*Big DumpTruck*

Cool Par-tay

I have to give my brother-in-law credit...he knows how to throw a great kids party. Today was the joint party for the 3yo and the 5yo, and there was a moonwalk (shaped like a birthday cake, which looked really funny when you came down the street) and Bob's piece-de-resistance, a homemade wooden ramp and a gigantic container of Lego pieces. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Each kid (there were 17, I believe) could make a car and then run them down the ramp. No formal soap-box derby (which was good because some kids cracked when their cars didn't make it off the jump, never mind losing a race) but a blast for the kids to learn what worked best to get the cars flying. We learned they needed weight but couldn't be too top-heavy, for one thing.

Anyway, this idea came from the Lego store down in Disney Marketplace. He bought the Lego wheel set at their online store which was enough wheels to make 36 vehicles, I believe. VERY fun stuff. In fact, right now Junior and I have his Legos (the few we have that are regular Legos and no Duplos) out on the table, makingnew cars with the wheels on the car he got to take home.

That was my phone

I should point out that the post below was made on my phone. I cannot figure out how to get my email function to insert an upper case letter (as in "I") when it doesn't follow a period. How stupid is that? I mean, I could do the e.e.cummings thing, but I'd rather have you guys think I wasn't being all lazy and stuff. Really, I want to type "I" but the phone only lets me type "i".

Got the lawnmower back. I think it's safe to say it wasn't ready when we got there. I know you're surprised. My dad looked at me after the guy disappeared and we could hear an air compressor with a "is he still working on it?" look. I'd give that a big yes. We did find out that the boss has been out, and this guy, normally the mechanic, has been running the whole place. So I'm sure that's cut into his mechanic time. Plus he's 65 and "retired" and only works 40 hours now, period. So I'm sure covering the store and dealing with the customers has cut into his 40 hour "fixing things" schedule. So I'll cut him a teeeeny bit of slack. Then again, he could have told me yesterday that it wasn't going to be DONE yesterday.

Got half the backyard mowed before sprinkles started. Electric mowers are not fond of rain, so I had to stop when that happened and moved on to making dinner. And now I'm ready for bed, so goodnight!!!!!

It was so nice out that i never went back inside. How modern am i? And how do i make an upper case letter in the middle of a word?

Is It Safe?

I'm headed up to get the lawnmower. I assume Friday is sufficienty after "this afternoon" on Thursday for it to be ready. I'm not sure if we're going to eat lunch at the diner again - we might not make it before we're overcome with hunger.

Also this is a quick in-out day because my parents also have to pick up the bouncer at the rental place for the big birthday party tomorrow. It's a joint party for my neice (3) and nephew (5) that starts at 10:00am tomorrow. Man, I hope she has danish and coffee to go along with the bouncer. I'd better call and ask if she wants me to pick up one of those Box 'O Joes from Dunkin Donuts.

Wow, THAT is who that is?

So Junior has started watching the shows on the Disney channel like Sister, Sister and Lizzie McGuire. I like that one cause I think that dad is cute. I knew he was a Carradine so I just looked him up . Oh good God, he played Louis in Revenge of the Nerds! Talk about a nerd growing up to be a hunksicle!
In this picture he's channelling David Duchovney.

Oh, and the mom on that show? In real life she's the daughter of the actress who played Millie Helper (and Grandma Yetta on The Nanny), Anne Guilbert. Now that's all the Disney Channel trivia I have for you today.

I will express an opinion here: I think Hilary Duff is an idiot for alking away from Disney. What the kids "loved" was Lizzie McGuire, not Hilary Duff (although they SAY they love Hilary). What else is she going to do?

Define "This Afternoon"

So I called the repair place to see what's up with my mower. I was starting to think maybe they forgot about it, and I'm still not convinced they didn't.

"That will be ready this afternoon."
"Okay, so when can I pick it up?"
"There's no hurry on that, it will be ready this afternoon. Any time. Tomorrow is fine."
"Right, but you've had it for 2 weeks and I need to mow my lawn, so can I pick it up today or tomorrow?"
"Any time after this afternoon."
"So, what time would be okay?"
"This afternoon or tomorrow is fine."

I'm Busy That Day

Oh hey, ya, I'm not still walking. Didn't want to confuse anyone. Although if I were, it's almost 24 hours later so I could be headed for the Berkshires, I suppose. I'm not one for doing Marathon walks unless they occur at, say, Epcot. I'm sure the stats are out there, but it's got to be a mile from one end of that park to the other. If someone wants to pay for it, I'd be happy to go back with a pedometer and measure it for you.

Got a call yesterday from my doctor's office. Apparently they were starting to book the 2004 physicals, and Junior was on the wait list for an appointment (i.e. after they got the 2004 book). So she asks if February 2nd is good.
"I think so".
"Do you want morning or afternoon?"
"Uh, either is fine."

Ya, cause I think I might already have something planned for that day. (Actually, it's my step-son's birthday, but other than that, I can probably squeeze in a physical.) I should have said "Oh, you know, that isn't going to work for me" but the other problem is that every year his physical gets further and further away from his actual birthday, which they do because of insurance limitations. I need to see if our insurance is per calendar year, because if it is, we have an appointment a month earlier...

Testing New Browser

I just downloaded Mozilla's beta release of Firebird and I'm giving it a test fly. Actually, I think it rocks and I'll probably make it my default browser if after a week I don't have any major issues with all my regular sites.

Oh, and the sun just came out so I'm going to go for a walk. Hold down the fort, okay?

The Army's Mad Lab

For folks who don't read the comments, I wanted to pull up the article Adam mentioned about how the process for creating McNuggets was invented in Natick MA. The Army's Mad Lab

An Open Letter to McDonald's

Dear McDonald's,
Who am I to criticize you? You seem to have built a fairly successful business over the years, and I think that's swell. But someone in the marketing department deserves a boot to the head for a recently-created poster added to the drive through menu.

[Editor's note: For those of you who have somehow avoided the McDonald's drive-thru, they have a big sign with all the menu items, in case you forgot that they sell, well, hamburgers, fries and Coke. The sign also displays the current promotional tie in for the Happy Meals (Finding Nemo toys as of the 30th), any special "for a limited time" foods they are pushing, etc.]

Yesterday the middle of the sign had a picture of a huge plate of chicken McNuggets, one of them lovingly cut in half to show America that they are filled with actual meat of some kind. Is it chicken? I hope so...I'd like to think that chicken McNuggets include some chicken. After all, I'm choosing to feed this to my child. Wait, there's text on the image:

"Made from a whole chicken breast including skin"

Gah. I was fine until the last two words. So you are trying to sell me on the fact that these are white meat products (which is actually obvious in the tenders at BK or Wendies) and you decide to tell me that chicken nuggets are made with chicken skin? Are you INSANE?

So now I'm stuck at the drive-thru thinking I should not buy these things for Junior after all, but now that I've told him he was going to get a Happy Meal I cannot just say I've changed my mind. But you can bet I'm going to think long and hard before I go back there again. So McDonalds, um, thanks for doing me the favor of helping me make healthier choices for my son. Sure, I know we should never eat fast food, but hey, I'm only human.

Anyway, I don't know who thought that would be a selling point to mention chicken skin, but that person is wrong.

How Could I Forget!

We had this exchange the other morning.

Jr: After breakfast, Julia and I have to have a talk.
Me: Oh?
Jr: Ya. She's gonna be moving out.
Me: I hope it isn't because of something I said.
Jr: No, it's just time.

(Okay, so I feel like a total slimeball now. Cause I think my teasing about not liking her because she didn't invite me to the wedding has made him decide to toss aside his wedding vows. I also have a serious twinge in the "what kind of example are his father and I teaching him" department.)

Sun

Sorry, sun came out. It won't be out again until Saturday. I need to go absorb some rays to process my vitamin D, or however that works.

Quote of the Day

"C'mon honey, let's go frolick with the other unemployed people"

- Timmy's Dad on The Fairly Oddparents

The Book of Ratings

I was pretty sad to see the demise of the Brunching Shuttlecocks websites, which I've read for a couple of years now. I know Lore et. al hadn't been updating very regularly the past, oh, nine months or so. Luckily, they have two other sites that we can visit. I can't vouch for how often Lore will update the new site, but he's created a site for my favorite part of his site, The Book of Ratings.

Wow, It's Finally Not Pouring

What a fun day. What a fun weekend. I am so fed up with this weather, it's endless. I'm not sure, because I haven't actually walked in my back yard for a week, but I'll be there are mushrooms growing over by the shed from all this damp muckiness. It's a toss-up on whether mushrooms are better than crabgrass, quite frankly. If it's sunny and even remotely warm tomorrow I'll actually go outside and see how all my plantings are doing. I know flowers like rain, but I like pie and I know if I eat too much I'll die. I don't want these flowers that had tags saying "Full Sun" to die because I haven't been able to provide full, partial or even a smidgen of sun.

A friend of mine just had to go out and buy one of the SAD lights that people use in the winter to simulate sunlight because she's so bothered by the current weather patterns. I just keep staring out the window at my little cafe table and chairs and I wonder when I'll be able to actually sit out there again.

High Tech for a Moment

Yesterday's adventure in high tech was to buy and try to set up a wireless router for the house. I know, not in my best interest to spend that kind of money at this point (I just called in for my last week of regular unemployment this morning, won't know if I qualify for an extension until next week or later. "Yes, I can make change, Mr. Mall Kiosk Owner!" if I'm not eligible. I obviously want to hold out for a writing position, and the market seems better now than it has for months, but obviously I have no control over whether or not people hire me. If I did I would have found something 9 months ago.

Anyway, I bought the equipment so that I could share the DSL connection (and eventually the printer) with the two systems in the house, and also so I could take the computer into different rooms and still have full access to everything. That way I could work up in my room, or I could work out on the deck, and not have to have wires everywhere. So I spent the money, tried to set it up for about 7 hours...spent 4 of those hours on tech support to I believe India (I'm not being sarcastic...I talked to three different people, and even the automated phone system voice had an Indian accent) trying to get it to work. It didn't. So today I brought everything back. I guess I'd rather spend that money on bills. But the SECOND I get $200, I'm going to run my butt out and buy some Linksys hardware (which is what the Verizon Online people told me they actually sell if people want to set up a wireless router - so I know it will work with my DSL modem.

So yes, I spent $160 (there was a sale) but I only kept it for a day. Does that make me a bad, irresponsible person? No. It would have been tax deductible, and it would have made it easier for me to actually get work done. So it's not like I ran out and bought something useless like jewelry. Right?

Memorial Day Snacks

Heavens to Betsy, stay AWAY from the grocery store. I went in to buy just a couple of things, you know the basics (bread, cheese, bananas, fudgecicles and salsa) and the lines were outragious. Actually, for a while you couldn't walk near the registers because the lines were so backed up.

They were having a sale on Coke products, one of those fridge-friendly 12-packs for $1.99. I don't know if that's specifically why people were in the store, but I did see at least one carriage completely FULL of boxes of 12-packs. You want to stock up, in case you have a party or something, but if you're like me, you still have Pepsi leftover from Christmas because you actually never did have company. I need to look at those to see if they are past their use-by date. Old soda is nasty.

We had a few hours of no rain, and then the drizzle returned. I bought steak at the store thinking it might be nice to throw it on the grill, because it is the charred meat holiday, when I realized I have no idea when the weather is going to be favorable for grilling. I could move the grill up onto the deck, but that seems like a lot of work. Okay, just checked, looks like Tuesday will be a thumbs up on that. Someone remind me to check how much gas is in the grill tank before then, okay?

Looking for a new design?

Go to the StrangeBanana: Computer-generated webpage design and keep hitting re-load until you find one you like. No two are alike, so if you see a good one, save it.

Rain Rain, Go Away

What a dreary Memorial Day weekend. I guess maybe that will make us treat it more like a "Memorial" day and less like a "Who Wants to Have a BBQ" Day. Not that there's anything wrong with the 2nd option.

I'm just glad I strong-armed my dad into doing the cemetery planting last weekend. It's been raining all week, so the flowers have been watered constantly. Also, it meant we didn't need to have to get all wet and stuff. You know, cause rain makes me melt.

Saturday, when we were out there, maybe 10% of the normal planting looked done. I was surprised at how many graves were not done yet, but then again, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we'd had overnight temps in the 30s and frost warnings. I think people may have been afraid to invest in plants only to have them die and need replanting.

One thing I'm aware of is that since starting to do my genealogy, I want to map out where all my ancestors are buried (in the local cemeteries). I know the Burchstead and MacDonald families are in Evergreen (which, by the way, is where I want to be buried if anyone was looking to buy me a cemetery plot for Christmas), I just don't remember where they all are. Our family was a little light in the cash department in the 20th century, and if I recall correctly from when my grandmother was still alive, her parents' grave may not be marked. I know my aunt will be reading this and she can set me straight, and maybe she can even help me find them all.

WMV files

Can someone tell me why I cannot view .wmv files on this system? I mean, none of them are life and death but danged if it doesn't annoy the heck out of me. I upgrade my viewers, but every time I dowload one it says it's not the right format. Huh?

Smartie Pants

Proving once again who has the brains in the family, my sister "graduated" from the Mass College of Pharmacy today, receiving her MS in Drug Regulatory Affairs and Health Policy. Last I heard she had to carry half her brain behind her in a Little Tykes wagon because she was getting so smart. (Oh I'm kidding! And I AM the one who bought her the Congrats Class of 2003 balloon for the family party today.

I'm very proud of her for doing this, raising two kids under 5 and maintaining an A average. Really.

The Next Time We're There

Junior used the dreaded words "The next time we're at Disney" to me yesterday. Apparently the Star Tours "ride" at MGM is stuck in his craw because the next time we go down there, THAT is what he wants to do first. So I did what every normal parent would do. I said "Okay." In my head I was thinking "I figure that's a good 3 or 4 years from now, maybe." Not that I don't love going down there, but it's too expensive to buy the park passes. Airfare and hotel rooms are cheap, but everything you do AFTER you check in to the hotel adds up too quickly.

And it isn't just Disney cashing in, as some people complain. A pass to Universal is exactly the same price, if not a couple of dollars more. Sea World is slightly less, but I think they have to be. Sure, they've got great stuff but no way on God's Green Earth am I paying $50 per person just to see Shamu, or those chicks who waterski.

So for a family of 4, that's about $200 per DAY just in park fees, no matter which park they choose. Who can afford this? Not me, not right now. I'm delighted we got to go, and I'd go again in a second if I had a ton of disposable income, which I don't at the moment. So maybe it won't be 4 years, but it sure as heck won't be as soon as he would like to go...

RSS Update

I think it's fixed. Comment here hif you have problems. (If you think I'm speaking a foreign language, let me refer you to an introduction to RSS

Family Name in the News

I was very surprised to see my maiden name show up in today's paper. There was a story involving my dad's cousin's wife (I think that's the relationship), she's the "Mary" in the story. I'm absolutely astounded...apparently the Leominster Housing Authority tried to charge her $49 because her mother died without giving a 30-day notice that she'd be vacating her apartment. Um, well, you know, sometimes you don't GET a 30-day notice that you're going to die, now do you? Here's the story:Woman fined for not giving 30-day notice before dying

I'm just guessing this will make the national news wire.

Well that didn't take long...

Hmm. All those share are gone. I'll have to release a few more, but I may be forced to wait a few hours by the software.

You guys make me feel loved. *sniff*

Lawn report: That guy had better call to tell me my lawnmower is ready or I'm in BIG trouble.

BlogShares - Big DumpTruck

Wow. shares in the Big DumpTruck over at the blogshares game are up over $4. That's a first for me. Actually, a whole bunch of my stocks got VERY valuable in the past couple of days, and while I feel like it's insulting to my blog friends to sell my stock, I'm not turning down $53/share. On the other hand, what to invest in now? It's not real money, so I can't take it and blow it at Kmart. It either sits as a cash balance or I have to pick other stocks to invest in. Problem is I invested in blogs I read, that I know are good (else I wouldn't read them) and I don't know what other stuff to invest in that will give me a decent return. Anyway, I released 1000 new shares of BDT stock this morning, and 900 are left if you were looking to buy.

Comments are broken

Oh poopy, my comments are broken. I'll get working on it. I think it's working now. Just another exciting moment in the life of the Dump Driver.

Now to move the clothes I washed this MORNING into the dryer. (I hate when I do that.)

Garden Status

Well, things are still alive, which is a good sign. Here are a couple of pictures of what I was working on. This first one shows my future perennial garden, which I'm hoping will hide the cement at the bottom of the chimney. I'm going to find more rocks for a border, those three you see there were actually what we dug up when we planted. And yes, that is a huge patch of dead grass, why do you ask?



Here's a shot of the front of the house. Last year I replaced the mulch with little white stones so that I could stop the endless cycle of mulch-buying. There are now perennials in the little circle on the left, and I thought I'd show off how it looks like I designed the tulips to flank the chair on purpose. I've had two complements on it, and yet, I didn't really do anything.



And here are the pots that are currently on my deck. I have to have something pretty to look at when I'm sitting here

"It's like the son you never had"

Davezilla.com proudly brings you a link to Fetus Soap on a Rope - It's like the son you never had. (That's THEIR tagline, I didn't make it up.)

THIS is why I read his page every day. I'm just not sure who I would buy these for. Maybe to announce a pregnancy? I'm just sorta stunned. If you go to his site, you'll see lots of other links to wacky soaps.

Tap Tap Tap - Is this Working?

Hey all, just ignore me. I upgraded to the beta of the new version of BloggerPro and it looks like I can FINALLY use the BlogThis! feature in Netscape! If you are reading this, it worked and I am the happiest girl in my house!

Is it lunchtime?

I just realized that I didn't eat breakfast. I had coffee but I intended to stop for a bagel cause I was in the mood. Now it's quarter of 11 and it makes more sense to wait for lunch than to eat breakfast and screw up my lunch schedule. Not that I have a "schedule" for lunch.

Poland Spring

God bless the Poland Spring water company. I don't care if they are owned by Nestle (they are) or if I'm getting ripped off buying water that isn't any better than what comes out of the tap (it is). The thing is....it's good. Extra good. And it comes in sport bottles that you can open and close with one hand, so my kid the klutz can use them and hardly ever gets water on the floor. And did I mention how good the water tastes?

I think I should take a vacation up to the resort they've got up there. Just because.

Networking

Naw, not that kind of networking. Although I should be doing more of that, of course. But I'm talking about the kind of networking that would let me access my DSL connection from any room in the house. In fact it would let me throw a card in Junior's computer so THAT one would have DSL access too.

Only problem is the cost. Sure, you can get a router on sale, but then you have to buy hardward for each of the computers that will be accessing the new network. I was at Staples today faxing something (still cheaper than buying a fax machine, given how seldom I fax stuff) and they had a router on the sale table. After rebates it was only 9.95 or so. WOW! Quelle deal! But the fine print is that with this particular router everything has to be connected by cable to the router. That's hardly worth it to me, given that Junior's computer is in the basement, and I want to set this up so I can take my computer up into my room or out on the deck. So I priced some wireless setups. 100 or so for the router, 79 for the wireless card for the notebook, about the same for one for the desktop. Sheesh. So for now I'll just suffer. And if the wireless router goes on sale for 9.95 after rebates, I'll be all over it.

p.s. Anyone have a spare graphics card with a minimum of 8megs of ram that will run on a Windows 98 system that they don't need anymore?

Okay, Don't Bother Buying This For Me

Yes, I found a barbecue grill that only costs SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS on Amazon.com today.They only have one left in stock, so if you want one you'd better order it right away. Then again, I'm guessing they never even HAD more than one in stock. I just hope you get free shipping if you buy it. I'd actually expect Jeff Bezos to hand deliver it from the back of his SUV. (C'mon, we all assume he drives an SUV, right? Maybe a Land Rover?) And meat. I'd expect him to throw in a package of hot dogs, and not store brand, the good ones.

But for me, if you were thinking of buying me a $6,000 grill to be nice, can I just get the money in the form of cash? I have a grill, and I'll use the money to maybe get the tank refilled and to buy one of those freezers for my basement to fill up with stuff to grill. And I'll invite you over for kabobs. Deal?

What? It's Over?

This was a great weekend, I have to tell you. The weather was ideal, I got all sorts of yardwork done, saw my aunt and uncle (*waving*) and stayed the hell away from the computer.

I had gotten to the point where I felt like I was on the computer 24 hours a day. Couldn't have been healthy for anyone, certainly not me or Junior. Being away from the 'puter while in Florida just gave me the shove away from it that I needed. So ya, I poked my nose on here a couple of times (gotta keep an eye on the business email) but otherwise I was out and about, running errands, buying flowers, planting them. I felt like a normal person. I can keep this up until we get our first heat wave, then suddenly the computer's going to seem like a really good idea.

Okay, off to drain the pasta and find some sauce.

Summery!

I'm going to have to beg your forgiveness and actually go out to enjoy this lovely day. I think everyone should do the same!

Flowers

I'm just stopping by to drop off the flowers I bought today (found a place in Leominster with flats for only $2 each - it's the spot next to the Harley dealership on Central Street if you're from around here). I ended up buying almost all perennials. I decided it's too much of an investment to spend money on annuals every year. If I want annuals next season I'll start them from seed in the house or something.

I also bought another Clematis for my little flower garden in the back yard that's less a flower garden than a place where I decided to grow a clematis. So now I have two.

Now I've got to plant all this stuff. For some people that's the fun part. It is for me, but only when I can do it and now worry about keeping an eye on Junior. Of course he's older now and I'll just let him ride his bike on the sidewalk while I work. He's FINALLY old enough where I can trust him to stay on the sidewalk. That kid was the KING of running out into the road when he was little.

p.s. Just read the weather for tonight - another frost warning. In some places there may be a low in the upper 20s. Gee, so glad I did all that planting. I just brought in all the pots that I didn't get to yet. *sigh*

Yuckies

My formerly-in-first-place fantasy baseball team is spiraling into the toilet. 9th place. 9th place!!!! Arrrrrrgh. I just saw one of my guys is on the DL. I don't remember if he was any good or not without looking at his stats, but sheesh, do you really think there are any GOOD people available in the pool at this point? Although, my new catcher did hit a home run last night. I just got him a couple of days ago. Let's hope this is a continuing trend.

It's about 45 degrees outside right now, and I'm off to buy flowers for the yard and cemetary. Seems a bit chilly for this time of year.

Vintage Eating

Ate lunch at the Time-Out Diner in Amherst NH yesterday. Run, do not walk to this place. Here are some shots of the inside that don't even do it justice. The restuarant is at least 3 to 4 times bigger than what is shown here. Everything is SPOTless, and the deserts...I can't give enough praise. We met the pastry chef, who works Thurs-Sun. Yuuuuuuuummmmmm. (Not him, the pastry. Although I'm sure he's a lovely man.)

The Drive-In

Matrix 2 is playing at our local drive-in. Why oh why isn't Junior old enough to come with me to see that? How cool would it be to go see it with him at the drive-in, where you can fill your car with food/drink from home and nobody gives you the stink-eye? Mr. Dump and I used to frequent the drive-in and swing by Mickey D's on the way. I think a cheeseburger tastes better when you're eating it in the car watching a movie.

Oh, and faithful dumper Sally passed this along. I am going to try to attend on Sunday:

Eleanor and Amasa, Sally Cragin’s two-person play about Eleanor and her father Amasa Norcross , Fitchburg’s first mayor will be performed twice this May. Fitchburg Mayor Dan Mylott will portray Amasa.

Eleanor and Amasa will be performed at the Fitchburg Art Museum on Sunday, May 18 at 1 p.m. There will also be a violin, cello and piano recital by the virtuouso Schilling sisters, to be followed by birthday cake and refreshments. Free with Museum admission (non-members $5, seniors, $3, members, students and children free)

Eleanor and Amasa will also be performed at Fitchburg Historical Society, 50 Grove Street (one street over from the Y, up from the Courthouse) on Tuesday, May 20 at 7 p.m. (Free to all).
Fitchburg Art Museum, Merriam Parkway, Fitchburg, MA http://www.fitchburgartmuseum.org

Too Much! Too Much!

When did my to-do list become so long and my time so short? I have piles of laundry, including bedding, the bathroom to clean, dusting and vacuuming to do, flowers to buy and plant, the deck to clean and stain, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and I have to go return something to Linens N Things. I *did* get all the upcoming birthday presents purchased last night, but will need to buy or make cards and wrapping paper. Whew.

And that list doesn't even include work-related stuff. Or fun stuff. Junior wants to play with one of the neighbors after his swim lesson, but that requires me to just hang around while they play and not get ANYTHING done.

Cartoons

I am so tired of watching crappy cartoons. Between Nickelodeon, Toon Disney, Boomerang and the Cartoon Network, I'm overflowing with the danged things. Luckily Junior is reaching the age where live people on the television does not equal grown-up shows anymore. Of course, that means we're watching old reruns of ABC family sitcoms like Sister, Sister and Boy Meets World on the Disney Channel, or the Amanda Show on Nick.

Someday....someday...

Thanks, Guest Blogger!

Feel free to visit the Guest Blogger's website. He's a friend from way back, and he took time out of his busy theater schedule to entertain YOU!

Welcome Wiggles Fans!

Someone on an Anthony vs. Greg chat board found my earlier posts about Anthony getting married and linked to me. I've gotten quite a bit of traffic from that chat board today, so I just want to say to those folks "Blue Rules, you silly Yellows."

There, now I don't have to bother signing up for a membership to that board.

More on my lawn (are you tired of hearing about it yet?) Funny thing happened on the way to finishing it. Turns out that the problem wasn't me forgetting to recharge the mower, or the mower being "broken" (my 2nd thought); the outlet I was using blew a fuse. And the other outlet I tried to use ALSO blew a fuse. My dad and I could NOT find anything in the fusebox that connected to those two outside outlets, so I'm kind of stuck. The interesting (not) thing I found out while looking for a support phone number on the Black & Decker site (while I still thought the problem was with the mower) is that this model has a recall on it. So maybe the fuse blowing was God's way of making me find the recall notice so I don't set anything on fire. Of course, it's very rainy and the grass is practically growing while you watch it, so having to drive a billion miles to leave my mower off for a week to be fixed is NOT SOMETHING I AM HAPPY ABOUT.

Normally when I'm this ticked I would spend some money on something and feel better, but there's a distinct lack of money in my house. So I've just added items to my Amazon Wish List and pretended I was shopping. It has pretty much the same calming effect.

Where I Was

I'm posting this map of the resort link so that I can show it to someone tomorrow, but I figure you guys wouldn't mind seeing. This is the Caribbean Beach Resort at Walt Disney World. We were in Aruba building 55. Actually, if you look at the little picture of the building, we were in the part that faces the empty area, which is actually dense with trees, etc. So we faced the woods, and it was VERY quiet. It was a 10 minute walk (approx) from that room south to the bridges and island that cross the lake over to the Old Port Royale Center. That's where the theme pool, bar, gift shop, boat and bike rentals and restaurants were. Or it was only 2 minutes by car.

What? It's Tuesday?

Oh geez, I forgot it was Tuesday already. Not that it makes a lot of difference one way or the other, but I was thinking to myself, "I need to get xyz done by Wednesday" and just now I realized that's tomorrow. Uh oh. Okay, so I can deal with this.

My lawn looks like a white trash flower garden. After 6 days away, things were growing like weeds. Well, they are weeds. My lawn stinks. So I pull out the mower, figuring it's dry enough to at least attempt to mow it. Problem is that DUH I didn't fully charge it after the last mowing. So combine that with the long grass and the dampness factor, and what little power the thing had promptly disappeared halfway through the front yard. Great. So what's worse, totally gross long grass everywhere, or half a mow? I hope you all say half a mow, cause that's what I've got.

More Cat Lady Stuff

I wanted to call attention to some comments posted under my last Heidi Erickson post.

Melanie wants to know if anyone knows if she used to be an aerobics instructor back in the 90's. I'll leave that open to the floor, althought I'm guessing not. I'm actually pretty sure that the brain chemicals released by exercise negate the brain chemicals needed to actually own more than 20 of any animal, and certainly to keep their remains in your apartment or home.

Also, Angela, you are correct when you say someone I know will start collecting ocelots. Actually, the thought of this keeps me awake most nights.

One more thing - I'd like to post a public reponse to a comment I got in a private email while I was away. To David S., who complained that I don't get to the point: I never claimed to have one. Try to remember that I wouldn't have made the Journal of the Mundane if I posted something of substance. Have a nice day.

I'm Back!

Bonjour kids! I'm back in Massachusetts after a whirlwind tour of Orlando Florida. Yes, Orlando saved its finest 95 degree weather (about 10 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year) just for us.

I'll have more stuff to post a bit later...I'm just logging in to download my mail so that stuff doesn't bounce in my in-box...it appears I got 1200+ pieces of mail, and that's with my BUSY mailing list turned off the whole time I was gone. If that had been on I'm guessing there would have been 4000 messages or so waiting for me. I run everything through software called MailWasher before I download it, and right now I'm in the middle of deleting 561 of the messages. Well I was in the middle of that when the software crashed. Yea. Now I get to do it again!!!

Last night at the hotel. I here it is 40f colder at home than here. Actually, right now it's 89 at 9pm. Eek!

Happy mother's day to all the moms in the viewing audience. Last full day of vacation and i'm sad. You kids be good to mom today.

Sorry, the restaurant computer wouldn't let me connect to blogger or my mail, so i could only comment.

The Guest Dumper says, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

Ever have a day off from work planned, just to kick back and do nothing, and then you have to come into the office anyway? That's what I'm in the middle of right now. I work a compressed work schedule, and today is supposed to be my "off" Friday. But there's this big project that has to get done, and I fell just short of getting it finished yesterday. So here I sit.

Granted, I'm only here for a couple of hours, and the stuff I have to do, while vital, isn't all that taxing. Still, I'd rather be puttering around the house or out enjoying the day.

I'll just have to satisfy myself with the knowledge of a job well done.

>From vaca: hot. Hot. Hot, and not in the j-lo sense. I am tired but in a good way. Off to avoid sunstroke.

>From vaca: Swim lessons are paying off big time. Fishboy did laps in the shallow end till i dragged him back to the room @ 10pm!

The Guest Dumper strikes!

Howdy, folks! I'm the Guest Dumper, filling in for Jody while she and the munchkin take a well-deserved vacation. Consider me your combination museum docent/hall monitor/sitter/Alexander Haig ("Right now, I'm in control, here...") for the duration.

I'm not sure where Jody's headed to enjoy her down time. It's an undisclosed location. We can only hope that Dick Cheney spruced the place up a bit and put a chocolate on the pillow before he left. Jody deserves no less.

I'll be back tomorrow, if work allows and I can think of any more prominent Republican names I can drop.

Speaking of names, you'll find mine somewhere on the right in Jody's blogroll. We'll leave that revelation for later. Unless it turns out I really stink up the place during my tenure, in which case I'll just shuffle off anonymously.

Through the Magic of the Internet

A hush settles on the cab of the Big DumpTruck as the driver physically
removes herself from the cracked vinyl seat for a few days of computer-free
R&R. Thanks to the modern miracle of email posting, I wrote this Tuesday
night and a friend will arrange for it to magically appear on Wednesday.
Isn't technology grand?! And yet, it still hurts to have hair removed from
your legs...

Anyway, I'm TRUSTING you people to not throw any wild parties while I'm
gone. Gotta go to bed early. Gotta get up early. Gotta make sure I remember
to bring a toothbrush and clean undies. And the kid. Gotta remember to
bring the kid

At the airport. The security gal let jr try out her wand while they scanned my bag. I love the manchester airport!

Okay, I'm Leaving This Baby in the Hands of Others

It's scary to leave my baby for a few days, I've never done that to her before. (Is a blog female or male?) I have two subs lined up, one of them posting stuff from ME, the other posting his own material (if he gets the chance). Otherwise, I've got the cell phone thingy and I'll be back Monday.

(posted via email...yippee!)

p.s. Am I the only sane adult who actually watched the movie "Jumping Ship" starring the Lawrence brothers? It was on the Disney Channel last night and Junior got sucked in "OOOH! PIRATES!". It wasn't bad at all, but I'm feeling kind of bad for Andy Lawrence. That is some serious competition from his two older brothers (when the hell did the middle one get so...so....manly and cute?) leaving him looking like, well, the one you are "friends" with.

More on the Cat Lady

Beacon Hill cat lady Heidi Erickson is defending herself in court. There was a little video clip on theBostonChannle.com - she was wearing a suit and sunglasses. The sunglasses really threw me. Why would you wear sunglasses in court? Do you have something to hide? If not, show your eyes. I want to see you either look normal or blink like a heroin addict. Are you on cat tranquilizers? What's the freaking deal, Heidi?



I'm surprised the judge didn't make her take them off. Either way, it's not helping her case. Well, that and the fact that she kept interrupting the judge. I actually think there should be a Court-TV-like network of JUST cases where people represent themselves in court. Now this is entertainment, people.

This was classic: She wanted the judge to declare a mistrial because she hadn't been served, but "the judge pointed out that since she was at the courthouse, she was served." Nice work, Heidi.

Get Outta My Yard!

Can someone please explain to me what that old guy is doing out in the woodsy part of my backyard with that little net at the end of a stick? He looks like he's searching for something slimy in our puddles back there, and I don't really feel like going out to ask him myself. I'm just fascinated by people who think it's okay to wander around in someone else's property simply because it's not cleared land. Kids I can understand, but why is that old guy out there, huh?

I think he belongs to the house next door, and by belongs, I mean he's either a relative or someone they hired to do something or other.

Oh well, he's not bothering me, other than the fact that it annoys me.

Link of the Day

Play Iraqi most wanted Solitaire!

Still in Mourning

I thought I was fully over the Anthony getting married thing because, well, we haven't been watching the Wiggles lately so I had kind of moved past that particular little crush, but now I'm sad again, because it suddenly occurred to me that the new Mrs. Blue Wiggle is officially filthy rich.

I should have tried harder.

Sure, I wouldn't have looked as good in a sleeveless wedding gown, but I could have worn something to hide the arm flaps. I'm cheerful, and people like that. I've got this web site going for me. So Michaela Wiggle, you'd better take good care of my Anthony because I'm going to be keeping tabs.

=====

To Do List:

1. Dr. Appt at 10:15 to change prescription
2. Run dishwasher
3. Do last load of laundry (whites) and blankie
4. Pack rest of clothes
5. Make sure phone and rechargeable batteries are charged, pack chargers
6. Get junior to decide on ONE stuffed animal to take with us, preferably really small.
7. TBA

My Wiggle Is Now Married

Anthony "Blue Wiggle" Field is off the market. So many very sad ladies this morning, me included. But I'll put my selfishness aside and wish them the very best. Isn't that big of me?

Is This My Fault?

So I'm blog-hopping, reading other folk's recommendations, and I end up on a site where the navigation looks like this to me:



Now my question is this: Is this MY fault? And how much work do I want to do to have to read someone's blog?

I'm going to go and try to edit my IE settings to see if my default font is too small.

Okay, I think maybe I've fixed it. Sheesh, why does this only happen with SOME sites?

BlogShares - Big DumpTruck

Where in the heck are all my incoming links going? Hey, people, I'm begging you, don't forget to put a link to http://www.bigdumptruck.com/index.php if you a)have a blog and b)want me to do well in BlogShares. This second it says I only have 6 incoming links and I know that's poopy. Hey, PickleJuice...wherefore did my linky winky go? Please don't take your bad hair day out on me! (Why are all the female bloggers in the midst of bad hair months? Is it because we spend more time on our blogs than on our beauty regimens? I swear, it's a conspiracy.


I'm eating a big bowl of my favorite summery salad, and thinking to myself "Oh thank the good Lord my period was early this month, now I can use the hotel pool while I'm on vacation!!! (Unless you think that's too much information. If so, pretend you never read it. Thanks.)

Recipe for the salad:

1 box Near East Rice Pilaf, prepared as directed on box
Cubed cooked chicken (I don't know, 2 breasts worth?)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green grapes
1 can crushed pineapple drained (I think it's the small can) I sort of faked that as half a large can yesterday and I can't tell if it was enough or not)
Some portion of slivered almonds - I haven't ever actually added them so I have no idea who much...I'll leave that up to you. Maybe a half cup?
1/2 cup mayo.

Mix. Chill. Eat. Makes a buttload, so it's good for bringing to a BBQ.

Actually, mine doesn't taste as good this time as last time I made it. I think maybe the grapes weren't sweet enough. This is very important. I also need to find my original recipe for the pineapple thing. Maybe it isn't drained. (But I think it is...)

What Am I Hoping For?

It is so hard to leave the house with this kid. I have a couple of errands I wanted to do today, so that I don't have to worry about them. This means Junior is involved. He tries to bribe me. If I take him to the dollar store, he'll go to Target with me. Oy, when did I create THIS monster? At least he's asking for the dollar store and not Toys R Us, right?

Him: Can you just help me get this computer game running?
Me: No, because if I get it running you're going to want to play it and we're supposed to leave.
Him: Well too bad, I already want to play it!

Oh, like that's going to get him ANYTHING from me? I just made him apologize for being rude. Kids these days.

Old Man of the Mountain

Oh wow, the stone formation of the Old Man of the Mountain, the symbol of New Hampshire, slid off the mountain yesterday or today. That profile was so well known...it's actually shocking that it's gone...

Mini Golf

Okay, so Junior got not one but two holes-in-one, but *I* got the ball in the 19th hole and scored a free game. So who is the better golfer?

Holy Donuts, It Worked!

Man, smoooove! I just used my cell phone to post that message below. Now typing in on my particular cell is a horrible awful terrible experience, but hey, what isn't? But it worked! So now, minimally, I can send you guys little one line messages from whever I am! I can write to you from the airport bathroom! Are you excited or what?

Now I'm limited to like 122 characters per message, so if I have a LOT to say, it will appear fairly disjointed. On the other hand, if I located a free "send an email" terminal I can use it. Duuuuude. Thanks Ev, for finally fixing this function in Blogger. Suddenly it's worth every penny I paid to register for Pro.

Yo people! I am testing posting with my phone.

Readin' Writin' and Rithmatic

Can a proud mama just announce that Junior started reading this week? We'd casually tried it once or twice before (with no pushing, it's not like he's in school) and nothing. This week? Something clicked and he gets it, gets how the different sounds the letters make, when said in the order they appear, makes a word. (It also verifies that he's not dyslexic, because he pronounces them in order). I'm such a proud mama!

Another Not-Online Day

Oops. Forgot that I cancelled my old dial-up account. I was working at mom's this afternoon and when I went to log in to download mail and post here, I discovered I didn't have any way to actually DO that. Silly me. I'm so used to my always-on DSL that I forgot it wouldn't be there for me if I wasn't at home. Duh.

Okay, so I have a volunteer to handle updating duties while I'm gone. If one other person wants to take a entry, I'd say that would minimally cover me for the few days I'm gone.

Oh, and Blogshares went live today, so if you want to buy some Big DumpTruck stock (play money) click on the link in the upper right. Make me worth millions, baby! I want to be the most popular girl in the game!