Cold November Rain

So, I'm back from Chicago. Cold, cold, dreary, bitter weather out there. The second half of the trip was great. No catastrophes--Nauvoo is not nearly as cold as Chicago. The only downside was everything in Nauvoo closes at 5:00, except the town bar, which closes at 8:00. Oh well, seeing Church History locations was great.

But the first half of the trip--oh my. First, the night before the trip I got a speeding ticket on the way home from the Planning Commission Meeting. Lucky for me, the nice officer cut the ticket down from 25 over (apparently Arrowhead is only 40 mph not 50) to 9 over, which was nice. When I got home, H barfed on me. Yes, my darling 3 year old daughter came down with a 24 hour flu bug the night before we flew out. So the next day she barfed when we were boarding, she barfed at the rental car counter, she barfed at the wedding rehearsal dinner, she barfed at the restaurant after the rehearsal, and she barfed the day of the wedding. Need I mention that she pushed away everything I tried to get her to barf into, so we went through all of our packed clothes in 3 days? Meaning, that just a few short days into the trip we had to do laundry.

So, we load up the mini-van (we had 6 people in our group), and we head to my newly married brother-in-laws house to do laundry. We get rear-ended on the way over by a Ford F250, driven by a young driver who was going too fast on a wet, rainy day. The back window of the minivan shatters. It's a very cold day. And I happened to be taking a swig of Diet Dr. Pepper right when the truck slams into us, so I, and the front of the minivan, get drenched in soda. I end up wearing my BILs Navy sweats the rest of the day, making me look like everyone else in the area. So we blow all of Saturday waiting for a replacement minivan and going to the ER, because everyone is sore and Brent's 90 year old grandmother was one of the people in the van.

And did I mention that the accident happened the day before Brent's birthday? And I forgot about his birthday because I was so sore? What a trip. If I didn't have a speeding ticket to go take care of tomorrow, I'd be super glad to be home.

Another Hiatus

I love going on trips! So I'm off to Chicago with a detour down to Nauvoo. Other than the fact I've got a sinus infection, I'm pretty excited for this trip. Now if you'll excuse me, I have packing to do.

On Super Powers

Since tomorrow is Halloween, and since I spend a lot of time thinking about this topic, now seems as good a time as any to address super powers. Specifically, I don't think Batman counts as a super hero. Hero, yes. Super, not so much. He doesn't have any special powers. He has awesome gadgets, powerful training, and a fancy smancy car, but he doesn't have the ability to read minds, turn things into ice, shoot spiderwebs out of his hands, or fly. Although it seems like all of the villains he fights do have super powers.

Anyway, if I had super powers, I would probably use them for evil. Brent and I were just discussing this the other day--which of the X-Men would you want to be? I can't stand Wolverine--seriously, I couldn't stand him in the cartoon back in the day when I used to watch it on Saturday mornings before Saved By the Bell came on, and I certainly couldn't stand him during the movies. And let's not get started on the disappointment during the movies of how the whole Dark Phoenix story line was handled, or not handled. And did they have to kill Cyclops? And where was Gambit? He was my favorite X-man. Anyway, in that universe, I think I'd want to be Magneto. He had really powerful powers, and he used them for evil! I know, the villains usually end up in jail, or dead, or at the very least defeated vowing vengeance, but it seems like they have more fun than the namby pamby heroes that are always having to save the day and fight evil. And I must say, I liked Spiderman a lot better when he was walking the dark side of the line, except for that horrible dance number, which pretty much ruined Spiderman 3. Of course, I've never really been much of a Spidey fan--if you want to judge which superheroes are the whiniest, Spiderman is going to get my vote.

And if you want to know the stupidest superpower--definitely the Thing. I mean, he's a big pile of rocks and he can wreck stuff and is strong, but he's a big pile of rocks! That's almost as stupid as Rogues superpower--draining other powers and not being able to touch anyone.

But that's just what I think.

Random Stuff

So, my eye problem is still a problem. Apparently I have an astigmatism in one eye, but it's so minor that it's not worth getting glasses for. So right now I have to make a list of what makes my eyes hurt, and wear reading glasses while using the computer, which stretches the eye strain out to hitting after 20 minutes instead of 5. Which reminds me, why am I writing a stupid blog post when I'm supposed to be writing about the ALA Mock Disaster drill? It's due in 15 minutes.

I have a new nephew--my brother Nate is now a daddy. Poor little guy. Baby S is in the NICU with an infection. H is upset because Baby S barfed on his blanket and himself, but she got to see him through the window.

Brent has all his employees in town this week so he's barely been home, but today is Spouse Appreciation Day and as far as I know he's been able to swing it so he can attend. So in a few hours I'll be at Color Me Mine painting plates or something. I deserve a break--I've done the corporate wife thing all week, including making homemade cookies and prize bags for bowling night and as I write this I'm wearing a company shirt so I can be Mrs. Brent at the event. But seriously, it's all good.

October hasn't been too bad--I don't want to jinx it, because October is traditionally a horrible month for our family. So far the worst thing is Baby S being in the NICU, and my brother Ryan who is on his mission got flashed. I suppose that's better than the time someone threw a rock at him.

I'd better go. I've got an article to file and H will be wanting lunch and a costume change. Right now she's Snow White. Yes, the costume is a little big. It's for a 4 year-old, and she's 3. But Uncle Mike gave her the costume for her birthday, and she adores Uncle Mike.

I'm Finally Getting Lost

So, I'm pretty late getting on the Lost bandwagon, but I must say it's a compelling show. And not just because Sawyer is hot--which he is--but it's an intriguing idea for the show. Brent got hooked on it right before he had his emergency colon surgery--he watched two seasons of Lost while he was septic, which helps explain some of the crazy nightmares he had while in the ICU. Too much Lost in a short time, plus he did have a tremendous infection to fight off. In fact, we're pretty lucky that the mega IV antibiotics worked on him. But anyway, while he was watching two seasons of Lost, I was taking care of H and trying not to get sick. Hey, a bad flu was going around and I didn't want to catch it. At the time, we didn't know he had diverticulitis and that anything was rupturing inside his body, and that it wasn't catching. So really, I only saw bits and pieces of this crazy Lost show. But he was hooked.

So I watched last season with him, and in order to not be completely clueless and confused as to what is going on, I am watching Lost from the beginning now that it's airing on SciFi. I do realize that we have two seasons that I could watch on the Media Shuttle--basically a computer that doesn't keep time well which is why we ended up getting the DVR instead of using it, because at the time, you would lose the last 3 minutes of your show. Anyway, I could watch Lost using the media shuttle--you can browse the internet using that stupid thing, but it requires 3 remotes to get to it, including the tv remote, and it's just too much work to get out of the recliner to reboot it when it locks up, like it does. If we hadn't been doing a beta-test for the stupid thing, Brent probably wouldn't have gotten hooked on Lost.

Anyway, the point is, you shouldn't watch Lost right before bed. It brings on really weird dreams. Which is why I usually watch it during H's naps. Except H is starting to not want to nap in the afternoons. Except for today, but she fell asleep on the family room floor, and I really needed to catch up on laundry. Monday used to be chore day, but now her music class is on Monday mornings, and we end up blowing the whole day, because we drive to Springville--what can I say, I enrolled her at Art City Music Academy. Yes, I realize she's 3. How many 3 year olds do you know that can recognize whole notes, quarter notes, and quarter rests, hmm? I know of 3, and they're in her class. And she can find do, re, and mi on the keyboard. But enough bragging about my exceptional kid. After we got to music class, we usually stop by my office--yes, at some point I'll really quit that job for good--and then we go out to eat, and usually shopping, and by the time we get home we don't want to do chores. But we do want to watch tv. And Lost is too intense for a 3-year-old. Oh well, I guess I'll squeeze it in at night.

Fake Thanksgiving

So, tonight was Fake Thanksgiving. We had turkey, potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, and two types of pie--lemon meringue and chocolate banana cream. The only thing missing was my brother Ryan, who is still on his mission, and my mom, who is not coming back from the grave, as far as we know.

But it was the first Fake Thanksgiving of the year--we always do a trial run before the big day, and yes, I am talking about Halloween. Okay, some years Fake Thanksgiving has been right before the real Thanksgiving, or after Thanksgiving, depending on if we ended up with any turkey leftovers or not. Anyway, it is a fun tradition, and I'm pretty certain we're the only family with a Fake Holiday.

Hiatus

Hopefully I spelled hiatus right. Anyway, I am on a break from blogging because I can't sit at a computer for more than 10-15 minutes without my eyes hurting, and until I get that sorted out computer time is reserved for e-mail and newspaper business. Even planning my next vacation is on hold, until I get this straightened out.