I am never taking public transportation again

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=ant9h1AWQpb0&refer=canada

Another meaningless post to past the time

Ben just left to go do man stuff with his man friends in a manly cabin with a big manly grill and whatever. Whatever.

So the girls and I are going to spend his money while he's gone and do some back to school clothes shopping. Ugh. I'd rather grill. Moira and Evie hate shopping as much as I do and we all get so grumpy if it takes too long.

This week's episode of Weeds was so wrong in sooooo many ways. Spanking, illegal graphic cougaring, and Shane . . . Shane . . . ugh, I can't even say it. I can't decide if this was worse than the porn movie tangent in season 3 because I'm just too scarred to think straight. I'll get back to you on that. I'm sure you're all dying to know.

Clean and Clear Morning Burst is like an Altoid for your face. So weird. I bet it would be really, really horrible if it got in your eyes. Perhaps it has a secondary use as mace. Speaking of mace, is it true, Sam and previous UK dwellers, that pepper spray is illegal there?

Once upon a time, Ben and I were going downtown for Midnight Mass and we were going to have to park our car and walk for a bit. So I decided we should take my pepper spray I got while I was in college. But it hadn't been used for a long time and I thought we should test it. Ben got the brilliant idea to test it inside by spraying it down the basement stairs. But just when he did, the cat came around the corner and went running down the stairs right into the spray. Yes, we maced our cat. It was sad, but we were then absolutely positive that the spray still worked. Every cloud has a silver lining.

I've gotten out of the habit of wearing earrings and now, when I do put them in, my ears itch. Not the Mandy-I'm-allergic-to-all-metallic-substances kind of itchy--just itchy.

We have less than one month before the big move.

Moira's been learning a lot of European history lately, but it's getting dangerously garbled in her brain. My favorite gaffs so far have been her repeatedly calling Martin Luther 'Martin Luther King, Jr.' and her reference to 'King Richard the Lion Herder.' I'm really thinking it might be best for her not to open her mouth in school.

Meanwhile Evie's brain has become the center of reason and logic. She now shoots down poorly made arguments with six year old ease. The other day I told her to take a couple things downstairs and put them away where they belonged. After just one trip up and down the stairs she came into the bedroom and dramatically flopped onto the bed with an exhausted groan. "Ugh! My arms are tired!" To which I replied, "Just because you're so lazy." "No, if I was lazy my arms wouldn't hurt because I wouldn't have done anything because I was so lazy." Touche.

Alright, as much as I hate it, I must go shopping now.

VISAS, BABY!!!

They came in yesterday (with my name spelled correctly!).

Joan Allen freaks me out a little bit. Don't know why.See, I'm getting the willies already.

Random Little Britain video to share:


It's really embarrassing how funny I find this show. They do the most grotesque skits and I just laugh my head off. There was a time I was above that sort of humor. No longer.


I thought I had other things to say . . . I do not.

A few updates

The biggest of which is Stella's new home! Lauren and fam. have graciously invited her to live with them, and I am thrilled out of my brain. Lauren, you don't understand how ideal you guys are for that dog. I'm sure she won't even miss us, and, while this is somewhat insulting, it's also incredibly comforting. I know you'll love her and at times hate her and probably wonder why you ever got yourself into this dog thing, but I think you'll usually come down on the affectionate side of things. That's how we are anyway.

We also got word about which school the girls got into--SS. Philip and James. (They have a crap website, but you can look anyway.) This is the one we initially thought was too snobby but upon further inspection decided it was just fine. It's also the closest and it has the best facilities--so, yay! I hope it will be a good place for them, and I love that they call it Phil and Jim. I am sure this is how the apostles referred to themselves after all.

All our Visa stuff is in and we hope to hear back soon about that very important aspect of things. I'm almost certain the woman misspelled my middle name when we got fingerprinted, etc. I even went back to get her to check, but she was certain it was all done correctly. Ben says I'm just not happy unless I'm anxiously obsessing about something and assures me that everything will be taken care of. How naive.

I'm now getting really nostalgic about Columbus and church and friends and family. We watched The Namesake last night and it all hit too close to home. The mother was so similar to Anita and it made me so sad to leave her. All this time I've been doing everything I could to get them to stay in The States, get them to stay in Ohio, get them to stay in the same damn apartments so we could still walk to each other's houses and now look what I'm doing--leaving her high and dry. She's even been talking about wanting to go back to India when I leave. She won't, but still, being the only reason a person wants to stay in a country is a lot of responsibility for a loser like me. One thing I've noticed with this whole move is that it's really, really awkward being loved. I thought it was hard to leave our old church and live without a friend in the world, but leaving a bunch of people behind who love you is much, much harder. I never feel like I'm worthy of it. I guess that's a testament to the quality of friends/family we have--we really don't deserve them.

The picture post, etc.

Do you think the bleached out photos have something to do with the inch of scum that was on my camera lens? I cleaned it, so maybe upcoming pics will be better? Probably not.

Newest to oldest here. We start with yesterday's trip to the zoo with the Vaughns. I was Matthew and Emily's nanny way back in the day. Now they're all grown up and in school and have two other siblings. It's crazy.


Pam (with audience) attending to Evie's blister. I told Evie to put on different shoes but she assured me that these fit and it was the other shoes that were tight. I foolishly believed her and when we were in the car (almost at the zoo) she started crying, "You were right." She's such a drama queen when she's even the littlest bit unhappy with something, so I never know when to believe her. I dismissed her shoe problems, but then she got the biggest blister. GUILT. Thank God Pam's a good mom/nurse practitioner and carries band-aids.

Cool.

The river was really pretty that day.

Sarah. This kid is so cuddly and soft spoken with the cutest itty bitty baby speech. I just want to eat her up.

This is Evie and Justin showing me how they can break into the boat ride.They stood on the other side looking very pleased with themselves until Moira said they should look ashamed.

This is Evie's attempt at shame.

Rob and Pam with Sarah.Comparing arm spans with orangutans.

Matthew getting carp to eat his spit. Awesome.

Justin and Evie are always inseparable.

Okay, now we have the neighborhood lemonade sale. The entrepreneurs were Medina and her little sister Melika, Ariful and his sisters Radia and Saima, and Moira and Evie. They made over twenty dollars in 2 hours. I gotta get me a lemonade stand.

Radia and Saima were really too little to be out there only supervised by their brother. I was so stressed after watching them and keeping them away from cars that by the end I knew I never wanted to work in pre-school again. My nerves just can't take it anymore.


Now this is our most recent trip to Mansfield to visit my grandmother. On the way there we were stopped by an accident (see the ominous smoke) and sat on the highway for quite a while. They eventually stopped both sides of the highway and everybody just got out of their cars and wandered around trying to get a better look. It was so eerie and quiet without the sounds of cars.
We turned off the car and opened all the van doors to get a breeze going. But then the battery died --man, that battery should have lasted a lot longer than that. So here we are getting a jump from some nice people who took pity on us. Oh, the shame and embarrassment.
A poor picture of the burned out car that caused all the problems. I have no idea if anyone was hurt. There was an ambulance at one point, but there was only one car--so it wasn't a collision. I dunno.

When we finally got there, we had a great visit. Ben doesn't come with us often when we go to Mansfield, but this time he was struck by how similar I am to my mom and grandmother. For this he got a smack. But I must admit that my sarcasm and sense of humor must be genetic. As I always say, my grandmother's hair is the stuff of legend.

The trip to South Carolina.


This is what Ben did for most of the trip. That thesis got some serious work and allowed him to avoid eye contact and miss getting sucked into some of those black hole conversations.




Chloe and Larry (Ben's aunt and uncle). Larry is being animated . . . b/c that's what Larry does.


Moira's birthday party at the zoo.

Now that the zoo has taken over the waterpark next door, they've added a bunch of rides between the two areas. Evie loved them all . . . until the Viking boat. Trying to get her through that ride was like coaching someone through labor. Our friend, Sue, was eventually able to get the ride conductor's attention, and he stopped it before Evie lost her lunch.Afterwards she got some comfort from Mr. Tiger Costume Guy.

Earlier we went into the Lorikeet area. Evie wasn't into that either--the birds crawling on her freaked her out.

Moira obviously didn't have a problem with it.

Moira invited her two best friends--Jenny and Nick. Jenny's parents (Adam and Sue) are friends from church and some of the finest people on the planet.

And we finally end with Anne's Ohio visit on her way to Vermont.

Evie and Sophie.

Ella doing totally big kid stuff.

(Anne, I love that dress.)

Aargh! I never should have started this!

This won't completely make up for that last post, Mandy

but it's a start.

Food like this is what makes America great

Things you don't hear Ben say everyday

"Oh, man, I got pit bull blood on my jeans."

I could explain how that happened, but that would take all the drama out of it.

Moira's been getting a crash course in current British royalty

And I thought this piece would help her in really getting a grasp of the deep respect due to the royal family.


p.s. Don't forget to read the ticker scroll at the bottom of the screen. The Hindenburg reenactment--priceless.

Sooooooo

I really need to work on creative post titles.

Ben is currently having fun experimenting with those space saving vacuumy storage bags. Using one of those, all of our clothes will fit into our big duffel bag. Sweet!

Cape Hatteras is officially a go! A van is rented, tickets to London have been purchased--things are definitely falling into place. I'm glad to be getting out of the apartment a little early (leaving the 23rd vs. the 29th). It was cutting it kind of close to the end of our lease the other way. And spending a week with Ben's family will be crowded but fun. We'll be able to pick Sam's brain about every Oxford/U.K. detail we need. The kids will finally get to see the beach! AND play with ALL their cousins.

Ben is happy with the way his thesis is going. I can't wait to get my hands on it and edit it to absolute perfection.

We bought some luggage today which was another exciting detail taken care of. Except it's all a totally ugly shade of blue. Why couldn't it have come in something tasteful like gray or black? Alas.

Broke all sorts of vegetarian/liberal rules today. Bought leather shoes and some shirts for the girls that were too cheap to be anything but sweatshop made. Curse Target and it's clearance rack. But we're financially-challenged, and when shirts are cheaper than they are at the thrift store, I find my morals slipping.

Went to the library in the afternoon . . . in the summer--never again. It was so frickin' crowded and there were crying, poorly behaved children and soccer moms EVERYWHERE. I don't know why, but Dublin mothers scare me.

But now we're home and enjoying the air conditioning and cheap wine . . . life is good.

In other news, talked to my sister for an hour . . . on the phone. What?!?, you ask. Yes, yes, my friends, we communicated and it was fun. I don't know why we don't hang out more--inertia on both sides. It's not like we don't like each other's company--esp. lately--but . . . Anyway, fun conversation and I am reminded once again why I think my sister is a totally cool person.

Say a prayer, light a candle

It's been a while since Brice has been by this blog (you may remember his comments under the name Studmuffin--we won't go into that) but I wanted to ask everyone to pray for him and his family. Steph just had baby number 2--Edmond--and he's currently in Children's Hospital after going into cardiac arrest. These next 72 hours are crucial--so please, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Their church is posting updates here.

John Voight is right up there with Powers Booth in the utterly repulsive category

Why on earth did we waste our time with National Treasure: Book of Secrets? WHY?!? I can't remember anything from the first one except a rickity staircase or something, so it clearly wasn't a masterpiece, but do I remember thinking it was fun. But this, THIS was one sad bit of cinema. Even Helen Mirren couldn't pull it out of the toilet. (Was she trying to do a muddled accent? I've heard her do more consistent American accents so I imagine she was just trying to do an expat sort of blend. Obviously she was putting more thought into her role than this film deserved.)

Point to ponder: Wouldn't it be cool if, as Angelina Jolie aged, she started to look more and more like John Voight? The horror.

Anne, we didn't like Big Love. Too stressful and depressing. This is exactly what I imagined modern polygamy would be like. I think they could have managed it a lot better if they didn't have to hide it and they had WAY better communication skills. If you're going to have 3 wives, you need to tell everything to everyone equally. And the three houses thing (while necessary for disguising what's going on) is a really, really bad idea in a polygamist situation. There needs to be total togetherness--family meals all the time, etc. Just marital bedrooms reeeeeeally far away from each other at separate ends of the house. How on earth did he end up marrying Chloe Sevigny's character anyway? She just doesn't mesh with this whole thing. Aaargh! She's SO irritating! Bill Paxton's character is interesting though, in that he's not a sex fiend--just a guy trying to do what he thinks God wants him to do.

This doesn't change my opinion that polygamy should be legal to consenting adults. It would bring things out of the shadows and allow the wives more legal power and limit oppression. Man, if you want to take on that stress--go for it. I do find it fascinating that in the polygamist cults there is such a perverse sex focus--how can this happen in a world where people are just sooooooo unattractive.

Totally bummed right now. We thought (for 2 whole days) that we had a place for Stella to go when we moved. Friends of ours with two other dogs and 7 acres of land said that they'd be able to take her. But he called yesterday and his wife doesn't really want a large indoor dog after all. *sigh* I was as happy/relieved about finding her a home as I was when Ben got into Oxford. Seriously, I was wiping away tears and couldn't shake the euphoria. But that nagging pessimist in me kept thinking it was too good to be true and, yep, it was. So if anyone knows anyone who would like a big dog, who's great with kids and well behaved (except when Anne and Ben come over), let us know. I feel horrible about the whole thing. She's a member of our family and I'm one of those people who believe that, once you commit to owning a dog, you're in for the long haul. But we got her in another lifetime when we owned a home with a fenced in backyard. Even when it changed into apartment living we did everything we could to keep her. Now it's just not an option and that's really painful.

Pet as family member can go too far though. We've been watching the new season of 30 Days and the one with the hunter who goes and lives with the vegan animal rights activists just reminded me why I hate PETA so much. They're just far too extreme to reach the average person. One woman was shocked that the guy would rescue her from drowning before he would rescue his own dog. She said she was a stranger but that dog was a member of his family. HELLO!!! People above animals, folks! I find it horrifying that someone could be so mentally skewed that they would save an animal before a human being. Scary to say the least. Remind me not to be in the same burning building as your cat. And when you start putting animals on the same level as people, those protests become all the more bizarre. A guy dressed up as a chicken killing Colonel Sanders is supposed to make me see the light? That's so easily dismissed by a normal sane person. There are better ways to reach the masses. Even if they eat meat, most people don't want the animal to be tortured prior to its death. But (as with sweat shop labour) if we don't see it, we don't think about it and we don't act on it. And if people believe animal rights activists are just a bunch of nuts, that is not going to make them listen.

Anyhoo . . .

Today I'm turning the kids' room upside down and we're doing a dry run packing and weighing to get an idea of what kind of luggage we need to buy. I think we could probably pack more than we as a family could physically haul around an airport and train, so we'll have to keep that in mind. I just don't imagine Evie being able to drag around a hundred pounds of luggage.

Need some quick feedback--Is booking a flight on Air India absolute insanity?

Obviously we're considering this because they are the cheapest. We understand that accommodations are hit and miss (i.e. entertainment will be Bollywood, tv screens on the seats may not work, food could be really good or really bad, and delays are probable) buuuut it's a direct flight and I've heard the flights aren't usually super booked so there's room to spread out at night. The flight we're looking at is out of New York at 7ish p.m. and arrives 7ish a.m. This would be after a day of driving, so we're thinking the kids would quickly crash, thus, entertaining them for hours and hours would not be an issue.

Any opinions? Have you savvy travelers heard anything from your savvy traveler friends about A.I. . . . like an increased potential of crashing into the ocean?