I don’t know if you’ve heard. Sunday June 29 was a NATIONAL HOLIDAY!!! Did you know that? That’s right boys and girls, June 29 was national “Stop in front of Ramblingmom” day. I guess today was the day that people decided that I’d best not ramble anywhere.
I went to pick up DallasMom and her lovely family at the airport. As I was headed there, for some unknown reason some car stopped in the automatic toll lane. After I got the Dallas folks (people driving crazy through O’hare arrivals is not noteworthy) we went to Wendy’s for lunch — when we were leaving some car was stopped in the lane of the parking lot (right next to real parking spots — I couldn’t figure out what she was up to — but now, in retrospect, she was involved in celebrating this auspicious holiday). As I drove around some side streets to get back on the road to their sleeping quarters another car was stopped at an intersection for no apparent reason.
Later, after I dropped off the family and was heading back to the minivan lane (heading west on the Eisenhower) for some unknown reason traffic came to a sudden and complete halt on the expressway (this should not be a surprise — there’s always an inexplicable tie up on the Ike — and I mean always — you could be on there at 3am on a Tuesday and there will still be a backup somewhere). And when I say “sudden” I mean SUDDEN. I had to slam on my brakes to miss the traffic — and I popped over onto the shoulder because I wasn’t quite sure the guy behind me was going to make the stop.
So after all that, I figured it must be some kind of national holiday. All for me, isn’t that sweet.
Hey — at least I know my brakes can make a quick stop from 70 mph 55 mph — the speed limit.
Questions courtesy of Jennifer this week; thanks, Jennifer!
1. Birthdays are foodalicious. (Our family tradition is for the birthday person to pick their favorite restaurant for dinner).
2. Fall is my favorite season because I love the weather and the colors.
3. I feel my best when I’ve had enough sleep and coffee.
4. Chocolate is my favorite food!
5. First impressions are usually correct.
6. The best piece of advice I ever received was _I’ve been sitting on this for 24 hours, and still haven’t figure out the answer to this one – either I’ve received much sage advice, or none.
But — as a wink to my favorite poet, I’ll quote some sage advice to all women
Indian Summer
Dorothy Parker
In youth it was a way I had
To do my best to please,
And change, with every passing lad,
to suit his theories.
But know I know the things I know,
and do the things I do;
and if you do not like me so
To hell, my love, with you.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to OMG, tomorrow my plans include I HAVE NOTHING and Sunday, I want to SCHEDULED! (This is a good thing)
Ended up seeing WallE last night with Princess, Chip, BIL, and niece4 and nephew. Good flick. Today I’m off to the vet to pick up some flea prevention. Tomorrow I’m giving a friend a ride from the airport.
Heidilou points out that she’s going to miss this man. Well, I am too. I’ve just returned from my vacation and you know what, hotel rooms never have enough room for my stuff (and neither does my car).
Of course, these days “being green” is the hip and happening thing to do. But on my recent vacation I wondered if I’m going a bit overboard.
Now, normally I take my reusable canvas bags when I do local shopping. I’ve been known to take them to local grocery stores and to Walgreen’s and Target and other places. But this past trip I packed empty canvas bags in my car for our trip. I used some for laundry bags, but I also took them to Walgreen’s when we stopped, and even when I went shopping at the Mall of America.
So please vote — ramblingmom mom taking green bags for vacation shopping. Environmentally friendly? Or over the top crazy lady? (I must admit, I don’t think I got that many weird looks for taking bags into the Minnesota mall as I normally get in Illinois).
Later this month, we’re having a “change in latitude” — unfortunately we’re going to a higher latitude :^) (you know, the lower the latitude the better the attitude). We’re heading to Spouse’s Aunt & Uncle’s 50th Wedding Anniversary party. On the way, we’re going to be stopping at the “Water Park Capitol of the World” (that would be Wisconsin Dells). Then we’ll head to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). While in the area, we will likely stop at the Maul of America. I’m not typically a fan of shopping mauls (hence the intentional misspelling), and the bigger the worse, in my opinion, however the Maul of America has two things going for it. One of them is the fact that it has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR Caribou Coffee shops. It also has an indoor amusement park (that I”ll likely try to avoid — perhaps by heading to the Caribou Coffee Shop – but the little kids will enjoy it) and the piece de resistance
4 stories of Legos.
One tradition that I’ve started for myself when I vacation – if I know I’m staying in a hotel with an in room coffee pot (and if I’m driving) then I always take my own coffee. Now, in my normal life, I get whole bean coffee (from Trader Joe’s – and it’s always shade grown, organic, and fair trade — which limits my selections dramatically – but I do feel as though the rain forest is slightly more important than my personal caffeine intake). But, when I go on vacation I need to either buy ground coffee, or pregrind my coffee. Something that I started doing years ago was buying a special brand of coffee when I go on vacation. Now most people might think of “special” coffee as pure Kona, or pure Jamaican Blue Mountain. Not me, when I get “change in latitude” coffee I get coffee that reminds me of a very specific place (and latitude). So no matter where I’m going, when I go I take a little bit of beignet with me. It’s just what vacation “tastes” like to me.
1) were they married?
2) were they using birth control?
I mean — if 1=yes and 2=no then where’s the “sacrilege”? I thought Catholics were all about procreation and they were just making new little Catholics.
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian couple who were caught having sex in a church confessional box while morning Mass was being said have repented and made peace with the local bishop.
The couple, in their early 30s, were detained by police earlier this month after they had made love in the confessional box in the cathedral in northern Cesena. They were cautioned for obscene acts in public and disturbing a religious function.
Their lawyer said they had been drinking all night and realized they had gone too far.
The lawyer told the area’s local newspaper on Wednesday the couple met with the local bishop on Tuesday night, asked for his forgiveness and that he had given it.
Last week the bishop celebrated a “Mass of reparation” in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege.
My daughter is incredibly disorganized. We’ve spent the past few weeks unsuccessfully looking for her bathing suit. Finally this morning I had an idea. We have a neighbor with two daughters, both a bit older (and larger) than Princess. I called the neighbor with my plight, sent me daughter over, and VOILA problem solved. (And I’m sure that I’ll now find the missing swimsuit in the next day or two. I find it easy to find things once I stop looking).
This morning my son wakes me with the news that our range clock says “F9.” I go and hit “clear” and then we have the clock with the word “lock” in small red letters. I also come to find that I can’t open the oven door.
So I poke around on the Internet and see stuff about possibly having to replace the clock mechanism or something. I then do what sometimes (but not always – but often enough) works with electronic problems — I unplug the range and wait about an hour. I plug it back in and VOILA.
Two questions remain
1) what’s the the cows in the above video??
2) Is there ANY previous decade that had GOOD fashion sense?
