The Big DumpTruck

You know, this is why I don't go skydiving. You can ask anyone, my sister, my husband...whenever we do something, I'm the one who gets the screwy equipment, or has the weird things happen. So if we all went skydiving, I would be the one with the dead instructor strapped to me.

I feel horrible for both people - especially the poor guy who died at 49(!) but really, that is just the kind of thing that keeps me from jumping out of a plane. Well, that and the fact that I would crap my pants if I had to jump out of a perfectly good plane.

In other airplane news, I finally got around to watching the National Geographic Channel special on Air Force One, and I now officially want to be President of the United States cause I really want to travel on that plane. It is sweeeeeeeeet! And the food looks pretty good too. Sure, there would be the pesky "leader of the free world" job responsibility crap, but it's got beds! And a nice office for me! And they would give me a jacket with my name embroidered on it!

Labels: News, politics, sad, scary

Arrrrrrgh. Do I really have to go to work tomorrow? Is there some reason I can stay home? I would really like to extend vacation by, um, 3 months. Okay, not three, just one. One month. It can even be a short month like February (except I don't want the vacation month to BE February, I want it to be right now).

I don't think I'm going to have a good reason to stay home tomorrow. Thank goodness I did laundry yesterday so I would have some clean work pants. Damn, a week of wearing jeans and shorts, all gone.

First day of school tomorrow too. I'm going to go bury my head in a pile of sale pillows from JC Penney. How on earth did Junior get to be a 5th grader?

Labels: sad, Vacation

Lots of reasons why, but the least of which is that Target did not have my deodorant in stock when I went in there last week. That is NOT COOL. I will be swinging by CVS to see if they still carry it, and if they don't, all hell is going to break loose. I CANNOT wear baby powder-scented deodorant. It does not and will not work for me.

Also, my right foot hurts. A lot. I don't know what I did, it feels like a combination of a muscle problem and a bone spur or something, but it's impacting my ability to walk like a normal person. Unless normal people have an inability to walk normally because one of their feet has raging heel pain. That could be, I really don't know.

Lastly, I'm mad that last year at this time, we were just starting our Cape Cod vacation. Seven glorious ocean-view days. It's breaking my heart to not be standing in that living room, looking out at the sea right now. And I haven't even been to the beach since it officially became summer, just that one trip in the spring. I sat in one of those little chairs you use at the edge of the ocean, you know, to dip your toes in the water, but I had no reason to buy one, even if it was comfortable. Sad. Very sad.

So yes, I'm cranky today. It's Monday, and it feels like it's been Monday for a couple of days in a row.

Labels: cranky, sad, summer

I got really excited yesterday when my iTunes music alert told me that Jason Falkner had released a new CD. I love Jason Falkner and his old band Jellyfish. I went running to iTunes to check it out, and its....instrumental versions of Beatles songs.

If I want to listen to Beatles songs, I will listen to the originals. Or the 1970s Sgt. Pepper movie soundtrack, cause I'm one of two people in the universe who liked that movie.

To give Jason some credit, the sample of Norwegian Wood had so much of a Pink Floyd vibe that I'll have to check to see if David Gilmour was somehow involved. However, the next track I sampled, Something, sounded like bad department store Muzak. For those of you locals who have been local for a while, it would have fit perfectly on the speakers at Capital Toy/Capital Warehouse. I know my sister will understand that one...there was just a certain style to the songs they played there, they featured a lot of electric guitar in that old country music style (that I cannot accurately describe but I know it when I hear it.)

I just don't know if I'll be buying it. If it's new age-y and Pink Floyd-y enough, I might. But that second track is killing it for me right now. C'mon Jason. I want more "Feeling No Pain". That was only 4 years ago, dude!

Labels: music, sad

I lost another battle that I didn't know I was in. You know the tune - Jody likes something, and the company that produces it decides to pull it from the market. We've talked about it here before, how food staples like Raspberry Kool-Aid and Primavera flavor Chicken Tonight simmer sauce left a hole in my heart that nothing can replace.

Last night we learned that Chili's is not going to have the Caribbean Chicken Salad on the menu any more. Nor will they have Junior's favorite dish, the basil pasta (which wasn't on the menu under that name but you could order it as a vegetarian entree). The reason? They are cutting out menu items that require them to have an ingredient for just that one dish. (I'm probably explaining this wrong). So the salad is gone because they won't be carrying mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks or honey-lime dressing (used only for that dish), and they are doing away with mozzarella sticks which means they won't need to carry the marinara sauce, which is needed for the basil pasta. Oh, and the onion (blossom, or whatever they call it) will be gone too.

I know they offer pasta on the kids menu, so I'm having a hard time picturing them removing one of the few kid's items, but someone made a decision somewhere. But how hard is it to keep a can/jar of sauce on hand for the kids? Or for the vegetarians, for that matter. Not much else on the menu that doesn't involve meat.

Labels: food, restaurants, sad

Remember a few months ago when those criminals escaped from jail after digging an escape route in the cell and covering up the hole with a racy pinup photos? Well little did we know that Miss Izzy would take her cue from New Jersey fugitives and make a run for it this weekend.
I can only blame myself for her escape – we tried out a new wheel (in our endless effort to get a quiet one) and I think it was stable enough for her to get on top of it because of all the bedding underneath making the wheel hard to spin. In the morning Mr. Dump and I were congratulating each other on finding a wheel that did not squeak all night. That's when I noticed that her house, which usually has the door blocked with bedding, was free and clear. The equivalent of an unmade bed. And I could see inside but I couldn't see Izzy. And I started to panic.
Izzy left at some point during the night, and sadly, despite spending literally ALL DAY Memorial Day looking for her, calling her name and putting out her favorite treats, we pretty much have to assume she's not going to be coming back. The dog never found a trace of her (i.e. never acted like he smelled anything hamster-related). There were no tell-tale turdlets anywhere to be found. The weather was pretty darned warm the past two days, and without a steady water supply, I'm feeling like she signed her own fate when she leaped from the tank.
So, goodbye Izzy. I feel really horrible about losing you, even though I did nothing to encourage it, nor did I want you to break Junior's heart that way. Junior, by the way, still holds out hope that we may find Izzy. Mr. Dump suggested the time-honored tradition of replacing the pet with an exact replica, but I'd rather Junior face the fact that Izzy is gone, and decide for himself if he wants to get another hamster, or perhaps go with something less nocturnal this time around. It's not like I don't have all the toys, a brand new bag of bedding, brand new wheel, and brand new bag of food available.
I can tell you that we will re-visit the whole top of the tank security measures.

Rip Izzy

Izzy, 2008-2008

Labels: Izzy, pets, sad

Over on the Fox news website, they have a list of the "most popular" stories. I found the juxtaposition of these two headlines rather jarring.

I don't really have anything else to say about this that you probably aren't already thinking to yourself.

Labels: News, sad

Before I forget, I just wanted to say "goodbye" to the fantastic tomatoes I enjoyed this summer. I'm going to miss each and every one of you over the next 9-10 months. Life looks pretty bleak when you think about the mealy, orange tomatoes we'll be forced to endure, instead of the huge, juicy, deep read beauties of the summer.

I'm hoping to get another week or so from the local farm stands, but I don't have a lot of hope. Goodbye, good tomatoes. See you next summer!

Labels: food, sad