If you want to be me, be me

We watched Extreme Home Makeover this past Sunday--the family was the Hill family, and throughout the episode, the family, as well as the people redoing their house, sometimes chanted, "Whose house? Hill House!" like a cheer or a battle-cry or something. When the house was done, it was spectacular, as always, and included a basketball court out back. They made a point of zooming in on something painted on the pavement, and I was horrified to see that it said, "Who's house? Hill House!" I'm pretty sure I even yelled something out loud. Oh the horror of that typo, forever emblazoned in huge letters on the pavement. *cringe*

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I woke up on Wednesday morning to find frost on the ground and on my car. I warmed my car up so that I didn't have to scrape, but I was still annoyed. Frost? Already? Fine, I get that it's officially fall and all, but still. And if that wasn't bad enough, this morning there were flakes of white mixed in with the drizzly rain. Nothing is sticking, but STILL. We should NOT be getting snow yet. That's just wrong.

I think it's time for another Caribbean cruise, like NOW. Who's coming with me?

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That reminds me of a joke...

Why does Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?

Fo' drizzle.

(It's better told aloud, but still funny, right? ...Right?)

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Have you seen those commercials for the T-Mobile MyTouch Google phones? The ones with that song, "And if you want to be me, be me, and if you want to be you, be you, 'cause there's a million things to do, you know that there are"? That song is stuck in my head right now.

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You want to know how much of a nerd I am? That previous section... instead of writing something like, "Hey, you know that one cell phone commercial..." and then guessing at the song lyrics, I actually googled all that, so that I could get the exact name of the phone and the exact song lyrics. Because otherwise it would have bugged me.

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Since I've been working out on the treadmill lately, it's given me some extra time to read. I recently read Sea Glass by Anita Shreve. I'd never even heard of her until a friend gave me this book--it was good, if not a little depressing. I like her writing style, though, so I will probably read her again. Right now, I'm re-reading 1984. At least... I think I'm re-reading it. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've read it before, but it's feeling so unfamiliar to me that now I'm wondering if maybe I just bought it and never read it.

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So Ari got into the stash of Mickey Mouse band-aids a couple days ago...



When Tony asked her where she was bleeding (because our rule is... no blood, no band-aid), she said her knee. Apparently, "knee" means "entire leg" to her. (And for the record, there was no boo-boo.)

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We had the guys over a few nights ago, and Ari declared she had to go potty. I followed her, since she usually still needs help pulling her pants back up. She walked in, saw that the seat was up, and declared, in this chipper little voice, "Oh, silly boys, leaving the seat up!"

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I don't know why, but lately, Ari has been so excited when I get home from work... her face lights up, she yells "Mommy!" and immediately starts babbling my ear off. If I ask for a hug or kiss, I get one--and sometimes she'll even do that unprompted. She used to be totally indifferent to my homecoming, and I don't know what's changed, but I wish I knew, so I could make it stay like this.

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Ari has reached the stage where she will actually sit still and watch an entire movie now. We've been working our way through the Disney classics--so far, we've got Pinocchio, 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Lilo and Stitch, and Aladdin under our belts. And I will confess that I am not above using my powers of persuasion to get her to watch the movies that I like. For example, the night we watched Aladdin, she initially picked Snow White (which I can't stand, since Snow White's voice annoys me), but I talked her into Aladdin. And once the movie was in, I kept talking it up to her. "Hey, look, Ari, there's a camel! Oops, the camel fell down. Isn't that funny? Isn't this a funny movie?" I know, I am so bad. But hey, she watched the whole thing.

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On a more serious Ari-related note, she is a sick little munchkin right now. She woke up with a fever Sunday, which went down on Monday, and she seemed totally fine on Tuesday and Wednesday. She seemed to have a bit of a scratchy throat, but nothing more. But then yesterday she developed this horrible barking cough... it was so painful to hear, and she would cry every time she coughed. It kept waking her up last night, and at one point, I held her and cried with her--that's how bad she sounded. Tony took her to the doctor this morning, and they diagnosed her with croup (which could be unrelated to whatever she had earlier in the week, or it could be that it just took this long to develop the cough). So she's on a 3-day steroid regimen, and we just need to keep an eye on her and make sure it doesn't get any worse. I googled croup (since I really don't know much about it), and it described the symptoms as a "barking" cough--similar to the sound of a seal barking. And that's really a perfect description--that is just what she sounds like.

Anyway, keep her in your thoughts and prayers, if you would. Aside from being more tired and cuddly than usual (which is to be expected when you're sick), she's still her same, goofy self, and she's eating and drinking well, and taking medicine without too much protest--so I'm sure she'll be fine. She's quite a little trooper.

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Yes, everyone, it's true... I was the last person on the planet to see the video of the JK Wedding Entrance Dance. You know, I am totally the type of person who gets all teary-eyed at a wedding the moment the bride appears at back door. I don't know--there's just something about the light in her eyes, the gorgeous dress, the entire picture, that brings me to tears. And I have to tell you... despite the "mood" of this video, I totally got all verklempt when the bride appeared. I know, I know--I am such a sap.