My Days are Full

I know; hardly an excuse. But it's true. I've been wanting to blog. When I was in L.A. (I'll save you the trouble--I hated it, except for the bicycle path radiating from Santa Monica beach), I thought of a lot of things to write, but only while driving. Now that I'm back, my days are filled with work (where I'm actually busy and not hating it so much), working out (which I do 4-5 times per week), home (looooong list of stuff to do, mostly painting right now), and kids (Stevie is back to school, things got really structured really fast).

So there ya go. I'll write! Soon!

Savage Beast, Soothed.

I really need to listen to more music when I commute. Last night I was inspired to dig through the large trunk that contains hundreds? maybe a thousand? cassette tapes--bought and made--to find my favorite Lulu's Wild West Show tapes. I don't know why I thought about them. But I did.

I ordered some short film DVDs from an enterprising friend (www.jsf.org) and when I received them I also received a Lulu show that my husband had slipped him when the party ended and he was faced with a long ride home. I was annoyed; there were good shows and not-so-good shows, and I worried about which tape he had received. He's pretty picky about music. There are Lulu shows I know he would like and there were definitely some he wouldn't--not to mention the two beautiful young ladies he was traveling with. (Backstory: I used to do a 2-hour, once a week radio show in Moab. You can listen live at www.kzmu.org. I taped them, and I'm glad I did.)

Anyway, it wasn't such a great show. The not-so-inspired theme was "transportation". I got some good songs in there, but there was one show that was "inspired". I know it was inspired because someone called the station during the show to tell me so. A couple of other people called, too. So I was trying to find that show. I did. And several others. And I listened to part of that great show today, with its seamless segues and litany of interesting tunes, and the ride just flew by.

I started thinking of leaving here eventually and perhaps making custom tapes/CDs for each of my friends, filled with songs that they would like/that remind me of them. That was fun to think about. Broadway, for example, gets some real belters, a few cheesy dance tunes, some fun power pop. Burb gets what I like to call Mainstream Alternative with a few surprises thrown in. Nothing too crazy, as he'll probably listen to it at work. Flip? Alt Country pretty much all the way. No Ryan Adams, though. Unless I'm feeling particularly weepy.

I should say this: We probably won't be leaving until June 2007. Our house won't be ready for market for at LEAST another month, and probably won't sell quickly in this molasses selling season. If it lasts 'til winter, I might as well stick around for my bonus. If I stick around for that, might as well wait 'til Stevie gets out of school on May 31. Plus, the house in MO won't be ready for awhile and we have to buy and set up all the monument stuff. We probably will begin leasing a building in MO, though. Soon. Just to get on it.

In other news, I spotted a tiny spider while I was in the bathroom. It had made a home (a pretty dirty one!) near the floor between the stall-"leg" and the tile wall. How do spiders get into big new buildings like this one? And where did their food come from? Did they come in on someone's shoe? Did their ancestors immigrate by way of the box containing the dropped-ceiling tiles?

However it came to live here, it's dead now. I smashed it.

I didn't!

The Truth in a Title

When I stop to think about it, it's really true: All life really IS a blur of Republicans and meat.

Look around--you'll see them everywhere now.

Mammograms and Generational Issues

Two things today!

I. I had my second mammogram last week. It was infinitely easier than the first one. Maybe because I knew what to expect; maybe because the technician wasn't nicknamed "The Smasher"; maybe because this last bout of breastfeeding has sapped most of the remaining elasticity out of my breasts. Anyway, it was no big deal at all, and I won't dread my third one. No results yet.

II. My brother is having a wedding in October. He's already married, but it was a quickie thing done to get his ex-wife off his legal back. The October date is the big ceremony. The bride is wearing ivory; the groom, brown. The sons, also brown. The dogs, flowers (for the girl dog) and ??? for the boy dog (he should probably wear a diaper, given his performance in front of an admiring crowd at the Race for the Cure). The dads-in-law are wearing black; the mothers-in-law, navy. And therein lies the problem. Both mothers bought the exact same navy pant/tunic suit thing from Penney's. And neither one wants to exchange. And . . . and . . . why is this such a big deal in the first place?

Here's my argument against either returning the pantsuit:

1. Who the hell cares?

2. The typical male at a formal gathering is about as unique as that one penguin in March of the Penguins--you know the one. He (she?) had a slightly off-white feather near his (her?) left foot. It was really more of a "woodland snow" color as opposed to the much more brash "snowdust".

Anyhoo, my point. If the men can stand to look exactly alike, why not us gals? It's really the bride's day, anyway, and no one will be looking at all us other birds (or shouldn't be--it's the BRIDE'S DAY). At least half the attendees (men and children) are unlikely to notice. The other half might assume it's an ersatz bridesmaid's thing, as the typical bridesmaids, who are made to look like proverbial dogs due to famously ugly and horribly unflattering strapless satin bridesmaid's dresses that always seem one size too small, are being replaced by actual dogs.

3. The bride is requesting the strict color palette for photo and general aesthetic purposes. The moms won't be "standing" with the bride and groom, so there won't be a lot of exposure. Everyone in the photos is going to be matchy-matchy anyway. Why not the moms? Is there such a thing as clashing shades of navy? If so, it's likely to happen given the planetary ruckus that has erupted thus far. With the same dress you are virtually guaranteed that the dress-pant suit outfits will be the same shade. I say "virtually" guaranteed because there is such a thing as "dye lots" and it is Penney's after all.

4. The "generational issue" title might be off-base, but I think that being appalled at being in the same dress is more of an issue with women in my mom's generation than it would be with mine. Again, I could be way off. But I'm basing it on this: I don't know if she follows these rules anymore, but my mom and a lot of women my mom's age still won't wear white after Labor Day, or wear velvet in the summer, and all those different weird rules that lawless Gen Xers are eschewing. I think. It really could just be me. I will totally, like, concede that. Still, my message to these women would be never trust anyone over 30. And loosen up, groovy chicks. Zip in, drink up, bliss out. But would my advice lead to two victims of a lot of vicious bathroom gossip? I really can't tell. I CAN tell you that no one will be wearing what I'm wearing, as I have decided to not wear clothes to this event.

But here's the problem. The bride's mom does NOT think this pantsuit tunic thing is funny AT ALL. My mom laughed about it. The bride's mom did NOT laugh. And, by God, she bought hers first. So now my mom has to make a decision. (I have already alerted her to my all-important opinion.)

What would yours be?