Life, the Universe, and Everything

I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Long ago, I found Jesus. Answer me, Jesus, that is. Today, I went to ask the lord a question and found there's a vote option. You can vote for who would make a good "Answer me, ____"

So I submitted my vote - Rod Blagojevich. I can see it now...

"Rod, tell me, will I be rich?"  ---  "It's fuckin' golden"

"Rod, am I going to have a good day today?" --- "Show me the money"

"Rod, will the Cubs win the word series this year?" --- "Fuck the Cubs"

"Rod, should I call in sick today?" --- "Is that an impeachable offense?"

The possibilities are endless.

• It’s for the good of the people

twice-elected, once-arrested

Can my wife have a job?

It’s got to be good

I want to make money

fire those fuckers

Is my hair okay?

I can parachute me there

don't deal in lies

Anyone care to add some? Go vote. I'd definitely buy one. Hell, I'd probably buy 5. They'd make great gifts around here.

Do I have to have a title?

I have this big last-minute project at work right now, that didn't really have to be last minute, but my boss didn't really know how he wanted to handle it back at the beginning of the month, so he just put it off, and off, and then Surprise, it's last Thursday, and oh, hey, can you get this done by March? This is in addition to the other project I've been working on. And by working on, I mean, I did a whole bunch of work last March, becasue people were actually thinking ahead of time for once, but then no one really cared a whole lot, because we had oodles of time to devote to it, so no one ever bothered to actually finalize anything or answer any of my questions, so we all forgot about it for a while - them out of laziness, me out of sheer digust for the laziness - and then now it's next year, and oh, hello! we need this within the next month, please. And of course, I've been sitting around not on a deadline for a while, so I made like 4 dr appts this week, so I've had to run in and out of the office too. Fun, I tell you.

So, Monday I went to the dermatologist. Last May, (I'm too lazy to look up the link) Rob found a spot on my head during a tick check. I saw my gp who said it wasn't Lyme disease or a fungus, and basically just shrugged it off. Now I have another. And my hair is still thinner than it should be. And there's this mole on my back that my mom said I have to get looked at. The dermatologist thinks they are all no big deal, but she'd biopsy them if it would make me feel better. Since she's chopping pieces of me off, I asked her to get one off my neck too. So Tuesday I went in and she hacked me up. Fun times also. btw, I'm not really worried about them, but we have good insurance, and it's covered, so why not check just to be sure, you know.

And tomorrow, I'm taking Ally to the dentist for her kindergaten check-up. And Friday I'm taking her to the eye doctor. Did I mention that the kindergarten had a little pre-registration type night a while back? huh... That's probably becuase they didn't other to advertise it or anything, so I didn't know about it. Luckily, it wasn't the whole big deal, because I'd be really sad if Ally missed it. It was just paperwork stuff. In April they have a "K-night" where the kids get to see classrooms, and parents get to wander around and learn about the school and pay out the ass for registration fees

And of course, I left out that part where we all took a train ride to nowhere on Lincoln's birthday. Damn work is really cutting into my blogging time. We wanted to go to Bloomington to the kids museum, but apparently all museums are closed on Mondays. So we decided just to go to Lincoln, which is about 20 minutes by train. And we'd hang around downtown and get a snack or something (The we I mention here includes all 4 of christy's kids, mom, me and my kids, Christy's ex-husband's ex-girlfriend (who will forever on out be referred to as Jessica) and her kids). Then an hour later, we'd ride home. Simple right? The train was an hour late getting here though. So basically we got on a train. Rode for a while. Had pretzels and cookies. Stood at the depot for about 10 minutes, and then rode another train home. Exciting.  Anya has been asking me every day since whether we're going on the train again. It was the highlight of her life.

And now they are all in bed, and I'm going to go watch American Idol in fast forward, because I have no freakin clue how they managed it, but they have sucked me in this year. It's the 8th season (apparently) and I resisted until now. I think it's because there's nothing else on. Fast forward makes everything better though.

Google spreadsheets

Someone is getting here via a google spreadsheet. I was curious about how that worked and clicked a link to request access to the spreadsheet, just fooling around. I'm assuming it's a list of blogs or something. I don't really want access to it, I was just being nosy curious about what would happen if I followed the link. Um, hi!

Facebook friends

I've been thinking a lot lately about old friends. I mentioned that I had signed up for facebook the other day and found my college roomette. Who had married one of my best friends from high school. And then, there's my best friend from grade school that I ran into when we were selling our house. And a high school friend that I just happened to catch up with at Walmart, of all places, this fall. My first love looked me up on Classmates.com in December. My sister's best friend from 2nd grade through high school is back in the states (she lives in England) trying to get custody of her kid. Each one of these people was close to me. They each played a major part in my life at various different times.

Jenni and I grew up together. We played on her front porch, pretending we were the Rescue Rangers, just like Ally pretends she's a Wonder Pet. I had a crush on her older brother, and her parents took me along with them to Colorado on vacation one year. We have a history. And now we live in the same town again. But I haven't heard from her since May of last year (when I called her).

I really wanted to get reacquainted with Stacey. She lives about 20 minutes away and has 2 boys more or less around my kids' age. I invited her over soon after running into her and she came over to carve pumpkins at Halloween. She's living with a nice guy and I think we all had fun. I haven't heard from her since.

Amanda and I had only talked once since Rob and I got married in 2002. We visited her and her husband once when we were near Chicago where they lived. I've always wondered what became of them, so I looked her up when I signed up for facebook. They are alive and well and living in a completely different state. We emailed once and exchanged a brief what-I've-been-up-to-in-the-last-7-years update. We're "Facebook friends."

I loved Jared for most of my childhood. We started "going out" in 2nd grade (I think. It might have even been sooner). We dated periodically up until the time I moved. If I had thought we could have made it work, I would have married him. But it wouldn't have. And we both knew it. I don't have a paid membership at classmates.com, so I just have a message in my about me section that has my email address listed. He used the site to ask me to fill in my profile and post pictures and stuff, but didn't contact me directly. I can only assume that he's just curious and thinks it would be too awkward to  actually talk to me.

Jeanna was like a big sister to me, and we hung out long after my sister went off the deep end. She came over the other day for supper. She brought her daughter with her. We ate and then sat around the table talking while the kids played. We never ran out of things to talk about and had a good time, I think. But I've seen her once. She's been here since November. 

I've always wanted to have close friends that I can chat with and hang out and stuff. But even the people with whom I had a deep (past) connection, I can't achieve that. Conversation often seems stilted. I just never know what comes next. I hear about people who have parties for no reason at all except to have their friends over and have fun together, and I always wonder what they talk about. What do they do? Because when I invite people over, we all just kinda sit and stare at each other and make small talk. We're not having a riotous good time. I enjoy it, but always feel like there's something I should be doing to be a better hostess - to entertain them more. It seems like I'm not doing enough to make them want to come back again.

And I wonder if it's because we're living different lives; if it's just a product of the stage of life we're living. It this similar to the "mommyblogger" syndrome? Is my life so wrapped up in my kids that I'm just not attracting anyone who is at the same stage in their kids' lives - anyone but other "mommybloggers"? Does no one else care? Or is it me? I've always been kind of a wallflower. I've had friends all my life, but as soon as our lives took us in different directions, friendships tended to fall by the wayside. I don't know how to maintain them when we're not thrown together by circumstance anymore. I feel like I should reach out more, but I just don't know how. Rob and I lead a pretty boring life. We don't go out. We hang out after supper and play wii or argue about who has to bath the kids (it's always me). And then when summer comes, it seems like we're always racing around and there's no time to do anything else.

I now have 23 friends on facebook. Some of them are people that were in my class at my original high school (I moved in the middle of my junior year). Some of them are my mom's friends. Some of them I knew, but didn't actually hang out in the same circles. One of them, my mom babysat for when I was a kid. I love the idea of finding out what everyone has been up to. I'm a very nosy curious person. But honestly, this whole facebook thing is kinda making me more lonely, rather than less. The more I do on-line, the more I wish there was someone nearby that I could talk to instead of type at. (Not that I don't enjoy typing at all of you. Of course not. I love it)

So when I get friend requests, I accept them. Of course I do. I'm nosy curious. But I always wonder why people send them. And I always hope that maybe... we'll actually become friends again. Because I could really use one.

Illinois' one redeeming quality

I don't have to come to work tomorrow OR Monday. We get Lincoln's birthday and President's Day off for no reason except that Lincoln came from Illinois.

It doesn't make up for the crappy-ass winters though.

Complete randomness

I have actual work to do at work now. I'm not quite sure how to handle it. My brain is being challenged and it leaves me with a lot less time to sit around here navel-gazing and drafting blog entries in my head. And of course, I always intend to write when I get home, but it just never happens for some reason or another (read husband, kids or wii).

Honestly, I'm kinda stuck with a little of the winter blues. I'm so ready for the weather to turn around and I'll be able to get som fresh air. Anya's birthday is in April, our cruise* is in May, Then summer will be here and we've got that season pass to the water park, and... It just seems like Feb sucks. And spring needs to get here. I hate Illinois.

But, other than that... Here's some random ramblings

Anya is so excited about her birthday. She's been looking forward to it since Ally's in Nov, but now, her classmates are starting to have birthday parties and she just keeps coming up with more things. The other day she told me that first she was going to have a dance class and then she would have her cake. She wants a rainbow cake with ponies on it. She wants to be able to be in a booster seat (not likely yet. She has some growing to do). She wants presents, but won't tell me what. She tries to convince us it's her 4th birthday because apparently, 3 just isn't cool enough.

Darra got her a dollhouse for Christmas, and it's getting a lot of use. It's really a for present both Ally and Anya. They play with it almost exclusively. But not just with the rooms and rooms of furntiure we got to go with it. (And the car from Ruth. Ruth -- they love it.) They also put all my old My Little Ponies in it. They play with the Ponyville ponies in it. The other day, they dragged it out to the center of the room, opened the sides, put chairs around, and threw a blanket over it for a hideout. They have piled babydolls in each of the levels and used it as some sort of multi-bed nursery. It has a hundred uses and I love it. I can't even begin to explain how great it is to see them playing together and laughing together. My sister and I fought like cats and dogs and hated each other pretty often, but she was my sister and I always had that. Now, she's someone else and I miss it. I love to see that bond developing between my girls.

I bouhgt a Totino's pizza the other day and was instantly taken back to college. After much experimentation, it was determined that the ideal way to cook a Totino's pizza was not on a pan, but directly on the oven rack. But then the edges stuck to the racks, and cheese dripped all over the place. ugh. So what you have to do is hold it up and spray Pam all over the bottom before putting on the rack, and then put a cookie sheet on the rack below it. I think Amanda figured this out. She was my college roommate. So the next week, when my co-worker and my mom conspired to make me join Facebook, I looked her up. And found her. I've only seen her once since Rob and I got married. i love the internet. She doesn't live in Illinois anymore. I'm jealous.

And someone bought a couple of names from me the other day. I can't even begin to imagine what their purpose is. The names they asked me to crochet? Hussy and Floozy. There's got to be a story here. I'm curious.

*Rob's friend is getting married in Key West in the middle of a cruise and invited us. There was no possible way I'd ever get him on a cruise ship voluntarily, so I'm thrilled. It also means Rob's getting on an airplane. And he had to take the train to school a couple of times. What I'm saying here is that the End Of Days is coming. Repent all ye sinners!

Yeah, that's my kid

 

Blankets and cookies. That's Anya