{insert raspberry noise here}

Home today with the kids whilst Doug is doing his duty and helping the good residents of Columbus with their physical ailments. Or their burning down houses. Which ever.
While I know that we are all very thankful for the jobs that the safety workers in our towns and cities perform, here are just a few reasons not to call 911.
1. Hangnail.
2. Stomach pain that you have had for 5 days, that now, at 3 am, seems unbearable.
3. Rash.
4. Fake chest pain. Really fake any pain, just to secure yourself a ride to the ER and some pain meds.
5. "Pretending" to fall out of your wheelchair in a busy intersection downtown, so that when the medics come to help you up you can toss the contents of your colostomy bag at them. {This one didn't actually happen to Doug, but I did read it in a firefighter's memoir, so it did happen to someone...gag.}
6. Any vague pain that has been happening on and off for three years. This is what physicians are for.

Remember to thank the guys and girls that keep us safe, if you happen to see them. They put up with a lot of BS, just to do their job on the few "good" runs that they take each day.
Oh, and if you happen to live in the City of Columbus and you have the chance to vote on the Income Tax levy that they are putting on the ballot in August, please vote yes to save the jobs of nearly 240 firefighters and 300 police officers. Some of the firefighters that will be laid off have been with the department for more than 10 years, so these aren't just new guys. And a lot of them don't live in the city limits {us, for example} and so they pay the income tax, but don't get a vote. Wait, isn't that taxation without representation? And remember to hate Coleman who is NOT an man of his word, and WILL NOT support a Police and Fire Levy in lieu of the Income Tax levy, so that he can push his agenda and fund his pet projects and continue his conflict of interest brigade and help his buddies get rich on taxpayer dollars. I sure didn't vote for him.

no gold stars here.

This evening some of our friends came over for a quick impromptu visit. It was great because I had spent the afternoon cleaning and rearranging the downstairs so the house looked great for a drop in visit. I have to say, though, that my children were the most ill behaved creatures while the friends were here. Not listening, doing things that they know are not allowed, acting out, showing off, being obnoxious, you name it. Honestly, it was just embarassing. Even the dogs got in on the act and barked and nipped and ripped a hole in Ethan's shirt...
When the friends left, I told everyone that I have never been more disappointed in their behavior before, and that they were going upstairs for the night and better not make a noise or ask for anything. They complied, which only serves to prove that even they knew that they were out of control. Erin tried to yank Owen off the monkey bars while he was upside down, the girls all got in the guest's van, Ethan had to have two time outs and kept getting in the fridge, and he changed his shorts three times in an hour. Owen was just plain out of control being mean to the girls and slamming his door.
It was one of those times when you question every decision that you have ever made as a parent. WHY can't the kids behave like perfectly normal kids when someone {anyone, it doesn't matter who it is} comes over. Do they not get enough attention? Do they think that they have to show off so people will like them? I do not, and have never, expected them to be perfect. They are kids and I anticipate kid behavior. I expect it. This was caveman behavior. And not those suave, party going car insurance Cavemen. This was more like savages.
Now it is 8:30 and they have been up there for an hour. Ethan is still up, having stalled with pooping and needing to give me the orange peeler. He called for me a few minutes ago and told me he needed to give me something for the dryer. I got to the steps and he had that Tupperware orange peeler in his hand and he was wearing green swimming goggles. No joke. I think he got them off the bathroom counter. He cried when I took them off of him.
Today needs to be over.

I am the wild procrastinator.

Well, the good news is that my speech is written and I have an audience of five adults lined up. The bad news is that I don't have it memorized yet and I have no video camera to tape it with. But...those are just technicalities. When I do get it done, I'll be sure to post it here so that you can see what a marvelous job I did.
Did I also mention that I have a Math test on Saturday and a Project due Sunday?
Today is one of those days that I wonder if this is the right thing for me to be doing. I have no motivation. Plus, the house is a mess and I am hungry. There it is. The nitty gritty truth.

So...best to just check back here on Wednesday after I get the test done Saturday, the Project done in time for Sunday and the Speech taped and submitted in time for Tuesday. It will all iron out in the end, it always does.

I also have to find some time in there to celebrate my 12th wedding anniversary on Sunday too!

Many thanks to the Governor

Our Governor, Ted Strickland, dem that he is, saw fit to send me a little postcard in the mail the other day reminding me that my driver's license had expired on my birthday...last month. I know what you are thinking, and no I didn't jump in my car that instant and rush to the BMV to renew. I did drive for TWO WHOLE DAYS as a fugitive. Avery and I went to Kohl's for new tennies for her and then to the library, and I managed to blow through a yellow {red} light right in front of a cop. I thought for sure I was in trouble.
Today Doug dropped me off to have it renewed while he and Ethan ran an errand. I cheerfully took #90 and waited about fifteen minutes. When it was my turn I ran through all of the questions and took the vision test {with the greasy forehead rest that I wiped with my sleeve}, and then ended up being five bucks short. SINCE WHEN IS IT TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS to get a renewed license??????? So, now I had to call Doug who was in the middle of Lowes. Wait for him to bring me $5 and then finish. Thankfully I did not have to take another number. And for my trouble and $25, what did I get? A ho hum picture. I do have to say that this picture is, hands down, better than my last one, however. My last picture {which I even gussied up for} looked like a hooker's mug shot. No lie.

My Hair.

I have cut my hair, yet again. Here is the whole story.

It was super long, and all one length and very dead and nasty looking. So, I went and had it cut into what was supposed to be this cute, edgy look with these side swept bangs that were sultry. Because those are all words that you would use to describe me right?

Cute, edgy, sultry.

Stop laughing.
So, I liked it at first, but then not. And so I went back the next day and had her cut it shorter and layer it a bit more and cut the bangs shorter. More edgy, cute and sultry. Then I liked it for a while (three or four hours) and then I hated it. So, I cut off the longest layer. That was better, but still not right. A few days later I cut the bangs shorter. (CUTER! EDGIER!) Now, lest you think that my bangs are eyebrow length, I should say that they were, after the first cut, about lip length. So by this time they were nose length. After three weeks of clipping those nose length bangs back, I decided today to just cut them. Bang length. I am slightly happier now, but I fully intend on cutting them more tomorrow, at which point they will probably be eyebrow length.
By summer I will be bald.

I am a bitter old grouch.

Two things...
1. Today while I was fixing my hair (and I use the term "fixing" lightly) I spotted a extremely light colored hair. It is my opinion that my hair has decided to go spontaneously platinum blond. The alternative is not an option.
2. The computer. The laptop referred to in the last post. It has officially turned into the runaround. We drove into polaris today to meet TYLER to pick it up. Of course, TYLER was a no show, and didn't answer our two phone calls to him. We had a bit of lunch at Carabbas (yummy) and then gave up and came home. For what we spent in gas and on lunch, I could have just put it with the $200 I am paying him and gotten a new laptop at Walmart. He had sent an email an hour before we were supposed to meet to say he couldn't make it because of a family emergency. (Evidently it involved his cell phone not working, too.) Doug says we should just try to reschedule because the irresponsibility of this guy is why we are getting a good deal in the first place. It better be the world's coolest used laptop. or else.

Maybe it's just late.

I'll let you decide. The following is from my Statistics class notes, which I am working through right now in order to complete an assignment that needs to be submitted before midnight....tonight.

And I quote....

"Hypothesis test to determine if there is a significant correlation at a given significance level.
Determine the null and alternative hypotheses. Use rho (ρ), the Greek letter assigned to the population correlation coefficient in your hypotheses. H0 : rho = 0 (no significant correlation)Ha : rho ≠ 0 (there is evidence of a significant correlation)
Use the t-table to find t0 for two-tail alpha with df = n - 2 (since two variables) and sketch the rejection regions on the normal curve.
Determine the test statistic for r using the following equation or enter your data in L1 and L2, go to STAT>TESTS>LinRegTTest. Be sure to set the appropriate inequality (based on Ha).
4. Write your conclusion. If the test statistic falls in the rejection region, then there is evidence to suggest a significant correlation between x and y."

WHAT?????????????

The Washing Machine Credo

"I, (state your brand), do solemly swear to not last longer than ten years. I promise to only break down when I contain a minimum of ten wet towels. I further promise to break in such a way that I will not spin the water out of the towels. If at all possible, I promise to quit working when the dirty laundry in the home is at maximum levels. In all of these things, the colder the weather, and the closer to Christmas, the better. Long live the short lives of durable goods!"

As you may have guessed, our washer quit spinning. The good news is the part to fix it in on the way and cost a mere $35.00. Take that washing machine radicalist anarchy!!

And a photo, of course. Leapfrog at the soccer field.

Rumblings

I just took eight pages of lecture notes (FRONT AND BACK) from the online notes for Sociology. NO ONE has that much to say. I also have to create a fictional society and answer a bunch of questions about it for this week. I'm thinking that the name of my society will be Adkinsington. Or maybe Jennopolis. Maybe Ihatesociology Town. Grrrrrrrrr.

Here is a picture because I read online somewhere that a blog post with no picture is boring.

A short rant.

Truthfully I do not let gas prices get to me. I am thankful that we are blessed with more than we need, and that includes gas money! However, that being said...yesterday I called Doug in the morning (10-ish) to see if I should get gas because it was $3.84, not too bad. I put it off until dinner time when the kids and I ran out to pick up some stuff for the party. In that short amount of time gas had gone up to $4.09. Now come on. I refuse to believe that there is anything to do with the supply of oil, or the price per barrel, or whatever that would cause such a huge change in such a short amount of time. Please someone explain it to me. I'll even allow comments on this post, hoping for a little insight.
And second, I hate itunes. I cannot understand why it is so difficult to make it work for me. I am not an idiot. I put two soundtracks on in the last few days, and instead of putting all of the songs together in one album, it put each song in it's own album based on the artists. It is infuriating. I can't find anyplace where it will let me group things together. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!