What the Hell Wednesday - Baby Names

Here's my weekly rant courtesy of the Blue MonkeyButt Sisters.

Generally, I don't mind people getting excited because I'm pregnant. I don't mind people knowing. (It's easier for them to give up their seats for me and get me food when they know I'm pregnant.) I don't even mind them touching the belly because sometimes the contortions the baby is doing in there are unbelievable. The free unwanted advice generally goes in one ear and out the other. (Pretty much if I don't already know about it, I don't want to know or I would've asked.) The thing that is my personal pet peeve is the name game. As soon as people find out that I know the sex, they right away want to get into what her name is going to be. Even if I already had a name picked out, I wouldn't tell anyone. Here's the reason...People love to spoil a perfectly good name. Say I picked Jennifer (never gonna happen) As soon as I told someone, I would hear some story about how they knew this bitch/slut/bully named Jennifer. WTH? Either that or it's oh my sister/aunt/best friend is named Jennifer! News flash... I have seven sisters, two brothers and my husband has five sisters and one brother. Between us, we pretty much have enough baggage connected with at least half the names in the phone book so we don't need anyone else's. Oh and making this face when I tell you the name is also not appropriate.

If I tell you the name it is because I want you to love it and tell me how brilliant I am. Obviously!

Post It Notes

The Mouse and the Stove

So since I recently had a scare where my husband "might" have seen a mouse in our home, it brought back all the traumatic mouse stories of my childhood. This is the best or most traumatic, whatever.

We lived in a home which had mouse troubles from time to time. I could blame this on the fact that my mother worked full time, my father never cleaned and there were six children living in the house at the time but it wasn't just us. Our whole building was infested and we had the joy of living on the first floor directly above the garbage collection room. We (our nine story building)had to throw our garbage down these little chutes where it magically disappeared. In reality it was collected in larger bags in the basement until garbage day. Anyway, on this particular evening my father caught a mouse in a clear vase where it was jumping up and down in an effort to get out while my father held a broom over it to keep it in. (Shudder) Anyway, this is where I have adopted my first fact of mouse life. There is never just one mouse. My parents, at least to me, expressed the thought that perhaps it was just the one and that would be it. Uh huh. Anyhow, two mornings later, I was innocently making french toast when a mouse ran across the kitchen, practically under my feet. (Shudder) Anyway, a chase ensued. The house is in complete uproar as my mother woke my father up to force him to deal with the mouse and at one point it was cornered behind a bookcase in the living room. Now for me, at this point breakfast is over. There is no way I could have eaten breakfast in the same kitchen after seeing a mouse practically run across my foot. I was also very upset with my parents in the vein of this is why we should have a cat. (My family's love/hate relationship with cats will have to be dealt with in a future post. Needless to say I fall on the love side of the line.) Moving on, I went to school. I return home that afternoon to find the super of the building searching the walls for an entry point. I inform them that it came out from under the stove. After a short time, he pulls out the stove. OMG. Behind the stove were, in addition to mouse droppings, a ginormous hole approximately 18-24 inches across. Here is where all the mice were coming in. Believe you me, there is no way only one mouse made that hole. (Small break while calming convulsions) Anyway, the super closed up the hole with steel wool, a great deal of Spackle and our family welcomed Winkie into the home.

So this story is why when my husband said he "might" have seen a mouse, I made him pull out the fridge and stove from the walls to check for droppings and openings. Nothing. Phew. So now I can sleep at nights.

American Idol

Today's roundtable discussion is on American Idol. Here's my two cents.

What is the point of having four judges if they are all going to agree? My favorite moments on American Idol were when Randy is really feeling a contestant and then Simon tells him to watch it back on tape cause it was horrible. Or when someone really sucked lemons and then Paula was like, I love your dress. Doesn't she look wonderful? And especially when Randy said he doesn't get it and Simon blows everyone away by liking it. I think they have all been working together too long because lately it is just an echo chamber as all four judges say essentially the same thing over and over and over again. Boooooooring!

Now for my contestant picks. My favorite guys are Michael Lynche and ....Todderick Hall. He is totally getting robbed by the judges. Year after year they tell contestants to make the songs their own and when he does, they rip him a new hole. I liked his version of Since You Been Gone and loved loved loved his What's Love Got To Do With It. They keep telling him he's changing the songs around too much. Really, are you gonna tell me that Adam Lambert didn't play around with songs a lot more? Get real. Now of the girls, I thought they really sucked big time last week but this week I liked Paige Miles, Siobhan Magnus (you always gotta R-E-S-P-E-C-T someone who takes on Aretha and succeeds) and... Katie Stevens. She is another one totally getting a raw deal. She sings the song really well and they keep telling her to sing younger songs. I think it is ridiculous. No one told Siobhan she couldn't sing Aretha because she wasn't over 50, did they? And Crystal and Lilly have yet to sing a song from this decade, but nobody tells them anything, do they? I think if they are going to rag on younger singers so much for not singing teenybopper songs they shouldn't let them in the competition. I certainly don't want to hear teenybopper songs anyway. Anyway that's what I think this week. I reserve the right to dump any of these singers at any time if they start to stink up the place and someone else gets good.

Now Ryan, why are you trying to stir up pretend controversy? The first time with Ellen was funny, after that, not so much. Nobody believes you and I just want to hear the singers anyway. I'd rather watch Siobhan's lip exercises than speculate on Simon's love life. (Insert gagging here.)

So that's what I think. Put your two cents (or four, nobody's counting) in the comments. Visit here for OPV (other people's viewpoints) or don't (mine are better anyway.) LOL

What the Hell Wednesday

It is time for me to get my complaining on with the Blue Monkey Butt Sisters. Feel free to join in or just laugh at all the rest of us and our problems.

What the Hell is with my boys lately? This past week at bedtime, they have decided that to creep down the hall and peek at me in my room or through the banisters down the stairs is a cool game. First, I was "Get back in bed!" every time they did it. After the first fifty times or so, that got tired. So my new strategy was to ignore them, figuring that they would get bored and go back to bed. Except the six year old decided that since I wasn't responding that he should yell "Mom, the four year old is out of bed!" every. single. time. WTH? Don't ask me why they aren't tired. I am.

My husband informed me the other morning that he might have seen a mouse. WTH? What does he mean might? We have been living here over two years without any rodent infestation, thank you very much. The worst I have seen is some ants and a couple of spiders. I can live with that. I do not live with mice. EVER. Anyway, the hubby explained that he thought he saw something out the corner of his eye which he interpreted to be a mouse. WTH? So he spent the evening sealing everything in bags and covering everything with towels, just in case. It had better only be his old eyes failing on him and not a mouse because if I see one he might be living with a cat when he gets home. Seriously. I'm not kidding.

Random Tuesday Questions

*Why is it that the sun comes out and people think that it is warm enough for shorts? It is only 46 degrees and I saw two people. in shorts. It's not that warm people!

*Why did I not know about the Starburst FaveReds pack before now? An entire pack of nothing but red flavors. No more trying to foist off the oranges on someone else!

*Why did I think I would be able to watch the first season of Dexter if I rented it? I borrowed it and discovered that I do not have 12 free hours with which to watch without the six year old and four year old around. So back it goes and I only saw three episodes. Fail!

*Why isn't Women's History commemorated with a day off? Or better yet, a week? I mean haven't we worked hard enough?

*Why do people ask you questions and then walk away before you answer them? This morning my husband says to me, why were you tossing and turning so much last night? And then leaves the room! Thanks for asking!

Linking up with the Bitchin' Wives Club for more Random Tuesday Thoughts.

My Sisters

So I have seven sisters. Anyhow two of them have been just dying to get in a blog post. Apparently, since MTV turned them down for Jersey Shore (neither of them being cheap or Italian) and Patti doesn't scout in Jersey to match her millionaires, you are their last chance at fifteen minutes of fame.

Pamela is ten years younger than me. (The only reason I know this is I count down the age gaps between family members until I get to her.) Since she is so much younger than me I spent a good part of my childhood taking care of my little sister. Her first word was my name instead of mama or dada. I have combed her hair, fed her, clothed her, bandaged her boo-boos and otherwise took care of her until I entered my selfish phase and went to college. Today, Pamela is one of my kids' favorite baby sitters since she is not above acting like a six year old. A couple of weeks ago she helped me out taking the boys to the Science museum which had a dinosaur exhibit complete with a live reptile show. (Of course we all agreed that the one we had at the six year old's birthday party was better. They did not have an alligator and their boa constrictor was lame compared to our snake.) Anyway, the day ended in the souvenir shop where I refused to part with a dime on their overpriced merchandise. Of course being the indulgent auntie that she is, she went ahead and bought the six year old a glow-in-the-dark solar system which he claims to have wanted all his life. The four year old went away with a stuffed green bear which he gave the incredibly creative name of Beary.

Paloma is something like fourteen years younger than me. (BTW, I think this makes her eleven since there is no way that I am older than twenty five.) I probably remember Paloma's delivery the best since it was one of my mom's only c-sections. Her umbilical cord was apparently wrapped around her neck. Although I also remember the time my mom told my dad she was going into labor and he asked if he could finish watching his tv show first. I think this was for Pamela but I couldn't swear to it. I guess after the first five or so the urgency was gone. Anyway, Paloma is one of my only little sisters who is still littler than me. Apparently all the tall genes skipped me and her. Anyway, like Paloma we didn't have much in common with each other growing up since I was doing the cooking and she was doing the eating. Now, however, she is in college and is also the keeper of Rock Band game. So when we all have a day off, we hang out in her apartment and annoy the other college kids with our good time. (Yes, we are adults who love to sing and play fake instruments. What of it? Pat Benatar would totally recruit us if she heard our rendition of Love is a Battlefield. Well...she would if she were tone deaf and loved us very much.)

So thank you both for being there and entertaining the boys when I no longer have the energy. Also, I am having a baby towards the end of June so I'll need you to get back to me with your schedules because I plan to be exhausted. :)