final post of the summer. not that it is really summer after labor day (at least i'm not wearing white whilst typing...i'm not a heathen, you know).

on the last day of the vacation, we hit the zoo. i figure you've seen one sleeping lemur, you've seen 'em all, right? Oh, but to watch the polar bears swim. They are just HUGE, and elegant, and amazing. That was probably my favorite thing. The boys? Oh, the boys were all about the bird enclosure.

I love this little cottage. it is tucked in a little wooded area, and gets filtered sunlight. plus? look at the door. doesn't that door just tickle your happy place? please buy it for me. I know it's not for sale, and that you probably don't want to buy a house for some weirdo on the internets...but i think buying internets weirdos a house is a brilliant idea...hook a sistah up, wouldja? robiewankenobie + little cottage = true love.







I have a burning desire to know...what is it about cabooses these days? Is there a law against them or something? We have this nifty caboose song that we're all prepared to sing...and then buttkus. I miss the good ole' days. ::shake my old lady cane in disgust::


Speaking of the good ole' days...look at this adorable Waffle House sign. Why, oh why, did they start using that awful yellow and black crap? Ugh.



Okay, folks, one more post to go!

The leon? Obsessed with the dinosaur coming out of the building. Obsessed.

Adorable costumes. They are in the middle of a kid-sized dinosaur diorama, complete with nests!

The dig pit was fairly awesome. You got goggles, brushes, and dig tools. The bones are dug up about every six months and then buried again.

The dino pit is part of a bigger exhibit. Real bones, real scientists (who are more than happy to answer questions), and habitats to explore.

The museum also has its own carousel.

And for Mommy? Chihuly! There was a special reclining & rotating bench underneath the exhibit for my viewing pleasure. As opposed to the Bellagio, where I was forced to plop down on the carpet in the middle of the lobby to stare at the ceiling like a big friggin' dork. Can you imagine? A classy babe like myself? We had to split the museum up over a couple of days. The place is crazy huge. We even saw a dance performance of dr. seus while we were there. hilarious. The only thing I friggin' wish they would do differently is lay off on all the dead stuffed animals. Even in the toddler area. Gross. Our next adventure? Family Funfest. Paintings and Nephews, Jazz Music, Oh, My!

My eldest nephew was a headliner at the indyfringe festival. A photo of one of his pieces (he had a number in the show) is in the opening spread of the newspaper. They had it displayed on the window of the gallery. He opened his own gallery this weekend. Did I take a photo of the actual painting? No, because I am a giant ass and took a picture of a newspaper, and not the actual painting.

Across the street? The Indianapolis Firefighters Museum. Missing from this photo of the fire museum are the two old-timers who gave us the tour. they have old pump cars and everythang. I loved the building itself with its come-hither wood floors, exposed brick, and glass atrium. Hubba hubba. Okay, then we headed off to see nevvy, the younger, at his gig in Broadripple.
On the way home to my brother's casa, we got lost. In addition to the "Que Pasa Laundromat" (hey, whattup, laundry?), there was... more to come...

i'm knotted up and twisty

the interview is tomorrow. the leon located the box of crap i hauled back from the magazine, and i need to organize it into some sort of presentation worthy package. it's going to be interesting figuring out how to mix the business cards and coffee table books. i'm thinking that a brown box might not be all that snazzy.

i'm going to have to figure out how to package myself while i'm at it. the shirt that i was going to wear has gone and dyed in the wash. so, now i get the unequaled joy of bringing the squirmy ones with me to enjoy my favorite activity! clothes shopping!

and while i'm at it, my brain is finding all sorts of nifty things to occupy the down time. hey, how about those people that you don't talk to any more? and then i'm all like, damn...i'm THAT person. the person that won't leave well enough alone. which reminds me about the time that kid in junior high that brought you chocolates for valentines day and you turned him down (albeit nicely) and you hope that it didn't cause him to go postal on down the road? nah. he got over it.

why can't we all just get along? no really? damnitalltohell...why not?

which leads me to conclude that i'll appear at the interview in a strangely dyed shirt, bring out my cardboard box, sit in front of this person that i've probably slighted in the past, and realize that i still have flip flops on from taking the kids to swimming lessons.

it's going to be just fine.

huge thomas the train recall, lead paint and such. also high lead in pvc lunchboxes. yea.
http://recalls.rc2.com/recalls_Wood_0607.html

this was quite an odd little birthday.

it started out well, i think. handicapped dog had an accident and i got out of bed...yeah. okay. so that was a lie. it wasn't an auspicious beginning.

also? my entire family forgot about my birthday. except my mother. she sent a card last week.

but hurricane amber, babs from junior high, a former co-worker, a college buddy, some internets friends and a few real lifers amembered. this? this i like. this makes me all smushy inside. as opposed to outside. like the first step out of bed on ones natalday. which should not. i repeat NOT be smushy.

also? when we locked up the crawl space so that no feral cats could get in and some mice took up residence and decided they liked our house better and we set up humane traps that really work? the outcome was not to be having a wee dead baby mousie on my birthday.

the ne took me to lunch which was fabulous. although we should have gone to the mexican place because the sushi place was closed and the flag fork herb farm was practically a geriatric convention so we ended up at the chinese joint next to the strip bar and they REFUSED TO MAKE KUNG PAO TOFU FOR LUNCH. but the ne treated and they did have vegetarian egg rolls. so? not bad. also? my string of crazy meals to mitigate my non-procreational state continues unbroken.

ms. marker gave me a birthday sticker. A BIRTHDAY STICKER!!!! *twirls* and i bought a few flowers. also? pie. DAMN GOOD BIRTHDAY KEY LIME PIE. and the kids may have been fairly adorable at the flower shop that we ducked into. i may have been a little bit wowed by the cuteness, which is good because our next stop was the antique mall that had all the cool 1950s barware shit that now was a freakin' mausoleum (nothing under the age of 1,000, i swear) of glass and breakables and the cuteness kept me from throwing them to the ground like we were under fire. i trusted the cuteness to keep them to a minimum of destruction and we were able to escape with our lives.

did i mention that my father was nasty to me today when i called him to thank him "for making this day possible" and chat? he may have hung up on me in the printer aisle at the office max. and i may have called him a half an hour or so later to ask him to maybe, perhaps, use his manners and say goodbyeicanttalkbecauseimbuyingafuckingprinter instead of hanging up on me.

after dropping the ne off we went to my favorite antique mall because damnit? i needed a hat. but AWKWARD i ran into the leon and the ne who were being all tall and conspicuous in their attempt at incomspicuousness. no hat.

then to the park. too cold to play at the park.

home to find that southerners really don't like to ice skate and that i would be skating and hot chocolating on my own. which is strange because i would have thought that the knitters would have been all over the opportunity to break out the handknits.

but the leon bought me a hat! a glorious sparkly vintage hat!!! and then i suggested that we cap the day off with some sushi. DAMN FINE SUSHI!!! from the strip mall sushi dive.

then we watched little miss sunshine, and all is well. 'cause, damn.

i went to a party. i didn't even know anyone (with the exception of the host). and i had fun. who'd a thunk? the people watching was fuckin' fabulous. sad drunk hippy boy who was afraid that everyone was talking about what a man whore he is. the official boob squeezer and photographer. the old out-of-synch professors. a few different sets of them. rare music guy -- the one with all the b sides of records and bootlegs (i impressed the hell out of him when i mentioned that i saw r.e.m. perform word-up at a concert). there were more amusements. for such an intimate party, this thing really rocked.

i look forward to going to my job. and not just because of the free coffee. although i do have to edjumacate the youngsters on the finer points of breakdance moves. kids these days.

tonight i'm hangin' out with a friend. we'll be searching out good sushi. and whatever else strikes our fancy. i'm guessing that chocolate of some sort might come in to play.

yea! it's a wonder woman umbrella day! huzzah! whee!

i had my orientation at new part-time job yesterday. they all seem perky, but not in that gross way. oh, and they give all their leftover food to my favorite ever charity. which made me think...i could deliver meals again! they deliver to people in hospice care, and those with hiv/aids. i think that food is a wonderful way to provide comfort and support...we made some great friends on our routes. when i spawned that first kid, though, delivery became a pain in the assbutt. lugging food AND a baby car seat around was a bit much. oh, and they changed their start time to 5:15 which made things a tad bit impossible. but now? we can deliver on thursday nights whilst the leon toils away at electrical school. and bond and shit! *does a happy dance*

work? during the lame duck period? so enjoyable. i can relax and have fun at what i do. i don’t know if this is what other people feel when they walk in these doors. if they do? i totally get that. but i’m all scrunched face the minute i step over the threshold. and i literally feel as if there is a weight upon my shoulders. so the sudden lifting of the weight? so refreshing. and fun. and i can leave the work at work as i run across town to my spanish class and then to knit with the girls (can i please finish the sock tonight? between the laughing and such?).

lessie. hrm. oh, and i got a double blessing from the mailman yesterday. my vegan lunchbox book and a wee square omelette pan for an odd sort of sushi that i’ve never made. and a hardboiled egg mold in the shape of a bear. and a doohickey that makes a hot dog into an octopus. and, no, i’m not good enough to do that crap myself. or i don’t want to take the ten seconds i would need to do it. if people are too good to use a bowl and have to buy that damn prepared soup in a microwaveable cup...then i can get an octopus cutter dealio. damn straight.

the cookbook is ten kinds of awesome. we had used her recipes before. even the ones that sounded kinda gross. i’m adventurous that way, so sue me. i know i hate it when people say that something is so good that even non-vegans will like it. but i’m going to inflict that upon you anyway. because i’m not a vegan, and i love this damn book already.

and the egg mold? i swoon with delight.

1. I’ll respond with something random about you.
2. I’ll challenge you to try something.
3. I’ll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4. I’ll tell you something I like about you.
5. I’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
6. I’ll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I’ll ask you something I’ve always wanted to ask you.
8. If I do this for you, post it on yours if you like.

i just had a, uh, home hair coloring *incident*...

my leon is off picking up a kicky new color, so i don't have to scare little chilluns. he's also picking up some comfort food.

the leon is a good man.