Captain Obvious

One of the things that irritates me to no end is when people find it necessary to state the very obvious. Such statements make me wonder why the person feels it so important to contribute to a conversation when it's clear that EVERYONE involved is already aware of what they are about to say.

"Wow. He's really tall." is pretty much an irrelevant statement when the person in question ascends 6'8" straight up.

"These gas prices are ridiculous!" Of course they are. When gas in the USA approaches $5/gallon, the only happy people are the oil executives.

"It's SO hot outside!" Uhm...yeah. It's July. It's SUPPOSED to be hot.

Well, today I claim the title of Captain Obvious. But I feel justified. Because, blogland, this is what I saw on the electronic sign coming onto the campus of Diva U. this morning:

8:27 AM

0 degrees

Here it is.

Wait for it.

It's COLD. And for you Canadians, that would be Fahrenheit. Now I realize that may be a heat wave for some of you. But for us Third Coast residents in December? It's just not supposed to be that cold.

And snow. We have it. And frankly, from the looks of the thermometers, it's not going anywhere. We are, barring any sort of immediate global warming situation, going to have a white Christmas.

But back to stating the obvious.

It's cold. I may have to look for jobs further south. Like Jamaica. Or at least Texas! :)

Trying desperately to warm up my blue-tinged fingers...

When you make salt dough ornaments...

and leave them on the rack in the kitchen to cool overnight?

Don't forget to warn your cookie-loving hubby that they--most emphatically--are NOT cookies.

A Bird in the Hand is...

Our dog-who-thinks-she's-just-a-four-legged-human LOVES the snow. She loves sitting in it. She loves romping in it in that way puppies-at-heart are wont to do. She loves rubbing her nose in it. She loves eating it, even the disgusting yellow stuff. If it's falling from the sky, she loves barking at it. She loves digging in it.

That last one never bothered me until the other night.

I'd let her out after dinner (for about the millionth time since we got home. She loves the snow.) and heard the familiar scratching. I let her in and caught a glimpse of a slightly snow-covered wad of sticks in her mouth.

Only, one of the sticks had small claws. Bird-shaped claws.

She knew she wasn't supposed to have it in the house, because as soon as she came in, she bolted. For the family room. The carpeted family room. Where my children were playing. On the floor. She looked liked the cat that swallowed the canary. Or the dog who nearly had.

And when I called "PRINCESS!" and chased her, she dropped it. Right on the carpet. Then she took refuge in her cage, with her tail between her legs and ears flat against her head.

And there it was. I'll save you from the gross details, but yes, it was a bird. Or at least it was at one time. I couldn't get to the paper towel and bags fast enough. She wanted her treasure back. Fortunately, I was able to get it before she returned a third time.

Most.Disgusting.Thing.Ever.

I don't think rottweilers or chows are bird dogs by nature, so maybe it's some weird result of combining the breeds. This is the second time she's gotten a bird. The first time it was alive when she brought her trophy into the house. At least this one was still when I cleaned it up.

So the adage "A bird in the hand..."? Better than a bird the mouth, I suppose.

No School

When I was a single teacher, I loved those days off of school. Not the teacher workdays, but you know, President's Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day. Snow days were even better because you got them totally out of the blue.

Now I am a parent who works outside of the home. I hate those days off. They generally mean either taking a vacation day or scrambling to find care for Sweet Son #1 (temporarily renamed Mr. Snottyfacepants) and sometimes even for The Manimal. This messes with my routine, which God knows, puts me over the edge.

The normal holidays (President's Day, MLK Day, Memorial Day) are bad enough. Snow days are the worst, because I not only have to scramble to figure out what to do with the kiddies, but I have to battle the elements to get to work.

At least with the normal holidays, I know they're coming. When I moved to the Land of Lincoln, however, I had no idea that residency brought with it yet another holiday.

Enter Casimir Pulaski Day.

Celebrated the first Monday in March, this "holiday" celebrates one Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-born General in the Continental Army during the American Revolution who, according to Wikipedia, has been called "the Father of the American Cavalry".

Now, I'm all for cultural heroes, and I understand that the Windy City has the largest Polish population outside of Poland. But why exactly does my child get a day off of school? Keep him there, teach him about Casimir, feed him paczki and kielbasa, but please, keep him in school when he's supposed to be in school.

Sorry all you teachers out there. I'm a firm believer in higher pay for deserving teachers and goodness knows, most of you deserve every day off you get. But have pity on a working parent who expects that her child be educated from 9-3 every weekday and not given random days off.

Notsomuch

Well, the good news is that my nasty head cold has yet to go "full-blown". The bad news is it's hanging around like a bad penny. You know the symptoms. Scratchy throat, stuffy head, snotty nose, tired, tired, tired. Have moved on to Zicam.

With the wannabe-cold hanging around, and the PILES of work on my desk and the TRIP looming large, I don't really have anything fabulous to tell you. Oh, and did I mention that the Man is on a business trip until Friday, leaving me alone with the boys in the midst of the craziness?

Enough whining. Check out some more of my fave blog reads while you're procrastinating.

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman

Daring Young Mom

Food Network Addict

Figs, Lavender and Cheese

A Study of Schoolbooks and Shoes

Chased By Children

Probably the Best Blog You'll Ever Read

Suddenly Christian

Especially Heather

Pensieve

Barely Keeping It All Together

That's enough to keep y'all busy for awhile. As you can see, my taste in blogs is either wildly diverse or quirkily eclectic. You decide.

Scatterbrain

I have a head cold. A real honest-to-goodness head cold. Can't remember the last time that happened. I'm taking Alka-Seltzer Cold three times a day, popping extra Multi-Vitamins, and mainlining Vitamin C in an attempt to stave off the beast.

Consequently, my thoughts are all over the place. What you see is the result of my inability to form a coherent string of thoughts.

We leave for MouseLand a week from today. The shuttle is picking us up at 5:00 IN THE MORNING. In order to get the brood ready, this means I'll have to get up at 3:45 IN THE MORNING. I'm tired just thinking about that.

I have yet to hear from "Guest Communications" regarding my transportation rant.

So my Man is traveling to Las Vegas to attend a trade show for work. On Tuesday we found out that the convention and lodging was booked for the Monte Carlo Resort. On Friday the hotel caught fire.

They moved the convention and lodging.

I'm traveling to Las Vegas in March for a professional association meeting. I'm presenting a session and have yet to create it. Did I mention my co-presenter won't be able to attend the conference so I'm flying solo?

Tonight I left the Man home with the boys and went to my first church small group meeting. It was so nice to have intelligent conversation with other adults. For fun. Not related to work. With no children. Woo-Hoo!

Went to Wal-Mart today. A sign above a dairy case said something about the products in that case and referred to "our's". This was a REAL sign, not handmade for the occasion, but an honest-to-goodness corporate sign. Sigh.

Warning: Body Function Mentions

The Manimal has a routine.

He wakes up in the morning, I change his diaper. Sometime while I'm getting dressed, he poops. I change said poopy diaper and he's usually good to go for the day.

The last two days, he's added an early evening poop. Yesterday, when I said "Manimal, you pooped. I need to change your diaper", he shook his finger at me with all of the almost-two-ness he could muster and said "NO MOM! You 'tay dere!" And off he went.

On an unrelated note, C25K is going remarkably well. Anyone else?