Sno-fight

Time spent waiting on FedEx delivery = 2 business days
Time to open box = 1min
Time for Milo to discover shipping popcorn= 30 sec
Time spent throwing shipping popcorn= 30 min
Time spent picking up shipping popcorn= 7 days and counting
Memories of a day of fun= timeless

Heebee-Jeebees

http://www.laweekly.com/news/features/palisades-rathouse-unchallenged-by-health-officials-elderly-twins-fed-local-vermin-population/19342/?page=all

I have to agree....

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/31/why-america-is-fcked.html
Only, I think it is just a symptom.

Story Idea Based on Truth

I am just writing this here as a place holder for my mind... and to "call" this idea mine before someone steal it. And of course, it really is not mine as my friend is living it and therefore inspired the idea so I guess it is hers. So, if she writes it as an autobiography I guess that will be okay. One of my all time favorite books is Margaret Atwood's Edible Woman. I really admire the quirky quality of her characters and this idea harkens to her.
I think it would be either called The Shut-In or Geographically Challenged. My friend is a sexy, flirty woman (through whom I live vicariously from time to time - thank you!) and she dates and she sleeps with a good number of men. She is a bit of a guy. Anyway, there are certain places that she now avoids because she does not want to run in to an old flame or flirt. I could not help be think that her world is shrinking. I joked at lunch that she would soon find herself confined to a single room. I think it would make a good story. There. I called it!

Weight Issues

My second favorite sister called yesterday for advice on gaining weight. She is way pregnant and has not been gaining sufficient weight, so of course, she comes to me.... for advice on gaining weight. After all I have successfully done it. She should probably just follow my food journal and she would do fine. She is lucky she is my second favorite sister so I can forgive her (and she reads my blogs... she was my favorite sis until the phone call).
Now I agree she needs to gain some weight. I would say 15-20 pounds based on her pre-pregnancy voluptuosity. Then she will be very svelte once the baby pops out. She can borrow clothes from our favorite sister. She is the skinny one (her secret? she runs and avoids yeast).
I have been detailing all of my food intake diligently for the passed couple of weeks. I have also been exercising at the Rec Center two to three times a week. I am not trying to actively lose weight (though I would love to!) but trying to be more healthy overall and definitely not chunk up any more than I have. That said, I ate way too much Indian food today...... (the secret I shared with my sister for weight gain)

Spreadsheet Hell

Relationships (fortunately not mine) are complicated. As I have ears that hear everything... I now know a colleague of mine is trying to negotiate the finances of her child vis a vis a spreadsheet. That is one complicated relationship. It involves college tuition, child support and an ex. She has exclaimed, "I am in spreadsheet hell." Who isn't? I thought this was a fairly good analogy for complicated relationships--- trying to resolve emotional conflicts through logical steps, efficiently and fairly. Does not work out well.
My spouse is dealing with the conflict of a friend that is no more and a friend that soon shall no longer exist. Friend A has simply grown into a person that Jack no longer has anything in common with. Friend B is dying. The (d)evolution of friendship A is logically expected --- people change (or don't) and expectations are no longer in sync. It sucks but it is logical. Friendship B involves a smart person stupidly deciding (consciously or subconsciously) that a diabetes diagnosis should result in a death sentence - due to gross negligence. This is far more difficult to deal with. We are talking major spreadsheet hell. You feel shitty because your friend will be dead soon and angry because it could have been avoided but it is too late now for could haves. It does not logically follow. Someone's inability to care for himself -- decisions made emotionally are wreaking havoc on the physical and metaphysical realms. The anger, frustration, and helplessness are waging battle with feelings of affection and sorrow.

It's Complicated

A few years ago I started thinking of myself as fairly simple but existing in a complicated world. I even wrote in the "About Me" section of my FB profile, "It's complicated. I'm not. It is." A few months back I started watching the E! series Denise Richards: It's Complicated. I was only slightly miffed that they were using what was clearly my line, but how can I argue with what I know to be a true statement? Now, I never really gave two figs about Denise and the entire Charlie marriage drama. Obviously she made a really interesting choice in her marriage partner (can't throw any stones there!) and has two adorable girls as a result. Good for her. Whatever. But it was a Sunday and I was lazing around - so I started watching the show. It was a marathon. I still don't particularly care about her life and she whines a bit too much for me but her show is interesting and relatable television. I do not see the complicated bit though. She lives her life with a useless assistant, a good natured father, way too many animals (yes, I threw that stone), her sister and family, and her girls. The entire Charlie thing is never mentioned, except when she has to respond to press and then she really does not go into any details. She has "taken the high road." Unlike my wonderful marriage, hers was apparently seriously f-ed up. Mine is merely amusing occassionally. She obviously lived through something entirely different -- drugs, hookers, hookers, drugs and two pregancies. Ugh! Anyway, I watched the season finale last night and hope to see more of Ms. Richards soon.
BTW, WTF is up with Matt Lauer giving her a hard time about including the girls in her show? They are the children of celebrities so being known faces is a given. The show itself enables her to be a stay at home Mom and is then about her life as a stay at home mom - of course the kids will be included. So stupid. I just wish the DR had been a bit more thoughtful in her responses. I blame her people for not better preparing her.