No Costume this Year

Bee Crying
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Yeah, it's a slow day today. I've been asked several times what Brenden is going to wear for Halloween, and the answer is 'nothing'. I'm going to let him run around naked while I hand out candy tomorrow. Seriously, no costumes this year. Maybe next year if he wants.

I was thinking about finding him an all-white cotton outfit w/sweatpants & hoodie. I'd spatter red food dye on it and then with a sharpie, put big dots in the middle of the spatters. Then when everyone asks me what he's supposed to be I'd say "an extra in a Hong Kong gangster movie" but a) it's not that funny and b) it's too 1990's.

Fall in Oklahoma 2

Fall in Oklahoma 2
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

More Brenden stuff: As I was getting him ready for bed last night, he protested when I put him in his crib. I picked him up again, and got a bright idea: I took the 2 stuffed ducks out of his crib (all the time I'm carrying B) and went to one of his toy chests and took out a stuffed tiger. I offered it to him and he managed to hug it and me enthusiastically. I took him back to his crib and set him down; he immediately put the tiger in a complete bear hug and started to, uh, make sweet love to it. I put a blanket over the lovebirds and left them alone. I never heard a peep out of him after that. Every Calvin needs a Hobbes.

Oh, yeah: and this story. I don't know how it is around the rest of the country but the political way of dealing with the Methamphetamine problem here is severely restricting the sale of products containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. When you do buy them you have to go to the pharmacy counter. Most places I go simply take your name & address and want to see your driver's license.

Saturday I went to buy some Claratin-D, a product I'm fond of when my sinus headaches get bad which between the paint fumes and the changing seasons have been killer lately. The pharmacist takes my information and then takes my license and is apparently making some sort of computer check on my id.

Several minutes go by and the pharmacist apologizes and says the computer check is going slow. More time passes and Brenden is getting restless in his shopping cart seat so I ask for my license back. I'm pretty angry right then even though I know the pharmacist is simply following instructions. I do chew on her butt a bit just to vent, but I felt somewhat bad about doing that. She didn't make the rules and she certainly doesn't run the crappy-assed database Alabama had thrown together to track pseudoephedrine purchases.

But for JEBUS'S SAKE!!! 5 people came up to the pharmacy window, asked for refills, and NEVER HAD THEIR LICENSE TAKEN FOR A COMPUTER CHECK! Next time I see my doctor I'm going to ask for a prescription.

Till the cows come home

Fall in Oklahoma 3
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Ileana sent me some photos from the farm in Oklahoma. I like the Fall - it's not unpleasantly cold and the afternoons are pleasant and walking around is nice, especially with all the trees turning color.

Dooce, A.K.A. Heather Armstrong writes a wickedly funny and popular blog. Some friends pointed me to her blog when I became pregnant because she suffers from chronic depression. Today she linked to this article about depression. The guy who wrote the article is right: "depression" is a horribly poor word for that disease. Maybe in the sense of "tropical depression" because you get to listen to a lot of howling, but in your head instead of the wind.

I have done fine since the worst effects of depression dissipated after my pregnancy. I have been off of medication for over a year and have felt no need to go back. I do have bad days occasionally, but to extend the article's metaphor, those days are mild thunderstorms and not the hurricane I was in while I was pregnant. And mine was a category 1. I can't begin to imagine how someone can live in a category 5 for that long and survive.

In happier news, Brenden said "tattoo" today, while pointing at his dad's tattoo. He also likes to stick a finger in our bellybuttons and say "beebeebeebee!" because we beep his bellybutton all the time.

Having fun pressing buttons

Having fun pressing buttons
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

It has begun!

Our house is being painted as I speak but it's much more than painting - many walls were covered with wallpaper that were never primed, which translates to holes being ripped into the drywall when you try to remove the stuff. So those holes have to be patched and sanded as well. What a mess.

I am happy with the color I chose for the walls - so far our bedroom and bathroom have been painted and they look nice. No floors have been put in yet. I have taken plenty of 'before' pictures (and have yet to post them) and will take plenty of 'after' photos when the time comes. Here's a nice photo of the paneling in the living room, which should cease to exist sometimes next week.

In the meantime Brenden has mastered the art of turning door knobs so every door knob in the house now has one of those childproof knobs on it. He hates me, I know he does.



There are reasons why I love Battlestar Galactica and why Lost annoys me, and it all has to do with the characters.

In Battlestar Galactica the characters are flawed. Hella-mega flawed. Roslin tried to throw an election. Adama jr. and sr. have jeapoardized their entire species trying to rescue a comrade. Starbuck is a reckless boozehound, Tigh and Zarek are terrorists (from different wars), and we won't even begin to walk through Baltar's flaws. Yet I love them one and all because when they hurt, I hurt. Last Friday's ep (Exodus, pt. 2) was so awesome I doubt they will be able to match it the rest of the season.

It was more than the nerdy ecstacy of the Galactica jumping into New Caprica's atmosphere and freefalling while unleashing all those Vipers on unsuspecting Cylons. It was more than the Pegasus coming to the Galactica's rescue and taking two Cylon base stars out with it. What made that show ring was a broken Colonel Tigh and Starbuck's realization that she had been had in the most horrible way imaginable. The few remaining humans had been rescued from the Cylon camp and that was cause to cheer, but my two favorite characters are in more pain than I can bear.

So why does Lost annoy me? I don't like anyone. I sat through 8 seasons of indecipherable plotlines of The X-Files because I loved Mulder and Scully. I will keep watching Lost, but it better let me emphathize with someone ASAP because it's beginning to piss me off.

Skiffy shite

Tardis
Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I'm so very grateful that the Skiffy network is broadcasting the new Dr. Who episodes for us old nerds. I saw my first Dr. Who episode on WGN, sometime in the late 70's. That's so strange - I thought my memory has to be off but it's true because I recall watching the show on PBS in early 1979 and I know I had seen some episodes before that.

I also like that BBC gave the show new sensibilities and has started to deal with questions we fans have had for a long time: just why does and immortal (so far) being go gallavanting around the space-time continuum with a varied assortment of simian life-forms, typically those who are young, pretty, and British? Ok, so he's lonely.

I viewed the latest (U.S.) episode last night, which was very sad because we got to meet (or revisit) one of the good Doc's former companions, Sarah Jane Smith. (She has a startling resemblance to Mary McDonnell, and I was amused that my favorite recapper Jacob noticed the same on Television Without Pity.) She and the doctor run into each other while investigating some school shennanigans being masterminded by Anthony Stewart Head, whom some people might remember from those old Taster's Choice commercials.

Anyway, she and the doctor have a nice reunion, then Rose, the doc's current companion gets all shirty towards Sarah, until after some talking she discovers her insecurity is more rightly pointed at the good doctor. More important than why does he pick them up, why does he show his companions the universe then dump them so soon? Well that turns out to be a duh, too; because humans grow old and die while the doc just regenerates. I guess he dumps them after a couple of years or so so they can at least try to have a life after moving through time and space. The very sad part about this episode is it seems Sarah Jane had no life after the doctor ditched her. She is still nosy, but she never married.

She got to keep the disco dog, though.

Another boring post

Mom B and BFK
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden stumbled and split his lower lip against the nightstand in the bedroom yesterday. I was folding clothes. Poor kid bled everywhere, especially on me, but he'll live. Despite the volume of blood there's only a tiny cut on his lip. He got over it pretty fast, too.

Big Fat Kitty jumped on the nightstand sometime later on (I was still trying to fold clothes in the bedroom) and Brenden rushed up to him and wagged a finger at him and yelled "No no no no no!". For the rest of the day he did the same thing to the cat no matter where kitty jumped. I guess it's wrong of me to have one set of rules for Big Fat Kitty and another for Monkey boy.

I'm getting major T.V. fixes now that Lost, Dr. Who, and Battlestar Galactica are back on, not to mention Veronica Mars, The Office and new South Park. Quick observations:

1: I like Lost better without so many damn commercial interruptions.

2: David Tennant is a good Doctor, but I miss Chris Eccleston.

3: Battlestar Galactica is still my favorite show. I could do without Fat Apollo, though.

4: I made my Veronica Mars observation yesterday. I really like how Veronica is allowed to be an asshole and I'm also really glad that her boyfriend Duncan has left (stupid baby subplot nonwithstanding). Logan might be a psychotic jackass, but at least he's an interesting psychotic jackass. And it's nice to see Charisma Carpenter get some work!

5: I actually like Michael on The Office. Of course if he were my boss I would have to kill him.

6: South Park has always been hit-or-miss. Not much else to say about that, but Blizzard must have been in 7th heaven for that 20-minute World of Warcraft commercial (which also explained in excruciating detail why I don't play multiplayer games).

Silly Face

Silly Face
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's a rare Sunday blogpost because Brenden is tolerating me being out of the living room for a little bit.

I had *yet another* sinus infection, but went to my way cool allergy doc instead of my overworked family physician who can't remember me from visit to visit. He put me on an aggressive antibiotic treatment and it seems to be working because I can smell things now without having to O.D. on Afrin. I am currently stripping wallpaper when I can and using a steamer (only way to go) so the whole house smells like old wallpaper glue.

I'm such a whiner.

We're halfway through season 2 of Veronica Mars and I must say it's a shocker what gets past the censors on that show.

Month 16

Trip2
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden and Jon had a great time in Massachusetts, even though neither got much sleep. I actually didn't have much fun - I started peeling wallpaper from around the house. Oh, that reminds me:

I don't think I mentioned this, but when we decided about the laminate flooring, we also decided to repaint the whole house - this included yanking all the paneling from the living room and replacing it with drywall. We also need to repaint the ceilings because a) smokers lived there and b) we have some water stains from problems fixed a while back.

Jon has hired a contractor who is going to let Jon work with him to do everything. I'll do what I can, but for the most part I'm going to be keeping Brenden out of their way.

Speaking of B: Letter to Brenden Month 16:

Well, darling; you are getting more clever and aware. I have noticed no new words in your vocabulary recently, but I do love how if I say "no!" and you continue with whatever you are doing, if I get in your face and ask "what did I just say?" You go "no no no!" and clap your hands. Usually that's enough to make you stop.

I took you to your first Birthday Party. I thought you are a little young for such events, but it was for a girl in your same daycare and I thought it might be fun. For the most part you had a blast. Kylie's parents had rented one of those big jumping castles. You didn't go in until all the bigger kids had gone for food and then I had a tough time getting you out of there. You do love flinging yourself at bouncy things.

We also went for a hayride, which involved sitting on bales of hay in an open trailer pulled by a gigantic tractor. We passed some horses and I was all "YEEEEEEEK!" but then I felt bad because you really wanted to look at one up close. Some of the other kids started feeding hay to the horses, and you saw this and grabbed a little twig and held it up to a horse. I don't think he saw it. I was going to give you more hay to hold but the tractor decided to move at that point. I'm glad to see an animal that big didn't scare you, although I would like you to know that if you ever see a bear that's not behind a cage don't try to feed it, ok? It's probably a good idea to leave it alone altogether.

I wonder if it might be time for a trip to a zoo.

Sleeping on the Quilt

Sleeping on the Quilt
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

This week will be an interesting week because monkeyboy is with monkeyman Jon up in Massachusetts where they are visiting family. I simply don't have any vacation time left this year. Everyone keeps saying "oh, you'll miss him so much" and I'm all "Hooray!". They're coming back Thursday, and I'm sure they'll be able to handle 4 days without me. Hey, I love my kid but I need a break. What am I going to do? Drink like a pirate and watch flesh-eating zombie movies, that's what.

Speaking of watching, Jon and I finished season 2 of Lost so we'll watch season 3 as it's broadcast. Kinda bummed by some of the outcomes of season 2, but I like a show that keeps me guessing, even though I'm better at guessing than some of the main characters, apparently. Only Sayid seems to have any common sense.

Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday, woo-hoo! We're almost done with season 1 of Veronica Mars but I have to wait until Jon comes home to watch the last disk. I guess I could always resort to Television Without Pity to figure out who killed Lilly Kane but that would be cheating. Both Jon and I are still wierded out by Logan and Veronica getting together. I'm TiVo-ing season 3 and I'll just store them until we catch up.

I think I told this story before but I wanted to tell it again:

Back in college I was living in sin with my boyfriend when one day he went out for a jog and returned with this very small black and white kitten. Will had a thing for cats and we already had 7 or 8 living around the house. I bitched at him; "why the hell did you bring another cat home?!!?"

He said "well I was jogging by this girl getting in a car and she had this little guy with her. She asked me if it was ours and I said 'no', so she said she was taking it to the pound so I said 'give her to me'".

How could I argue with that?

But anyway, this little cat was so small she probably shouldn't have been away from her mother. I ended up feeding her wet food. None of the other cats were given wet food, so when it came time to eat, she would be on my lap eating out of a little plate. I would be knocking back the other cats with my free arm so they couldn't get at the food. In that way she and I bonded.

Thank you everyone once again for the well-wishes and sympathy. I picked up Vasquez's ashes today and have decided to hang onto them for now. They are in a nice wooden urn that will go in a high place well beyond monkeyboy's reach.