Video May Have Killed the Radiostar but No Radio Almost Killed Me

I bailed on my mini goal of no radio for a week on Friday night. I made it 3.5 days, to be honest. I drove myself crazy with my thoughts on Friday morning but I stayed strong. Come Friday night, I was out later than I wanted to be and was like walking-dead-level tired and I truly thought it was a safety concern not to have some music on to keep me awake for my drive home. I turned it up extra loud to compensate for it's 3.5 days of silence.

RaNdOm TiDbItS 2

• It's Sunday morning and church has been cancelled due to the snow falling outside. It's nothing compared to what we have see so far this winter but it's still happening so the roads are probably not super safe. I had to make some calls to tell people, which is why I didn't automatically just roll over and go back to sleep, which is where I am headed as soon as I am done with this:)
• Last night I fulfilled a childhood dream!! I went and saw roller derby live. They didn't have the huge ring with the Nascar-like inclines and railings to push each other over but it was still pretty glorious. The girls all had super fun names and crazy get ups on. The crows was the best part, though. Super eclectic. As always, pics to come as soon as I take them off my camera! PS, there was a dance party after. How cool is that?
• I finished reading Little Bee. The writing was good but I just didn't love the story. It had some graphic violent scenes that hit a little too close to home with some hard work stuff this week so I decided my next book needs to be a bit less socially aware so I have started The Mortal Instruments series with City of Bones, recommended by someone who loved the Hunger Games with the zeal that I did.
• Did you ever realize that when things are going especially bad you can have a psychotic "break" but when things are going really well in that same realm, you can have a "break" through?
• I called the police on Friday morning on my way to work because some sketchy guy in an equally sketchy van was parked in a weird location near my house. I pretty much drove myself crazy thinking of how he was going to get into my house and steal Hubby's xbox games and let my cats out. Or worse. It was all very dramatic in my mind. I guess he didn't do any of those things, though.
• I went to see the eye dr on Friday, too. It was only my second visit and he placed some big decisions in my lap. He also had me stick contacts in my eyes for the first time ever. Since then, I have been weighing the pros and cons of glasses v contacts, especially in regard to my triathlons for the swimming and biking. I think I have settled on getting contacts but not wearing them often while simultaneously getting a new pair of glasses. I am told that my prescription changed enough that I should upgrade my current frames, too, but I think they are just dandy. I don't have a very bad prescription and only really need the vision help for distances "Oh, look at that pretty thing on our travels" or late night driving or movies. I don't think it's worth sticking my fingers in my eyes for this small fragment of time. I am open to suggestions on this, though!!
• The kitten is trying to catch the snowflakes at the window right now.

roseanne=a little friday fun

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/02/15/roseanne_barr_nut_farmer_reality_tv

For those of you who didn't see a red-gloved, sunglasses-inside wearing Rosie on The Talk a couple weeks back....NEWSFLASH: She now has a macadamia nut farm.
I love Roseanne. I own the whole 90s sitcom series of DVD.  She keeps it real.
That being said, a reality show? About nuts? When Roseanne doesn't seem to be as on top of it as she did when she told Dan Connor what was what?
Will I watch? Of course!! Won't you? But I'm worried. Just sayin'.

Video Killed the Radio Star

The name of this blog is "Apiring to the Middle" for a reason. I'm not trying to set any world records but small goals are a good time. Again, inspired my my friend Donna ( * http://thedollsweetjournal.blogspot.com), I have decided to try cutting myself off from a small amount of technology. Donna is pretty brave; she is going Facebook free for a whole month. I won't be going that far! I am not going to listen to the radio in the car for a week.
Day Two: I started this goal on Tuesday on my way home for work for no real reason but noticed it was peaceful. It's easier not to have music on the way home, when I have a lot to think about and decompress from the day. It brought about a nice tone for the evening. It was a little harder in the morning. I don't think as well pre-11am.
It's interesting where my mind wanders to. I also find that I have been humming hymns. I am no not the kind of person who naturally hums hymns so I am really struck that it happened for the first two days.
I will admit, I listened to my ipod at work, so it's not like I am music free. I really just did it to drown out a loud woman in the next room who I am pretty sure didn't plan for her words to reach my ears. It's a little different, though, because my mind isn't free to roam at work anyway, right?
Keep you posted!
Day Three: Last night to fill the void, I talked on the phone most of the way home. I got lost on my way home from the city a little bit so my ride was like an hour-that's a lot of quiet!
This morning, on the third day, I was dying! I tried to notice pretty details about houses and stuff but I wanted the radio so bad. I was seriously driven to distraction. I can't make other people shut off their radios for my goal so I might let Hubby drive tonight for our date.
More to come!

A Love/Hate Relationship with Pants

Why do pants feel comfy standing up but tight sitting down? If I bought them bigger, they would be too baggy when I was standing. Why do they show my socks when I sit? When I am standing, they are touching the floor! I feel duped. (Hate)

On the other hand, I let Hubby name our kitten (Love) and he chose the name Panthro, inspired by the Thundercats. It just doesn't roll off the tongue. Try it and I'm sure you will agree. We have nicknamed his Pants, in part because of his long legs and a tail that is always curled over  his back, exposing areas that would nicely be covered by a pair of pants. The kitten is a little naughty and jumps on places and things that my other beloved, old lady cat, Stella, would never even think of disturbing. As a result, I find myself yelling for him to get down from the counter or the sink or my leg a lot. Only after a few months of such hollering did Hubby point out that the neighbors often loudly hear me yelling "No Pants!!" or "Pants, down!!" or, worst in my opinion, "Pants, off!". They much think I am a pretty aggressive wife!

Putting The Help on Blast

Just when I was searching for something of value to me to blog about, www.salon.com came to the rescue again. In perusing the website today, I came upon this article about the book, The Help.
The Help is a widely popular fiction novel about race and class in the 1960's South. A number of people recommended this book to me including the book club at church. I read it and liked it but was not blown away by it. Regardless, the article is about a law suit being brought against the author by someone who feels too similar to one of that characters and believes her story was exploited.
Make what you will of this article and this claim. It brought up two more interesting points for me. The first is about exploiting people's stories. I feel very strongly that life stories and experiences should not be used in an exploitative manner; I feel just as strongly about the importance of people finding their own 'voice' and power.
Second, and more up for debate in my world, is the issue of artistic liberty. More specifically, how "okay" is it for someone to write about a gender/race/etc that is not their own?
As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently reading Little Bee. A friend of mine who read the book already, which is about a female Nigerian refugee in England and penned by a white man, and took issue with a man writing from a Black woman's perspective. I am only halfway through the book so I'm not sure if I can comment much but so far, he seems to be doing a good job describing some things that are traumatic to women. For the record, the writing is very good but I don't think I am in love with the story.
On the other hand, Wally Lamb's first huge novel was She's Come Undone and was written from a female perspective. I love Wally Lamb and everything he touches (except that Christmas story) and want him to be my buddy. In my opinion, he did a flawless job of a man writing with a woman's voice.
As all of these books have been read by many, I would be interested in other opinions on the topic. In the meantime, I am interested to see the result of the lawsuit.

RaNdOm TiDbItS

My friend Donna (http://thedollsweetjournal.blogspot.com/) writes a blog and on Fridays she does bulleted pieces called Fragmented Fridays, an idea from http://www.halfpastkissintime.com/p/friday-fragments.html, with little tidbits from the week. I like this idea and am going to steal it, with her permission pending.
Some things popped up this week that I didn't turn into a full rant (of course).
Of note:

• I found a silk shirt in Hubby's clothes pile. I haven't seen a silk shirt since I was in middle school. Is that even socially appropriate? I guessed not and told him that.
• What's the next best sign of Spring after flowers peeping through the grass? My grill emerged from a snow pile this week! It was a welcomed visitor.
• I finished my book, The Virgin Widow, about Lady Anne Neville. It was a great love story. I'm currently weighing my options as to what to read next-the pile of options is high! I jumped into Little Bee last night but am not sure if I will stick with it yet or not. 
• Wednesday brought the much anticipated new season of Survivor! Who else is watching so I can stockpile peeps to discuss with?
• I had a cousins party tonight and honed some of my new domestic skills. Tonight's menu was appetizers and desserts because they create the perfect meal balance in the world I roll in. For apps I made: spinach squares, sweet and sour meatballs, and pizza rolls. For dessert I made: chocolate mint cookies, white chocolate Oreo truffles, and muddy buddies (clearly more for me than anyone else).
• I waged war with Best Buy and their "installation Geek Squad" this week. Such a long story but if you ever consider getting a car starter installed by them, contact me and I will give you an earful to prep you.
• Work was a little tragic this week. I had to take Wednesday off just to catch up on sleep and regain some energy. I decided a walk outside was just what the Dr ordered and the fresh air was wonderful. I took pics so it might turn into its own rant. Then I went to Framingham Bakery for some of the best pizza on Earth. The next day on FB, a debate over the Framingham Bakery Pizza hype popped up. I defended it to the death. If they shipped, I would totally include a link so the rad readers that appeared from Indonesia and Singapore this week could get in on the goodness. I feel guilty having all the pleasure for myself.
• Thanks for reading!
• PS-how great are the Old Spice commercials??????

work vs blog

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_hi_te/us_teacher_suspended_bloghile

while i have mixed feelings about what this teacher actually wrote, this article brings up a big issue for me. the nature of my work in domestic violence is confidential. it makes it really tough sometimes to vent the natural work frustrations that all of us have. last week a woman shared some things that haunted me all weekend but i couldn't really talk about it. i also cant talk much about it publicly in a blog, which is a little challenging since its not just a job i spend 40+ hours at but a way of thinking about the world, relationships, safety, violence, trauma, the way people treat each other and the residual effects. it impacts the way i feel when i go for a run. it informs my interaction with strangers and systems. it makes me a worse friend as i don't have a lot of emotional energy left to listen to problems and sadness outside of work but it simultaneously makes me feel like a better person for the honor of people sharing their lives and stories with me. it makes me laugh at different jokes and feel rubbed the wrong way by others. and its all a big concept that i cant share many specifics about.
so i envy this woman putting it all out there. it probably wasn't a wise career move but i appreciate that she vented somewhere other than to the kids. i guess the trouble is that her blog ended up like molly ringwalds note in 16 candles; it got into the wrong hands.
which reminds me.....to end on a happy note: the movies had nostalgia night this week and showed 16 candles on the big screen. it was glorious!!

Who do you think you are??

Have you seen this show? http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/ They follow celebrities as they do genealogy and trace their families back to interesting stories. They get a lot of help along the way-I would do a lot more if someone else found all the good documents and put all the pieces together for me. The result, though, is always moving and they learn something about themselves.

My mother's cousin was able to trace my grandmother's line back to the Mayflower!! This was  huge to a girl who goes to Plimoth Plantationhttp://www.plimoth.org/, where they do reenactments of the Pilgrim village circa 1627 every year the day before Thanksgiving. (When I was at college in Utah, I even flew home for this event).
This year on our annual 'pilgrimage'-pun fully intended-we walked into the home of Stephen Hopkins, the Mayflower passenger I can be traced to, and he was telling the story of how he met his wife. Very cool.

This show is important for a myriad of reasons. I especially like that it helps people think about their roots in a deeper way. How many times have you been part of a conversation about what nationality you are? I'm guessing many, as most of us have. This might be super relevant if you are a first generation immigrant but I find it an odd combination of amusing and frustrating that some people say "I'm Irish" when you don't know who or when in your family anyone ever actually lived in Ireland. I say this from first hand experience. With my name, complexion, and a dad who resembles a leprechaun, it felt easy to claim Irish roots but I don't have the proof to back it up.  I stopped claiming that years ago when this all dawned on me.

I still have a lot of work to do on the other side of my family to figure out where we come from. Adoptions and family secrets have made that work difficult to get back even a couple generations but I will feel like a full fledged detective when I dig up the documents that tell me something that my family never could.

It also just recently occurred to me how cool my future child's pedigree will be. On one side, he/she/it will be able to go back to the original colonies of this country. On the other side, there will be Hubby, who is the first child in his family to be born in the USA. If Bruce Springsteen lyrics didn't just pop into your head, you need to go stare at the flag while eating some apple pie and try again.

Barbies

My friend just posted on Facebook how her son was playing with a Barbie and ripped her head off within two minutes. I immediately posted back "remember how i had that barbie head that haunted all the other barbies?". Even as I was typing it and recalling that haunting Barbie head, I realized that's not how most little girls 'played Barbies'. While everyone else was dressing their dolls in cute outfits, I was trying to horrify mine.
My Barbies were always really promiscuous, too. At least they all wanted to win Ken. Usually 'Kayla', the Barbie with red, curly hair was his preferred date. I never had much use for Skipper or even all the accessories, although the pink convertible was a must.

I wonder if anyone has done a solid study of the correlation between Barbie play and behavior later in life. I went to school long enough to understand play therapy but I want hard core stats on Barbie, in particular.

As a kid, I never played house or babies or anything. I made up clubs where I got to be in leadership positions and I really dug this antique typewriter in the front hall. Indicative? I think so.

Weighty Issues

I usually only weigh myself at the gym on the same scale on the same night each week. This week when I went in the locker room, all they had was the real, move the weights by hand scale, not the digital one that I like. The guy at the front desk told me that the digital ones can be off by as much as 5 lbs but that's what they use on "I used to be Fat" on MTV and it has always seemed to keep me happy. I recognize that a problem might lie within that happiness.
So at last night's weigh in, I was 3 lbs heavier than I usually am. Is this the Muddy Buddy issue rearing it's ugly head again?? Or does that scale need to be recalibrated? 
I don't know the correct answer so I am going to take matters into my own hands and buy me a scale. I hate the idea of spending a minimum of $20 for something that might ruin my day sometimes but I  need a consistant, reliable measure.
There's some good news that comes out of all of this, though. I most often do my grocery shopping after said gym trip on Monday nights. The tragic weigh in convinced me to buy some healthier than normal foods such as Arnold's double protien bread (which I slathered with my natural, fresh ground peanut butter) and I have to say, after having just finished it as a snack that it was a thumbs up experience, all around!! 

http://www.arnoldbread.com/Products/Description.aspx?sSku=7341001374

Happy Commercial Love Day!

What kind of girl would I be if I didn't write about Valentine's Day? Although I haven't had many of those single Valentine's Days where the unpaired of the world are supposed to lament, I can totally understand that sentiment. Why do we have a day dedicated to coupledom? For those who are happy, we should celebrate our love every day! For those who are not, paired or not paired, I don't think we need a day to commemorate that. And don't get me started on boxed chocolates!! So not a fan.
I think, nationally, we should take Valentine's Day back as a kid's holiday. It was so fun to write and receive cards in a paper bag I decorated at school. And who doesn't need a reason to make and eat pink frosted cookies?
But since I'm supposed to celebrate it as an adult, let me report what I did to celebrate. Monday night is reserved for BodyPump, my favorite class at the gym so activities tonight were off limits. We were kind of planning to do something for Valentine's Day on Saturday since it was the only night we both had free. Then Hubby's sister announced she was going to be in a play and we planned to go. At the last minute, Hubby decided he couldn't handle the play so we went out to dinner instead. We tried a new place in town and it was pretty much an epic fail. I even gave the leftovers to my Dad because he will eat anything. So, the best thing to come from my holiday so far? Hubby downloaded a bunch of songs that Adam Duritz of Counting Crows had recorded this week for fans for Valentine's Day. I truly couldn't ask for a better treat!!!

A Chocolate and World of Jenks kind of Sunday

I think I'm physically addicted to Muddy Buddies. I ate the last of the most recent batch last night and woke up with a headache that held me hostage in my bed most of the day. I tried everything to kick it: lots of hydration, rest, jello, even some chocolate.
As a result, I caught up on a lot of World of Jenks today. What a great show. I want to live my life in a way that Andrew Jenks will feel it vital to follow me around for a week to figure me out. He is such a sensitive young man, too. I always feel like I have learned a life lesson at the end of the half hour with him. PS, I recognize I am an old lady by calling him a young man.

http://www.mtv.com/shows/world_of_jenks/series.jhtml

Thoughts on Marching to her Own Drum

http://www.mormonwomen.com/2011/02/09/marching-to-her-own-drum/

I really enjoyed reading about the drummer from Neon Trees and her journey to unite her religion with her musical life...until she realized that they didn't have to be two separate things. For me, it ties back to my first blog post in which I talked about aligning my own work with  my religion. In contrast, my work life seems much easier to meld in since my church life focuses on service, as does my work life. But maybe I need to make more peace with them being less distinct. Of course it's more than that, though. It's lifestyle and belief system, not just work.

Elaine Bradley talks about feeling like God didn't want her to be happy, which, in part, I believe has to do with feeling this dichotomy is necessary. When I think about something as small as my nose ring, I really don't believe it's God that takes issue with it; it's the woman sitting in front of me at church. And like Elaine, I like to think honesty is an overriding theme in my life. I am a lot of things but I am not fake. (I will admit this has led me to some trouble at times!!) While some wear their hearts on their sleeves-good fit for nearing Valentine's Day?- I wear my social justice in my nose. I can't make myself feel that my Heavenly Father dislikes that about me, as much as the collective "you" may want me to.

This woman really gives me pause and inspiration. I hope she will for you, too.

Catching up with Photos

I am have been trying to post these pics for days! As it is, I can't get my text near them so here's a summary:
Top: My snazzy new chair!!
Then there are pics of some of the yummy Superbowl snacks: muddy buddies, pizza rolls, and oreo truffles. I forgot to photography (or keep for leftover eating, for that matter) any of the meatballs. I tore my fridge apart on Monday looking for them! Also of note are the fabulous toothpicks that are my inspiration for having people over-ACTUAL TOOTHPICKS! You can own your own "set" from www.cb2.com.
Finally, stage right, please enjoy a picture of my friend playing in the aforementioned cat tunnel:)

Interesting things in my Inbox today

Going through my Yahoo email today, I got a couple noteworthy offers.
The first was from Amazon, telling me that Nutella is on sale. How do they know I love Nutella? Has word spread so far and wide?
Just a few below that, today's Groupon or Buy with me or Living Social deal (yes, I get them all) offered an hour long  "boudoir photo" session. Being the Golden Girls and Roseanne fan that I am, I drew to mind the time that Blanche convinced Rose to pose for a naughty picture for Miles and she thought wearing a flannel nightgown would be sexy. Roseanne posed for one for Dan, too.
I guess it's appropriate timing for a Valentine's Day gift but WHO REALLY DOES THAT???? Just the idea makes me simultaneously feel creeped out by the person behind the camera and makes me crack a smile at the ridiculousness of it. Who takes themselves so seriously and thinks they are that awesome? And where do you hang that picture when it's all printed out....your foyer?

Because the picture link hates me, I will tell you about novacaine and Sex and the City 2

Novacaine is such a mixed blessing. I am certain my day would have been infinitely worse if I didn't get any but, as it is, I have been incapacitated for about 4 hours now. I'm hungry but I might eat my own face. I have found a way to keep my sanity by applying lip gloss.
I bet Hubby wishes he were coaching a game tonight so he could take advantage of my limited capacity to speak. As it is, I have all sorts of interesting converstaions to have and I guess it's making me a better listener but it's killing my inner chatter box!!
While I wait to eat and talk, I am watching Sex and the City 2 for the first time. In terms of cinemetography and class, this ranks extremely low. The characters, which I only became familiar with via TBS, are clearly charicatures now. It does, however, bring up some interesting questions especiallly related to the middle place between dating and children, as well as the concept of "strong women".
Beyond the deep thoughts, it made me think of my upcoming 4 girl travel posse and inpsired me to write the following email to my companions:

im watching sex and the city 2 for the first time. when i saw their terrace, it reminded me of the view c sent out last week. as a result, i have decided we, in addition to jersey shore personas, need to adopt sex and the city roles. d has no choice but to be samantha, as the most single sexin' it up one. unfortunately, i think i might have to be miranda or charlotte. ok, i will admit i hate charlotte but i think i am neurotic and puritanical enough to fit the bill. id be happy to be voted into a different role, though. s is super smart so she could be the non ginger miranda. c, as the leader of the gang, you get to be the lovely ms carrie bradshaw! thoughts?

Sunshine Addendum

Hubby sent me a text today saying "I like the color of the bathroom now". Which word do you think I emphasized when I read it? Regardless, it was a nice message:)

Happy Superbowl and yay for tonight's creations

So I know some people don't believe you should watch or party for the Superbowl but  I am not among them. I took today as a good opportunity to spend some qt with some people i don't, normally. I also took it as an opportunity to boost my level of domesticity (one of the things I am aspiring toward). I found some great recipes on a fun blog I just discovered this week: Our Best Bites. I made pizza rolls, muddy buddies, Oreo truffles, and sweet and sour meatballs. I think the most notable thing is that Hubby liked and consumed all four things!!! That's huge as I am the world's pickiest eater second only to Hubby. Good friends came over and brought all sorts of other yum including chicken fingers, chicken wings, homemade salsa and some very attractive stuffed jalapenos that were far too exotic for my MAC glossed lips.

I paid very little attention to "The Game". I know that the team I wanted to win won. I only wanted them based on my distaste for the other team for the legal, moral, and ethical indiscretions of one of their players (pretend you just heard me clear my throat here). I wasn't even wowed by the commercials, although I in a game my friend created I chose Snickers as "My Ad" and I was blown away by the way Snickers knows my heart. I don't even like Snickers, really. I am not a nut person so Milky Way is more my speed but Snickers won me over last year with their feature of the amazing Ms. Betty White. As we all know, Golden Girls is my favorite show of all time. However, those near and dear to me know that I also own the entire series of Roseanne and, prior to my Golden Girls obsession, Rosie helped me to sleep each night and greeted me each morning. How much more amazing could Snickers be after tonight featuring Roseanne?!?! Thank you!!!!!

Again, pictures to follow. I am really good at taking them but not so good at taking them off the camera.

A Very Exciting Day

I got home at almost 2am after a 5.5 hour movie marathon with a group of lovely ladies from church, all of whom can prepare the most amazing foods. There was handmade caramel popcorn, fabulous mint brownies, a bunch of dips, even homemade flan!! I ate so much that I honestly had a dream that I got stretch marks on my stomach. But that was just the start to A Very Exciting Day....
Normally I don't work on Saturdays but today was an exception. I planned my whole day around my afternoon commitment to work. I got more than half way there, 11 miles to be exact, when I got a call that the thing I was going in for was now off. Being very close the best running shoe store in the state, I decided to shop instead, since I was already all the way out there. No parking.
Now having been bitten by an unquenched shopping bug, I went on a 4 store spree. I ended up with a yellow trash can for my new sunshiny bathroom, mod podge for a new project idea, and (put on your Bob Barker voice here) A NEW CHAIR!! Clearly, a picture will follow because I am pretty sure I am in love with it.
After 4 stores, 1 broken candle holder that I felt super guilty about, and a chair I didn't set out to purchase, I was exhausted. I hate to say it was against my better judgment to visit my grandmother in the hospital because horns might grow out from where a headband should go but that's where it all went downhill. Literally. As I tried to drive down the hill of the hospital driveway, it was so icy that, in order to avoid sliding into oncoming traffic, I steered into a snowbank. Inches from hitting the stop sign, I was officially stuck in the pile of snow.
Hubby didn't answer his phone. Brother didn't answer his phone. Not sure if we have AAA anymore. The only people who stopped to ask if I was OK were women in compact cars like my own. With one excellent former male bridesmaid on the way to my rescue, three angelic men in a truck stopped and pushed me out!!!!! I wanted so badly to thank them but I only had $8 in my wallet (and that's actually a fortune for me to carry in cash). I felt so silly but I shoved it in one of their shirt pockets and encouraged them to go to Dunkin Donuts while I continued to thank them. HOORAY!!!!
On top of all this, while I have been writing this, I just saw a TV ad for Secret Millionaire coming back the first week in March. And yes, even the promo made me teary. Set your DVRs, folks. This is paying it forward at it's best.
To conclude, I hope your day was also Very Exciting, minus the downhill part.

Adding a little Sunshine

With all this time in the house, I decided to paint the bathroom the color of sunshine to fake us out. It had been primed back in September and just sitting, with the towel rack and art on the floor, waiting for my motivation to make it's occasional appearance.
I have only painted one other time, when I first moved in about a year and a half ago and that was with a friend to lead the way and cheer me on. I should have known better than to attempt this feat on my own.
Here are some lessons I learned:
1. Taping things off is boring. I gave up on that.
2. Yellow looks a lot brighter on the walls than on the little dot on the can. Especially when it's concentrated on four walls.
3. When standing with one foot on the sink and one on the toilet, the paint can should not be directly beneath you.
4. Paint cans bruise your ankle when you fall into them from a height. Oh, and yellow paint doesn't come off of painted toenails, even after a scrub in the shower.
5. You should make sure you have brushes before you start painting so you don't have to make due with the couple things you bought that you thought would supplement what you already had.
6. You might think you have more supplies than you do because if husbands don't wash paint off of brushes and other painting mechanisms, they become the consistency of cement and aren't good for much other than weaponry.
7. Paying someone else to paint is probably worth it.

My Mom is a Celebrity

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/newsnow/x1673926705/Hopkinton-school-bus-crashes-in-snow

Snomageddon

This is a mountain of snow in a parking lot by a bunch of stores. We are running out of places to put it all!

This is my deck, the view from my front door. This was two storms ago, a.k.a. a week and half ago.

This final one is a front loader thing that is moving snow from one place to another to make room for more! This one was nice enough to drop a big chunk, which promptly got stuck under my car and was dragged for a few feet like I had run over a puppy. It left a nice smell, too.

I feel super old and boring because all I can talk about or even think about is the weather. It's seriously like Narnia here on the East Coast. Because I have not gone to work for five consecutive days in as long as I can remember, due to so many snow storms, I actually tried to go in today. After 45 minutes and only 8 miles, not even half way to the office, I slid and stopped to bang my windshield wipers a few times and turned back for home. Even that was so bad that I started preserving the water left in my water bottle in case I couldn't make it home and had to live in my car, with only the junk I haven't cleaned out to sustain me.

Weather banter is becoming a normative past time at this point. On the news, it seems the criminals are all stuck in a snow bank because all that is being shown are pictures of cars driving in this mess. On facebook, most locals are commenting on the snow somehow. Some take the tough stance with statements like "It's snowing. Get over it!" or things akin to that. Others are still excited to see snow. It's novelty has worn off so I am really impressed by their enthusiasm. It's like being excited to see a live animal at a zoo. A final grouping of comments reflect the the frustration with the repetition. I fall into this category.

I'm sick of watching the weather person on the news and feeling as if he or she is the most important person I will hear from all week. I'm sick of playing roulette every time I pull out my street; the snow banks on the corners are so high I can't see a thing coming and often just have to hope for the best as I pull into traffic. I'm sick of people honking to take right turns in the right hand lane, as if that still exists. It has been obliterated by piles of dirty white stuff and has made my already long, grump-inducing commute a real trial of faith in terms of loving my fellow man.

Beyond the narrative about the weather, a few humorous anecdotes have sprung up about it, as well. There are a number of photos that show the usual state weather map the weather person shows, though instead of having numbers of inches of snow accumulation, they now have categories of misery the residents will endure. I saw one that rated people on how "screwed" they would be from the latest storm. Another recommended certain areas to buy boats and other areas to hit the liquor store to drown their sorrows. One of the local news channels, instead of just giving the numbers of how much snow we have received so far this year, is keeping a "Shaq-o-meter", a tribute to the Celtics' recent acquisition of Shaquille O'Neil. I think he will be figuratively buried by the end of tomorrow, as the snow amounts top his height on the figure. This idea would be cuter if it didn't inspire Shaq to make a guest appearance in one of my dreams this week. I am easily influenced.

I don't know what the overall amount of snow is, to be precise. It was over 60 inches so far last week, after that week's storm. This week's two day Snowmaggedon is going to gift us with another 16-20 inches. Roofs are collapsing like teenage girls at a Justin Bieber concert. I am spending a lot of quality time with my couch. I am going to go look at pictures of summer now...