Your mom reads the Weekend Roundup
Hey, you there! What’s your favorite part of the Weekend Roundup? What’s that, you say? It’s the photos that accompany the entries? Well, good sir, you may as well extenguish your Internet Machine, because you’ll notice there are no photos accompanying this edition of the Weekend Roundup. That’s because Shannon took the camera with her to Dallas (more on this later). So while she’s spending her days off taking pictures of life, we’re spending our weekend living it. Oh, snap! So anyway, enjoy this edition of the Internet’s most respected itemized summary of what four (this week, three) Kansas Citians accomplished over a particular three-day span. Now with 100% fewer photos!
Steven’s School Report
Hello all my fans out there. I’ma gonna give you a report weekly about what is hip & happining in my school. So this is it. Today, we celebrated Johnny whats is name. We got apple crisps, apple cider, doughnuts and apples. Of course, I bought an apple sauce container for me. My friend Clark is moving away and so is Steven. Waaaaaah! Oh well. Also today we got an extra recess. We played kick ball, silly sentences, and Duck-Duck Cow. I mean Duck-Duck Goose. Me and David have been dicovering more & more secrets on pokemon games.
Well thats all the good stuff that happened at school. By until next week!
Wherein a dork complains about a bus
(Warning: I am now going to talk about a thing that you will most likely not care about, and that will probably never affect you in any meaningful way.)
Okay, here’s the deal. I ride the bus to work every day. It’s a good deal because:
- I don’t have to drive, which is good because I hate driving
- It gives me time to read my stupid trashy science fiction books
- My employer subsidizes the monthly bus pass, so it is ridiculously cheap (seriously, it’s like $10 a month)
Okay, I’ve been riding the bus regularly for over two years now, and it’s worked out pretty nicely. That said, some stuff kind of hacks me off, to the point where if I had a goat, I would consider it gotten. To wit:
- It’s never on time. Ever. Generally, it’s late; in the two years I’ve been riding it, the only times it has ever been early are the times I’ve been running late. But never on time.
- My route gets the most craptacular buses in the KCATA fleet (probably because there are not that many riders, so there are fewer people to complain). I can tell when my bus is coming because you can hear its cartoonish sputtering and clanking a mile away. If it’s a hot day, I can guarantee the AC won’t be working, and generally there’s a 1-in-3 chance that the bus will break down at some point.
- The guy who drives the bus in the morning is a freaking maniac. As we’re driving through my neighborhood, he drives at a reasonable speed–until we get past a nearby elementary school. Once he’s out of the school zone, hang on for dear life. Is there a bomb on the bus we don’t know about, a la Speed? Is he training for the NASCAR Bus Series? Insane! I have chosen a particular seat on the bus–and I sit there every day–specifically because it gives me a place to brace myself for the day we inevitably smash into the side of a house or plunge into the river, trailing smoke and fire. Not a matter of if, people: it’s a matter of when. And this morning? He drove so fast that when we got into the city, he had to stop for a few minutes–just idling by the side of the road–because he was so far ahead of schedule.
- Also I kind of feel like a loser. But that’s a personal thing, not directly related to the bus. But riding the bus doesn’t help.
Alright, that’s enough of this lousy rant. I’m not going to stop riding the bus. Sure, it’s loud and dirty and uncomfortable and deadly. But it’s just so convenient.
Happy Birthday to ME!
That’s right…Happy Birthday to ME. I am officially more than half way to 40 but I’m still not as close as Price;) Kind of scary because I remember thinking that 40 was soo old and now well it seems so young!
This morning Price greeted me with a Sugar Free Cinnamon Dolce latte from Starbucks, YUM. Then he made me a tasty breakfast burrito. I call him St. Price. For lunch some friends took me to one of my local faves, Tomfooleries. YUM!
Then tonight the Pman made me tasty roast with potatoes and carrots and I broke the sugar fast for a piece of birthday cake. Extra YUM!
So I now weigh 10 pounds more than I did this morning.
It’s been a good day and I have the promise of more birthday fun when I spend this coming weekend with my mom and some of our extended family in Dallas and then Priceman is going to get us tickets for Wicked when it comes to town. Yiippee!
So what have I learned in 36 years?
Not much.
Okay seriously, I am still learning not to take myself so seriously; that most people are fickle and pleasing them will dang near kill you; to be grateful is a major key to contentment; and that God loves me just as I am but always desires me to be so very much more.
So here’s to another year of becoming all that God desires for me to be. And a big thank you to my family and friends who get to be a part of that process. Thanks for loving me.
Oh, the humanity! It’s the Weekend Roundup
No matter how rough last week may have been for you–turmoil at work, relationship troubles, assassination attempts, etc.–thank the heavens you survived the past seven days so you could read our Weekend Roundup and find out what a bunch of nobodies did over the weekend. Somehow, it makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?
Finally, an excuse to spend less “quality time” with the family
That’s right… this weekend officially begins the new fall TV season! Gone are the lazy days of summer, when we shared laughter, good times, and memories that will last forever. Enough of that! Finally we can bathe in the warm glow of televised pablum while we forget about and/or ignore all our emotional problems (which are many).
Anyway, it all starts this Sunday night. Here are the shows we try to catch regularly…
- 24
Okay, I admit last season stank like a Frenchman. Still, one horrible season out of six is a pretty good record. The Royals dream about stats like that. - Lost
Mysterious island? Check. A bunch of beautiful castaways with shadowy pasts? Check. Dark secrets and unfathomable conspiracies? Check. Weird, unexplained smoke monster that sounds like Godzilla? Check. What’s not to like? I–wait, what was that last one again? - Battlestar Galactica
My friend Tom got me hooked on this show, and then Shannon got hooked on it while she was recuperating from her surgery over the summer. Now I’m hearing rumors that they’re going to only show 10 episodes this season, then show the rest in 2009? That’s the worst injustice in the history of mankind! Write your Congressman! - Heroes
Sheernerdgeek heaven. Any show that’s bringing George Takei and Nichelle Nichols back to primetime television automatically gets my eyeballs. (Why yes, they are actors from the original Star Trek series. Why yes, I am a loser.) - The Office
Do I enjoy it so much because I’ve had bosses like Michael Scott, or because I see in Dwight Schrute a kind of kindred spirit? - The Simpsons
Do you realize that my kids have never known a world without the Simpsons? Can you believe this show has been running for almost 20 years? Wait a minute, this show premiered when I was freshman in college! That means… hmm, best not to think about it. - King of the Hill
It’s a show about a bunch of pickup-driving red-state oddballs with impenetrable Southern accents. Why do I watch it? Because it reminds me of home. - Smallville
No, I’m not a 15-year-old girl. Stop asking.
Can you guess which ones are Price’s shows? (Hint: all of them. Shannon just happens to like a few of them as well.) Not sure about any of the new shows coming on this season. Bionic Woman intrigues me a little, mainly because Katee Sackhoff is on it, but nothing else really jumps out at me.
So… those are the programs that regularly help us escape the burdens of this wretched world. Which shows do you watch to help temporarily fill the barren void that is your soul?
Looky here, some more photos
A couple of weekends ago, we went all crazy-like and decided at the last minute to go camping at Weston Bend State Park, on the banks of the Missouri River just north of town. Fun times were had by most, so I thought I’d put up a few photos of the wilderness and the wonderment and so forth. I’ll also link to these on the Photos page, for posterity.
Sugar Fast?
Well some girlfriends and I are on a 30 day sugar fast. We began Sept 15 so I am officially on day 4 and oh sugar how do I miss thee let me count the ways!
- White cupcakes with white icing
- Cherry pie
- Apple pie
- Apple crisp
- Blueberry muffins
- Starbucks Coffeecake
- Starbucks Vanilla Latte
- Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino (in the bottle)
- Vanilla Shakes from Sheridan’s (local custard place)
- Candy corn
- Chocolate of any kind
- Chocolate chip cookie dough
- Chocolate chip cookie with icing on top
- And the list could go on and on and on
So do you think I have a slight addiction?
So why do this you ask? Well I have an infection that won’t clear up and they have recommended that a fast from refined sugar would be very helpful. So some very very very good friends suggested I try to make it for 30 days and they would join me. So a shout out to my SFF (Sugar Free Friends) and BOOOOO to Mr. Horn who has been tempting me with delectable treats and eating yummy goodies right in front of me.
How will I survive Gladfest, a local festival, where they sell all manner of tasty treats including funnel cakes, kettle korn and the worst…deep fried oreos. Oh somebody save me!
Hallelujah, it’s the Weekend Roundup
Well, the weekend has ended and a new week is about to begin, bringing with it the promise of five more days of pointless toil and frustrated ambitions. And so begins the Weekend Roundup: a concise and arguably useless summary of what we did over the weekend. I’ll write one up every week! Or maybe I won’t. Who knows? Anyway, here goes.
The Squealing: Will It Never End?
When I got home from work today, Maya was having a “playdate.”
We had playdates when we were kids, too, but of course we didn’t call them “playdates.” Instead, we called them “going over to someone’s house to play.” Okay, maybe the term lacked a certain concise elegance, but it did have the benefit of not sounding incredibly lame.
Anyway, Maya was having this playdate with one of her little friends from preschool (once you have called your kids’ compadres their “little friends,” you are officially a parent). This was the first time I have been present at a playdate involving giggly little preschool-aged girls, so I was not prepared for one of the most hideous side effects.
The Squealing.
If there exists a more piercing, ear-ruining sound in this world, I pray I never hear it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the military was investigating the use of ecstatic four-year-olds in combat. These high-pitched squeals were of such sheer intensity that they were tormenting dogs that don’t even exist yet. Okay, maybe I went too far with that one. The point I’m trying to make here is that basically, little girls squeal at the top of their lungs when they are having fun.
And they did indeed have fun, so I guess I shouldn’t complain much. Running around and screaming like a maniac for no good reason at all is part of the joy of being a kid. They may not remember anything about the 3700 times they were jumping around and yelling at squirrels, but if I tell them to shut up one time they’ll be telling their therapists about it when they’re 45 years old. So I guess I’ll let ‘em go nuts, spin around until they giddily crash to the ground, and yes, I’ll let them squeal as loud as they want.
Even if I have to shove alcohol-soaked cotton balls in my ears to staunch the bleeding.
