Even though I like to do laundry, I don’t like the turn laundry right side out. I will fold your clothes inside out of they come that way out of the dryer.

I don’t mind cleaning the kitchen, but hate cleaning the bathroom. (Most likely because kneeling [as in to scrub the tub] hurts my knees.)

In general, I don’t like cake. It’s too dry.

I don’t like answering direct questions; I almost always tend to answer questions with a question. I know it’s frustrating, but I can’t help myself.

I don’t like the smell of marigolds or tomato plants.

Just checked my bank account.

I have not yet been stimulated.

Just what I expect from this president.

Some some random odds and ends instead.

The bright spot Sunday was I got to see the twins. They’re 7 months old now, and absolutely, unbelievably, adorable. James has gotten over his “colic” and is just as happy as his sister. He’s also extremely energetic, and kept bouncing up and down–he was a bit much from Grandmom to hold in fact. Helena was calmer, although just as happy. They also made the time and the funeral home easier for everyone, as it’s really hard to be sad when there is a baby giggling at you.

The temperature rose about 35 degrees yesterday, from the morning low in the 40s to an afternoon high in the upper 70s. No wonder every around here feels sick.

I will get pictures taken of the Geek Out Michael and I are having. We are so easily amused. :)

Also, just for Chris, I’m planning a post about Oatmeal. And how delicious it is. Try to restrain your excitement.

Your readership is important to us. Please stay on the line and a blog post will be with you soon.

We’re sorry, we’re unable to post an amusing anecdote right now. But please feel free to leave a message after the beep, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

BEEP!

Sophie from Shinola. An explanation of sorts.

Part 1 – Nathan
Part 2 – Shawn
Part 3 – MWT
Part 4 – Eric
Part 5 – Matt
Part 6 – Jeri
Part 7 – Saqib
Part 8 – Me
Part 9 – Vince
Part 10 – Kimberly Ann
Part 11 – Tom
Part 12 – Kate
Part 13 – Justin Ryan
Part 14 – Bryan
Part 15 – Tania
Part 16 – C
Part 17 – Nathan
Part 18 – Shawn
Part 19 – MWT
Part 20 – Eric
Part 21 – Matt
Part 22 – Jeri
Part 23 – Saqib
Part 24 – Me
Part 25 – Vince
Part 26 – Kimberly Ann
Part 27 – Tom
Part 28 – Kate
Part 29 – Bryan
Part 30 – C
Part 31 – Justin Ryan
Part 32 – Tania

And we’re all contributing a final chapter–or most of us are anyway. Nathan said something about voting on which ending you like best, but I think you should just read everyone else’s take on the end of the story.

(more…)

There are lots of things one sees around here that make sense in context, where students are studying health care.

But can you imagine going to English class, and having an entire box of disposable vinyl gloves sticking out of your backpack?

Yes we are.

Conversation 1:
Michelle: How do I look today?
Michael: Monochromatic.

Conversation 2:
Michelle: (looking at gym bag covered in fur and feline footprints.) Someone’s been sleeping on my gym bag.
Michael: Yes, they have.
Michelle: Why were you sleeping on my gym bag?
Michael: (snort) Because it’s so comfortable?

I’ve slacked all week, so I just sat down to do the bills, which includes the $1300 we just put on the credit card for the tickets to Denver (Woo! Woo! [for the trip, not for $1300 on my credit card.])

For the first time in an extremely long time, I actually had a negative balance in Quicken. Of course $900 of that was on two items that are 12 months same as cash, so they aren’t gaining interest, and we’re both getting paid on the 15th, but still. That red $300 was extremely sad to see.

Then I started opening bills, which was of course was even more depressing. Nestled in the middle was the monthly statement for our savings account. I jokingly thought to myself, “Well, maybe there are a couple deposits Michael forgot to enter.”

There were.

To the tune of almost a thousand dollars.

(This is why I don’t let him do the bills. Because it’s a bad thing when I discover several hundred dollars in un-entered credit card slips. [In his defense, it Christmas.])

So in the span of ten minutes I went from being worried about money, to being happy that I had a thousand dollars I didn’t know about. Which really makes no sense because the actual amount of money in those accounts has not changed. I have no more or no less money than I had yesterday (at least until I write out the gas bill.) So why should that discovery make a difference?

But it does. I felt MUCH better than I had, even though the actual numbers meant nothing. (Unless we have a 6 or 12 months same as cash deal, we pay off all credit cards each month, so it’s not like we’re garnering interest or anything.)

Now I just have to wait for August and the economic stimulus package. (Talk about unfair. With 75 and 99 Michael and I are in the LAST group to receive checks. My brother is 01, which means he’ll get one of the first checks written. BAH!)

OK, back to writing bills.

ADDENDUM the First:
And the last thing I opened was a check! Yippee!

And closing out the season of actually leaving the house and doing things, tonight we saw the Capitol Steps.

All I have to say is it’s really nice to spend an hour and a half laughing.

In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m a huge fan of Firefox. It’s my web browser of choice, and I was converted after having used Mozilla for several years. (I also have Sea Monkey, IE 6, and Safari installed on this computer, but I like Firefox best.)

One of the things I’ve grown to adore are the extensions.

All my computers have the L33T KEY extension (convert text to ROT 13 on the fly!), Forecast Fox, IE Tab, Fire FTP, Tab Mix Plus, and Notifiers for Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

But there are some others that are just fun. I just installed Firesomething, and now my browser is called Mozilla Thunderpig. Yesterday it was Firebadger I think. It accomplished nothing other than making me smile when I look at the title bar. I also found the xkcd extension that allows you to read the longer xkcd titles, which, oddly enough, is precisely why I was searching the extensions in the first place.

I’ve got nothing but busy today. So please share your non-sequiturs.

Additionally, I desperately want to keep writing while I’m tying to get up early enough to work on my other story, so what I really want are phrases our pictures that will set off a story for me. Please?

OK, so I was thinking more along the lines of this or this.

It’s Health Insurance Open Enrollment season again.

I’m trying to figure out if it is in my best interest to switch providers (if there is a difference in mental health services etc) and came across the following:

What Is Not Covered
Some services are not covered by the PEIA PPB Plan regardless of medical necessity. Some specific exclusions are listed below. The following services are not covered:
1. Aqua therapy.
… blah blah blah …
29. Medical equipment, appliances or supplies of the following types:
• augmentative communication devices.
• bathroom scales.
• educational equipment.
• environmental control equipment such as air conditioners, humidifiers or dehumidifiers, air cleaners or
filters, portable heaters, or dust extractors.
• equipment or supplies which are primarily for patient comfort or convenience, such as bathtub lifts or
seats; massage devices; elevators; stair lifts; escalators; hydraulic van or car lifts; orthopedic mattresses;
walking canes with seats; trapeze bars; child strollers; lift chairs; recliners; contour chairs; adjustable
beds; or tilt stands.
• equipment which is widely available over the counter such as wrist stabilizers and knee supports.
• exercise equipment such as exercycles; parallel bars; walking, climbing or skiing machines.
• hearing aids.
• hygienic equipment such as bed baths, commodes, and toilet seats.
• motorized scooters.
• nutritional supplements, food liquidizers or food processors.
• orthopedic shoes, unless attached to a brace.
• over-the-door and/or gravity traction.
• professional medical equipment such as blood pressure kits or stethoscopes.
• supplies such as tape, alcohol, Q-tips/swabs, gauze, bandages, thermometers, aspirin, diapers (adult or
infant), heating pads or ice bags.
• vibrators.
• whirlpool pumps or equipment.
• wigs or wig styling.

I actually said “WHA?” when I read that. I can’t imagine the conversation(s) that lead the the addition of vibrators to the list.

Even though I have to work.

Is this an awesome week or what?

Michael is significantly stronger than me, this is an uncontested fact. If a jar lid needs opened, a bolt or screw needs tightened, or something heavy needs lifted, he ends up on the job.

This is not to say I am incapable of these things, only that things I bolt sometimes work their way loose, and it takes me three times as long to carry heavy things, because I have to make multiple trips to his one.

And I’m okay with this. It’s not simply a male/female thing, it’s also that he has a greater ability to build muscle than I do (we participated in a research study on strength and muscle, and he has two body builder genes, while I have zero copies of the gene [not the scientific name, but I can’t remember the name given in the study, as it was about six years ago]). Do I take advantage of this sometimes? Of course. I don’t like carrying wood into the house one log at a time while he can do it in three trips. But I do try to carry my own weight.

So, if Michael is significantly stronger than me, why is it I have to go back and re-scrub every pot he washes?