What’s new with the incredibly annoying City Project

Lost our power on Friday for a while, no warning. Have been unable to get out of my driveway several days. One day last week, there were large power lines hanging across my driveway. Nice. We have this lovely new utility pole.

And they moved the fire hydrant? To another street?

In the plans we saw (which were supposedly final) the fire hydrant was not moved. If they really are moving the hydrant, that seems like something that residents might want to have known…particularly since it impacts homeowner’s insurance rates.

Something has been eating my house?

This is silly, I know

But those radio spots for Rosetta Stone software (language learning) are driving me CRAZY.

My friends laughed at me when I said I could order in French, but when the waiter came, I just said (in French) “I would like the chicken and the fries.”

The man ordered in FRENCH at a restaurant that offers FRIES with its chicken? In what restaurant with fries on the menu would it be appropriate to order in French?

(OK, and I’ll admit that I’ve never been in a French restaurant, so maybe the fancy French places DO have fries on the menu, but my guess is they don’t.)

(And, yes, there’s the possibility that they are in France or even French Canada, but then wouldn’t his friends already kind of know that he can speak French?)

Oh, what a feeling!

And, no, this actually is NOT nesting. This is normal me. Me nesting is scary.

Today was dumpster day. I have no pictures, because I didn’t want to photograph our junk, and it’s hard to photograph the empty spaces where there is no junk any more.

Today we hauled off SIX carloads. (Granted, four of those were Jeep Wrangler carloads, so kind of small, but still.)

• a fan that broke last week
• the last of the old screens (about 20 of them)
• old scrap wood we thought we’d gotten rid of a long time ago, but was actually hiding in the garage growing mold
• old display cubes from when Randy worked at Radio Shak a loooong time ago that were being used as bases for a fish tank, but now that we’re grown-ups, we thought we should get something a little less dorm room looking.
• four bags of trash from cleaning out the tool room. Mostly full of small hardware parts I could see no purpose for, as well as stuff that was growing things from the flooding.
• an old grill
• three computer monitors (the grill and monitors were placed in the “Still works – take it for free” section)
• some large, old crap that we’ve been hanging onto because it’s too big for the garbage can, I didn’t want to pay to haul it to the dump myself, and we have no other good way of getting rid of it
• a few very large boxes full of styrofoam.

As much as I love freecycing (the idea if not the actual process) and Goodwill and reusing… some things are just garbage, and that’s all there is to it. We are striving to bring in less of this garbage, but we still have a bunch here. I’m not done in the tool room, but the bulk of the stuff is gone. yay!

And on Monday, I hauled one carload of stuff to Goodwill and one carload of used books to Half Price Books. (OK, I still have some of the books in my car. We learned that you get more money if you take in smaller loads. So four trips with one box each yields more money than one trip with four boxes.)

Yet this month, we’ll be taking our nice cedar chest out of the kids’ room and to the attic. (Can’t get rid of it, but have no good place for it.) Getting a dresser, a third dresser, for the kids’ room. (The one I wanted from Salvation Army got bought before I could get back to get it. Darn.)  Getting rid of the old couch from the sumroom. (anyone want a hide-a-bed??) Getting some sort of uncluttered-looking storage system to put where the couch was, which is our homeschooling room. Getting rid of the ugly cabinet in the dining room. THEN I will be really happy.

Are you wondering why we need three dressers in one room? One dresser will hold Wally’s clothes plus the top drawer is storage for various things that are his but he can’t have free access to but I want easy access to. Like the box of small toy parts. Whenever we find a small toy part, it goes in the box. Then when we are missing small toy parts, we know where to look. One dresser will hold the new baby’s clothes and diapers. And the third dresser currently holds lots of toys, dress-up clothes, etc. It’s neater than shelves with boxes, with the added bonus that the toy dresser is old enough that only the three-and-up set can actually get the drawers open. We have other places to store toys I want small children to access easily. But some toys, I’d rather not have to put away 18 times a day, or they have lots of parts (like the alphabet blocks).

Food list meme

From Leah

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea – I drink this daily.
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding – no, on principle.
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht Randy keeps saying he’ll make it for me, though.
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi – looks yummy
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses – not to my knowledge, anyway.
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras – can’t decide if I’d want to
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese –
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper –  ?? Probably not, but Randy’s grown (and we’ve eaten) a wide variety of hot peppers over the years.
27. Dulce de leche –
28. Oysters – surprisingly, I love these raw. Not willing to eat them raw when PG or breastfeeding, though.
29. Baklava –
30. Bagna cauda – had to look that one up.
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder
33. Salted lassi – no, but I want to now.
34. Sauerkraut – even had some I didn’t want to vomit up once.
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar – Um, no.
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O – Yeah, right.
39. Gumbo – as often as possible, at least once per winter, only the stuff made by Randy.
40. Oxtail – um, I don’t think as a rule, I plan to eat animal tails.
41. Curried goat – I’ve eaten curried meat, and I’ve eaten goat, but not curried goat.
42. Whole insects – don’t plan to again.
43. Phaal –
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more – Seriously. Why would I spend that much money on something I’d have to force myself to drink?
46. Fugu –
47. Chicken tikka masala – I agree with leah’s comment that this person is obsessed with indian food.
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin –
51. Prickly pear –
52. Umeboshi –
53. Abalone –
54. Paneer –
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine looks disgusting
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads –
63. Kaolin – Looks like it’s an industrial metal? Then, no.
64. Currywurst –
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs – no, but we had some in our freezer in Ankeny for several years. I forbade my mom from making them.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette –
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost – I think so, but I can’t remember for sure.
75. Roadkill –
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail – I used to have snails as pets. I can’t eat pets.
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini – what’s with all the alcohol?
81. Tom yum – I cannot remember. chances are good, though.
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant – I have no idea what this means
85. Kobe beef – no, but I want to be one of their cows.
86. Hare Another thing Randy keeps saying (threatening?) he’ll make.
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse –
90. Criollo chocolate –
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor – I don’t generally eat food that’s been cooked with alcohol. The whole gym socks thing.
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake – marking this no, but I can’t remember. I’m going to go ask Randy.

In which Sarah reconciles the person she wants to be with the person she is, again

And here I am, running right into my same problem. I want to be relaxed. I’m not. I was. I’m happy about that. Once the kidney problem stopped being such an issue, I had about three weeks there where I really didn’t have a care in the world.

Then the fair. Lots of pain. And since then, I’ve been out of alignment and then I found out my hemoglobin is really low and now I’m worried about two things which I tell myself are silly, but might not be.

1) my kidney or something is bleeding internally, causing the low hemoglobin. (I mean, unlikely, right?)

2) I’m having premature labor.

#1 is just not worth talking about. It’s highly unlikely.

#2, I mean, I’m not. But it IS something I’m at risk for. And I seem to have all the symptoms, but yet I’m certain it’s not actually premature labor. Leaking fluid – well, I’m sure it’s not amniotic fluid, but I sure am leaking from that area. Drip drip drip drip. So there’s the little thread of doubt – “but, Sarah, how do you know it’s not amniotic fluid?” Truth? I don’t.    Achy lower back. Yes, have that. More likely related to cleaning the tool room and spending too much time hunched over my sewing desk. And yet…     Crampiness/contractions, yes. Sort of. It’s hard to distinguish a contraction from the baby moving around. And sometimes the baby moves around and it hurts like a mofo. WTH?

And, tonight, something I ate didn’t agree with me and I have an upset stomach. That is how I started labor with Wally.

And I don’t want to be one of those women. You know, those women. The “I think I’m in labor” 100 times women.

I was so proud of myself with Wally, I had several episodes of regular contractions, but each time I really knew it was NOT labor and did not get worked up about it. Even when I was actually in labor, I didn’t really believe it. Something tells me this time will not be like that.

I hate how I’m different now. I hate that I hate myself for it.

Old To Do List, updated

Well a few things have gotten done from THIS list. Of course I have a whole NEW list. Tonight: Elastic on medium pockets. Clean off desk in office (done). (Not my office, it’s clean. The family office.) Do another shelf in tool room (done) (aka, the room where we throw things we don’t want to deal with, that also holds tools and the shop vac).

Dumpster day is Saturday and I’m determined to get as much of the tool room done as I can. The idea of being able to throw away as much as I want without paying extra is very appealing. I AM making a box of “useful for someone else, not for me” things to Freecycle. And a box of things to go to Good will. But the tool room is really full of just crap. Small things that came from the hardware store that I can’t identify. Chargers to items we no longer own. Things we were keeping just in case we needed them. Truly, I believe that if I suddenly, after 11 years of marriage in which we have never needed a hook we can screw into the ceiling, find that I need a ceiling hook, I can just go buy one. Honestly, though. I’d be afraid we’d put in one little hook and all the plaster in the whole room would fall off. And drywall anchors? Hello? Do I own drywall? (The truth is, yes, we have a few pieces, mostly ceiling in the basement, and one piece that was inexplicably screwed into the wall behind our sink. I’m afraid of that one, but also pretty sure I won’t be anchoring anything into it.)

1. Stop posting on my blog at 1:30 AM. DONE!

2. Make myself three new carriers – a new Mei Tai, a narrow-blanket Podegi, and what people are calling an Obi wrap, though it’s really not an Obi at all. (THIS is what I’m talking about. oddly, until I started looking for pics, I didn’t realize beco made “obi” carriers and is probably where the IMO misuse of the term started. An obi is, of course, the sash worn with a kimono, and Obis ARE used to carry babies in a fashion similar to a wrap. Technically, this new type of carrier is similar to an Obi, but it seems needlessly confusing to call it an Obi when it’s not really an Obi. I just don’t like when people decide to use old words in a new way. Like gay, for example. This is interesting, though, because I had thought about adding this style of carrier if I liked it, but now I’m not sure, since I don’t want to copy Beco.)

3. Decide if I’m really going to make new bedroom curtains this year.

4. Get fabric for new shower curtain.

5. Purchase all needed baby supplies.

6. Decide if I’m going to buy an inflatable pool or rent the one from Tubworks. DONE!

7. Get the insurance papers to my insurance provider.

8. Call the printers.

9. Develop my 2009 Mt Timp Training Plan.

10. Update SDM website/Facebook.

11. Write script for fair and for Monday.

12. set up pool. DOBE

Read about our trip to Decorah for Mabe’s Pizza

Over at Wallypoppers.

Natural Deodorant Solution

I will say, I’ve not had great luck finding a natural deodorant that keeps me stink-free all day.

So, Inspired by Amy at Angry Chicken, I made my own deodorant last week. So far, I have to say that I love it. I have struggled to find a deodorant that worked very well for me and that wasn’t full of crap that I don’t want on my body. THIS stuff is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Or, at least, it would appear that it is, after less than a week of use.

I used the recipe Amy wrote out on the post linked above.

well piss

found out today that my hemoglobin is in the 9’s now.