When Gerbils Run Wild

Last night the gerbils escaped. One or another of us neglected to put the top back on their tank and they took total advantage.

Fortunately? One of them got all the way into Mr. Spock's office where he was still working on stuff, and scampered over his foot. Muffin Man and I had already gone to bed, but Mr. Spock sounded the alarm, and downstairs we ran to go gerbil hunting.

Spottie, being less adventuresome, was still in the playroom where their tank is. MM coaxed him out of hiding with some sunflower seeds and was able to catch him in the ceramic thing we use for the gerbil's dust bath.

Runner, however, was having none of it. He hid out under the storage shelves in Mr. Spock's office and we had to nudge him out with a yard stick. He put up a fight, though, trying to eat the heavy wood of the stick. Finally we cornered him behind a computer and left him with only one route out...which was blocked with the ceramic dust bath. He sat for quite a while making the decision to give up his really quite frightening freedom for safety and security in the tank. It was clear to all of us that he knew what the dust bath meant and that he went in deliberately.

After they were both back in their tank, they ran around sniffing everything and, especially, sniffing each other. The level in their water bottle this evening was lower than it has ever been before and they had eaten more of their food.

I'm grateful neither of them found a way out of the house. I would be sad to lose those little funny creatures.

6 Years And Two Days

April 6, 2005 was my first blog post here. I blogged on the anniversary, about my fun sweater, but I forgot it was a special blogging day.

Thank you all for reading, commenting, and being a huge part of my life.

Today is most certainly NOT ninety degrees and sunny, but you make it so for me.

Fluff

I'm wearing this in aubergine.

I love it.

Thinking of Jimmy Dugan

A high school friend of mine went missing last week, when a dock he was on collapsed, and now they think they've found his body.


He was a person who was full of life, made friends easily, and will be sorely missed.

I went to bed last night totally thinking it was Tuesday

Which meant that at 6:00 AM, when my alarm went off, I totally thought it was Wednesday, and so I snoozed until 6:30...when my phone reported that I was going to be late for dropping MM off at ThursdayEarlyMorningExerciseThing at his school. Which we have only missed twice before.

But today still feels like a Wednesday to me.

Mourning

Today, one of my bras broke.

The under wire showed itself to the world. It didn't have the decency to poke out under my arm, as broken bras normally do. No, this one came out in the center, right by the pretty little bow.

This is not a minor thing. My bras are, by necessity, feats of modern engineering and thus, they are expensive.

Fortunately, my mother gave me a gift certificate to Nordstrom's for my birthday. I know now what I will spend it all on. Unless they no longer carry my size. In which case, hello, BiggerBras.com!

I've been waiting 30 years for this day

It's getting easier to be green

Up until last November, neither of our cars were terribly efficient. I had a 2002 Kia Sedona, he had a 1997 Jeep Wrangler. Both were bought used. The Kia was bought when our son still had a lot of equipment to haul around.

We were thinking about getting more efficient vehicles, but you know what the greenest car is? One that you already have that's in working condition. So we waited...and we dreamed of better than 20 miles to the gallon.

Then I was in a collision, and the Kia was replaced with a 1998 Toyota Camry. People, I regularly get over 30 miles to the gallon in that puppy, just tootling back and forth from work!

And then we had to replace the Jeep. This past weekend, we got a 2002 Honda Civic. It's even more efficient than the Toyota! Plus I work just a few miles from home! This is so exciting!!! Just as Big Oil is taking advantage of unrest in the Middle East to gouge consumers, we're thumbing our noses at them and benefiting local businesses at the same time!!

The Toyota was purchased at Lindsay Volkswagen. We went back to them last week, but they didn't have anything in our price range this time (though they had a sweet red Mini Cooper), so we got the Honda from Honda of Dulles. We had a great experience at each of their stores, and I've recommended them to friends. If you're in the market for a car, you really could not do better than to shop at either of their stores --- and they're even in our district!

(crossposted at Doorbell Queen.)

Decision Made

Over ten inches off! Sent to Locks of Love.

Here's the after picture! I feel so free and light.

Reader poll: To cut or not to cut?

The hair, it is long. I am sort of getting kind of tired of it, but not in a "I've got to take a scissors to it right now!" kind of way.

So do I bob it, or keep growing?

Relay for Life 2011

See that button there? ----->

Please click on it and donate to the American Cancer Society!! Last year I did 20 miles, I'd like to do 26.1 this year!

Bullets of a busy fun silly random wonderful weekend

• MakesBooksForGrandkids and SingsLullabyes were here for the weekend. 
• I left MM with them for most of Saturday while I
• Had lunch with Jo(e). And you didn't. 
• None of the vegan restaurants near the National Zoo are open at 10:30 on a Saturday, did you know that?
• I made sesame noodles for my parents. They were very happy. I forgot to put out the pepper sauce, tho.
• MM and they played Art of Balance, and we showed off our Mad Lego Rock Band Skillz.
• MM spent over an hour in their hotel pool, and exhausted himself and his generally very energetic grandpa. 
• The three of them played Life, and millions were made.
•  At Wegman's, I bought two wines from local vineyards (a white from Breaux and a red from Hillsborough, both in Purcellville)
• After my parents left, we watched an episode of Chef! MM is LOVING this show. Some of it is way over his head, but he gets more of it than you'd think.
• Then we played Angry Birds and more Lego Rock Band.
• And MS made pot roast risotto.
• Finally, we watched Blackadder's Christmas Carol, which MM was still quoting from this morning.

So, a lovely weekend. How about yours?

Nine

Here's the birthday boy, playing Epic Mickey (one of his birthday presents):

I can't believe it takes just 9 years to get a boy to here from here:

5 days ago

3 of my friends whose blogs had been silent for months all blogged again on the same day about totally different things. I don't know what happened on January 26 to cause this, but I am grateful.

So I watched an episode of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

The Absent-Minded Coterie.

And I utterly failed to realize that the actor playing Eugene Valmont (the main character of that story - top left in this picture), was someone I have seen before. Seen, in fact, many times.

Mr. Spock will never let me live it down.

What to do with less-than-perfect-looking cornbread.

Put it in the cuisinart and use the crumbs for coating chicken thighs for oven-fried chicken.

DELISH.

MM was not a fan, but that's okay, I ate his share.

It's national delurking day!

Comments! Put yer comments here!! Comments! Put yer comments here!

Ask me a question, and I'll answer it in the next couple of posts.

I'm on a roll!

Sent lunch every day, and brought my own today too!

MM seems to be enjoying it, possibly because I'm using impossibly small containers in bright colors. Also, perhaps because I send fun desserts.

We now have two wide-mouth Thermos-type containers and some wee bitty Rubbermaid containers. As well as the containers from my own Laptop Lunchbox.

I switch up which lunch box I send (which means sometimes he gets mine).

Disclaimer: I am receiving no compensation for posting links to the products I've mentioned. I'm just a satisfied customer.

Resolution update

7 lunches in a row, so far.

Parts of tomorrow's lunch are already prepared. I'm loving this resolution, and so is MM.

My blogroll and earworms

Angie wrote this post, so now I've got this song stuck in my head.