The Big DumpTruck

It’s Tuesday here in Jodyland. I remind myself of that because I don’t want to have one of those screw-ups where I think the week is further along than it is. I hate that.

In Jodyland today, we are happy to combine Mardi Gras with the Pat’s parade. I will be celebrating neither from my little cubicle world, but I am aware that these things are going on around me. I have not seen anyone drinking hurricanes or passing out beads around the office, but it’s still early.

We are also keeping our eye on the ratzen fratzen weather reports that say we may get another 6-12 on Thursday. I have no idea what that’s going to do to the spaghetti supper at school Thursday night. I assume there will be some kind of note going home with all the kids telling us what will happen in case of a big storm. At least they started talking about this one a few days ahead of time, so people can get mentally and physically prepared. Me? I’ve got an unopened container of onion dip and a bag of chips, so I’ll get through any storm just fine.

My pick is hands-down the Ameriquest Kitty commercial. I’m sure some people are already writing Congress or whatever it is loons do. That commerical was brilliantly conceived and brilliantly shot. We rewound that sucker right away on the Tivo.

Runner up was P. Diddy’s Diet Pepsi truck commercial. That one made me giggle each time it was on. Oh my God, how on-target was that? Fantastic.

Third place? Uh….I guess….I’m going to give it to CareerBuilder. But who doesn’t love monkeys?

Ahh, what a lovely day! I don’t even care that the school bus was 15 minutes late this morning. I don’t! And why is that, you ask? Well, because the Pats won, they have nothing more to prove to anyone. Man, do these guys get no respect or what? Even as they are pulling off an unbelievable third win in four years, even as our coach breaks the record for winning the most games in the post-season, the analysts are talking about Terrell Owens, etc.

Whatever. You can try to dismiss this team all you want, but I think we proved our point.

Oh, and besides, we’re supposed to get some record-breaking warmth today, and 55 degrees in February is cause for major celebration, regardless of a Superbowl win.

Before I forget, here’s picture I took with my phone at Junior’s ski lesson. He moved up to the next level, and all the kids ended up skiing for an extra hour after their hour lesson was over. He LOVED it. And my nephew looks like an old pro. After 5 total lessons, I’d say he’s almost ready for the big mountain. Holy cow, that kid is good. It almost made me want to take lessons. Almost. I think if I was going to do it, I’d have to take the morning off from work and do it when nobody else was around. Because yes, I’m that embarrassed. But we stood there for 2 hours and my feet started to freeze and I started to think about how much time I’m going to end up at a mountain trying to keep amused while he’s skiing. I mean, he’s only 7 – I can’t just leave him there.

Man, less than two minutes left and I just have a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach. Well, I mean, it’s not as bad as watching the Sox play the Yanks last October, but still, I hate close games like this.

And I know the gnawing isn’t from hunger because I cooked a most amazing dinner this evening, if I do say so myself. This morning while we had breakfast out, I asked Mr. Dump what he wanted for his birthday dinner. “Beef Stroganoff.” “Seriously?” “Ya. And garlic bread.”

So while we sat there, I looked up a recipe on Epicurious, and then we stopped at Shaws on the way home and got all the stuff (except for the red wine, cause, well, they don’t sell it) and tonight I made beef stroganoff from scratch. And it was damned good. Which is bad because now he’s gonna think I can cook.

Okay, we just have to make it through the next minute and forty three seconds. This is the longest two minutes of 2005. Unless you count that time I really had to pee and I was stuck in traffic.

Man, I get a full day of shuttling Junior to swimming and then to skiing. He is SO excited about the skiing. I know I would have been at his age too. Except for my fear of pain and death. I was always afraid to get hurt sliding – I figure adding me standing up to that would not be good. Anyway, I am so not looking forward to dealing with the ski area, getting his rentals, getting his pass for the class, and then standing in the snow watching for an hour. This, my friends, proves that I love him, because I can think of about 1000 things I’d rather do this afternoon.

Mr. Dump’s birthday is tomorrow, and I can’t figure out what to do. He’s going to have to take my step-son home in the afternoon, and then there’s the whole Superbowl thing. Do I invite people over? I can’t even tell if he wants me to. *sigh*. It’s been a couple of years since we watched the Superbowl with friends. I miss that, actually. It’s always more fun to watch with a bunch of people.

Okay, I guess I need to go make sure Junior doesn’t have his underwear on under his bathing suit. I’m making him put his bathing suit on under his pants because he’s too little to go in the men’s locker room by himself, so it’s easier to have him “ready to go” when we get there.

p.s. Happy Birthday Nat! I hope you had a great day, even though I know it’s tough with your honey away. Just think, when he gets back he’ll have a whole bunch of stuff to make up to you! Geeks bearing gifts!