I don't know what it is with me and babies. I must be very comfortable, very unlucky, or I emit some form of Ex-Lax from my skin. I was holding Jenessa on Sunday (adorable little peanut), and after finally waking up, she screwed up her face, turned red, and made grunting noises. All very common symtoms of bowel movements. The girl made a complete mess of herself. Her grandma cleaned her up - I couldn't believe I didn't get any on me. It was all down her leg, up her back...gross me out.

The thing is, Calvin used to do that to me, too. Once, he did manage to get it soaked through his clothes into mine. Leah says that now he that he is five, he would enjoy that story very much.

I think that it just must be poor timing, because at that age, babies pretty much poop all the time, but it's starting to become a family joke.

Warning: May be upsetting to dog lovers

As I was driving through Atalissa on my way home last night, I hit a doggy with my truck. She just ran right into my tire. I didn't even have time to slow down between the time that I saw her and when I hit her. My stomach just dropped out from under me. I pulled over to the side of the road, and met a van with a woman yelling, "Oreo!" I saw the dog before she saw me and drove over to him, and I ran up behind her. She lifted up the dog, saying, "Oreo, Oreo" like she was trying to keep her awake. She looked up and saw me, and I said, "I'm so sorry. She just ran out in front of me." She replied, "Her heart's still beating. It's okay, she likes to run."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, it's okay."

But it wasn't okay. As I turned to leave, I saw a boy running to catch up with his mother; he had such a stricken look on his face. He couldn't have been more than seven.

I'll probably never know if Oreo survived. But I hope she will.

Okay, the universe really *is* trying to get back at me for something. The other day, I left a comment on CosmicAvatar's blurty about being amused at the mental image of pop spraying all over her office. I just took a trip to the fridge to get a can of pop. I had to open a one of those fridge packs, and in so doing, the cans attacked me.

You know that the universe is conspiring against you when you go back to tae kwon do for the first time in three weeks and they make you do lunge kicks. My butt hurts. But my head doesn't, so yay?

I have the worst craving for broccoli right now. I could just go across the street to the Chinese restaurant and order me some broccoli chicken and I could have it immediately. Or, I could wait until I go home and cook some healthy-like. Which by the time I get home, I probably won't do. But I'm feeling cheap right now, so I don't feel like spending the five bucks. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

I MUST stop putting off going to the chiropractor. My neck has been out for ages, and it's culminated in a three day headache ending with migrane and puking. You'd think I'd learn one of these days. It was compounded by the fact that the gal I was going to wasn't getting my neck - her adjustments weren't holding, and I was having to go back every month. That was bad. So I went back to Dr. Jeff while I was on Christmas vacation. So this time, it was either make a trip to Muscatine or find a new chiro. I opted for the latter, and Randal gave me a recommendation.

I liked the guy well enough. He insisted on x-rays, which turned out to be good, because my neck was waaay off (no wonder I was having headaches). See, your neck is supposed to curve, but mine was straight. Check out these neck x-rays. Mine wasn't nearly so straight as these, but it was definitely enough. I spent last night very sore and very ice-packed. I'll head back tomorrow for a follow-up, but I feel so much better already.

I think my biggest problem is that I spend so much time looking down at my desk. He recommended one of those arm-thingys to clip on your computer, but my problem is that I rarely look at any one piece of paper for very long. Pull a number off, go on to the next one. I am going to start working on my posture, though. No more sitting cross-legged in my chair. So I have to move my waste paper basket and recycling bin to fit my legs under the desk better. I've spent the entire morning throwing adding machine tape on the floor. Three years of habit is going to be hard to break.

Calvin turns 5 today. He had his birthday party on Saturday, because he wanted to have a party with "all my friends". He did end up having a good turnout, there were fifteen kids there. Most of the party was held in the school gym, so the kids could run around. We played with the balls beforehand (I still know how to shoot a basketball!), and then played games like Musical Chairs, Duck Duck Goose, and Steal the Bacon.

Then they went into the cafeteria for cupcakes and ice cream, and Calvin opened presents. After that, they went back into the gym to play until their parents picked them up. Then the family showed up for a potluck and more cake and more presents. Spoiled kid. :) My gift is that I'm going to take him to Toys 'R' Us to pick something out, and then go to McDonald's. After tax season. I do my share of spoiling. I thought it would be more fun to go some random time than open something up in a sea of presents. Plus, we can go play with the toys.

But then, as I was leaving, my mother said something upsetting to me, and ruined my whole weekend. I didn't realize she was still upset with me, but I guess she is. It's not something I can help, which makes it all the more upsetting that she expects me to do something about it.

Four weeks to go. Four weeks from right now, we will be filing extensions and there will be an overall party atmosphere in the air. I will be ready. I'm tired of being tired and irritable. I'm definitely going to miss Gringo's Fajita Bar. Mmmm...all you can eat fajitas. We're going to have to figure out something equally good to bring in for lunch. We haven't done much planning for the April 15th party yet. Maybe at the Monday staff meeting. And then take a much-needed vacation.

Oh, and I got the CD in the mail. I'm all giddy that I finally own this CD. It's so good. I now have the urge to go watch Wild at Heart. But it's gonna make me cry, because it always makes me cry, and I'm also tired of crying. Maybe I'll just watch it and stop before Oz leaves.

I knew I should have stopped wearing these pants until I lost a few more pounds. This particular pair of pants that I am wearing right now is cut a little odd, I think, because the waist can cut into my tummy and pooches out in the back of the waist. But that's not my problem right now. The problem is, I just lifted my legs to sit cross-legged in my chair (not the most ergonomic, I know, but I find it comfortable), and heard a huge rip.

Yes, there is now a huge rip in the seat of my pants. Damn good thing this is the end of the day and I wore a long coat. I'm taking it as a sign to go home.

I have had a CD on my Amazon wishlist for almost three years now. It's a CD by the band that played Verucca's band on Buffy in Season 4, called THC. It's out of print, and I see it come and go, always at a high price. There are three used listed on Amazon right now ranging from $69.50 to $99.99. I've seen it on eBay three or four times, each time going for in the $50-$60 range.

I have it as a favorite search on eBay, so it emailed me last week telling me the CD is up for sale again. I usually wait until the end of the auction to bid, but this time, I changed my strategy. I bid $40 at the beginning of the auction, thinking I would be outbid at the end of the auction, but I had an email this morning saying I had won it...for $26!

Three years is a long time to be patient, but it was completely worth it. Assuming the seller comes through with the merchandise, which is not always an assumption you can make. I have an automatic purchase agreement for this CD on Amazon, and I actually bought it once, and the seller didn't come through and I had to get my money back. So cross your fingers everyone!

Last night there was a sort of town meeting about the parcel of land at the end of my street where all the footballers park. The land is under contract to be sold, and the developers wanted the input of the surrounding community before they started any design work. See coverage, and a quote by yours truly, at the Press Citizen.

Let me tell you, this whole thing is going to be a disaster/fiasco. They want to put condominiums there targeting "high end sports fans". No. If they put condos in there it's just going to go to students. The overwhelming opinion of the community is if it has to be developed, let it be less properties at higher prices. I'll bet my entire life's earning power that there are enough doctors at the University hospital that would jump head over heels to get high-end housing right there within walking distance.

At least they are sold on the idea of not letting there be any through-way through that parcel. That would be a traffic nightmare. It's going to be a traffic nightmare as it is, as they want to add 75 units to that 9 acre spot. Condominiums my ass. Too bad this is Iowa City property and not University Heights property. University Heights residents are notoriously tight-assed, and would never let this go through. As it is, I will be completely surprised if there isn't a faction that tries to put together people to buy the property themselves and turn it into a park. Wouldn't that be stuff for Hollywood?

Now that Blogger's working again, I can't remember what I wanted to post about...


...Oh, yes. I was listening to a discussion on Iowa's push to make psedoephedrines (drugs like Sudafen) a Schedule 5 controlled substance, because of its use in the production of methamphetamine. Schedule 5 means that the drug could only be sold at pharmacies. You wouldn't have to have a prescription, you would just have to ask for it from the pharmacist and have to show an ID and you could only get so much at a time.

The thing I found extremely interesting about this report is that they said cough syrup with codeine is also a Schedule 5 controlled substance. I could walk up to a pharmacist and get codeine without a prescription. I had to email Leah, because when she went to Seattle a while ago, she walked to Canada with her cousin, and while she was there, she bought cough syrup with codeine just because it was on the shelf. Kinda makes her journey moot, doesn't it?

I finally finished that biography of John Adams that I've been "reading" for over a year now. Sometimes you just have to be in a certain mood to read a biography...maybe I just wasn't in the mood for several months. It at least did not get my stomach all tied up in knots.

John Adams was a very admirable man. He sacrificed a lot to serve his country, and his attitude about it was very human. A part of him was ambitious, wanted to be known and loved by his country, while another just wanted to live out his life on his farm, simple and plain. He lost his second election because of his efforts to make peace with France, which later succeeded and led to the Louisiana Purchase.

It's kinda ironic...that John Adams was vilified for peace and George W. Bush is vilified for war. It's never easy, going against popular opinion, even though you believe it's the best thing to do. It will be interesting, in years or decades or even centuries, to see how today falls in the spectrum of history.

I also have a newfound dislike for Alexander Hamilton. I didn't know a whole lot about him before, but now I know he was an ass. I told that to Todd, who said, "Why do you think Burr shot him?" I think I'm going to boycott ten dollar bills. Only fives for me. Unless there's something about Abraham Lincoln I don't know.

It's amazing how much you miss your mommy when you're sick and there's no toast in the house.

I have a thing about celery. Not a good thing. A really bad thing. I used to like it, especially with peanut butter. But within the last few years, I've developed an aversion to it. I didn't know how bad until today. During tax season, we tend to do more things together as an office, just as a break from the long days. Today we had lunch catered in from the Cottage, sandwiches and salads and cookies. They had an excellent potato salad, except that it had chunks of celery in it. I thought I was doing a pretty good job picking them out, but I mistook a piece for onion, and started chewing. Big mistake.

As I bit into it and the celery flavor exploded in my mouth, my gag reflex kicked in big time. I nearly puked on the table in front of the entire office. I think only Will forced the bile back down my throat. My eyes were watering, and my stomach was absolutely roiling. I ended up having to take the cucumbers out of the rest of my sandwich, because I'm already iffy about cucumbers anyway. Those I used to not like, and I recently have been giving them a second chance. I used to not like tomatoes, either, but I gave them a second chance and now eat them regularly.

I wonder if I had a bad experience with celery or something. When Emily was about seven, she ate spaghetti right before she got the flu, and ended up puking it all up on the stairs. It was years before she could eat spaghetti again, and to this day, I don't think she cares for it much. I think the reaction is supposedly something our body does to protect itself from bad or poisonous food. If your body rejects a certain food for some reason, it associates the rejection with the food, and you develop a food avoidance.