Forbidden Fruit tastes the best*

*aka scratching the itch



No internet at work is killing me...it's not like I need to do anything important, but since I know I can't, I NEED to. I thought of all kinds of stuff I want to look up. Of course, now that I'm home, I can't think of any of it.



NERD ALERT: I got the BEST present today from my girlfriend!!!! She gave me a personalized, signed copy of Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You made my day, no, week, no, month, no, year!!!! I feel a girl's weekend coming on whenever she goes to Murder by the Book in Houston for a signing of her new book (due out in May).

I guess my hint in my last post wasn't broad enough - look at my blogroll and see Ian's new blog!!!

Happy V Day!

Happy Valentines Day my lovelies! As I sit here, taking a break from paying bills and talking on the phone to my Honey whom I'm not going to see at all today, I can't help but think, "Eh, it's just another day. J treats me like every day is Valentines Day, and I love him for that!" AND, my secret girlfriend sent me a gift....and since shes's my secret girlfriend and she mailed it yesterday, I'm considering it a Valentines Day gift. Which means I need to get on the ball and make her MY homemade gift to her that I've been hinting about for months and even went out and bought the supplies but need to stop blogging and reading (stop reading? Oh the horrors!!) to Just Do It!

Check out my blogroll to the right and see if you notice anything different.....

Ian's progress grades came in and they're amazing! I'm so proud of how well he's improved over the course of the year! After the Mardi Gras madness is over J and I are going to take him to get his Learner's Permit. Yes, it is time. I figure an abandoned mall parking lot has our name all over it pretty soon! Am I scared? Yes. But I guess this is a right of passage every child and parent have gone through together since ol' Henry Ford invented the automobile. Do you think he gave his kids driving lessons?

I've been thinking about ringtones for my cell phone. I definitely want "Bad Things" by Jace Everett (True Blood theme), and "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis (for my Honey). I wanted "I Wish" by Skeelo but I can't find it. I was also considering "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquoi, but then I started thinking....what song cheers me up every time I hear it? I usually listen to it twice in a row on my Ipod. It's totally cheesy and I love it. I think if I got fired, as long as this song was playing in the background I probably wouldn't be too upset. I didn't think I had a "jam", but does that make this song my jam? I'm not sure what requirements need to be fulfilled to be in posession of said "jam", but can you guess what the song is? Guess..................

It's "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls. I know, I know, gayest song on the planet. You don't have to tell me. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to be embarassed if that song is blaring from my phone every time it rings - on the shuttle bus, in my office, in line at the grocery....you get the picture. So - tell me, would you be embarassed to be standing next to me when my phone goes off?

Strategy

One of the things I like about living in New Orleans is Mardi Gras season. Especially now that I work downtown. Watching the city dress herself up for her guests is really something to see. Every day there's something new, from grandstands to decorations to barricades. You can feel the anticipation in the air, it's gonna be good, you just know it. I've also noticed more transients, not homeless, I don't think, but you know - guys (and the occasional girl) with big backpacks, hanging around the charity food handout spots, but not looking like a "true" homeless guy. I think they just come in for Mardi Gras and then keep on going. The kids are starting to ask which parades we're going to see, and I've started planning how to get a good spot, keep track of the kids and folding chairs and ladders, the "bead bags", and the snacks. And maybe, just maybe, work in a bit of drinky to smooth it all along! I'm thrilled H1 and Co. will be coming for the big weekend - sleep while you can, motherf*ckers!!!

Many thanks to all who helped BB by buying and/or selling Girl Scout cookies - she sold 355 boxes!! I didn't think about it until after the fact, but we'll have to sort those cookies - boo!! Haha - just kidding. On the downside, it will be Lent by the time those cookies come in. How am I gonna manage eating yummy cookies during Lent? I'll check the Bible, there's gotta be a loophole in there somewhere....

Molly-Moo is hitting the 2's - HARD. She's making me crazy. I love, love, love her....but I'm finding more and more that I need to just "walk away" for a minute. Maybe they should have explained that the "time out" is not for the kids, but actually the parents!

All I'm sayin' is this....

I'm driving in to work this morning, sitting in traffic, and I notice the car in front of me has gallon-sized ziplock bags over the headrests. WTF? Maybe it's time to change your hair product, seriously.

Mardi Gras will soon be upon us. Molly is at the age where I'm looking forward to it and not looking forward to it at the same time. She's going to be a pain in the butt except when the floats are passing. That's a lot of time to be a pain in the butt.....

BB's Girl Scout clothes came in this week. They're so cute! I'll get a picture as soon as I can. We're going to go to KenEllie's and ChiaMom/Pop's house to sell G.S. cookies today.

That's all I got.

What had happened was.......

BB's 1st Reconcilliation is over - next is 1st Communion! And Ian will (hopefully) be Confirmed at the end of the year. Wow, we're gonna be so holy! Let me just say this: The 1st Reconcilliation was very unorganized. You just walked in and sat wherever and then the Priest spoke a bit (he's a good storyteller, I'll give him that!) and then they had 5 Priests to hear confessions. You just got up to go to whomever. It was not what I expected. She did get a nice certificate from the Church, though.

I blogged a while back that Molly likes the Gorillaz song 19-2000. I forgot about it until yesterday, when I was flipping through songs on my Ipod in the car and Molly yelled "turn it back!" Yup, you guessed it, she'd heard the opening bars of the song!

Thanks so much to my husband and SILs for selling Girl Scout Cookies at their places of employment. I'm waiting for her official uniform to arrive in the mail and then we'll hit your homes!



Ok, now it's time for true confessions.....I have become a fan of a certain reading genre, I don't know exactly what you would call it, but I guess it falls under the heading of "Paranormal Romance". (blushes) Yeah, I was never a fan of Romance books - not really my thing, I like a good story with a believable plot. But since I've started reading and dusted off my library card, I've gotten into a few series that I really like, and they all involve vampires, werewolves/shapeshifters, fae, and/or magic. Most of them have some sexy time involved (I will say one series was pretty much just porn with a bit of mystery added in as a last-minute filler, but otherwise they're not as bad as you would think) but I am enjoying the characters and storylines immensely. (The photo above is one of the series I enjoy - and book 4 is coming out next week!!!) So, am I embarassed? Yeah. Do I hide the covers if I'm out in public? Yeah. Am I gonna stop reading them? No.

Maybe I'll take J to check out those "specialty shops" on Bourbon street and see if any of them sell fangs. Hmmm...it has potential!

And now for a message from our sponsors...

I have a post. I swear. I just need to sit down and type it. I'm currently on my way to BB's First Reconciliation (Confession for all you non-Catholics). Work has been cu-ray-zay!!! But I do have something in the works, and hopefully it will make you smile!!

Good for your <3

Have you ever farted so much your ass hurts? It's probably due to the fact that all we've eaten in the last two weeks is tamales and beans and rice. I'm just sayin'.

Diaper Wedgie

If you're eating, put it down, or come back later....especially if you're eating something brown or gushy. Or corn.

So, Saturday night, as we're getting ready to go out, I'm going between the bathroom and bedroom to do makeup and get dressed. I realize there's something on the floor and as I get closer, I realize the cat crapped on the floor in my bedroom. Damn. So I clean it up and continue to get ready. Molly comes into the bathroom and tells me "poo-poo". Great, now I've got to change her....except she shows me more cat crap on the floor in her bedroom. As I am cleaning it up, I realize there's corn in it. Corn! Cats don't eat corn, but we did the night before. Then I realize, the other cat crap was where Molly had been playing a few minutes previously. So I pick her up and that's when I see it - a diaper wedgie. A poo-leaking diaper wedgie. Ugh. When is she going to be potty trained???!!!

Here's where I would make a snarky comment about the joys of parenting, but instead I'm going to say....I warned you. I will not be held responsible for any retching or gagging as a direct result of my sharing!

Mine.

Greetings from planet book. I’ve been reading so much that my eyes hurt. Seriously, not as an example, but a fact. Ouchey eyes, that’s me.

Molly-moo is in the throes of her “terrible twos”, oh my God is she ever. Tantrums, throwing stuff, spitting. She’s even bitten BB twice – hard enough to leave marks! (H1 and SIL – still want her?) Oh, and everything is "mine." Everything. Nothing is safe from "mine".

School is going well for the other kids – well enough that we have agreed to Ian’s request to push his bedtime back to 10:00. It’s on a trial basis, but I have faith that he’ll make good on his promise to keep his grades up and not be a bear in the mornings.

Oh, I had to turn in my “I’m not The Establishment” card the other day. I don’t think I’m allowed to wear an anarchy symbol on my person anymore (if I wanted to, which I don’t. But if I DID want to, I think they would somehow know.). It was about 4:00 on a weekday, and I was walking towards my building. My building has a huge set of steps that go up one whole story that take up about half a city block, and is set on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in the downtown area – cars, busses, pedestrians, and streetcar traffic. So anyway, as I’m approaching the building I realize there are about 4 kids with skateboards, going up the steps, skating across the flat set of marble, then going airborne over the steps to land (hopefully on the sidewalk and not in the street). So, crochety old lady that I am, I told security. I felt bad about it, and if it was the weekend I wouldn’t have looked twice, but it was a busy time of day, and they could either end up in the street, or land on a pedestrian on the sidewalk who wouldn’t be looking out for a flying kid coming at them from above. I will say this, security was out the door in a flash. And the two maintenance workers were like, “skateboarders, let’s go see!!”

Oh, here’s something else – J and I went out drinking Saturday night! I know, I know, you can’t believe it, but it’s true. Not only that, but I surpassed my two drink maximum by drinking 4 margaritas!! Might have been 5, I’m a bit fuzzy about the end….But, we had a good time and saw friends we haven’t seen in a long time.

Oh, here’s one other thing that I find disturbing (pun intended). You know that “kids rock” music thing – the one where kids sing the most recent hits? Well, I saw a commercial for their most recent CD the other day, and it included a clip of the kids singing Rhianna’s “Disturbia”. Now that is creepy. Very, very creepy. Where were the stage parents for that decision? Ick.

mmmm...puppies...delicious!!!

Yes, yes, yes, I'm alive! It's just that it's hard to type with a book stuck in your hand all the time. Yup, still reading. Alot.

Had a great New Year's weekend - drove to H-town and had a blast! Usually, when we're in Houston we go to Papasita's for dinner. Well, this trip H1 made delish lasagna instead. (You've got a keeper SIL(H), and I'm not just sayin' that 'cause he's my brother!) Well, when I came back to work after vacation, my co-worker asked me how was Papasita's...I told her we didn't go. She gave me this look like I just told her we killed babies and ate puppies. Apparently it made such an impression to her she mentioned it to SIL!!!

Work has gone from 0-60 in a day. That's good (billable hours, people!) but days like today make me wonder WTF?! It's okay - I know what I'm doing, but dayamn!!!

Oh, and I'm feeling so guilty about not sending out Christmas cards this year that I'm going to start working on them next week. Really.