WARNING: Discussion of bodily functions to follow

My Thanksgiving weekend wasn't without its low point.  Poor ABM got sick on Thursday.  My man is hardcore when it comes to illness, though, and it doesn't stop him from doing what he wants to do.  Case in point:

We were supposed to visit some friends on Thursday evening.  ABM felt fine most of the day but started feeling a little queasy in the afternoon.  We decided not to take the whole family out, but he had to pick up a movie from his friend's house to take back to the rental place.  When he got over there, his friend wasn't done watching the movie and it was a long one.  My husband, being the nice guy that he is, sat there while his friend and all the relatives finished watching the movie so he could take it back instead of making them drop it off at the rental place when they were done.  Not that big a deal, you say? Well, it is when you consider that ABM started developing a bit of diarrhea.  He wouldn't use the bathroom at his friend's house because he didn't want to stink it up. He couldn't run out to the local fast-food joint or coffee shop because it was Thanksgiving night and everything was closed.  So what did he do?  He sat there with his butt cheeks clenched for 90 minutes and sent me desperate text messages until the movie was over. He said good-by to his friend, dropped the movie off, and then broke the speed limit to get home.  By the time he got to the house, ABM was so sick he was spewing from both ends.

The story doesn't there.  Like a lot of people, ABM participates in the early-bird Black Friday shopping.  For the past five years, he has gotten up at 4a to take advantage of local sales.  This year, there wasn't anything we wanted so he was going to stay home.  Then he found out that Wal-Mart was offering an HDTV for $475.  Even though I was totally opposed to him spending that kind of money for another TV instead of toys for the kids, ABM was determined to get it.  He got up on Friday morning with his head swimming and drove over to the local Wal-Mart.  His effort yielded him nothing because there were only six units available and he didn't get one.  Not only that, but he threw up twice in the parking lot before he could drive home.  My man is nothing if not determined!

Luxury toilet paper?

I am watching one of those product shows on HGTV. The network sends a couple reporters to practically every industry product convention in the country, such as Kitchen and Bath Show 2006, and puts together an hour-long show on the best items displayed. I like watching these shows because it is like window shopping from my bedroom.

Anyway, as I type this I am watching HGTV's coverage of the NY Gift Show. An exhibitor just told the reporter that Uma Thurman puts Renova tissue in her bathrooms for parties. This is scented, brightly-colored toilet paper and it actually comes in gift packs. Who would give toilet paper as a gift? This is another example that I can add to my rant about ordinary things becoming luxuries and going up in price as a result. I remember as a kid when you could get blue, pink, and yellow toilet paper in the grocery store for only a few pennies more than regular rolls. It was my understanding that it was taken off the shelves because the dyes caused infection. Now it's back and cost about $5 a roll. How crazy!

I was better off not knowing

Out of the new fall TV shows, my favorite is Ugly Betty. It is the classic story of a down-to-earth girl surrounded by chi-chi people who have forgotten their roots. The setting is the office of a fashion magazine, so there are lots of jokes about how Betty doesn't know how to dress. Betty also comments a lot about how in her world she doesn't have the money to throw away on expensive clothes and other luxuries.

Anyway, I was on the ABC website looking at Grey's Anatomy t-shirts and decided to click over and see if there were any Ugly Betty shirts. I ended up in the SeenOn section of the store which tells you where to buy items of clothing that the characters wore in certain episodes. I know that TV is not reality, but I was still disappointed to find that the clothes Betty wears come from Nordstrom's and Neiman-Marcus. In real life, that character would be shopping at Wal-Mart and Lane Bryant would be a splurge. Neiman-Marcus? That is so wrong. A pair of pants that Betty wore on the Thanksgiving episode cost $168! I can honestly say that I have never spent that much on an entire outfit. It is almost as if the show runners thought Betty would be too ugly if she wore clothes from Target. I guess that's showbiz!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This has been a pretty good day. I didn't have to cook and I didn't have to travel. That makes for a good holiday in my book! Later we will be visiting with friends and, if I'm lucky, playing games. This is as close as I've gotten to an ideal Thanksgiving in a long time. I hope that all of you are enjoying this day, as well.

Random Mobile Thoughts

I'm posting this from my Treo and I hope it makes it onto the blog. This space hasn't been getting a lot of attention from me lately. I guess that's what happens when a person finds someone in her real life who will listen to all those silly ideas that pop into her head. At some point, I'll have to rethink what this blog is for, I suppose.

In the here and now, I'm wondering what our family will be doing for Thanksgiving tomorrow. ABM is purposely being vague. I think he is tired of trying to plan ahead. When we met, he was a spontaneous guy. Marriage and parenthood took some of that away. Perhaps he is rebelling. Over the past few months, I've been trying to recapture parts of me that escaped when I got married. Maybe he is doing the same thing. We're having a mid-life crisis together -- how cute!

I've never even heard The Pixies

I know that The Pixies are a band, but I have never heard any of their music. I was hoping that I would be The Go-Gos or The Cure.

What band from the 80s are you?

You rule. in 15 years, you won't be as known as you are now, but most of the people that will know you then will like you (or else I'll beat them with a stick). You're nice to listen to. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course

That is what I feel like I need right now. I keep putting books on reserve at the library, but by the time ABM picks them up I'm not really interested in them any more. Most of my free time is spent on the internet, so I have gotten out of the book-reading habit. If you asked me, I would say that I prefer real books over e-books but my daily habits don't bear that out.

Why am I even talking about this? Because right now I am buried in reading material. Beside me on the bed I have a novel, a memoir, two how-to books, and a self-help book. Those came from the library. I also have a cookbook and a devotional I got from Book Mooch. When did I think I was going to read all of these books?

Perhaps my reading has gone the way of my knitting. In both cases, I like the idea more than the execution. Planning and research I can do all day, but it is the actual work that never gets done. I can understand that with knitting; with my wrist pain, it takes me far too long to knit anything bigger than a pair of socks. However, reading was once the biggest pleasure in my life. I never would have gotten through my nearly-dateless high school years without my radio and several good books. It makes me a little sad that I can't summon up the interest to get through a book these days.

What A Day!

Let's start at the beginning, shall we? Today was an ministry-wide Day of Prayer. This means that we pray in groups of various sizes four times during the workday. Most people appreciate working in a place that allows them to express their religion freely, but for me prayer is a private thing. If someone I know asks me to pray for a situation, I will be glad to do that at home in my private time. Praying in groups feels like showing off and distracts me from talking to God.

Turning my prayers into a performance isn't the only problem I have with the Day of Prayer. The 16-year-old in me rebels against being ordered to do things like that. If they wanted to give us the option to go into one of the prayer rooms at designated times, that would have been easier to stomach. Making prayer mandatory just seems wrong. The memo my department manager sent this afternoon made it worse. He said that he wanted ". . . my staff to be seated in the dining hall, not standing out in the hallway." That sounds innocent, but it made me feel like he wanted to make sure everyone saw that HIS staff was really holy and sat right in the midst of the prayer group. Either that, or he wanted to show off how obedient his staff is.

Add to all that the fact that I have trouble being in large crowds, and you can see how the Day of Prayer would be uncomfortable for me. The small groups where we prayed with just our teams weren't too bad, but the afternoon session with over 100 employees crammed into the dining hall was too much. I lasted about 15 minutes; once the speaker asked us to find a stranger in the crowd and share our testimony, I started feeling anxious and left before someone could try to talk to me. I stood out in the hall for the rest of the session. Luckily, we were able to go straight home after it was over.

Once ABM picked me up and I was able to calm down a bit in the car, we went to get pizza for dinner. While we were waiting for it, I went to the grocery store next door to buy a few things so I could cook for the kids over the weekend. At the checkout, I swipe my debit card, the computerized cash register goes wonky and reboots! I thought it was funny, but ABM was not amused that he had to wait so long for me to check out. The A in his nickname stands for Angry for a reason :-).

When we got home, I was looking forward to relaxing while the kids were at their weekly activities. I took off my clothes and got in bed to watch Rachael Ray. Just as I got settled, ABM called to tell me that he would not get back from M and DJ's activities in time to pick up the twins from church. So I had to get dressed and walk to the church to get them. You've read my struggles with fitness before, so you know that I am woefully out of shape. The 35-minute round trip almost killed me. As I was trying to make it up the last hill, C1 and I kept saying, "Valkyrie is about to die." You are as geeky as we are if you know what video game that comes from.

None of this stuff is earth-shattering. I'm just not in the habit of dealing with so many little annoyances in the same day. "When it rains, it pours" has come to life for me lately.

Need a time-waster?

Ostensibly, I am sharing this link with all of you so that you can enjoy a fun word puzzle: Funny Farm.  My real motive, however, is to get some help.  This is a word-association game, and you are supposed to solve it with your friends.  So far I have three other people working on it with me, plus I am using Google.  Still, there are a few blocks that are stumping me.  I could merge with some of the files I've found online, but I don't want all the answers at once.  Anyway, if any of you are working this puzzle, let me know so I can pick your brains!

If you haven't worked this puzzle before but decide to join me, don't be alarmed by the Cheating Attempt message.  It pops up occasionally but doesn't mean anything.  Just hit the "back" button on your browser and try again.   Happy solving!