I love it when Calvin and I go on a CD spree. I also love when we make the CD checkout dude (with the sideways cap and the pimples and the anarchist t-shirt) cock an eyebrow at us. Check us out:

- The Essential Cyndi Lauper. And it is essential. It has that Goonies song (Good Enough), and Change of Heart. I mean, come on.

- Will Smith - Lost and Found. It's Will. He's a nice guy. I like Switch and Slide. I'm into meaningless lyrics with a good beat. He's just not the kind of rapper I holla' to. I will get his greatest hits, though.

- Def Jam Greatest Hits - LL Cool J needs an around the way girl, and I just happen to be one. With a brass monkey (that funky monkey). But don't believe the hype. Just regulate.

- Def Leppard - Rock of Ages. What can I say? An essential compilation. With their remake of their remake of "No Matter What", which has the #1 world record for being the single song that has stuck in my head the longest. Even when I sleep. I believe it was five days, and was replaced by "Beverly Hills, that's where I want to BE!"

- The Violent Femmes - 1 + up. This is actually the first VF CD I've ever bought. How the hell is that?

- The Chronicle - The Best Works of Dr. Dre. Enough bad language to satisfy even me. I've got the california love, sippin' my gin and juice. Look man, just let me ride.

- The Cars - Complete Greatest Hits. Driving along. Nice weather, nice breeze. Everything's all good. In cars.

- The Eurythmics Greatest Hits. I was going to get an Annie Lennox CD, who I love, but then I realized that more of my favorite songs are from The Eurythmics. Would I lie to you?

- Led Zepplin ZoHo. A necessity. With pretty much all of the best Zep songs on one convenient and abstractly named CD. Misty Mountain Hop. Black Dog. Stairway. I mean, feel the love here, people. You know you danced to that one in high school at LEAST once.

- Ambrosia Anthology. I don't know who the fuck these people are - Calvin picked this one out. He picked another one out that he's too embarrassed to let me mention here. Isn't he cute?

- Weezer - Make Believe. My first Weezer, too. Beverly Hills is apparently where I want to be.

I put back Annie Lennox, a Ben Folds (Saving Silverman), and Marvin Gaye. I actually LOOKED for C&C Music Factory. Sweat! Baby! Let the music take control, let the rhythm move you.

Peace out.

Posted by Laura at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

My new crack --> here.

Thanks a lot, Rob. I will get nothing done this weekend and my husband is now miffed at you.

Posted by Laura at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

I already knew that one of the most perfect places for me to live was Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound, Washington State. The fact that there is a Whidbey Island Writers Association makes me want to move there more.

Calvin and I were talking. If we could take over a local store - a little mom-and-pop little-bit-of-everything store where you know all of your customers, that has an apartment overhead or adjacent - well, that would be just about the perfect life.

Or, of course, our bed and breakfast dream where we could meet people and make friends with folks from all over, and have recurring guests that want to come back time and again.

A job that supports our life, that lets us make and maintain friendships, that allows us to learn about other people and their lives. To be a real part of a community, away from urban life, like walking into a Normal Rockwell picture.

Dream. Dream dream dream, dream.

Posted by Laura at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments

September 19th - Medium
September 22nd - ER
August 9th - Boston Legal
August 29th - Prison Break (I'll give it a shot)
September 8th - The OC (shout out to Marie)
September 13th - Supernatural (I'll give it a shot)
September 19th - Two and a Half Men
September 21 - Invasion (another new one I'll try)

Still waiting for info on:

Desperate Housewives
Gray's Anatomy
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
24
CSI: (just CSI. Not CSI Miami, not CSI New York. The original is the best)
Commander in Chief (a new one I'll check out)
The Sopranos
Deadwood
Rome (a new HBO show, give it a maybe?)
Bones (a new Fox show I'll try)
That 70's Show (I fear for this season with no Ashton and no Topher)

This is all I can think of right now. It's a wonder we have any room in our lives for anything other than watching television. Add these to The Discovery Channel and The Comedy Channel and The Military Channel and The History Channel and HBO and Cinemax and Showtime and Stars and...

Posted by Laura at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is almost verbatim at Operation::Goddess, too.

Prompted by a couple of, "Hey, what's going on?" messages from my dear friends, my readers, here's a quickie update.

Wednesday the 20th 3:00 pm - leaving work, enthusiasm, looking forward to camping on Friday, not looking forward to all the stuff I had to get done in preparation for camping. Plus, hey! It's my birthday! Woo!

Wednesday the 20th 6:00 pm - Calvin and I have finished dinner, headed back home to prep for camping. I get a decent amount of stuff done.

Wednesday the 20th 9:00 pm - I start feeling some discomfort coming from the area of my solar plexus. I deal for about an hour, then go to bed.

Wednesday the 20th 11:30 pm - I'm now crying. The pain is unbearable. I wake Calvin up so he can take me to the ER. We go. He pulls over so I can barf along the way. We continue on. I register into the ER. I'm given a bed in the ER after about 45 minutes.

Thursday the 21st 1:00 am - I am in AGONY. Bawling my head off. Blood has been taken. Nasty stuff has been drunk to see if it's just an upper G.I. integestion sort of thing. I barf that up, so nope, it isn't. I get wheeled away for an ultrasound of my midsection. Still in AGONY. Still bawling like a baby.

Thursday the 21st 1:30 am (time and details approximate as things get blurry) - An IV is attempted. And attempted again. Much rooting around is going on in my right arm. I'm hollering and kicking my legs. The tech finally listens to Calvin and starts the IV in my hand. The doctor comes in and tells us that my gallbladder has to be removed because it's full of stones and has been "compromised", and that I have pancreatitus.

Thursday the 21st 1:45 am - More crying. Until they give me some Morphine, which is good, good stuff. I'm given a hospital room. It's very nice - more like a hotel than a hospital. Calvin sleeps on the window seat in the room.

Thursday the 21st - daytime. A lady comes in and gives me a facial and massages my hands. Another lady comes in and asks if she can add me to her prayers. THEN I'm prepped for surgery. By 1:30 my gallbladder is gone.

The rest of the day is full of pain management (me) and marvelling at the effects of morphine on the brain (Calvin) as I babble complete nonsense. Night nurses were paged when I needed help getting to the bathroom (hello, helpless humiliation!), and they kept waking me up to take blood, check my blood pressure, and take my temperature. I'm given much sympathy because of the timing of all of this drama with my birthday.

That whole night was pretty surreal.

Calvin arrived at 10:00 the next morning, and by 11:30 I was checked out and headed home with some Vicodin.

So! Since then I've been splitting my time between the couch and the bed, having fantastically bizarre drug-induced dreams, and being waited on very lovingly by Calvin.

No camping for us. It's amazing what can happen in the course of 36 hours. At least we weren't in the middle of the woods when my gallbladder went south on me.

I'm getting better by degrees - I have an interesting pattern of incisions on my midsection which I'm hoping won't scar too much. I can't go back to work until I get a form from the doctor, who I'm not seeing until next Tuesday, so it looks like I'll be working from home until then.

Never a dull moment around here, huh? I feel worst about Calvin - he so needed the weekend away and instead he got saddled with even more stress. It's times like these, though, that are proof of whether or not you've got the right spouse. And I most certainly have got the PERFECT husband. He's taking such good care of me.

I finished the new Harry Potter book. If anybody cares to chat with me about it, e-mail me. I liked it, and yet I didn't. I didn't see any other direction that could have been taken, though. It's sort of an inevitable kind of book.

Oh! And to top it all off? We got the news today that Lilly is pregnant! Here comes grandbaby number three, before 32!

Yep. Never a dull moment. Ever.

Posted by Laura at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments

1. If you happen to be watching your calories, but you really really want some ice cream (say, a carton of Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is calling your name through the freezer door), make sure the ice cream is frozen rock solid. That way you'll only be able to scrape off a few little tastes before you get fed up (or your spoon bends) and put the carton back.

2. When attempting to exercise discipline and get housework, homework, grocery shopping, and laundry done, it helps to leave the newly-arrived book from Amazon safely inside the sealed box until all the chores are done. Since homework will take me at least into next Tuesday, and then I have to do my final on Wednesday/Thursday, AND get us ready for our camping trip... well, I think Harry Potter will be read under the trees at Big Lake.

3. Do not watch "Surviving Christmas". Even if there is really nothing else on TV. Watch the Knife Show. Watch a fishing program. Learn how to tone your abs and butt in 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Just DON'T watch that movie. I'll never look at Tony Soprano the same. Happily, I already hated Ben Affleck.

Posted by Laura at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments

From Heather.

1. PICK ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? I have a scar on my leg where I had minor surgery performed.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? Pencil drawings of San Francisco.

3. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? I was on a Rap kick a while back, but lately seem to have switched to 70's rock. I listen to everything but Country.

4. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? No.

5. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? For me to make enough money so that Calvin can quit his job and take a much needed break. AND enough for us to meet all our goals, like, tomorrow.

6. WHAT DO YOU MISS AT TIMES? Try all the time. Maine.

7. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION? Prized? I dunno. I don't tend to attach much emotion to belongings. Oz, however, is very much prized by me. Though I think he possesses me, not the other way around.

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL? The back of Calvin's neck.

9. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC? No.

10. IF YOU DIED TOMORROW? I'd be dead.

11. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? Calvin.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOGNE/PERFUME? Cologne = Drakkar. Perfume = Victoria's Secret: Angel.

13. WHAT KIND OF HAIR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? The kind on the top of his head. Nowhere else.

14. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING PROPOSED TO? Hmm. I have been proposed to (sorta), twice. X(m) gave me my engagement ring in the dining room of the Burger King he worked at. Calvin said, "You're going to marry me, right?" while he and I were dancing to "Dancing Queen" at Club Rio. I never was a "get down on one knee and make a speech" kind of a girl, anyway.

15. DO YOU LIKE PORN? Ih, it's kind of boring. I like making fun of it, really.

16. WHAT ARE YOUR FIVE FAVORITE MOVIES? 1. Love Actually. 2. While You Were Sleeping. 3. What Dreams May Come (I'm a total crybaby bawlyhead every time I watch it). 4. Sabrina (either version). 5. A tie between "Shawn of the Dead" and "Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle".

17. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF GOING ON YOUR HONEYMOON? The first honeymoon was to Daytona Beach. The second was a coastal California trip. I would like Calvin and I to go on a second honeymoon (alone!) to Maui, or Yellowstone, or Maine, or drive up the California coast again.

18. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON YOU MADE MAD? Calvin.

19. DO YOU SPEAK A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE? Klingon. Required for understanding my oldest grandson.

20. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU (OF THE OPPOSITE SEX)(WHO WASN’T RELATED TO YOU)? Gracious. I have no idea. Probably a stuffed animal of some sort.

21. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE SINGER(s)? The singers I'm most impressed with, even though I may or may not listen to them very much, are Sara McLauchlan, Christine McVie, Josh Groban, Carmen Monarca, Pavorotti, Phil Collins, Barbara Streisand, and (belive it or not, he has an IMPRESSIVE voice) Rob Halford.

22. FAVORITE BAND(s)? Ben Folds Five, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Journey, Led Zeppelin, Bee Gees (shut up), Simon and Garfunkel (shut up again), Duran Duran, AC/DC.

23. WHAT KIND OF BOOKS DO YOU LIKE TO READ? Fantasy - Anything by Anne McCaffrey, Laurell K. Hamilton, Mercedes Lackey, J.K. Rowling. Fiction - Anything by Mary Stewart, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott. Oh heck, just go here.

24. FAVORITE DESSERT: Just one? Um, no. Chocolate cake. Creme Brulle. Cheesecake. Tiramisu.

25. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE? Milk, sugar, and a dollop of some flavored creamer.

26. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PHRASE? San Francisco cocksucker! (You'd have to watch Deadwood to get it.)

27. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING? Probably.

28. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? Say something. Write something. Sit and cuddle and say nothing at all.

29. SAY A NUMBER FROM 1 TO 100: 57

30. BLONDES, REDHEADS OR BRUNETTES? Brunettes.

31. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN? Calvin's cell.

32. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? People who don't take responsibility for their actions, or for what is theirs. People who act nice to your face but don't mean it. Stupid commercials. Snippy e-mails. Judgemental people. People who make sweeping statements. OH! And the Jerry Springer show.

33. HAVE YOU EVER DONE A PRANK CALL? Yup.

34. WHO IS YOUR CURRENT CRUSH? LL Cool J.

35. WHAT IS YOUR WORST FEAR? Being trapped underwater.

36. SAY SOMETHING TO SOMEONE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN/TALKED TO IN AWHILE: "Fine. You're not my favorite sister anymore!"

37. HAVE YOU EVER SAID "I LOVE YOU" AND NOT MEANT IT? Never.

38. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED THIS SURVEY? Reading Dooce.

39. IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Nose and boobies. Except that I've seen what they do on Discovery Health, and there is NO WAY that I'm going through that for vanity's sake.

Posted by Laura at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments

It's funny, the things that make me happy. Take, for instance, breakfast. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite meal of the day. It's also the most important! So, that's handy.

This morning my breakfast is Kashi Good Friends Crunch (very granola-like in texture and crunch and yummy goodness, with lots of protein and fiber, and low in fat) mixed with fat-free strawberry yogurt, cut up strawberries, and cut up banana. It's like eating dessert for breakfast. And who doesn't love that idea?

I've had this breakfast, with fruit variations, every day for the last two weeks. I am not tired of it yet. In fact, I look forward to it. Yes, I'm a weirdo, but I'm a healthy weirdo.

Detox is going swimmingly. End of report, in adherance with my promise to keep this blog a details-free zone.

Our infamous Sheriff Joe has got his chain gang working along the road in front of AcronymCo. I wonder what our security officers would do if one of the prisoners made a break for it and infiltrated the campus? It does give one pause, since their idea of deterring auto theft in the parking lot is to park a security truck in random lots, and put a dummy with a security cap behind the wheel. Like that's going to fool anybody.

And now, the weather. Friday - 109. Saturday - 111. Sunday - 110. Monday - 112. Tuesday - 114.

I'll spell that out for you in laymen's terms.

Friday - too hot. Saturday - what, 109 wasn't hot enough? Sunday - oh, gee, a cooling trend! Monday - shit. Tuesday - fuck.

And not a monsoon in sight. The state is battling wildfires again, like it does every summer. See? I really do live in hell - complete with flames and everything.

The kids and the grandkids visited for the holiday weekend. Lilly and Michael are still plugging away, counting the days until they get out of the Marines (although Michael is thinking about re-upping, an idea that we are strongly campaigning against). Anthony will be two (!?!) in September, and Devlin will be one in November.

It was discovered that Anthony has a mild hearing problem, which is contributing to his refusal to speak in anything other than Klingon. Despite that, I think we understand him pretty well. He points, says "uh?", and we tell him what the item is that he's pointing at. When we say, "Go to Grandpa!" he toddles off to find Calvin. He'll go on this long, drawn out rant, complete with wild gestures and expressions, then laugh hysterically and take a lap around the living room at full speed. He loves opening and closing doors, drawers, and cabinets. He very helpfully throws his trash away in the trash can. He refers to Oz as "Cuh", and goes hunting for him when we say, "Where's the kitty?"

Devlin is so adorable that I just want to eat him up. What a ray of sunshine that little baby is! He wants to be interacting with people constantly. He'll play by himself for a few minutes, but then start to fuss. He wants to be talked to, held, played with, and entertained. Other than wanting that, he didn't cry at all. It seems that he's going to go straight to walking and forego crawling altogether - he loves to stand and is learning by leaps and bounds how to place one foot in front of the other while gripping someone's hands.

During the visit, we just hung out most of the time. We went out to eat one evening, and Marie babysat one afternoon so the rest of us could go to a party that my girlfriend Dani was throwing. Mellow as usual, which is how the kids seem to like it.

Random pictures in random order from random times!


Wow. I just used Blogger to upload this picture, and it sure does dump a lot of code into the entry. Anyway! This is me and Michael, after the swimming and the losing of the make-up (me) and the drinking of the tequila at Dani's party.


Okay, loading pictures in the blog is a whole lot more of a pain than in my journal. Another reason to un-hiatus it, huh? This is Anthony, Lilly, and Devlin, barely holding still long enough to get a picture.


This one's for Heather, who just LOVES pictures of kids covered in spaghetti. This is one of Lilly's pictures, from probably about a month ago.


Devlin at about six months. And also, this is a demonstration of loading pics under the "large" setting, instead of "medium", as above.


Devlin now. And Blogger is annoying me. It insists on putting the code for the picture at the very top of the entry, instead of where my cursor was positioned. So I have to scroll up, cut the text, scroll down, and paste it where I want it. Gr.


Calvin, spraying my way because I was taking pictures of him.


Aww! Anthony's all protective of Devlin. Well, no, not really. He probably rolled over and beaned the baby with his flailing arm. But still, a cute photo-op.


A picture of Calvin at the San Diego Zoo, from last fall's trip to see the kids and hang in Carlsbad.


Marie. Also zoo. And check out how GREEN her eyes are.


Me and my egg-shaped head, at the zoo. Pics of us courtesy of Lilly, who shares my role in the family as the official picture-taker.


I love the T-shirt.


Lilly and Devlin, who she can almost make sit still.


Marie's idea of a summer vacation.


This is Devlin's idea of "interacting".


Gratuitous Ozzy photo! This is his idea of summer vacation. As well as...


...this, and...


...this. Tired of scrolling yet? I hope this doesn't take a year to load.


Daddy and his boyz. Up in da hood.


A self-shot, courtesy of Michael and Lilly. Because they are pretty.


And this is the kids in Carlsbad, at this great little hole of a fish place right across from our hotel. Best fish fry ever.


For those of you following along at home, here's what the back yard looks like now.


For those of you just tuning in, the before/after entry of the landscaping installation can be found here.

Okay! I think that's enough dealing with Blogger for one day. If there are spelling errors, my bad. I don't feel like dealing with Blogger's spell check, either. I do love Blogger, don't get me wrong, but it is DEFINITELY a blogging tool, and not an "entry" tool.

Take care!

Posted by Laura at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Detox process has begun. No more laughing, no more fun. Unless you derive humor from poorly-veiled references to the less delicate details of humanity.

I believe the process itself is the forfeit. Not sure who's collecting payment, though.

Posted by Laura at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments