And Then There Was One

As of today around noon, our car is down to one door that has both inside and outside handles still working.

Some of you may remember the first handle calamity, that happened during my junior year while living at Glenwood. The inside driver's side handle broke off, and Michael Lundwall fixed it with one of those little orange flags that they put up around construction sites or along pipelines--you know which ones I mean? That ghetto wire handle is still in place.

After that, I don't remember in what order the rest of them happened, but here is the inventory: front passenger's side inside handle gone, replaced with a wire contraption similar to original wire replacement. The outside handle on that door is still intact. Back passenger side inside handle is intact; outside handle has completely snapped off. The back driver's side door is the only one that still has its original handles both inside and out; the driver's door has two broken ones. For a while we had half a handle on the outside of that door, but today it snapped off in Mike's hand.

So... Can we say awesome? It is so beyond time for us to get a new car. If only we could.

The Terrible Twos Have Begun...

Boy, Hannah sure is trying my sanity today. I wish it wasn't only 9:40. She's been an absolute pill ever since she woke up, and on top of that Lana is having a rough day too. At least I can do something for Lana, though--if she's not hungry or tired, then she's at least just happy when I pick her up. Hannah, on the other hand, is throwing giant temper tantrums about everything and screaming bloody murder because she doesn't want to eat her peaches. Sigh... It's a good thing they're cute. :)

Is the Spy Capable or Not?

Oh my goodness. I came across this article just a few minutes ago, and you have to go check it out. It's a list of movie titles that got mangled when they went to other countries, and their supposed translations. These are a few of my favorites:

China
As Good As It Gets--Mr Cat Poop
Free Willy--A Very Powerful Whale Runs to Heaven

France
The Matrix--The Young People Who Traverse Dimensions While Wearing Sunglasses

Japan
Army of Darkness--Captain Supermarket (what on earth??)

Taiwan
Get Smart--Is the Spy Capable or Not

Strange Days Have Found Us...

Today has been a strange day! I woke up very, very tired (which is not strange--I am just prefacing my story with the facts). Mike and I have been working very hard to go to bed before midnight the past week, and for three days in a row we actually did a really good job; we woke up Saturday and Sunday around 8:00 and weren't even tired! But alas, 'twas not so today. Anyway. So I woke up exhausted and went on to have several strange things happen to me:

• Shortly after waking up I read a text on my phone that I'd gotten during the night. For no reason at all my phone froze while I was reading the text, so I took the battery out and put it back in, only to discover that the time was now half an hour off! I cannot fathom what could cause such an anomaly.
• I became so sleepy at work that I had to lie down on the couch for a bit while Hannah watched Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. I never actually fell asleep--I could hear the TV the whole time--but I guess I lost just enough consciousness that after about fifteen minutes I woke up feeling energized! The remarkable thing here is that normally I would wake up from a nap feeling like my body weighed 400 pounds and I could barely move.
• In the afternoon the power randomly went out. I was getting Hannah up from her nap, and the lamp in her room went out; I thought the light bulb had just burned out, but then when the living room light wouldn't turn on either, I figured out it was the whole house.
  
• By the afternoon I'd forgotten that my phone was half an hour behind. Mike's shift ended before mine today, so I had to go pick him up. It was almost 3:00 and I was just about to leave to go get him, when I remembered my phone being wrong and realized I was 20 minutes late to get him! Then, I remembered that his shift actually ended at 3:30, not 3:00 as I'd been thinking the whole day.
  
• We picked Mike up and dropped him off at home. I dithered for a while about whether I wanted to stay at home with him for a while and rest, go to the library like I'd planned, or just take Hannah back home. We ended up going home, and it's a good thing because in a case of very bizarre timing, we saw Trent walking up to the house right as we were getting out of the car.
• I was home by 4:15 (I usually get home after 5:00). It felt even earlier than that because I'd been thinking it was half an hour earlier all day.
  
• I am sitting in the CCCC library computer lab now, waiting for Mike's class to get out, and a fight just broke out at the two tables next to mine. There was no hitting, but there was a lot of yelling in French, and I wish I could tell what was going on because from where I'm sitting it looks like a girl came to visit a friend at one table and decided to start yelling at a girl sitting at the next table over.

Hmm... These things don't sound that strange as I write them out. Isn't it unfair how that happens? Oh well. You will have to take my word for it that today has been a weird day for me. In other news, I just ate half a Symphony bar in the last fifteen minutes while I wrote this post. Mmm.

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

Oh dear. What to say and where to begin?
Okay--I loved this book. It was fantastic. The first forty pages or so were good, but didn't hook me; I read a few pages at a time, and had no trouble putting it down. But around the fifth chapter I got sucked in, and didn't want to put it down. (In fact, I didn't, since I was off that day and Mike was working so I didn't have a car... I read most of the book that afternoon, and finished it in pieces that night when I got a chance.)
But here's the thing. The ending is not as good as it should be. I was disappointed. Then I remembered reading Janssen's review of it a while ago, and thought that I remembered her saying the same thing (I went and looked--she did). But, then I saw that there was a sequel, which I had completely forgotten about! And I got really excited. But, then Janssen said that it is mostly about a different character. And I got sad again. I don't know what character it follows and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but I want more of Katsa and Po! Sigh.
Anyway. The story is about Katsa, the niece of the king and a Graceling, which is what they call people who have extraordinary powers. Katsa has a killing Grace, which means that she is basically invincible in any kind of hand-to-hand combat. At the beginning of the book she rescues an old man from a neighboring country who has been kidnapped by a different neighboring country, and then throughout the book she and her friends try to find out who kidnapped him and why. This leads to all kinds of adventures, including a new friend named Po, who is the kidnapped man's grandson. Katsa and Po fall in love, as you can pretty much tell they will from the beginning, and they have a fantastic love story. Now, I am truly not a sucker for love stories. In fact I am quite a cynic, and tend to be turned off by too much sappiness. But Katsa and Po are by no means sappy, and their story is the knot-in-your-stomach kind that is just impossible not to love.
So. Unsatisfying ending aside, I have to say that I loved this book (and actually, like Janssen said about the second one, I couldn't stop looking at the cover! I think it is so beautiful). I give it an 8.5, and hope that I love the sequel as much.

A Very Merry Un-Anniversary...

Today is the third anniversary of the day Mike and I became a couple. Our first date was November 2, 2006. We went out almost every day for the next two weeks, kissed on November 13, and on November 14 we were officially boyfriend/girlfriend. Yay :)

An Argument for Punctuation

That's the name of the post on the Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! blog...



But my question is, what on earth did he mean to say??

Naked Baby

I'm nervous about naptime. Trent said that last night they heard her get out of bed, so they went in and found her totally naked. She'd taken off pants, shirt, and diaper. So now they're only putting her to bed in those footie pajamas that zip all the way down to the foot, so she can't get out. But unless I change her into that for every nap... it will be interesting.

So Horrible... Must... Stop... Laughing...

The Blind Leading the Blind...

It's frustrating when people think they're really educated about something, but you look at the things they're learning from and it's clear they're only getting one side--and a blatantly biased one at that. You can't really discuss things with people who are determined to only see their own point of view, you know? It makes for a fairly pointless conversation.

My Blog = Very Yes

I love my blog. I think it's so pretty. Sometimes I just scroll up and down looking at my old posts, because I want to be doing something on it but I've already posted that day, maybe even twice. Or I just don't have anything to say. Right now I just let Mike borrow my computer, and when I got it back my blog was up and I thought "aw, my blog. I love my blog." So here you go. A post... on my blog... about my blog... and how much I love it. Sometimes I am awesome.

Welcome to the Black Parade

I would like to take a moment and explain that against all odds, I love My Chemical Romance. Welcome to the Black Parade is a particularly fantastic album, and if you have never heard it, or have never listened to My Chem, you should check it out. Favorite songs from that album: This is How I Disappear, The Sharpest Lives, House of Wolves, Mama, Teenagers. If I'm not in the right mood I can't listen to Cancer and Sleep, because they both can be fairly depressing, but are still really good songs.
In case you are wondering, my iPod died and I recently procured a new one, so after a couple months of having zero music I am now re-falling in love with many of my favorite songs. I was listening to it on shuffle and The End. came up, but then instead of going straight into Dead! like it should, it went on to Muse; and as much as I love Muse, I realized that I really wanted to hear that song. So now I'm listening to My Chemical Romance and writing this post, and having lots of nostalgia as well. Ah, Provo, and driving around in you listening to these songs and blowing off steam... Those were good times. (Actually a lot of those times sucked, which is why I was blowing off steam, but you know what I mean.)

You Can Never Buy Enough Corn Syrup

I think it is strange that people advertise something that is not a brand. Ham, for instance. Cotton. Corn syrup. Milk. Eggs, the commercials for which are what made me think of writing this post. These campaigns are selling not a particular brand of something, but just the item itself. I mean... it's an advertisement for a kind of fabric. Does anyone go out to the store thinking, "I think I would like to buy some clothes made of cotton"? It's just weird. Also weird is how much I talk about commercials on my blog, but that is a horse of an entirely different color.

I Don't Hate People, But If I Did...

Pretty much anyone who uses any form of the Wall Street/Main street cliche is someone I can't stand. If that person also uses the word evil to describe politicians who "don't listen to him," I almost hate him. (I mean, come on. Evil. Really??)

Jaylee Virginia Doyle

Jaylee was born Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 11:13 pm in Idaho. She is 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and 20 inches long, and she is totally adorable! I can't wait to see her at Thanksgiving. Congratulations Dafni and Brandon, you are a super beautiful little family! :)

Tonight

Still no Jaylee, but at least it sounds like things are actually progressing now.

Grandmother's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 5:30 pm. The doctors didn't want to do it because it's so risky, but she says either fix it or she wants to go. My dad flew out there today and who knows what will happen tomorrow...

T-mobile sucks.

Facebook sucks too, or maybe just Firefox. I am trying out browsers again and paying attention to what it is about each browser that doesn't work, and here it is the tally so far: Google Chrome crashes every ten minutes. Firefox won't keep me logged in to any of the pages where I click "keep me logged in." Internet Explorer is super boring looking.

Had to be at work at 7:00 on Monday, and it's 7:10 tomorrow.

Lots of things to whine about tonight! Good thing I got to hang out with Liron AND Alex today, and I get to see Hannah tomorrow! Maybe Alex too if I can swing it... And tonight, tomorrow, sometime soon I will have a new niece! Everything is worth it for cute babies. :)

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month. If you participate, the goal is to write a 175 page (that's 50,000 words) novel from November 1 to November 30. Starting today, that's 1725 words a day. That is ambitious for me, but it sounds really cool and I think I will try it, even though I lost a day because I didn't start last night when I found out about it. Liz, this seems like something you'd be interested in... Mike is already writing something and I don't know if he's planning on having it coincide with NaNoWriMo (I didn't make it up), but he might. Everyone let me know if you're trying it because I think it's a cool idea.

Worst Idea Ever

Hannah and I were watching Franklin this morning, and the episode was about Franklin developing an allergy. His friends were trying to help him figure out what he was allergic to, so they brought him a bunch of things and had him try them. Hope real kids don't try that!

Dora E. Boots

This is what Mike always thinks when he hears "Dora y Boots." It makes me laugh every time and I decided the E stands for Eleanor.

Two phrases I loathe: "not your mother's ___" and "confessions of a ___." Overused, overused, overused. And the first one was stupid to begin with.

I think a cookbook called The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue has got to be amazing.

We didn't get any trick or treaters last night (third floor apartment, not so much) but we did have family over for a Halloween party and had some really yummy food. Plus we disguised our trash in those big jack-0-lantern bags... pretty clever if you ask me. Also we looked awesome:

The gun is borrowed from my dad's costume--he came as one of the Men in Black, which is why it looks all futuristic and spacey. It's a spray-painted Nerf gun. Cool huh.

Pumpkins-A-Go-Go

Last night Mike and I carved pumpkins! It was my first time, and I loved it. Sticking my hand in and grabbing all that goo was not my favorite part, but I was proud of myself for not letting Mike do it for me, even when he offered. I will not be called a pumpkin pansy. :) Anyway then we lit them and they cast cool shadows on the wall, which would not be captured in pictures, but you can imagine them. And then we toasted the pumpkin seeds and ate them while watching Scrubs! It was a pretty fantastic night and we will definitely be making it a tradition--which makes Mike very happy, because he has been begging to carve pumpkins for a really long time.

In case you are wondering, the pumpkins are so small because Mike bought them yesterday when he left work, and all the big pumpkins were sold out. It's okay--they look a little goofy with the candles visible, but it was probably easier for me to start on a small one. Next year we'll get started earlier.

Poop.

Today I went to get Hannah up from her nap and found her sitting up in her crib (can you tell where this is going?) with her diaper not on her body, but in her hands. The diaper was full of poop, and she was covered in it. So were her teddy bears, her sheets, and her blanket. I just about died. There was too much of the poop to spot clean her, so I just picked her up (very, very carefully) and took her to the bathtub. I took out all her bath toys so she wouldn't poopify them, washed and re-dressed her, then stripped her bed and dumped everything in the washer. I texted Trent and he said "wow, that's a first!" Awesome! Yay for firsts. :)

Thanks for Thanksgiving, by Julie Markes and Doris Barrette

Thanks for Thanksgiving is Hannah's new bathtime book, and it is adorable. It's basically a poem of things a kid is thankful for, and that part is cute, but the really amazing thing about the book is the illustration! Doris Barrette is the illustrator and I just think every page of this book is gorgeous. This is one of my very favorite pages though. I just love the leaves.

In semi-related news, this article came up while I was searching for a picture of the book for this post, and I thought it was interesting, if a little harsh. I have had many of the same thoughts. I don't believe that we should stop celebrating Thanksgiving, because after elementary school for most of us it's not about the Pilgrims anymore, it's about being thankful for all the wonderful things we have. There is nothing wrong with a holiday like that. But taking Thanksgiving out of it, I will admit that I have a hard time understanding why we glorify and idolize the founding of this country the way that we do, when it came about through the slaughter and displacement of an entire people who had the right to be here when we didn't.

So it's gonna be one of THOSE days...

Woke up this morning and discovered Mike is sick.
It's raining, again. And somehow I still don't own any shoes that aren't flip flops or made of canvas! Strange.
Before he leaves Trent says "She got to bed pretty late last night, so she should sleep for a while." The instant he's gone I hear her, definitely not still sleeping. Now she's been up for an hour and has not stopped crying for one minute of it. I'm sure it's because she's still tired but she won't go back to sleep. Can't take her outside to play because it's soaking wet... Awesome.
Oh well. At least I have Cash Cab. :)

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games and I might have loved it even more than I did the first. I certainly read it faster (not that the first one took me a long time). I started reading at approximately 9:00 pm yesterday, and was done at around 3 this afternoon. This was not by any means uninterrupted reading, but I can tell you I didn't put it down any more than I had to! The plot is absolutely chock full of unexpected twists and bombshells, and it was so exciting that I told Mike he had to stop talking to me for a few hours while I finished. (He didn't, but he made a good enough effort. :) ) I really can't summarize anything because the whole plot is one big surprise, so I will just tell you that I loved it and I am so depressed that there isn't even a definitive release date yet for the third one, at least not one that I've been able to find. I give it a 9.