All About Angie

News

I have good news and bad news.

First, the bad news…. Yesterday, when I went to put something on hold at the library, I found out that I am number 484 in line to get a particular book. What book is it (as if some have to ask)? Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, of course. Yes, I have the $18 to buy a book, but if I’m going to buy one book, I might as well buy all seven of them. And THAT is what I don’t have the money for. And anyway, Mark would not think that would be the wisest purchase. As an added bonus, I get to work on the virtue of patience. Yay, me.
But, what about the good news? Well, I just checked my library standing today and it seems that I’ve moved up the list since yesterday. To number 458! I’m 26 slots closer to reading the book than I was just 24 hours ago! Yay! At this rate, I’ll be reading about Harry in less than 3 weeks. That is, if I move up 26 slots everyday. Ugh.

Patience is a good thing, right?

Personalities (EDITED!!)

As Mark was tucking the children into bed tonight, he asked them about their favorite game to play, “Puppy“.

Question: Which part do you like to play best, Puppy or Master? And Why?
Answers:

Susanna -The Mama Dog, because I like to take care of the baby dogs. (This is the edited part, which actually makes more sense. Mark must not have understood her answer–I asked her again, because the answer Mark heard sounded silly.)
Lydia - Master, because I like to tell the puppies what to do.

Luke - Puppy, because I like to bark!

I think the funniest thing is that their answers are so true to their personalities! So insightful!

Haiku Time

First:

Taking a picture.
Shutter button does not work.
Olympus is dead.

**Seriously, any suggestions for replacement digital SLR camera? Yeah, I want to move up with the big boys.

Second:

Young boy completes nap.
Wants TV and to rule world.
Mom needs Excedrin.

Third:

Rain keeps coming down
Sky remains dark, gray, cloudy.
Might need to find boat.

**Ok, that’s my attempt at afternoon creativity. Anyone got anything to add? I’m all ears….

Happy Independence Day!

After that last depressing and (according to Mark) complaining post, here’s a somewhat more light-hearted sentiment…

Happy Birthday, America! At 231, you’re still lookin’ good. You are sometimes quirky, but that’s normal for anyone more than 200 years old. We love you!

After A Long Long Delay…

I bring you news. Well, not really news, persay, but more like tidings…. Oh, silly semantics… What I am trying to say is that I’ve been out-of-town in (as my sister calls it) The Dial-Up Abyss. The kids and I went on our annual trip to visit my parents in Oklahoma last week and what a week it was! Filled with excitement, rain, mystery, intrigue, still more rain, and then death and a funeral, followed by (what else?) more rain.

I have an idea for the Department of Transportation. Now, I am not a fan of people driving while talking on their cellphones. A blessed few people, perhaps, can pull off this multitasking feat. Not very many, apparently. I think if people can’t hang up and drive the car, the DoTs should make one lane of every highway the Cell Phone Lane. Run concrete barriers covered in styrofoam (or the more earth-friendly option, pillows) down both sides of the lane, to avoid the inevitable destruction of the vehicle and, ::HORRORS:: possibly, the interruption of the all-important phone call. (As an aside, one of my favorite bumper stickers says “Is that a car or a phone booth?”) Look, all I’m saying is that it is quite possibly difficult at best and completely impossible at worst to drive responsibly while talking on the phone. I’m almost certain that no one else would agree with me, but there it is.
Ok, where was I? Oh yes… The week began by my renting a car–our van is advancing in years and renting seemed like a reasonable option, so I checked lots of different scenarios to get a decent price. I checked Costco and it seemed like a pretty good deal. (Here comes a tip:) Then, in our credit card statement, I noticed a little blip about renting a car. And when I delved further, I found that it was significantly cheaper to rent a car through the credit card than it was through Costco. I had my deal. So I ended up with a zippy car, a Hundai Sonata, which, I mused to myself, was Italian for “Snot”, as in, “I need a Kleenexa for my Sonata.” (Ugh and Groan, say it with me…). I purposely chose a car with room for 5 adults, because, I have 3 children, 2 of whom are in booster seats and the other one still in a car seat. Well, true enough, 3 adults could have fit in the backseat, but (and THIS IS KEY) the position of the seat belts did not make for easy nor competent booster/car seat maneuvering. Heed my warnings, people. If you have 3 children, and you want to rent a car, by all means, get a minivan. It would almost have been worth the extra 100 bucks just so I wouldn’t have to fiddle with the silly seat belt problems. The 3 year old’s car seat HAD to go in the middle because the boosters have arm rests and this blah blah booster has this blah blah issue, so it has to be this certain place and blah blah blah. It was overwhelming, to say the least. So before I left the car rental place (I might add, in the pouring rain), I changed the car seats in and out and all around to find the best possible combination and in the end, I couldn’t find “best possible combination”. I managed to get by with “not dangerous” and “safe, if nothing else”. And, as a bonus, I had soaking wet clothing. Next time, someone please remind me to rent the minivan and sell plasma for the extra hundred bucks, if I have to.

I had a friend (one of my closest friends in high school and we’ve kept in touch, but not consistently) who was in the hospital in my hometown with a rare form of cancer and I was planning on seeing her sometime during the week. And looking back, I don’t think I realized how far her cancer had progressed, because she passed away on Tuesday. So I extended our trip by a day in order to go to the funeral.

The remainder of our week was spent mostly inside because it rained EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Somedays all day long. I had to quit looking out the window, because every time I did so, it would start raining again. We managed to sneak in a park visit (during one of the dry hours) and the church where my mom works has an indoor playground, so we used that to our advantage. We also made homemade ice cream and tacos. Yum. And we worked crossword puzzles until our eyes bugged out. But we had a great time. Very fun. And Susanna has now declared herself “a reader”, so she worked on her newfound hobby. A LOT.
On the way home on Friday, it rained the entire way and I’m not talking pittery-pattery stuff. I mean the kind of rain that is like HUGEMONGUS dump trucks filled with water being poured onto the car. All at 70 mph. Which makes all drivers slow way down to 20 mph. For about 20 minutes at a time. This process repeated about every 45 minutes or so. By the time I got home, I had a headache from watching the windshield wipers on high speed with a sea of white behind them all day long. Complain, complain. But we did get home and I promptly went to bed.

So our week was fun and exciting, as well as sad and depressing. Later, I’ll try to post more about what’s been going on around here. Lots of things to make me think. Which, I suppose, is always good. The thinking part, I mean.