...that the third trimester figure is my favourite look of pregnancy (with the possible exception of the first trimester figure, which is virtually identical to the normal figure look). The second trimester is my favourite feel of pregnancy. If I could feel as good as I do during the second trimester, and look like the third trimester (or, even better, the first - but I'm merely being hypothetical here, not unrealistic), then I'd like pregnancy a whole lot more.
The reason I like this look is that it's nice to look honest-to-goodness pregnant, thus finally eradicating the hesitant almost-questions and unspoken wonderings of whether the thickening waist simply betokens the fact that I've been putting on weight (or, horrors, still struggling to lose it from last time around!) Second trimester is just an awkward transitional phase, when I'm sort of outgrowing my regular clothes but can still wear them, only to look stout and - well, spilling out of my clothes. It's too soon for maternity clothes, though, and when I did try to wear them early in the second trimester I just felt silly.
I must point out that the only reason I like this look is because of the nice maternity fashions of the day. They are generally cute, trendy, and flattering, and do their best to make one feel happy to be pregnant. If I had to wear the gunnysacks and tents of even a decade ago, I'm sure I'd feel much less happy.
Monday, October 30, 2006
Food for thought
Recently I've found myself evaluating our diet and considering 1) how seriously to take concerns about health; 2) to what extent our food budget should accommodate improving the quality of the food we eat. I've gamely avoided the organics fad up til now, figuring that the dire effects of pesticides et al in the food are most likely exaggerated, very inconsequential, and certainly not worth the horrific additional expense to avoid. I've shied away from the nutty health movement, which I would (perhaps unfairly) summarise as consisting of soy milk, alfalfa sprouts, and flax seed, not for the cost reason but for the taste reason. I don't want a healthy lifestyle to be bland and boring. (There is an ongoing angst over the whole wheat flour issue, but that's a matter for another day.)
But when faced with the issue of quality over cheapness, I find myself at a real crossroads. It seems that I have been hearing from so many sources recently about the danger of high fructose corn syrup and certain fats (I really need to do a lot of research on fats and understand the difference between polyunsaturated and mono-, trans, hydrogenated, and so on) that I'm really beginning to contemplate what it would mean to cut these things out of our diet.
This website that I just discovered pointed out a very good thing about, for example, cheap peanut butter: look at the list of ingredients. You should be paying for peanuts and (possibly) salt. If your peanut butter is loaded with lard and icing sugar, you're not getting a bargain, no matter how much cheaper the junk stuff is than the natural stuff. After all, if you want to bring down the cost of the peanut butter, would you buy pure peanut butter and add lard and sugar to stretch it when you get home? Of course not. Then why pay to have the store do it for you?
Elsewhere I have read that if the list of ingredients contains words you can't pronounce, you probably shouldn't be eating it. Now that's perhaps a bit more extreme than I'm willing to get at this point (besides, who would know how to pronounce triticale without having heard it before?), but I thought it was an interesting bit of advice, anyway. Intrigued by this new thought process, I looked at the label of the bottle of lemon juice I keep on hand for drinking with hot water and honey to nurse those winter sore throats (so healthy of me, right?). The ingredients were water, lemon juice concentrate (?), and two preservatives. Now, obviously I must have bought this lemon juice because it was the cheapest bottle, and while I hate spending money, I hate getting ripped off even more. If I had wanted watered-down fake lemon juice, I could have bought Gatorade!
Furthermore, it dawned on me that I already make a budget concession for food quality when the driving factor is flavour, not health. We already consume only pure maple syrup, because we vastly prefer the taste to the fake stuff, even though it costs so many times more than Mrs. Butterworths. And we already use real butter for all everyday use and baking, because the taste and the texture is far superior to margarine. I don't even think twice about these 'splurges' in my shopping, because that's what we do and always have done and we take that for granted. I can't even imagine spreading margarine on a slice of bread. Suppose I felt this way about natural peanut butter? Suppose I had grown up preferring the unique texture and thought the packaged store-bought stuff was gross?
In theory, I'm all in favour of quality vs. quantity. I love the idea of savouring one good piece of dark European chocolate and truly appreciating a dessert over carelessly chomping down ten candy bars. I would love for my kids to grow up with a discriminating palate. But can we afford it? If I had grown up eating margarine, and now believed that butter was better for our health, would I bother to make the switch and learn to cultivate a taste for it, or just leave well enough alone? Is puzzlement.
But when faced with the issue of quality over cheapness, I find myself at a real crossroads. It seems that I have been hearing from so many sources recently about the danger of high fructose corn syrup and certain fats (I really need to do a lot of research on fats and understand the difference between polyunsaturated and mono-, trans, hydrogenated, and so on) that I'm really beginning to contemplate what it would mean to cut these things out of our diet.
This website that I just discovered pointed out a very good thing about, for example, cheap peanut butter: look at the list of ingredients. You should be paying for peanuts and (possibly) salt. If your peanut butter is loaded with lard and icing sugar, you're not getting a bargain, no matter how much cheaper the junk stuff is than the natural stuff. After all, if you want to bring down the cost of the peanut butter, would you buy pure peanut butter and add lard and sugar to stretch it when you get home? Of course not. Then why pay to have the store do it for you?
Elsewhere I have read that if the list of ingredients contains words you can't pronounce, you probably shouldn't be eating it. Now that's perhaps a bit more extreme than I'm willing to get at this point (besides, who would know how to pronounce triticale without having heard it before?), but I thought it was an interesting bit of advice, anyway. Intrigued by this new thought process, I looked at the label of the bottle of lemon juice I keep on hand for drinking with hot water and honey to nurse those winter sore throats (so healthy of me, right?). The ingredients were water, lemon juice concentrate (?), and two preservatives. Now, obviously I must have bought this lemon juice because it was the cheapest bottle, and while I hate spending money, I hate getting ripped off even more. If I had wanted watered-down fake lemon juice, I could have bought Gatorade!
Furthermore, it dawned on me that I already make a budget concession for food quality when the driving factor is flavour, not health. We already consume only pure maple syrup, because we vastly prefer the taste to the fake stuff, even though it costs so many times more than Mrs. Butterworths. And we already use real butter for all everyday use and baking, because the taste and the texture is far superior to margarine. I don't even think twice about these 'splurges' in my shopping, because that's what we do and always have done and we take that for granted. I can't even imagine spreading margarine on a slice of bread. Suppose I felt this way about natural peanut butter? Suppose I had grown up preferring the unique texture and thought the packaged store-bought stuff was gross?
In theory, I'm all in favour of quality vs. quantity. I love the idea of savouring one good piece of dark European chocolate and truly appreciating a dessert over carelessly chomping down ten candy bars. I would love for my kids to grow up with a discriminating palate. But can we afford it? If I had grown up eating margarine, and now believed that butter was better for our health, would I bother to make the switch and learn to cultivate a taste for it, or just leave well enough alone? Is puzzlement.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Overheard on the walk
Me: Thanks for pushing the stroller!
Michael: Not a problem. Hey, thanks for holding the Baby!
Michael: Not a problem. Hey, thanks for holding the Baby!
Thirty days of nothing
A while ago I came across an article in which the author was challenged to undergo Thirty Days of Nothing, i.e. a period of thirty days in which absolutely nothing non-essential would be bought in the household. Only non-fancy food for the week (or even the day) ahead was allowed; no splurges, no discretionary spending, no drinks but water. This brought up all sorts of ponderings on simplicity and money management (on the part of the author, I mean, who thought it was a very good idea).
It was an intriguing idea, and I think it can be a good challenge for a family if the goal is experimentation and exploration. However, as a solution to out-of-control spending habits and impulse buying, it strikes me as a bit similar to yo-yo dieting: sure, it works in the short term, but it's not a plan that's realistically sustainable, and without an intrinsic change of heart and lifestyle, the bad habits and their bad effects are going to come right back.
This challenge would never work for me, or perhaps I should say it probably wouldn't be very helpful for our family, and not because I'm inclined to the whole impulse spending on non-essential items habit. Rather, I rely on purchasing non-essential items (by which I mean non-emergency items, in that I don't need them right away, but will certainly require them at some point, as opposed to frivolous junk) when the price is right, not when the need is high. By replenishing my stores of hand soap, dish detergent, tissues, tomato sauce cans, etc., when there's a great deal, I'm able to stockpile even if I didn't need them right away and insulate myself from unpleasant surprises when the common demand outruns the supply. If only I could do that with gasoline!
Perhaps a more helpful exercise for the would-be budget-conscious would be to curtail all superfluous spending for a month, and see where that leaves them. By superfluous I mean the truly non-essential items like CDs, candy, DVD players, and the like. This kind of challenge wouldn't really apply to our family since we hardly buy consumer stuff nowadays anyway. But, it is a big change from my former lifestyle when I was single, in which I bought stuff off of Amazon and E-bay whenever the whim seized me. So perhaps this challenge would have been an interesting venture back then. Nowadays my priorities are so patently different from building up a sound library and jewelry collection that I don't really need a challenge to remind me of it.
On the contrary, I'm getting more and more disenchanted with the Culture of Stuff. We have friends who are planning on leaving for the mission field within the next year, and it has been inspiring to observe how that expectation has changed their viewpoint on ownership. Pretty much everything they currently own will either need to be shipped overseas (and crammed into a far smaller apartment) at considerable expense or sold or given away within the year, so they definitely think twice before purchasing something and are certainly not in the mentality of mindless accumulation. That's such a great perspective, because in a sense we should all be aware of our temporary residency here and not set our hearts on treasures below. Not to say that we necessarily need to sell all that we have and give it to the poor; but it does help me not to get caught up in materialistic greed to view possessions as a burden requiring maintenance, and a short-term proposition, at best. And it is easier to vacuum and clean the house without so much furniture cluttering up the living space.
It was an intriguing idea, and I think it can be a good challenge for a family if the goal is experimentation and exploration. However, as a solution to out-of-control spending habits and impulse buying, it strikes me as a bit similar to yo-yo dieting: sure, it works in the short term, but it's not a plan that's realistically sustainable, and without an intrinsic change of heart and lifestyle, the bad habits and their bad effects are going to come right back.
This challenge would never work for me, or perhaps I should say it probably wouldn't be very helpful for our family, and not because I'm inclined to the whole impulse spending on non-essential items habit. Rather, I rely on purchasing non-essential items (by which I mean non-emergency items, in that I don't need them right away, but will certainly require them at some point, as opposed to frivolous junk) when the price is right, not when the need is high. By replenishing my stores of hand soap, dish detergent, tissues, tomato sauce cans, etc., when there's a great deal, I'm able to stockpile even if I didn't need them right away and insulate myself from unpleasant surprises when the common demand outruns the supply. If only I could do that with gasoline!
Perhaps a more helpful exercise for the would-be budget-conscious would be to curtail all superfluous spending for a month, and see where that leaves them. By superfluous I mean the truly non-essential items like CDs, candy, DVD players, and the like. This kind of challenge wouldn't really apply to our family since we hardly buy consumer stuff nowadays anyway. But, it is a big change from my former lifestyle when I was single, in which I bought stuff off of Amazon and E-bay whenever the whim seized me. So perhaps this challenge would have been an interesting venture back then. Nowadays my priorities are so patently different from building up a sound library and jewelry collection that I don't really need a challenge to remind me of it.
On the contrary, I'm getting more and more disenchanted with the Culture of Stuff. We have friends who are planning on leaving for the mission field within the next year, and it has been inspiring to observe how that expectation has changed their viewpoint on ownership. Pretty much everything they currently own will either need to be shipped overseas (and crammed into a far smaller apartment) at considerable expense or sold or given away within the year, so they definitely think twice before purchasing something and are certainly not in the mentality of mindless accumulation. That's such a great perspective, because in a sense we should all be aware of our temporary residency here and not set our hearts on treasures below. Not to say that we necessarily need to sell all that we have and give it to the poor; but it does help me not to get caught up in materialistic greed to view possessions as a burden requiring maintenance, and a short-term proposition, at best. And it is easier to vacuum and clean the house without so much furniture cluttering up the living space.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
A quick succession of busy somethings
Lots going on and not much time to write about it leaves the impression that not much is happening around here. Not so. Quite the reverse.
* Last Friday we hired a babysitter for the very first time (as opposed to putting Jane in the nursery, or leaving her with friends) so we could attend a performance of Fiddler On The Roof at a small community theater about an hour and a half away. It was great fun to see, and the play was very well performed, though we were hard pressed not to compare it to our production last summer. As it happened, several other Fiddler alumni (among them, all three sons-in-law and the director herself) also attended this performance, so we had a jolly time discussing everything during intermission. We had seats on the very front row and enjoyed every minute of it, though it was after midnight before we got back.
* This weekend I will be working for my old company once again at their annual tent sale. I loved working there, and even though I actually worked there full-time for less than a year, still keep in touch with many of my former colleagues. They were all so helpful and supportive during my pregnancy, threw me a wonderful shower, and are always delighted to see Jane and me stop by. Except that it's been a few months since I've last visited, and I haven't happened to notice my latest news, so I think they're all going to be surprised when I show up this weekend sporting another baby belly.
* We still have not gotten into the habit of taking a weekly picture of us. This pregnancy is not going to be nearly as well documented as the last. But we already knew that successive children would never be photographed as much as Jane, so it's not as if we need to berate ourselves for falling down on the job. Good grief, they'll have older siblings to play with, blaze trails for them, and wear us down on rules for them, so I'm sure they'll be well rewarded for not getting such coverage on the photo department.
* I had another OB visit yesterday whereat I drank the nasty orange drink, and it really wasn't nearly as bad as I had been dreading. Either I had been building it up excessively in my memory, or chilling it first really helped. Still, I hope not to drink another one for a goodly long time.
* There is a new super Walmart opening just down the road from us tomorrow. Hurrah for local, convenient, and cheap supplies!
* It appears that we may be going abroad next year or the next, so I got Jane's passport photo taken last week and will take in the paperwork this week to apply. Maybe in five years, when this passport wears out, they'll have changed the rules back to allow smiling again. I am so glad I got my photo taken just before the rule change.
* The weather has taken an apparently irrevocable turn for the cooler, which is nice and cosy at this point. I'm still enamoured of fall colours and pumpkin-and-spice smells, and hope we can enjoy more crisp, cool, sunshiny weather and less cold, grey, drippy weather.
* Last Friday we hired a babysitter for the very first time (as opposed to putting Jane in the nursery, or leaving her with friends) so we could attend a performance of Fiddler On The Roof at a small community theater about an hour and a half away. It was great fun to see, and the play was very well performed, though we were hard pressed not to compare it to our production last summer. As it happened, several other Fiddler alumni (among them, all three sons-in-law and the director herself) also attended this performance, so we had a jolly time discussing everything during intermission. We had seats on the very front row and enjoyed every minute of it, though it was after midnight before we got back.
* This weekend I will be working for my old company once again at their annual tent sale. I loved working there, and even though I actually worked there full-time for less than a year, still keep in touch with many of my former colleagues. They were all so helpful and supportive during my pregnancy, threw me a wonderful shower, and are always delighted to see Jane and me stop by. Except that it's been a few months since I've last visited, and I haven't happened to notice my latest news, so I think they're all going to be surprised when I show up this weekend sporting another baby belly.
* We still have not gotten into the habit of taking a weekly picture of us. This pregnancy is not going to be nearly as well documented as the last. But we already knew that successive children would never be photographed as much as Jane, so it's not as if we need to berate ourselves for falling down on the job. Good grief, they'll have older siblings to play with, blaze trails for them, and wear us down on rules for them, so I'm sure they'll be well rewarded for not getting such coverage on the photo department.
* I had another OB visit yesterday whereat I drank the nasty orange drink, and it really wasn't nearly as bad as I had been dreading. Either I had been building it up excessively in my memory, or chilling it first really helped. Still, I hope not to drink another one for a goodly long time.
* There is a new super Walmart opening just down the road from us tomorrow. Hurrah for local, convenient, and cheap supplies!
* It appears that we may be going abroad next year or the next, so I got Jane's passport photo taken last week and will take in the paperwork this week to apply. Maybe in five years, when this passport wears out, they'll have changed the rules back to allow smiling again. I am so glad I got my photo taken just before the rule change.
* The weather has taken an apparently irrevocable turn for the cooler, which is nice and cosy at this point. I'm still enamoured of fall colours and pumpkin-and-spice smells, and hope we can enjoy more crisp, cool, sunshiny weather and less cold, grey, drippy weather.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Friday, October 06, 2006
I can't resist...
What I have done is in bold.
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula - yeah, does having a pane of glass between me and the tarantula count?
07. Taken a candlelit bath
08. Said “I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea - okay, did the storm have to be at sea, or me while I was watching it?
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights - I wish!
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa - next on my to-do list
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg [lettuce]
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten tipsy on champagne - but only a very little.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope - Halley's Comet!
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - many, many times
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse - lunar and solar!
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day - oooh, this would be a good one
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer - good heavens, we must have six or seven!
40. Visited all 50 states - working on it!
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe - well, we had a car, but we got out a lot and walked around and wore our passports in a pouch! Does that count?
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach - not midnight, but night-time?
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs - by artist!
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day - mostly when sick
60. *edited* - Good heavens, what was this one? Now I'm dying to find out.
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain - but not upside-down
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites - kinda goes with the Great Pyramid thing
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight - D&D? Did Jane Austen even write a book of that title?
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie - do home videos count?
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest - well, but it was in a 4-H competition, and everyone was winning a first prize.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. *edited*
89. Gone to Thailand - okay, what's with this Japan/Thailand/Great Wall theme? Why didn't someone write up a list with Greece/Egypt/Cyprus/Holland??
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents - in sand
93. Been on a cruise ship - honeymoon!
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - working on it
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over - I did pick up and move to another city and just start over; thanks to the ambiguous placement of 'just,' this sentence is flexible.
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking - all the time. Why should that stop me? They can't hear me!
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication - just how large?
106. Lost over 100 pounds - cumulatively? Over my whole life?
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane - well, I was briefly allowed to take the controls in a private plane, but I'm sure the pilot wouldn't have let us crash if it had gone awry
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth - hand-delivered a calf while wearing high heels
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone - on me? Or someone else?
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced - well, when I bend over, then my ears are below my neck...
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild - surely some of the mushrooms they sell in the store started off in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states - ooh, this is a tricky one. I guess it depends on if you count 1) layovers in foreign airports; 2) driving through a state without getting out and stopping.
124. Visited all 7 continents - oh, come on. Who besides scientists would go to Antarctica?
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat – not so far as I know
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about - not sure about this one. I certainly hope so
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach - yeah, with the sole of my shoe
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - what, never? No, never! Well, hardly ever.
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - rabbit
137. Skipped all your school reunions - every family vacation is a school reunion
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office - precinct committeeman back in Oregon
140. Written your own computer language - Ha!
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream - but of course I am!
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts - well, I'm married to someone who has
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula - yeah, does having a pane of glass between me and the tarantula count?
07. Taken a candlelit bath
08. Said “I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea - okay, did the storm have to be at sea, or me while I was watching it?
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights - I wish!
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa - next on my to-do list
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg [lettuce]
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten tipsy on champagne - but only a very little.
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope - Halley's Comet!
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment - many, many times
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse - lunar and solar!
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day - oooh, this would be a good one
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer - good heavens, we must have six or seven!
40. Visited all 50 states - working on it!
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe - well, we had a car, but we got out a lot and walked around and wore our passports in a pouch! Does that count?
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach - not midnight, but night-time?
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs - by artist!
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day - mostly when sick
60. *edited* - Good heavens, what was this one? Now I'm dying to find out.
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain - but not upside-down
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites - kinda goes with the Great Pyramid thing
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight - D&D? Did Jane Austen even write a book of that title?
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie - do home videos count?
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest - well, but it was in a 4-H competition, and everyone was winning a first prize.
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. *edited*
89. Gone to Thailand - okay, what's with this Japan/Thailand/Great Wall theme? Why didn't someone write up a list with Greece/Egypt/Cyprus/Holland??
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents - in sand
93. Been on a cruise ship - honeymoon!
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children - working on it
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over - I did pick up and move to another city and just start over; thanks to the ambiguous placement of 'just,' this sentence is flexible.
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking - all the time. Why should that stop me? They can't hear me!
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication - just how large?
106. Lost over 100 pounds - cumulatively? Over my whole life?
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane - well, I was briefly allowed to take the controls in a private plane, but I'm sure the pilot wouldn't have let us crash if it had gone awry
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth - hand-delivered a calf while wearing high heels
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone - on me? Or someone else?
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced - well, when I bend over, then my ears are below my neck...
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild - surely some of the mushrooms they sell in the store started off in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states - ooh, this is a tricky one. I guess it depends on if you count 1) layovers in foreign airports; 2) driving through a state without getting out and stopping.
124. Visited all 7 continents - oh, come on. Who besides scientists would go to Antarctica?
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat – not so far as I know
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about - not sure about this one. I certainly hope so
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach - yeah, with the sole of my shoe
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - what, never? No, never! Well, hardly ever.
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating - rabbit
137. Skipped all your school reunions - every family vacation is a school reunion
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office - precinct committeeman back in Oregon
140. Written your own computer language - Ha!
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream - but of course I am!
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts - well, I'm married to someone who has
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Helpful hints (at least they helped ME)
The first half of this post I have been mulling over for some little time, debating whether to bother sharing it because my suspicion is that none of my friends out there are quite as obsessed with the sheer joy of finding bargains and free things as I am. =) But I love to share good news and spill over with enthusiasm about things that excite me, so I'll just toss it out there and hope that it proves useful to someone. There now.
***************************************************
Walgreens Easy Saver Catalogue
For those fortunate enough to live near a Walgreens, I can think of no reason not to get excited about getting wonderful free stuff every month. I discovered this program by accident a year ago this month, very skeptically bought the stuff, got my money back, and have been an ardent Walgreens Easy Saver shopper ever since. Click on the Catalog button from the link above to see this month's deals. (Warning: this month is juicier than most. Some months there are just one or two items. Some months there are ten.)
In its most simple form, you can use it as a rebate. Simply buy all the items listed in the middle of the flyer, which are advertised as being free, from your local Walgreens; fill out the rebate form; and send away for your check. You will get a rebate check for the entire amount of the purchase, less, of course, sales tax. If you choose to follow this option, then you will probably only want to buy the stuff you can actually use (sanitary pads, toothbrushes, etc.) because you are going to be stuck with the cost of the sales tax.
However, the way I use the Easy Saver rebate is to elect to receive my rebate in the form of a Walgreens gift card instead of a check. If you choose this option, you will get not only your money back, but also a 10% bonus, which easily covers the cost of the sales tax AND the stamp used to mail off the rebate each month. Once you receive the card, you can choose to simply reload it in future months, saving time in the mail. I always get my rebate reloaded onto my card well in time to buy the stuff for next month.
Because I use this gift card system, I have a sort of 'revolving balance' with Walgreens on this rebate system, which enables me to buy every free item every month, no matter how useful to me. I gamely buy everything they offer and decide how to use it later. Some of the medications (cold, flu, nasal stuff, etc.) that we wouldn't use I can give away. Some items (reading glasses) I can donate to missionary causes. Some of the random stuff (hemorrhoid treatment, anti-itch cream) I can save for gag gifts and such. It's all free, and the more stuff I buy, the more of a balance I accrue on my gift card. I think I started off by spending about $25 on the rebate items the first month I tried it out, and I've now worked up my gift card balance to around $40. So I am still 'out' my initial investment of $25, but I've gotten a year's worth of free stuff for it, and anytime I decide to opt out of playing this game, I can choose to have my final purchase refunded to me in the form of a check, completely cashing me out and then some.
A caution: you do have to follow through with the rebate paperwork. I am not good with details, so I have to make myself fill out the paperwork the instant I return from shopping. The instructions in the flyer are pretty clear, but it is a bit of hoop-jumping: you have to fill out the rebate form, circle the items on the receipt, and write the offer numbers by each item. There is, thankfully, no requirement to include UPC symbols. I make a copy of the paperwork before I mail it, just to be careful. You must follow the instructions scrupulously, you must buy the stuff (and send off the paperwork) within the allotted time frame, and you must make sure that the item does indeed cost less than the maximum rebate amount. Walgreens is usually pretty good about making sure that if they advertise something as free, the price will be less than the rebate amount; but I still have to watch it and make sure I don't buy the wrong size shampoo and end up paying more than what I will get refunded.
A suggestion: if you want to start doing this, I'd recommend getting the check rebate this month rather than the gift card, because there's a lot of stuff this month and you probably don't need to wind up with a $50+ gift card. As mentioned before, most months aren't this lucrative, and sometimes I end up spending only $10 on one or two things.
***************************************************
MotherLoad: A wonderful blog!
This is a really great blog that I recently stumbled across, and I've been lurking thereabouts ever since, especially on Fridays. Why, you ask? Because every Friday she writes a post featuring various free things you can sign up for, and I love getting free things!
At first, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical. I don't hold truck with handing out my personal information wholesale, and I'm very cautious about signing up for stuff online which may open me up to receiving scads of junk mail. But I tentatively signed up for something, and received my free sample in the mail so promptly that I was addicted.
Every week I spend about ten minutes online, filling out various forms and submitting them. Hardly a day goes by when I don't get something in the mail. I've gotten diaper samples, toothpaste samples, cute little .05 oz. deodorant samples, shampoo samples, and any number of other useful (and otherwise!) stuff. I haven't seen any increase in my junk mail, which isn't surprising since most of the forms ask me if they can share my email address/other information with other vendors, and I of course select no. These are reputable vendors, like Proctor & Gamble, so you know they won't sell your information without your permission.
Just to be safe, I use my rarely-used first name, so that any junk mail which does show up would be a dead giveaway. I also enter my throwaway Yahoo email address, when an email address is required. Very tidy and simple, very little time investment, very rewarding mail runs these days.
***************************************************
Walgreens Easy Saver Catalogue
For those fortunate enough to live near a Walgreens, I can think of no reason not to get excited about getting wonderful free stuff every month. I discovered this program by accident a year ago this month, very skeptically bought the stuff, got my money back, and have been an ardent Walgreens Easy Saver shopper ever since. Click on the Catalog button from the link above to see this month's deals. (Warning: this month is juicier than most. Some months there are just one or two items. Some months there are ten.)
In its most simple form, you can use it as a rebate. Simply buy all the items listed in the middle of the flyer, which are advertised as being free, from your local Walgreens; fill out the rebate form; and send away for your check. You will get a rebate check for the entire amount of the purchase, less, of course, sales tax. If you choose to follow this option, then you will probably only want to buy the stuff you can actually use (sanitary pads, toothbrushes, etc.) because you are going to be stuck with the cost of the sales tax.
However, the way I use the Easy Saver rebate is to elect to receive my rebate in the form of a Walgreens gift card instead of a check. If you choose this option, you will get not only your money back, but also a 10% bonus, which easily covers the cost of the sales tax AND the stamp used to mail off the rebate each month. Once you receive the card, you can choose to simply reload it in future months, saving time in the mail. I always get my rebate reloaded onto my card well in time to buy the stuff for next month.
Because I use this gift card system, I have a sort of 'revolving balance' with Walgreens on this rebate system, which enables me to buy every free item every month, no matter how useful to me. I gamely buy everything they offer and decide how to use it later. Some of the medications (cold, flu, nasal stuff, etc.) that we wouldn't use I can give away. Some items (reading glasses) I can donate to missionary causes. Some of the random stuff (hemorrhoid treatment, anti-itch cream) I can save for gag gifts and such. It's all free, and the more stuff I buy, the more of a balance I accrue on my gift card. I think I started off by spending about $25 on the rebate items the first month I tried it out, and I've now worked up my gift card balance to around $40. So I am still 'out' my initial investment of $25, but I've gotten a year's worth of free stuff for it, and anytime I decide to opt out of playing this game, I can choose to have my final purchase refunded to me in the form of a check, completely cashing me out and then some.
A caution: you do have to follow through with the rebate paperwork. I am not good with details, so I have to make myself fill out the paperwork the instant I return from shopping. The instructions in the flyer are pretty clear, but it is a bit of hoop-jumping: you have to fill out the rebate form, circle the items on the receipt, and write the offer numbers by each item. There is, thankfully, no requirement to include UPC symbols. I make a copy of the paperwork before I mail it, just to be careful. You must follow the instructions scrupulously, you must buy the stuff (and send off the paperwork) within the allotted time frame, and you must make sure that the item does indeed cost less than the maximum rebate amount. Walgreens is usually pretty good about making sure that if they advertise something as free, the price will be less than the rebate amount; but I still have to watch it and make sure I don't buy the wrong size shampoo and end up paying more than what I will get refunded.
A suggestion: if you want to start doing this, I'd recommend getting the check rebate this month rather than the gift card, because there's a lot of stuff this month and you probably don't need to wind up with a $50+ gift card. As mentioned before, most months aren't this lucrative, and sometimes I end up spending only $10 on one or two things.
***************************************************
MotherLoad: A wonderful blog!
This is a really great blog that I recently stumbled across, and I've been lurking thereabouts ever since, especially on Fridays. Why, you ask? Because every Friday she writes a post featuring various free things you can sign up for, and I love getting free things!
At first, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical. I don't hold truck with handing out my personal information wholesale, and I'm very cautious about signing up for stuff online which may open me up to receiving scads of junk mail. But I tentatively signed up for something, and received my free sample in the mail so promptly that I was addicted.
Every week I spend about ten minutes online, filling out various forms and submitting them. Hardly a day goes by when I don't get something in the mail. I've gotten diaper samples, toothpaste samples, cute little .05 oz. deodorant samples, shampoo samples, and any number of other useful (and otherwise!) stuff. I haven't seen any increase in my junk mail, which isn't surprising since most of the forms ask me if they can share my email address/other information with other vendors, and I of course select no. These are reputable vendors, like Proctor & Gamble, so you know they won't sell your information without your permission.
Just to be safe, I use my rarely-used first name, so that any junk mail which does show up would be a dead giveaway. I also enter my throwaway Yahoo email address, when an email address is required. Very tidy and simple, very little time investment, very rewarding mail runs these days.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Movie diatribes
Yet another batch of toffee is cooling hopefully in the refrigerator, and I take a moment to document my thoughts on recent movies watched. The background is the receipt of another free trial offer from Netflix, which we gamely accepted on the premise that it would allow us to watch a few of those movies that we sort of wanted to see but certainly wouldn't have gone out and paid money to watch.
*************************
Total Recall
Michael saw this movie many, many times when it first came out, the summer he spent in Alaska. He watched it so much because 1) he was desperate for movies to watch in Alaska; and 2) he was thrilled to be able to go to a movie theatre at all, movies having been off-limits for the past two years at Moody. So this film has sentimental value for him, and it was important that I understand where he was going with random quotes like 'Two weeks.'
By an amazing coincidence, I actually saw a preview for it when it first came out, just about the first time I ever went to a movie theatre, too: when my parents took me to see Driving Miss Daisy. Don't ask me how such a preview ever got in front of such a movie. Several key scenes from the preview made a strong impression on me and gave me nightmares for weeks, to wit: 1) People walking behind a screen and their bones showing! They were skeletons! 2) Someone's head landing in someone's hands, saying, 'Get ready for a surprise!' and then exploding.
I was relieved to discover that the movie is by no means as scary as my ten-year-old memories led me to believe. With Michael there to warn me when to close my eyes, I completely missed out on any gory scenes (Me: Is it worse than the Nazis' face-melting in Indiana Jones? Michael: Hmm, maybe about the same. Me: Okay, I'm closing my eyes. Warn me whenever it happens.) and was pleasantly surprised to find that: 1) the skeletons were just people walking through an x-ray machine, scanning for weapons; and 2) the exploding head was that of a robot.
The plot was interesting, in that it really kept you wondering; it reminded me a bit of a simplified Matrix, without the high-tech special effects. It was a fascinating premise, and made me question a little bit the boundaries of reality, perception, and how we can be sure at any given time that we are awake, aware, and in full possession of our memories.
*************************
Pride and Prejudice (the new one)
I saw this with a girlfriend when it came out last year, and enjoyed it for what it was: it by no means did justice to the book, and certainly didn't seem to measure up to the spectacular A&E version, but felt like a good enough movie in its own right. I remember having a distinct impression of reading an abridged novel where the pace continues breathlessly and minor details are never sufficiently fleshed out, but I was so familiar with the story myself that my mind gamely filled in all the blanks, leaving me with a pleasant overall impression.
Well. Watching it again (and with Michael) was certainly a come-down. Second time through, it shone forth as a cheesy romantic comedy/period-piece-costume-drama-wannabe. Michael kept groaning, issuing eye rolls and such commentary as 'Oh puleeeeeze!' 'Yeah, right!' and 'You have got to be kidding me.' And I was much inclined to agree with him.
I can forgive the director leaving out so many characters in the interests of brevity. But the characters that were left were sadly undeveloped. Wickham never really makes that much of an impression on us as a good and wronged soul (nor do his initial attentions to Lizzie really show up much), so that his unveiling is surprisingly un-startling and unmoving. Bingley is an idiotic nincompoop. ('Yes. I mean, I'm glad....that is, I'm sorry you're ill...') Charlotte's pragmatism and calm philosophy are overshadowed by her desperation and fright. Lydia and Kitty never seem to register as that shocking of flirts.
The good things: the girls really looked like teenagers. Lydia actually looked her age. Jane was really beautiful. The impoverished gentility of the Bennets was well portrayed in the shabby everyday clothes they wore. Judi Dench as Lady Catherine was imperious and superb.
The bad things: the almost-kiss at the rain-drenched rotunda. The lack of explanations for the customs of that time. The incessant listening-at-the-door trick, which got real old real fast. The overdone melodrama (Lady Catherine's midnight visit? Darcy letting himself in the room, in the dark, to deliver his letter?) for the sake of inciting indignation or sympathy in the breasts of the audience. You know what it made me think of, through and through? One of those badly-done faux historical romances, with the rippling muscles and low-cut bodices on the cover, absolutely riveting questions on the back, and 20th-century characters capering about inside. It's as if the director thought, 'Let's dress them all up in old-fashioned clothes, give them English accents, and the audience will think it's about people in Jane Austen's day!'
Still, it was a pleasure to watch. It wasn't scandalous, it was clean and wholesome, the music was lovely, the scenery was English, and Keira Knightly is a delight to watch.
*************************
Prime
I actually just saw the preview for this, in front of P&P. The plot, from what I could gather, involves a woman who meets and falls in love with a guy who turns out to be the son of her therapist, which apparently none of them figure out until far enough along in the movie so as to be embarrassing for all. Common enough fodder for your average romantic comedy, right? Right, so I forthwith had no intention of seeing it. But yesterday as I walked through Target I happened to see it on the shelf, so I picked it up and read the cover, from which I gleaned the following information: 1) The movie stars Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. 2) The female character is a 37-year-old divorcee; the male character is 23. 3) The movie's title comes from the premise that both characters are in their respective sexual prime, hence well-matched for each other.
Ugh. I can't even work up enough ire to rant about the tragedy of boiling down the merits of a relationship to the purely physical, but it did make me wonder whether the movie-makers considered the characters to be remotely near, say, their emotional prime, their financial prime, their intellectual prime, their maturity prime? Probably not. Naturally we all know those factors have far less to do, generally speaking, with how we relate to other people and how well we get along in life, than does the physical aspect. That, of course, is the pivotal point upon which most good relationships are built.
*************************
Total Recall
Michael saw this movie many, many times when it first came out, the summer he spent in Alaska. He watched it so much because 1) he was desperate for movies to watch in Alaska; and 2) he was thrilled to be able to go to a movie theatre at all, movies having been off-limits for the past two years at Moody. So this film has sentimental value for him, and it was important that I understand where he was going with random quotes like 'Two weeks.'
By an amazing coincidence, I actually saw a preview for it when it first came out, just about the first time I ever went to a movie theatre, too: when my parents took me to see Driving Miss Daisy. Don't ask me how such a preview ever got in front of such a movie. Several key scenes from the preview made a strong impression on me and gave me nightmares for weeks, to wit: 1) People walking behind a screen and their bones showing! They were skeletons! 2) Someone's head landing in someone's hands, saying, 'Get ready for a surprise!' and then exploding.
I was relieved to discover that the movie is by no means as scary as my ten-year-old memories led me to believe. With Michael there to warn me when to close my eyes, I completely missed out on any gory scenes (Me: Is it worse than the Nazis' face-melting in Indiana Jones? Michael: Hmm, maybe about the same. Me: Okay, I'm closing my eyes. Warn me whenever it happens.) and was pleasantly surprised to find that: 1) the skeletons were just people walking through an x-ray machine, scanning for weapons; and 2) the exploding head was that of a robot.
The plot was interesting, in that it really kept you wondering; it reminded me a bit of a simplified Matrix, without the high-tech special effects. It was a fascinating premise, and made me question a little bit the boundaries of reality, perception, and how we can be sure at any given time that we are awake, aware, and in full possession of our memories.
*************************
Pride and Prejudice (the new one)
I saw this with a girlfriend when it came out last year, and enjoyed it for what it was: it by no means did justice to the book, and certainly didn't seem to measure up to the spectacular A&E version, but felt like a good enough movie in its own right. I remember having a distinct impression of reading an abridged novel where the pace continues breathlessly and minor details are never sufficiently fleshed out, but I was so familiar with the story myself that my mind gamely filled in all the blanks, leaving me with a pleasant overall impression.
Well. Watching it again (and with Michael) was certainly a come-down. Second time through, it shone forth as a cheesy romantic comedy/period-piece-costume-drama-wannabe. Michael kept groaning, issuing eye rolls and such commentary as 'Oh puleeeeeze!' 'Yeah, right!' and 'You have got to be kidding me.' And I was much inclined to agree with him.
I can forgive the director leaving out so many characters in the interests of brevity. But the characters that were left were sadly undeveloped. Wickham never really makes that much of an impression on us as a good and wronged soul (nor do his initial attentions to Lizzie really show up much), so that his unveiling is surprisingly un-startling and unmoving. Bingley is an idiotic nincompoop. ('Yes. I mean, I'm glad....that is, I'm sorry you're ill...') Charlotte's pragmatism and calm philosophy are overshadowed by her desperation and fright. Lydia and Kitty never seem to register as that shocking of flirts.
The good things: the girls really looked like teenagers. Lydia actually looked her age. Jane was really beautiful. The impoverished gentility of the Bennets was well portrayed in the shabby everyday clothes they wore. Judi Dench as Lady Catherine was imperious and superb.
The bad things: the almost-kiss at the rain-drenched rotunda. The lack of explanations for the customs of that time. The incessant listening-at-the-door trick, which got real old real fast. The overdone melodrama (Lady Catherine's midnight visit? Darcy letting himself in the room, in the dark, to deliver his letter?) for the sake of inciting indignation or sympathy in the breasts of the audience. You know what it made me think of, through and through? One of those badly-done faux historical romances, with the rippling muscles and low-cut bodices on the cover, absolutely riveting questions on the back, and 20th-century characters capering about inside. It's as if the director thought, 'Let's dress them all up in old-fashioned clothes, give them English accents, and the audience will think it's about people in Jane Austen's day!'
Still, it was a pleasure to watch. It wasn't scandalous, it was clean and wholesome, the music was lovely, the scenery was English, and Keira Knightly is a delight to watch.
*************************
Prime
I actually just saw the preview for this, in front of P&P. The plot, from what I could gather, involves a woman who meets and falls in love with a guy who turns out to be the son of her therapist, which apparently none of them figure out until far enough along in the movie so as to be embarrassing for all. Common enough fodder for your average romantic comedy, right? Right, so I forthwith had no intention of seeing it. But yesterday as I walked through Target I happened to see it on the shelf, so I picked it up and read the cover, from which I gleaned the following information: 1) The movie stars Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. 2) The female character is a 37-year-old divorcee; the male character is 23. 3) The movie's title comes from the premise that both characters are in their respective sexual prime, hence well-matched for each other.
Ugh. I can't even work up enough ire to rant about the tragedy of boiling down the merits of a relationship to the purely physical, but it did make me wonder whether the movie-makers considered the characters to be remotely near, say, their emotional prime, their financial prime, their intellectual prime, their maturity prime? Probably not. Naturally we all know those factors have far less to do, generally speaking, with how we relate to other people and how well we get along in life, than does the physical aspect. That, of course, is the pivotal point upon which most good relationships are built.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Sweet nothings
Me (to Michael, observing that Jane was looking a bit droopy): Do you think she's ready to go down?
Jane (immediately perking up): No! No!
***********************************
Michael (to me): You have a hump on your belly...kind of like a camel, in reverse.
***********************************
Me: How do you pronounce vidalia onions? VIE- or VEE-? DAH-lia or DAY-lia?
Michael: Well, Bertie always called his aunt Aunt DAY-lia.
Me: Certainly we should sound British if at all possible.
Michael: Do they even have vidalia onions in England?
Me: Oh, well, there you go.
Jane (immediately perking up): No! No!
***********************************
Michael (to me): You have a hump on your belly...kind of like a camel, in reverse.
***********************************
Me: How do you pronounce vidalia onions? VIE- or VEE-? DAH-lia or DAY-lia?
Michael: Well, Bertie always called his aunt Aunt DAY-lia.
Me: Certainly we should sound British if at all possible.
Michael: Do they even have vidalia onions in England?
Me: Oh, well, there you go.
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