A gun, a muzzle, a stiff drink

I could use one, two or perhaps all three of these items right now.

Two things are happening right now:

1) A road crew is working on the main street that connects to our sleepy little street.

2) The pest management people are doing their monthly spray for ants etc. at my neighbor's house across the street.

Why is this a problem?

Because Ruby, my neighbor's yellow lab is going BEZERK. Nutty. Ape- $#&%,
Absolutely crazy. Her voice is high pitched, raspy, obnoxious.

She is an outdoor dog, she has a buried fence. So she is running back and forth like a crazy lunatic, barking her fool head off.

And when ruby barks, guess who else barks? Thaaaatttts right.

Puck is in the garage right now, howling his fool head off. His voice is raspy and hoarse.

Portia would be barking, but she's sedated right now, so she won't scratch her eye out, because she had to have another surgery on Tuesday, but that is another story for another day.

So right now, I'm listening to two dogs, howling and barking like idiots. Constantly.

I would just leave, but Evie is sick and asleep at the moment. And when the sick baby is asleep, you do anything to keep it that way.

It's enough to drive a person to drink. Or Muuurder.

Steps, steps we have steps!--Now with video evidence!!!

Of course, we have no pictures, because the second I grab the camera, she sits down and smiles at me.

But the kid is walking, sort of. Taking independent steps from the middle of the room to the couch. She walks to the blue chair...one, two three, plop.

She walks to he couch, one, two, three, crash!

She walks to the piano, she walks to her exersaucer. The most steps she has taken have been four at a time. They are wobbly, but they are steps, and they are from the middle of the room, she'll just stand up and look at us, and then she'll go.

We've had the camera on standby, and every time she stands up, we try to get it, but of course, as soon as she sees that lens cap come off, she sits down and starts crawling for the camera at full speed. One of these days we'll get it and when we do, we'll post it, I promise.

***UPDATE***

HERE IS THE VIDEO

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update on Myanmar Cyclone disaster

The death toll in the Myanmar cyclone disaster has risen to over 25,000 and continues to rise.

If you would like to help with the relief effort, click here.

Fighting cancer, one cold at a time

My little lamb has a fever; 101 degrees. She is morose, she is cantankerous. Her head is full of what I can only surmise is about two gallons of green ooze that is regenerating at a shocking rate.

Her eyes are glassy, her face chapped, her body warm. She does not want to eat, she does not want to sleep. She does want to play, sort of.

She can't be bothered with being held, she still has too much to do. But I am not allowed out of her sight, not for a moment.

I am sorry she is feeling so crummy, it always sucks to feel so sucky. But I also am confident that this little cold will make her stronger. I am armed with medical research this time. Childhood illness such as this? It helps fight pediatric cancer.

And so I walk with her. I rub her back and I lay her in her crib, despite herself. I tell her it's for her own good, she's getting stronger, she's building up a defense against the really, really bad bugs.

That's what I tell myself over and over and over again.

From indignant and politically aware to superficial in less than an hour.

I need new clothes; that or a new body. What I really need is my clothes to match my body. When I stand in the bathroom in my all-together, I don’t feel very bad. I think to myself, “okay, I need to lose some weight, I have lost my muscle tone, but all in all, I’m not so bad. I’m proportionate, my scars are healing, everything matches. I feel curvy, but I’m okay. And then I remind myself that Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe both shared the same dimensions as myself, and they are still known as icons of beauty; I feel excellent.

And then I get dressed. Oui. COMPLETE DISASTER. Me jeans are too long. My shirts are too short. Everything clings in all the wrong places. There is nothing that can be done with these giant melons on the front. My waist and my hips have all but melded into one. Childbirth has shifted everything into a new geographic region.

What is the story with my face? Where did my chin go? And the arms! What are those?!? They look like pancakes dangling from a nail!

How is it that just five minutes ago in my birthday suit, I was feeling so confident? And yet now, I feel the only thing suitable for me to wear is a brown paper bag or a mechanics jump suit? (and believe me, if I could wear the jumpsuit, I would, those things are dang comfy!)

I have shopped; I have followed the advice of the fashion people. I have watched “What Not to Wear.”

I wear fitted shirts, I don’t wear the “mom jeans.” I layer to create the “illusion of dimension;” everything they tell me to do.
I buy petite length pants, and those not petites, I’ve had tailored to my length. Yet somehow, everything just makes me feel like I look like a big blob.

I know this is all ridiculous and unimportant. But if I just could wear a jumpsuit, you know, like Rosie the Riveter, I think I would really feel a great deal better.

In case you missed it...

A cyclone hit Burma yesterday, the death toll is currently at 10,000 and rising.

The total loss from Hurricane Katrina was 1,836 people.

The only reason I even know about Burma is because I receive news updates from the BBC in my email. There is nothing on my MSN "today" homepage, the top story on the CNN homepage is the race between Clinton and Obama.

When Katrina happened, the entire world watched, American was at a stand-still for days, news agencies did nothing but report from New Orleans. Katrina was a tragedy, a horrible loss of Human life. But it was not more important than what happens in the rest of the world, and yet somehow it received 10 times the coverage.

Today 10,000 people have died, thousands more are without power, water, food and shelter. Children have been orphaned and parents have lost children. An entire region is suffering a devastating loss of life, of resources, of land.

Yet we as a nation cannot be bothered to even mention it as a top story in our news.

Why is a Burmese life less important than an American life?

It is not, and yet that is how one might perceive it from the American media.

There are difficult political issues in the region that cause frustrating complications in getting relief aid to the area on top of the already mounting complications caused from the cyclone.

This is going to be a slow and difficult clean-up and a very complicated dance in trying to get aid to the area. Meanwhile, thousands of people remain suffering in the aftermath of a horrible natural disaster.

If you are so inclined, please pray for the people of Burma as they struggle to recover from this horrific tragedy.

When the "walker" becomes a formality

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

LOST Recap...Jack becomes his father

Tonight we follow the future of Jack and Kate, an on-island surgical procedure and the abandonment of Aaron.

The episode begins in the future, with Jack and Kate co-habitating and quite frisky. Jack, now playing the father figure to Aaron, is living with Kate, who is thrilled he had a change of heart and has decided to join her little family.

Back on the island, Jack is suffering from an appendectomy, which Juliette diagnoses and resigns to remedy with emergency surgery. She will need supplies from the Dharma station, so she sends Jin and Sun, with the help of freighter scientists Dan and Charlotte.

Meanwhile, on the island, Sawyer, Claire and Miles are still trying to make it back to the beach. Miles takes curious interest in Claire and Aaron, and Sawyer imposes a “restraining order” on him. While walking through the jungle, Miles “hears” voices and begins digging in the dirt, he soon excavates the bodies of Rousseau and Karl.

Back in the future, Jack visits Hurley in the mental institution, Hurley has determined that they are all in fact dead, which explains why Jack’s life is now heaven-like. He tells Jack that Charlie visits him and gave him a message, telling him that “he isn’t supposed to be raising him.” He also tells Jack that Charlie said Jack will be receiving a visitor.

Back on the island, Claire, Sawyer and Miles have a near run-in with the commandos, but are spared by the helicopter pilot. Sun and Jin make it to the Dharma station to get the medical supplies, they are worried about what will happen, but Jin assures Sun that he is going to get her off the island.

Flash forward to the future where Jack is having a bit of a mental meltdown. He worries whether he is a good father figure, Kate assures him that he is, he responds by proposing; she accepts.

On the island, Jin confronts Charlotte in Korean- revelation, Charlotte can speak and understand Korean! He tells her that she will get Sun off the island, or he will slowly and systematically injure Dan, she agrees to help Sun get off the island.

Juliette begins the surgery, Jack insists on being awake, but that obviously goes south very quickly and he is knocked out.

Back in the future, Jack hears a beeping sound from his office, it’s a fire alarm…as he pulls out the battery, his dad appears in the shadows. However, his coworker walks down the hall, and his dad is no longer there. He asks his coworker for a prescription for anti-anxiety medication.

When he gets home, Kate is on the phone with somebody and tells them she can get together before 8:00 as Jack is never home before then, Jack is suspiscious, he takes two pills with a beer.

Claire wakes up in the jungle, Aaron is gone, she looks up, Christian (her and Jack’s dad) is holding the baby.

On the beach, Juliette is finishing up the surgery, Kate is allowed back in the tent. Juliette tells Kate that Jack kissed her, but that he did it to try to prove he didn’t love someone else…Kate smiles and then thanks Juliette for saving Jack’s life. Kate leaves the tent and Juliette tells Jack to open his eyes “I know you’re awake.”

Flash forward: Jack is home, drunk. Kate walks in, he confronts her as to her whereabouts. She asks him to trust her and let it be, but he won’t let it go. He escalates and she finally admits she was doing a favor for Sawyer. Jack blows a gasket, and Kate tells him that it has nothing to do with them and that he needs to get his issues together or he can’t be around her son. Jack screams “your son?!? You’re not even related to him!”

Aaron is standing in the doorway, watching the conversation. It’s pretty obvious that Jack will be getting the boot after this performance.

Back on the island, Sawyer wakes up to find Claire missing, Miles informs him that she had wandered off into the jungle with a guy she called “dad” in the middle of the night. We hear Aaron crying, and Sawyer finds him, abandoned in a pile of leaves.

End show.

Whew….are you tired? I am tired. That was exhausting.

So it’s pretty obvious that last season’s finale, with a bearded, drunk, stoned Jack screaming “we have to go back!!!” at Kate, that happens AFTER all these flashbacks. Tonight was the beginning of his spiral downward into addiction and crazy land.

While the preview of next week’s episode shows Claire and Aaron on the beach, I think that was just a shot of people sitting on a beach, Claire may be gone…only time will tell.

Although Hurley thinks they are all dead, their interaction with the outside world proves this incorrect. Something is definitely amiss however, especially with the whole Charlie talking to Hurley thing.

And now that Christian can travel and bounce around? Is he like Desmond? Bouncing to and fro, able to travel through time and space? Is he really even dead?

It is all getting very complicated, and sordid. What I can say is that it is almost too dark for meeself. And the whole abandoning the baby thing? Bleck. Does not sit well with the new mother.

Random revelations

I am far more productive when my husband is out of town...why is this?

If you put a blob of peanut butter on a spoon, and allow the dog to lick it, you can attack said dog with a bottle of eye drops and the dog will not notice.

Physical therapy hurts.

I am a weak sister.

A baby backpack makes shopping in a music store very convenient when the baby wants to be held and you need your hands. You should not however, play a guitar in the store while the baby is in the backpack. You will tweak a muscle in your neck, and it will hurt. Especially the next day.

While sleep is always difficult for me to achieve, I sleep the poorest when Bryan is away.

The corner of my living room wall has been chewed up for two years, I patched it myself six months ago. Why is it still not painted?

There is a clothing monster eating items in my dryer. That, or a leprechaun is stealing them. Either way, clothes go in, but they never come out.

The dogs in the neighborhood bark at from what I can see, is the wind. This annoys me to no end. Especially as when they bark, our dogs bark and then momma goes nutty.

Evie's naps are becoming far too short these days.