Month: September 2006

  • It will come as no surprise, I daresay, that my angst and annoyance regarding the Sept. 18-20 delivery date for Bryson's gifts came to naught, as they hit the porch on Saturday.  Meaning I now have another kid's digital camera.  Do I send it back or keep it and give it to one of the kids, perhaps Brianna, for Christmas?  Hmmm.... 

    Though the Amazon Prime "two day delivery" doesn't necessarily live up to its press, so far its "$3.99 overnight" is shining like a star.  On Thursday I ordered a factory reconditioned KitchenAid stand mixer (325 watts of raw mixing power!) and by golly, it showed up late the next morning.

    I've traditionally ordered most of the children's Christmas gifts from Amazon, and will for sure pop for the overnight delivery, so I needn't fret about stuff showing up sporadically as it sometimes does.

    So far I've not made anything terribly interesting with the mixer, just some cupcakes and homemade frosting, but it was a pleasure. Dump the stuff in, turn it on and let the mixer do the work.  Yowza! 

    A word to the wise, however....if you use those silicone cupcake thingummies, remove the cupcakes before frosting them, for trying to get already-frosted cupcakes out of them is a messy affair indeed.

  • This afternoon was our Bryson Bunny's official birthday party; here he is with his other grandfather, Ben Ed:


    Sept06 022 


    Jessica, Jason, li'l Kirsten and Brianna were in attendance, but the only ones I could catch with my camera were the first two:


    Sept06 026


    Jason's expression is not indicative of his feelings about Jessica, but rather about having his photo taken yet again ("You know, Mrs. Ivy, I'm starting to think Charles has a point"  [note:  he does not] ).  The two of them are most pleased as in a couple of weeks they are going away ALL BY THEMSELVES for short vacation in south Texas.   e-banana


    They didn't go on a honeymoon when they were married, and have never been away by themselves since (keep in mind Brianna turned SIX last June), so this is a Very Belated Honeymoon for them.    e-aw


    Amazing how parties coalesce along gender lines:


    Sept06 027


    Elaine came with Meredith and Margaret; Marebear disappeared upstairs to the playroom almost immediately, but Margaret stayed downstairs:


    Sept06 031


    Is she a cutie-patootie or what?     Before we left, I snatched a quick shot of Bethie with her best friend for a few years now, Isabella:


    Sept06 032


    She's such a ham.  e-ghost

  • An internet acquaintance in Florida asked me about Kinky Friedman....how serious is his candidacy, and is there a chance he might actually win?

    In truth, this year's gubernatorial race is so dull as to make you squint.  There's the incumbent, Rick Perry, who has to have been the most ignored governor Texas has ever had....the press rarely mentions him; some Democrat or other I've never heard of and can't remember; the current Comptroller, Carolyn Keeton Rylander Strayhorn (try to fit that on a campaign button!), who's actually a Republican like Perry but is running against him as an independent (and has the temerity to run ads attempting to portray herself as an outsider, for crying out loud); and a writer of mysteries, Kinky Friedman (common bumper sticker:  Kinky for Governor/Why the h*ll not?).

    The proliferation of Kinky for Governor bumper stickers aside, ISTM the only way he'd actually be elected is if enough Texans show up at the polls and vote for him as a lark.

    You know, like happened with the ex-wrestler up north somewhere a few years ago.  

  • Betcha can't guess what this cookie cutter is supposed to be:



    cookie cutter

  • [anxiously]  It's T-day at last.


    "T" standing for "teeth", of which Charles is having four pulled today.    His wisdoms, two of which are apparently in sideways and not erupted at all, so no wonder the Navy waited until he could be put under to do this bit of oral surgery (he was one of only four recruits in his class to be allowed to continue basic training with wisdoms in place).


    Apparently the Navy hates wisdom teeth with a deep, enduring passion, refusing to allow them on its boats.  To Charles' dismay he found out at Groton that a prerequisite for going to sea is to have one's wisdoms removed.  Period.  No matter they've never given a moment's trouble.


    He had been scheduled to fly over to Europe to meet the Dallas on the 21st, which seemed awfully soon after the oral surgery, but the LORD arranged matters so now he doesn't leave until Monday the 25th. 


    I wonder when we can expect to hear from him?  Sometime tonight, I suppose, as he's supposed to be out for four to five hours afterward. 

  • Are there that many people anxious to buy organic stuff?  I'll get fresh organic produce occasionally, but that's about the extent of my involvement with the whole 'organic' movement.  It's coming to my attention that I'm not alone in my "Well, maybe organic canned tomatoes would be better...whoa!  They want how much for this can?" disinterest, based upon the amount of organic merchandise showing up on clearance at SuperTarget.  Still, Tom Thumb's ad yesterday featured their "O" merchandise, so maybe I'm out of step.

    Not an uncommon occurrence, heaven knows.

    September 19th is next week and is important for two reasons....one, it's the day Alex and Beth move into their apartment (which is on the TOP floor!), and two, it's the now-annual Talk Like A Pirate Day.   Aaaarrrrr!

    In my emailbox this morning was an ad from the aforementioned Target which spotlighted Halloween goods.  Perusing the various offerings, I came across a "plus size" pirate's wench costume:

    Pirate wench

    No, I don't have any serious plans to try to get hold of it (by Tuesday?  I don't think so), but what caught my attention was the sizing note:  "Plus size fits up to a women’s size 12".

    I beg your pardon?  Plus size fits UP TO a size 12?  e-hairup

    Look, for one thing, a size 12 is next door to skinny from where I'm standing, and for another, do not try to tell me that model is wearing a size 12, for I won't believe you.  She's a 14-16 if she's anything at all.

    So there's the above costume presumably fitting all sizes to a miniscule 12, and then there's THIS costume which actually does come in plus sizes, right up to 3X/4X (225-275 lb) :

    Schoolgirl

    Are they out of their minds????  e-thud

  • It pains me deeply when Dmitry overhears - deliberately, i.e. said within his hearing - him being jeered at due to being Russian. 


    He's usually torn, OTOH expressing a desire to kill them, but also bewildered as to why they would say such things where they must know he can hear them ("Hello?  I'm sitting right here and I'm not deaf....").


    Best I can do is point out it's a regrettable combination of rudeness and ignorance, and were one of the kids here to find himself in a Russian school, it's likely he'd overhear some rather uncomplimentary remarks about America and Americans.  People are all too often too insular (oy vey!) and uncaring about hurting others, sad to say.  


     

  • Thanks to Sue, one of Beth's aunts, here's a photo of the tower into which Alex and Beth will be moving, and also the floorplan of the apartment:

    tower

    3towerfp

    It doesn't show up well here, but the living/dining room is 16' x 28.5'!  That's BIG!  And the bedrooms are large, too.  Mercy Maud, you two, this looks spiffy indeed. 

    Do NOT let Hannah fall off the balcony though. 

    According to the website, the Ikego housing facility is "set in forested hills in the seaside resort town of Zushi", plus there's a free shuttle running between there and the base at Yokosuka in the morning and evening.

    While poking around Zushi's website, I found that there's a movement afoot to prevent any additional housing being built at Ikego and in fact, demanding the Navy's housing facility (it's deemed to be "occupied" by the Navy) be returned to the city of Zushi, and made into a national park.

    I wonder how much support there is for that? 

  • Tell you what, I am SO frustrated. 


    Bryson's second birthday was on Monday, with his party on Sunday.  Early yesterday evening I went to Amazon to see if I could order him a kid-proof digital camera, as he does love them, and found a good-looking one at a good price.  Also ordered a bowling set that'd be coming from Target, so it arriving in time was dicey.  The camera, though, should be fine, seeing as how I pop for the Amazon Prime which provides standard two-day shipping.


    It also provides one-day for a mere $3.99 and I'd have selected that if only there'd been an option provided to change the mode of shipping, but there wasn't.  Looked and looked, went back and forth from the main order page in an attempt to generate it, but to no avail.  Very strange!  There's always been a drop-down menu box, or box with radio buttons, provided so one could change the mode of shipping, but not this time.


    Puzzled, I decided not to worry about it.  So long's it leaves today it should get here Friday, right? 


    Wrong.  The camera (and the bowling set, too) is scheduled to arrive Monday at the soonest.  e-7_mad


    Gee, I sure am pleased I popped for the Amazon Prime program!  Would you please tell me how something arriving six days later qualifies as "two day shipping"?


    Have sent an irritated email to them, asking what happened that I couldn't change the shipping mode, and how to cancel the worthless Amazon Prime.  What with Christmas coming, I'll hang onto the items and give them then, but now I'll have to hit the stores and try to locate something for Sunday.  Dang.

  • Tell you what, I don't know what exactly it is Bermuda's done to get the LORD's goat, but were I them, I'd knock it off:

    Florence