Why?

Why would a builder put carpet in a bathroom? I don't get it. Our house was built in 2000, it's not that old. They put carpet in the master bathroom and I have never understood why. I am forever telling the kids to not splash, don't get water on the floor because wet carpet=gross.

I dripped hair dye on it today and promptly had a tantrum and called the contractor friend of ours for a quote on tiling the floor. Enough with this fucking bathroom carpet!

The Police

The last time the Police played in Atlanta was November, 1986. I was 13 years old and didn't have the finances to secure tickets and transportation to this show. It was at The Omni which no longer exists as an entertainment venue. The Omni Hotel does exist and serves the current Phillips Arena that was built on the same spot once the Omni was torn down. I have so many memories in the Omni! I've seen loads of concerts there...Def Leppard, Robert Plant, REM, Jimmy Page, David Bowie....and the list goes on. Big names, musical legends, all in my very early teen years. That was the one thing I spent most of my money on, concert tickets. All the hours waiting in line for tickets, all the attempts at getting backstage or getting just a fleeting glimpse of the artists as they left the venue. I wish I had been into photography at the level I am now because I would have some great pictures! Oh and just a little bit of trivia on the Omni, The Police's "Synchronicity Concert" was filmed at the Omni in November 1983. Def Leppard's live home video "In the Round, In Your Face", was filmed at the Omni in October 1988, which was the show I saw. Alas, the Omni was rusting and began losing business so it was demolished in 1997 and Phillips Arena was completed in 1999 . Since then I've seen lots of shows at Phillips ;)

Kevin and I went to see the Police on their reunion tour last Saturday. I paid more for those tickets than I have ever paid for concert tickets, and was glad to do it. Kevin got to see the Police as a teen but this was my only chance to see them live. They were fantastic, didn't miss a beat. They were musically tight despite being somewhat on the outs off the stage, from what I had been reading. We had a great time at the show, Kevin's broken foot and all. I got a few really nice pictures that I will forever cherish. Here is the last shot of the night:

Thanksgiving

Me: What do you mean we'll just have dinner without Ray and Lesley (my brother and his wife)?
Mom: Well, they are eating with Lesley's grandmother and won't be over until later, maybe around 4:00. And you guys have to go over to Lisa's house (Kevin's sister), so we'll just eat when you get here.
Me: That sucks mom, why don't we just all get together Friday instead. It makes more sense, we're all off from work and don't have to be anywhere that day.
Mom: No! We can't do that.
Me: (loud sigh) Why not mother?
Mom: It's not Thanksgiving if you don't do it ON Thanksgiving day.
Me: Well mom, what sort of Thanksgiving is it if our whole family isn't there at the same time? What's the point?
Mom: (sounds like a spoiled child) Because, we have to have Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day.

Oh how I love the holidays when I get to gather with my insane extended family.

Baking

So...I have to make a load of cookies tonight for an open house thing at work tomorrow. My boss specifically asked me if I could participate by bringing in some cookies (normally I would volunteer for stuff like drinks, chips, chicken nuggets I can buy from Chick-fil-a) so of course I was all, "Sure! No problem!" Then I realized I also have to cook a dish for 20 people tonight, for tomorrow night's school family dinner (Tristan is in this family program at school where they keep all the kids together through K,1 and 2 so they do stuff like dinners, field trips, etc together). Anyway....

I did one batch of cookies last night and used that Reynolds release stuff, which, Oh My God!, rocks. Why didn't I know about this stuff? No more baking sheet scrubbing. So I decided that I should get some silicone baking sheets because now that the cleaning up is easier I'm going to bake like a mother-fucker (not really, this is just a phase, but still). I'm looking online at Target so I can decide what I'm going to get when I run out at lunch and I am reading these reviews of these silicone baking sheets. This one literally had me in tears laughing:

Way to flexible, February 21, 2006
Reviewer: Sandra (Southern California)
This cookie sheet is so flimsy that you can't move it without supporting it completely underneath. The only way to use it is to take your oven rack out of the oven, place the cookie sheet on it, put cookies on the sheet and put the whole rack back in the oven. To remove from oven you have to remove the rack again. This is extremely cumbersome and inconvenient, especially when hot. The only good thing is you can roll it up like a rug to store. Yes, roll it! I am very disappointed.

This person gives this product one star because it's too flimsy to use! I'm certainly no Betty Crocker, but come on! How stupid do you have to be to think you are suppose to put just this silicone baking sheet in your oven? I can see maybe a kid not getting it right away, but an adult? Who should have basic public school education? Oh Lord!

Anyway, I'm totally getting these sheets because there is no waste to throw out (cue tree-hugging hippie music) and we love raw cookie dough and seriously, it's pretty damn relaxing to make cookies and then bring them to other people..it makes them smile. And...since we're no longer drinking at home (another long story for another day) what the hell else am I going to do at night? You can only have so much sex and read so much...I need variety!

Dwindling lunch account

The kids all have accounts with their schools for lunch money. I put money on the accounts online and they just go through the line and then the cashier deducts their total from their accounts. Easy and eliminates lost lunch money or the classic bully who takes lunch money from kids. The accounts are set up to email me when the balance gets low. So I get this email last week for one of the boys telling me his account balance is low. I thought it was odd that I got an email just about one boy's account and not the other one because they eat lunch in the cafeteria on the same days and bring their lunch from home on the same days generally, so their balances should be pretty similar.

Last night I checked the purchase history to see what was going on, I though maybe the cashier was getting the twins mixed up or something. I opened up Jonas' account and see two weeks of purchases that went breakfast, lunch, breakfast,lunch, breakfast lunch every day. Now, sometimes they eat breakfast at school because they are having something the boys really like or because we got up late. But they certainly don't eat at school every morning. I called Jonas over to talk to him and asked him if he had been eating breakfast at school recently. He got a sheepish grin and said "Yes mommy, I've still been hungry when I get to school. I've been sneaking breakfast." I laughed for 5 minutes solid. He's been eating a full breakfast at home every morning and then going to school and eating again an hour later. Growth spurt? Hollow legs? The kid barely weighs 40 pounds and is 5 years old. Where does all this food go? I assured him he wasn't in trouble and it was fine to eat breakfast at school if he preferred that. He then told me, "I love the sausage biscuits they have at school and the breakfast pizzas too. And they have strawberry milk there mommy." So there it is, the mystery of the dwindling lunch account solved.

And God bless Pokemon

The twins have recently discovered Pokemon and I'm not really sure how that came about. The big kid went through a Pokemon phase around age 9 and 10. We have some leftovers from that era and the boys found the little stuffed Pokemons we had in the basement. I of course have indulged their new obsession because I completely understand addictions. We have a 10 DVD set of Pokemon shows and they watch some of that every night before bed. They know lots of lines of Pokemon dialogs and now during bedtime prayers, we God bless Pokemons. Unfortunately I know lots of Pokemon dialogs and character names onces again and I actually talk to the boys about these "pocket monsters" as if they exist. Is that normal?

God bless Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Charizard, Squirtle, Jigglypuff, Blastoise, and Bayleef.

The Crumpler Six Million Dollar Home

Since I'm a braggart and like to show off the things I buy, I figured I would give a review on the new camera bag (because, WOW, other people who take pictures have asked about bags or lenses or whatnot) I bought recently. I got the Six Million Dollar Home from Crumpler.


After reading some reviews and ordering a different bag that sucked and didn't fit the things I wanted it to carry, I tried this one. It's great for a few reasons. It doesn't look like a camera bag so hopefully would-be thieves won't suspect there is expensive camera equipment in it. It holds my newest camera, the Canon 5D with the 24-105mm lens AND hood attached so I can just quickly grab it from the bag when I want to use it. It also easily holds my flash and an extra lens. I can stick my personal items like a phone, wallet, keys, and crack in the smaller side pockets.It's got an inner zip pocket inside the top where memory cards and the remote shutter release will fit. There is also a front pouch for more storage, maybe you could put your fruit roll-ups in there or something. Or perhaps a flask of vodka.


I still have another camera bag that holds most of the other equipment I have, including the Canon Rebel camera body. But the beautiful thing about this Crumpler bag is that I can fit the extra camera body in it, with a lens attached if I need to. And the little Crumpler guy on the front of the bag makes me smile.

Thanksgiving

Turkey day arrives in just two weeks. The yearly dilemma of how to fit everyone in on the holiday is upon us. Mom wants you to come there for dinner, sister-in-law wants you to come there as well although she's cool with it if you can't. The thing is, you would rather go to her house than mom's, but you feel nagged by the guilt your mother will bestow upon you if you pass her over this year.

Maybe I'll call in sick for Thanksgiving. Is that allowed?