What Ana Does

Funny story... Doors Are ON! As soon as the weather its warm enough, Dave will take the doors off his green Jeep Wrangler and find any excuse to drive it -- it's the best day for him. BUT for me, I'm a ball of nerves! I mean, as you drive around you see the road change at your feet, there's no side rearview mirrors and no protection AT ALL in the event of an accident. I will usually sit in the back seat (where I won't fall out), close my eyes and hope for the best. It's crazy that that's even legal! So, this August while we were in Hawaii, we saw a lot of Jeeps everywhere we went. And one day we say a white, four-door Jeep Wrangler with ALL the doors off ... except for the passenger side door. Sure enough, Dad was driving, kids were in the back and MOM (we assume) was sitting safely behind a car door. The only one left on. AND I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE SEEN! She is my people. Related links: The Hawaii Adventure Details

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I'd ever have two dogs the answer would have been a quick no. Even after we got Benny, I still would have answered no. But, as I posted about last week, those feelings have changed. Benny was a good starter dog, but we're ready for a full-fledge puppy. Puppy Snoozing So when I saw a posting about a beagle/mini-whippet mix puppy named Groucho (6 months old) available for adoption I decided to pursue it. Just give it a try. I had a list: Not a yappy dog. No biting. Mostly house-trained. Short haired. But more energy and playfulness. And he's have to have a connection with Dave, the girls and Benny. We met Groucho on Friday night and he fit all those criteria, except the biting thing -- but it was mostly just holding with his teeth (it's a puppy thing). He didn't bark at the door and he was happy and jumpy when he saw us. He was ready to play. We made the next move and brought him home for a weekend tryout -- he nee...

The Rental. Would You Call That Mini? Long story short: this young girl hit my Prius in the parking lot and put a little crack in my bumper. This resulted in going to an autobody shop and having it fixed, thus forcing me to rent a car for the two days.  The rental place only had a van. He called it a “minivan” but there was nothing mini about this vehicle. The kids loved it, of course, and I left work a little early to pick them up on the first day – so I could watch the joy in their eyes as they jumped in. “These people,” Alice said motioning to the other cars on the road, “think this is our car. They don’t know that we have to give it back.” After two days of driving around I find it incredulous that people actually own these monster vehicles and use them on a daily basis. I didn't trust my blind spots, so drove slower. I had a hard time parking in urban Evanston. I lumbered around turns and there was almost no pickup when entering the highway. And I was so distracted b...

Last week I was on top of the world. I had finally found a job that blended my favorite things (yay!) and was able to put in my two-week notice at my current job -- which I like but isn't exactly in my wheelhouse. The new job was closer to home, so I had visions of getting to soccer practice on time and earlier dinners with the family. Day dreams of just running to the office in the morning, after school bus drop off, in less than 25 minutes. The dreams when psft this week -- as did my entire week. The new job retracted the offer (I needed too much vacation time -- two weeks in the summer. geez!). Alice spent Wednesday night vomiting. My current job has already replaced me. But I now get to stay and train my replacement. My head is whirling as the plans I had for the spring and summer shatter into a thousand pieces. Back to serious job-hunting ... and not just the slow browse for the right thing, as I had been doing for the last year. And, to top it off, I found my favorite...

My First Latte in Ten or So Years I've been thinking a lot lately about caffeine. Why? Because I've been avoiding all caffeine (other than chocolate, obviously) for the last 15ish years. It doesn't go well with my stomach issues -- and I'm over-sensitive to it, gives me major jitters. Also, I'm not so much a fan of being addicted to a food (except chocolate, obviously) and I've met friends who "come off of coffee" with different results. Not for me. But recently, I've been feeling a lot less productive. There's so much I want to accomplish in a day -- at work and at home -- and I'm not crossing enough off my list to feel satisfied. I lose steam. My mind wanders. My eyelids droop in 2:30 meetings. ... What was I saying? *yawn* Dave says I should be exercising more to increase my energy level -- which is an altogether different post. But I only see that solution as another ADDITION to a to-do list that is already out of control....

So maybe not an idiot ... because the first day of school is always, universally, the day after Labor Day. Minnetonka started after Labor Day, Dave's school was after Labor Day and in New Jersey where Leah started Kindergarten, too. Like Election Day is always the first Tuesday in November. So, maybe I just assumed the same was true here in Illinois. I was wrong. The first day for First Graders is Aug. 22. Does that strike anyone else as just a random date? School in August? It's sacrilege! It's crazy! Are we going to voting in Oct., too? Anyway, idiot that I am, I didn't check and now Leah will miss four days after only being in school for four days to hang out at the camp. But I have to think other people make Labor Day travel plans, right?! Doh!

In my rush to declutter I filled a bin with DVD movies that we weren't likely to watch again and brought them up to camp in Western Mass. A few weeks later, I dropped off another pile of movies to resell in Hoboken. Days later I got a call from the place and was told most of the cases were empty. Crud! Further inspection lead me to a folder full of discs we brought to Europe last year. Empty cases everywhere! I was able to populate the empty cases for resale but I still have a stack of camp-friendly discs that need to be reunited with their cases. In the meantime, the brown paper bag I have them stored in reminds me of the bag the kid in Parenthood (the movie, not the tv show) stored his porn. And it makes me laugh just looking at it. Long story, short: It looks like I have a bag of porn. (I swear movies like The Goonies and Spaceballs are within.) Related posts: More about my quest to cook