we did it in seemed to have helped. And in all it only took Mr. Dump about 15 minutes to saw off the bottom. I swear, we bought a damned hack saw two years ago, but that puppy must be long gone. We couldn't find it anywhere. I guess I'll have to put that on my list of things I need to get eventually.

Oh, and I put two of my Department 56 houses on the mantel, and some lights around the two windows in the front of the living room. This room is freaking festive.

Interesting Link Via Jenny's Site

Wanted to point you to thereflections: December 2002 Archives; the link will take you to an entry that discusses a relaxing site Jenny found. I point you there to get the link and not HERE because I don't want to take any of the credit away from her.

I'm selfless that way. (Jenny's blog is cool, once you're there, wander around.)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Spent the day with the family over at Mom and Dad's house. Had a lovely day, actually. I didn't even miss the computer, which is something. My finger-tingling problem has been MUCH better, in no small part thanks to me cutting off a lot of the extra computer usage.

Yesterday was craft day (a blast...I forgot how fun it can be to be to just sit and make a mess and end up with something creative and actually REALLY pretty. Imagine that! I created something pretty! Now I'd talk more about it or show you guys here, but some of my readers are actually on the gift list, so I'm sorry, you'll just have to wait, what, two and a half weeks?

I can't believe Christmas is only two and a half weeks away. How did that happen? I feel like h'e rushing at me at lightening speed and if I'm not careful it's going to just pass me by. I'm thinking this is not going to be one of those "Christmasses to Remember: just because I cannot get myself into the right frame of mind. Well, as far as Junior is concerned it will be fantastic, and I guess that's all that matters...

Why Don't I Look at Things This Way?

I would really like to be able to look at the world the way Tim Davis does. I would have just seen ugliness and rust and dirt. He found beauty.

How Much Does Hair Weigh?

I got my hair cut today. I didn't really want to do it, but it needed to be done. I got that bravery that comes from being in the chair and told her that I wanted to take some weight off it. And she REALLY did. We agreed she'd cut it shoulder-length, but DUH, my hair curls up and so it looks about chin length right now.

At least I think it looks good. I dont' want to hear about it if it doesn't. On the other hand, no more ponytails, and that's sad because I've never really been able to do that before.

I hate making decisions.

Dinner Guest Fun

Hey, over on Lileks' The Bleat he mentions that Al Roker is coming to his house for dinner! He's going to cook up some of that Regrettable Food he's famous for, and we'll get to see his kitchen! This is actually horribly interesting to me, and not just because I own three of his books including the Regrettable Food one.

Too bad Al won't be able to eat any of that food. I'm hoping James serves up the hotdogs in gelatin. Mmmmmmm.

I See All Things...

I currently have The Boy(tm) convinced that I can see through our kitchen table. Every time he stands there with his hands in his pants I tell him to take them out, and he said "How do you know what I'm doing" and I said "I can see through the table."

Now he tests me every once in a while. As if the way he's standing (arms close to his sides) doesn't give him away. It's the old "I have eyes in the back of my head" thing.

Did and Didn't Do

Did: Go the the grocery store
Did: Go to CVS
Didn't: Remember to buy saline drops for me and junior
Did: Buy some supplies to make Xmas presents
Didn't: Buy enough of the colors I need
Did: Figure out how the stuff in question works
Didn't: Buy the instruction book so my thingy looks nothing like the samples
Did: Replace the stupid half burned-out lights on the deck
Didn't: Buy the wayyyyyy cool remote control outside light turner-oner at CVS

There's more but if I keep going I'll have to add stuff to the Didn't pile because it got too late to do them.

Christmas Cards

Huh. It just occurred to me that I haven't really done anything in the Christmas card department yet this year. I should probably get on the stick. I'm not so much into those letters, unless you count the funny one I wrote the Christmas the kid was due...something about how I hoped the baby wouldn't arrive on New Year's Eve because my doctor might have had a few. It also covered the Great Cuticle Crisis of 1997.

Anyway, I don't have a picture of the kid to put in the cards. Hmmm. Maybe we'll work on that. I suppose this means I'd better check my toner levels and invest in some photo paper. Oy. Maybe it would just be cheaper to use a regular camera after all.

Wind Chill -3

Really, it's okay to let it warm up around here. I would not complain one little tiny bit. Thanks in advance!

Weather Update

Just let me know if you're tired of the weather posts. But remember, if I can't talk about the weather, I will need something else to fill the space, and there's not much to talk about here except maybe meal recaps and a play-by-play on my potty breaks.

It's snowing again. 1-3 inches, they say. "They" could do us a favor and throw us a lovely 55 degree day, just so I can stand in my driveway for more than 2 seconds when I don't have a coat on. I've been in this state for almost my whole life, and I cannot remember a recent fall that has had weather this cold and snowy. I mean, I'm sure there have been plenty, but November and now early December have just been mind-boggling. Tomorrow's high? In the 20s. If it's windy I'm just not even going to leave the house until Wednesday.

Like an Addict

I was in BJ's earlier today with my parents to return a Hepa air-purifier they bought me/us for Christmas. The damned thing made my bedroom smell like it was on fire the other night. I actually had to open the window to get the smell out. To me, that indicates a problem. This is my third air purifier, and while I know there is a smell related to the breaking in period, this was NOT normal. Plus, the fan inside was out of balance, so it made a v-v-v-v-v-v-v sound, instead of a steady whooshing noise. In case the two were related, we just returned it.

I give BJ's returns a huge thumbs up. Two in fact. I was very very happy with how easy it was. To celebrate, I turned around and bought $50 worth of stuff that I didn't know I needed. Well, that's not fair. I went in specifically to buy C batteries for a present I know Santa is bringing that needs six of the damned things. (Yes, I will be getting a charger than does "C" batteries but that wasn't in the budget. I don't really use C's for much around here. AA and AAA are the favorites by far. And they had a great deal on fake fireplace logs and blank VHS tapes. All three of those items were on my list.

Anyway, now it's back to the drawing board for a hepa air purifier. Maybe I'll earmark a few hours to do that on Wednesday.

Okay, It's Not the WORST But It's Close

I've been trying to stay away from the computer this weekend to give my poor hands a bit of a rest. They aren't happy with me right now. Anyway, I had company most of the day yesterday, so I missed the "good" day to put up Christmas lights and whathaveyou. So I did it today because it's December 1, dammit. Only problem is that it's about 40 below zero out there with the wind chill. So putting lights up was just not pleasant.

The last string I did I was in full wind exposure on my deck. And the stupid ratzen fratzen string of lights? Only half-lit. It was ALL lit when I tested it, so something happened between step A and step B, and we're not talking to strings of lights connected. This is ONE string of 100 lights, and the first 50 are off. I'm NOT going out there again to fiddle with it. The neighbors will just have to think we have suckier than usual decorations on the deck.