dna.

I finished putting the shelf together today without further incident. I did come across some dried blood that had been missed in our quick cleanup attempt. I guess my dna will be easy to track down.

psych.ward.

Please excuse me for missing out on the blog update yesterday, I have a good excuse. I met ben at the apartment to help paint, and to move in some more stuff. I got a six shelf version of this shelf, and started to assemble it so that I'll have somewhere to store my shoes. The poles/casters/other pieces were all attached to the shelves with those thick plastic ties, and I had to cut them free with my trusty leatherman juice. It was 9:34pm. All was going well. I had five of the six shelves assembled, and was working on the sixth. As I cut the plastic tie on the last shelf, the knife slipped and I gouged the part on the top of my hand where my thumb meets the rest of my hand. I've never cut myself that deeply before, and was shocked at how much blood there was, even though I immediately applied pressure. It was abundantly clear that I was going to need stitches, and unlike et#1, I decided to go directly to the hospital.
A suggested that I go to a nearby hospital. With all the great hospitals in boston, we would normally venture a little further and go to the brigham or beth isreal, but with something straightforward like stitches, it seemed a better idea to go where the wait would be minimal. Unfortunately, I arrived at the hospital at the same time as a group of firefighters who were badly injured in a four alarm fire not a half mile from my house. It was a horrible situation, and everyone in the waiting area gave their best wishes to the many firemen who waited to hear news about their friends. Clearly, it was going to be a long night. Our somber moods were distracted by two obviously intoxicated patients; one a drunk man who vomited in a basin and complained constantly that he'd been there for 2 1/2 hours, the other a younger woman who was itching for her next fix and hobbled around the waiting area cursing and shaking violently every so often.
Mayor menino came for a while and talked to the victim's family and other injured firemen, but by 1am, everyone started to clear out, including the receptionists and registration clerks. Still we sat in the waiting area, with three people ahead of us, the last patient having been called in around midnight, and with no promise of stitches anytime soon. By 2:30am, when conditions remained the same, we flew the coop and drove to beth isreal in hopes of getting stitched up before it had been too long. (I had it in my head that you had to get stitches within eight hours of the injury. I learned that you really have twenty-four hours.)
Upon arrival, I knew we were in better hands. The front desk was staffed, and not by a teeny-bopper talking on her cell phone, but by a professionally dressed and mannered security guard. The intake nurse was polite and considerate, asking if I needed any meds, and the registration tech (who wasn't wearing a very low cut top) took my information without acting silly with another employee. Definite improvement. After a brief wait (about 30 mins during which we found an atm and bought snacks from the vending machine) my name was called, and I got a bed in room 17. A nurse came in to introduce herself, and then another guy came in to irrigate the gash. My bandages had been on for so long that the gauze had stuck to the cut, but he pulled it off quick, and the bleeding had slowed considerably. (Thanks to my high platelet count, no doubt!) After a little longer, a very good looking doctor (will) came in to check it out (and of course I was at my scrappiest, having come from painting and moving that night), and decided that there was no nerve or tendon damage, but that it definitely needed at least one stitch. He shot me full of lidocaine, irrigated it again, and then it started bleeding pretty heavily again. I left with three blue stitches, a nice bruise from my knuckle down and some instructions. The funniest part was that the room I was in is usually used for psych patients. There's a garage type door that closes over all the equipment so it you're crazy, you can't hurt yourself with it. Will told us that when he heard there was a girl in room 17 who needed stitches, he thought it sounded about right, but when he came in to see me, he realized that I wasn't trying to kill myself- that, in fact, I wanted to live. That cracked us up enough to keep us awake until we got back at 5:50am. Thanks for keeping me company ben!

analytics.

Today you all have a job to do. Click on this link to my other blog, and look at it for a minute. Comment if you want to as well. Better yet, tell me that you looked at it. Why? Because the analytics aren't working (as far as I'm concerned) and I'm convinced we've received more than one visit in the past month. I added the html code, and checked to make sure it was where it was supposed to be (it was), but it's literally showing one visit since july 21st (before which there was a normal rise and fall to the graph). I'm pretty sure that one visit showed up because that was the day I re-added the html code. I'm not sure what's going on since it's working a-ok for this blog. Bah...electronics.

meow.

My eye hurts. At first I thought I had an eyelash in it, but now I know better. Somehow, in my two days of contact wear, I managed to irritate the inside of the upper eyelid on my right eye. I even did as the doctor said, and only wore them for a few hours. Today, the left one was fine, but the right one started giving me trouble again, so I took them out. A few hours later, someone asked me what drugs I was taking (I'm sick- I have a crappy summer cold) because my eyes were swollen. I'm not taking any drugs (I was on sudafed two days ago, but then was up from 2-4am when I was so tired I should have been sleeping) and I mentioned that my right contact had been bothering me. She looked closer, and confirmed that it was only my right eye that was swollen. When I went up to brush my teeth, I was pretty impressed with how swollen it was. That's when I started to look closer, and tried to flip my eyelid a little to see if it was scratched or something. From what I could see, I have a little cut/scratch/irritation on one little part of the eyelid. I tried to do a google search for inner eyelid scratch, and kept ending up with articles about cats.

tentacles.

Today was the first day of the big move. It entailed bringing over the large pile of boxes I'd packed over the past month, along with my bed, dresser, and shelf. It was rough. Jen and I moved most of the boxes during the day, and then kevin came in around six to help with the big stuff. It definitely pays to have a very strong, 6'6" brother. He and I managed (somehow) to get the furniture downstairs, with only a little (ha!) trouble with the box spring and headboard. My room for the past seven years is on the third floor, with a very narrow and windy stairway as its only access. In order to get the full size box spring up in the first place, I'd had to cut the wood in three places to make it bendable. Getting it down should have been easier, but it wasn't at all. If I hadn't known it could fit, I would have sworn there was no way. We shoved it and twisted it enough that we emerged, sweaty and exhausted, with a bent box spring and some wall repairs in my near future. I'll definitely need a new one the next time I move, which hopefully won't be for some time. After the bed was in, the other stuff wasn't so bad. I unpacked what I'd brought over, and my new room is ready to go. The bed's made, the shelf's full, and it looks great. Unfortunately, I still have a large supply of furniture and other stuff left to move, the worst of which will be the tv cabinet I build a couple years ago. I've already convinced my dad to help out with that. In fact, we're recruiting people to come over on labor day to get the place set- painting, unpacking, hanging lights, lots of fun stuff will be going on. If you're around and interested, you're encouraged to come. Please don't be scared off by my previous invitation to paint. I do in fact wear paint clothes and use drop cloths, although I am meticulous about cutting in! As I packed today, I realized I'm like an octopus. I spread my tentacles all over the place, leaving things in so many places, that I'm not sure I'll ever truly get them all back. Maybe it's self-preservation though- years later, these guys will come across something I've left in a closet or basement and think of me.

paint.

Today was painting day. Jen and I met at 10am, went to pick up a rug for her room, stopped at lowes for some paint, grabbed sandwiches from the real deal, and started painting around 1. Her room was first, and as I cut in, she washed the walls down, and then used the roller. My room was faster since two walls are windows, and once we finished that, we mopped the floors and put our rugs down. It took about seven hours in all. I also painted test patches on the hall, kitchen, living room, and dining room walls. I loved all the colors, but especially this gray blue that I had color matched from a magazine page. It came out perfectly! I call it magazine gray. Tomorrow we'll be ready for the furniture to move in.

robot.man.

Yesterday, at e's swimming class, there was this old guy who came to watch his granddaughter swim. He sat one over from me, and started talking with his son. The thing was, he must have had larynx cancer or something, and had one of those mechanical things that made him talk like a robot. I've seen commercials where people talk like that, but never in real life. It was really strange, and a little scary.

i.got.contacts!

After much deliberation, I went in today and came out wearing a trial pair. It's been at least twelve years since I last gave them a shot and since I've never minded my glasses (I actually like them, and treat them as an accessory), I wasn't really motivated to try contacts again. That is, at least, until I lost my prescription sunglasses in the ocean at the cape. When I thought about spending another $400 on sunglasses, I just couldn't do it. It was a pain having to switch frames all the time, and they always slipped off my face. So I stopped by opticians 3 and tried out two pair. First up were acuvue. Those didn't work out so well- apparently they didn't sit correctly on my eye. The second ones were what I went home with- I think they're ciba. My cornea's diameter is larger than normal, so I guess I needed bigger contacts. It's great. I wore them for three hours today with only a little discomfort, and gave my cheap sunglasses a spin. Once my eyes adjust to the contacts, I may actually be wearing them more than I thought I would.

master.whittler.

I learned a new trick yesterday- whittling out acorns. We spent the day with friends (the entire day, they're great friends) and while at the park, I taught l how to whistle with an acorn cap- something I hadn't done since I was ten. She and her friend ec then spent about thirty minutes picking up acorns and acorn caps, and brought them back to the house. Michelle and I were sitting outside while the kids were playing in the backyard, and I started poking at the top part of an acorn with a scalpel that just happened to be sitting on the table. After some trial and error, I figured out how to completely hollow out the inside through the softer top section. I did about eight of them, and then put the caps back on so you couldn't tell anything was amiss. I wish I could see the look on the squirrel's face who finds the empty acorns. Ha!

snoopy.sno.cone.

I like to skim through the massive quantity of catalogs we get each day. Not that I actually buy anything, but sometimes I get ideas. Today I was looking through back to basics toys (which is a great place to buy a good gift for any kid) and I came across one of my favorite childhood treats, the snoopy sno-cone maker. Each year for our birthday, we got some money that we were allowed to spend on any toy we chose. I distinctly remember going to toys r us and picking out the sno-cone maker with my brother brian. I'm not sure whether it was for my birthday or his, but it was so exciting regardless. By the time we finished grinding a tiny cup of ice, our shoulders were tired and arms were sore. That only made the grape slush taste even better.

phew.

After 29 years of uncertainty, I've figured out what I've always wanted to do in life, but couldn't put a name to; I want to be a child life specialist. Last fall, one of the blood donor techs had said I would be perfect for it, but I didn't really know what it entailed. Recently, someone else mentioned it, so I looked it up today. While everything else I've considered doing was interesting, nothing felt like a perfect fit until I read this description. It combines everything that I'm good at and enjoy. Of course, there aren't any open positions that I've found so far, but at least I have a direction to move towards.

i.heart.hp.

Ha! I'm actually getting my money out of the extended warranty I bought with my laptop. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, the fan on my laptop would run 24/7, but it still kept overheating. You couldn't even put it on a table without raising the backside because it would shut itself down. And you could have cooked an egg on it. The hard drive was also noisy (something my dad pointed out since I can't hear anything over the constantly running fan) and the left clicker on the mouse pad got stuck sometimes. I called up hp support even though my dad wasn't sure they'd do anything about the overheating issues, but they were quite willing to send me an empty box to pack it up in, and pay for me to ship it back to them. I received updates online as to the status, and today it arrived back home, all safe and sound. I got a new top case (which feels funny since I'd worn the textured mouse pad down to completely smooth), a new heatsink fan, and a new hard drive. I also had the system board and the plug/adapter replaced a year and a half ago (for free) when I was having charging issues (completely my fault though- not hp's). So even though it's a pain in the rumpus to have to reinstall all the software and data that were on it before, now I have a beautifully running, quiet computer, even when the fan does run (which is rare). I don't think I realized how loud the old fan was until I heard the soft hum of the new one. Music to my ears.

scones.

Everytime I eat scones, my mouth feels both stingy and like it's coated with some sticky yet powdery substance. This happens with scones from many different places. Maybe I should do a web search to find out what universal ingredients I could be allergic to in scones.

cape.cod.

Despite my busy nights, I drove down to the cape today to visit my london friends who rented a place down there for a week. I was planning to just stay the day, but was beat, so slept over, and woke up with thomas at 5:22am to drive back to boston in time for work. With the perfect weather, we hung out at the beach for a while, played the most enjoyable game of mini-golf ever, and ate huge lobster rolls (andre and kelly) and steak tips (me) for dinner. It wasn't hot enough for me to risk changing into my bathing suit in the porta-potty, so I hung out in my jeans while thomas threw rocks, sarah and grace went on a shell hunt, andre took pictures, and kelly kept her eye on thomas. My hair looks fabulous in that picture, huh? Andre hooked me up with blades of glory (a movie that exemplifies his favorite genre) which he promptly fell asleep to. Visiting with them always leaves me depressed. I have the best times, which just makes it harder to leave and know that I won't be seeing them for a long time. I love those guys.

the.wedding.

The wedding was beautiful. Fancy and beautiful. And fun. The weather was perfect, and although the wedding wasn't outside, the ceremony was in a room with an entire wall of glass that looked out at the ocean. It wouldn't have been as perfect if it was raining. The food was delicious, and the band great too. At one point, her brother, jeffrey, sang a johnny cash song, and did a great impersonation. He was sitting at my table, so I told him that he'd have to give my baby brother a lesson so he could do the same at my wedding. I wore my fancy red skirt, but don't have a picture of it. There was a photo booth though, where we took some great pictures, but I left them at nora's house. I liked this one of me, tish and nora. The black, white, black works well for the composition. After the hits I took last night on my vodka tonics, I went with 7&7's. Not bad at all. I'm getting a little off point, so I'm going to end it here. No need to go on forever.

cocktail.party.

Busy weekend. I'm changing the posting dates on the entries so they'll be on the dates they occurred, but I definitely didn't write them until today (monday). First up is friday night. We went to a cocktail/rehearsal party at ruth's chris. Fabulous time. Barry informed me that my drink of choice, a vodka tonic, is not actually the grown-up drink I'd thought it was, but is in fact a 21 year olds attempt at a grown-up drink. Apparently a grown-up drink needs whiskey or gin. Since I'm twenty-nine, and don't want to be viewed as twenty-one, I needed to step it up. I did a whiskey shot with jessie, and it was apparently good whiskey, because it didn't taste as vile as I'd experienced before. I suppose the vodka tonics I'd already had could have helped out. Regardless, I wasn't driving home (thanks for the ride barry!) so I wasn't too concerned. At the top is the group of us (tishka, amy, erin, jessie, nora, me, and riley- the flower girl- up front), and at the bottom is me, jessie and nora at the end of the night. Ahhhhh...good times.

weekend.fun.

It's tishka's wedding weekend. That means that we get to hang out a lot. Last night was her shower/bachelorette party at the milky way (bowling rocks!), tonight was the cocktail party at ruth's chris (I'll never turn down a trip to ruth's chris with either tish or her dad, and can't fathom going there without one of them), and tomorrow's the wedding! I wore a fun outfit tonight, but no where near as fun as my outfit for tomorrow. I'm so excited about my new red skirt! Jessie and I are planning to hang out at the bar tomorrow. We'll be each others date.

abuse?

We were hanging in the south end today because of the cool arts in the park program that boston parks and recreation does. After our project, I let the girls play on the playground for a bit before our meter ran out. There was a group of 20 three year olds from a nearby day care center who were running rampant. When it was time for them to go, the teachers had them all sit on a step so they could count and make sure they didn't forget anyone. While they were sitting, one teacher went back and forth spraying each kid in the face with a spray bottle of water. It must have been under the pretence of cooling them off, but considering it wasn't very hot this morning in the shade, I think it was a passive aggressive way for this teacher to get them back for their behavior. Isn't that something you do with dogs who don't follow directions?

full.

*blah* I ate too much macaroni and cheese tonight. This happens everytime we make it (which thankfully isn't so often). Somehow, as I spoon the annie's into my bowl, I think that I'm starving. Soon after polishing it off, I'm always slightly queasy. I think it continues to expand once it's in my stomach. You'd think I'd learn by now, and only take a half bowl. I guess not.

import.library.

I've been having issues with iTunes. Everytime I update it (which solved my last problem with my iPod) I have issues with selecting the library. For some unknown reason, iTunes can't just import the same library, and makes you select which one you want to use. Once, I made the mistake of trying to create a new one, and then ended up with no music. I had to import it all, which took a while. This time, I actually did a search online for help, and found a posting that said to add (old) after the itunes library. The poster said it would figure itself out, and while I had my doubts, it worked! There was no searching around for music on my hard drive! It all ended up right where it was supposed to be.

she's.famous.

A received an award- forty under forty. Basically, each year, hundreds of business people under the age of 40 are nominated for the award. Of those hundreds, 40 actually receive the award. They're chosen based on their business success and community contributions. I couldn't be prouder if she was my own flesh and blood.

dress.shopping!

Tishka's wedding is coming up soon. On august 18th, she'll no longer be single! Today, at bookclub, nora volunteered to go dress shopping with me. She also needed a dress, but for another wedding. We went to filene's basement first, and each tried on a bunch of dresses. It was much more fun than going alone because nora's opinion helped me to decide what dress was best. When there's no one to do a fashion show for, you never know what you'll end up with- maybe it will be good, but maybe it will really look bad, and you just don't know it. I left with a calvin klein brownish twirly dress with a light blue sash. I had my reservations about it (I thought the top wasn't so flattering) but figured I could always return it if I found a better option. On the way home, I stopped at the chestnut hill mall to grab something from victoria's, and zipped into ann taylor and stil with no luck on the dress front. On my way out, I walked past oilily and noticed the 70% off spring and summer sign. I love oilily, but don't have enough money to shop there on a regular basis. Since alison does, I've gotten to know the manager, d, quite well, and popped in to see if there was anything wedding appropriate. I found a great red silk skirt that fit me like a glove. I was debating it for a while. It was originally $295, and at 70% off, that made it $88.50. I couldn't decide if it was worth it. While I was standing in front of the mirror, d complimented me on the skirt. She doesn't lie either- it's just as good as having a friend along, because she'll tell you when something looks bad. Plus, because she knows the clothing, she'll tell you not to buy something that has some sort of flaw- like zipper issues, etc. I told her I was thinking about it for a wedding, but wasn't sure what I'd wear as a top. She pointed out that it was a really good deal at $49. Which settled it. I decided even if I didn't wear it for the wedding, a 49 dollar, 100% silk oilily skirt was too good a deal to turn down. Once home, I tried it on with a black top, and loved it. I did a fashion show for alison and the girls, and while they really liked both outfits, they all voted for the red skirt/black top combo. I'm so excited for the wedding now- both because it's a big deal for tish, but also because I get to dress up and feel fancy!

read.

Today was the day I was to start work on the dining room table. I have the old barn boards ready to go, and had planned to attach them all into one large slab before trimming and sanding them into one nice smooth table top. Sadly, because I waited so long to read the bookclub book, I had to put off table building plans until the weekend of september 1st in favor of spending the majority of the day reading. This month's book is the emperor's children by claire messud. I've wanted to read it for almost a year, but it wasn't available in paperback until june (one of our requirements for books). It's long- 479 pages- and while it's sometimes beneficial to read a book all at once, I don't think this was one of those times. Had I spread it out over the course of two weeks, I think I'd have grown more attached to the characters and been able to absorb more of the story than I did. However, there's definitely some satisfaction in polishing off such a large book mostly in one day. Plus, it's one of those good "noisy" books where you can twist the pages and be rewarded with a nice squelching sounds. I like that.

that.would.be.unfortunate.

I'm losing my hair. Not from my head, but from my left eyebrow. I'm not kidding either. It happened overnight. Yesterday it was normal, and today there's a little sparse patch right in the middle of the thickest part. I noticed it when I was applying my eye makeup, and at first, thought it was just laying funny. After further inspection, I concluded that it's really thinning- like a bald guys head. I'm not sure what to make of this, although I have been operating at a much higher level of stress than normal, what with the move and new job looming. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing, and I won't have to attempt the comb over.

picked.paint.

I picked out paint colors today. The dining room will be milk chocolate, the hall lyndhurst gallery beige, and my room lyndhurst timber. They're different intensities of neutral taupes that will go nicely with the gray blues of the kitchen and living room. If anyone's interested in painting, you're welcome to join us on august 25th. I'll warn you though, I'm super neurotic about painting techniques and perfection, and rarely put drop cloths down since I don't drip. So if you're a haphazard dripper who needs "paint clothes" please help out by staying at home.

word.of.mouth

My baby sister's moving to sacramento for a year to "work" (as in- volunteer and make $100/month (aka- lay around on the beach and get darker than she already is)) in a clean and sober program. She's still in philadelphia doing her orientation for another few days, but will be in her new place sometime next week. She started a blog so anyone who cared could keep up with her activities, and I've added it to my list of blogs. It's called word of mouth, and you're welcome to check it out. Since she's not actually in ca yet, there's not much posted, but if you check in every so often, I'm sure there will be some good stories about the folks she'll be working with. Oh. You can also ask for her address and send her money since she'll be poor, and will need to save up for my christmas present.

can't.fool.me.

I dropped the girls off at a friends house around 4pm. They're going swimming and having dinner, so I have a couple of hours free. So exciting. I debated going for a run, but since it's hotter than hades here, I nixed that idea in favor of reading my bookclub book. I'm hosting this sunday, so I have to finish it, but I'm only on page 43 of 479. It'll happen, but it means that I'll have no social life until sunday evening. Before settling down to read, I called the hp support line- something I've been meaning to do for quite a while. My computer's overheating, and it's gotten progressively worse despite doing everything the site recommends. Today it shut itself down, and when I returned several hours later, it wouldn't start again (and it was completely cool by this point). I unplugged the battery and cord, replugged them, and then it started. Since I paid for the three year warranty, I figured I'd get my money's worth. I was first connected with susan. Since prior experience has proven that I'm always talking to someone in india (cheap labor), and susan was clearly indian, I was curious about her name. Was that an americanized version? Did her parents have hopes of coming to america and therefore gave her a name so she'd be ready? Was this some trick from hp trying to convince customers that they're really talking to someone in america, but that someone happens to be an immigrant? I wasn't sure. Susan transferred me to technical support, where I talked to javier. He was cool. He kept me on hold for quite some time while he tried to correct a problem with my warranty info. The serial number had been entered instead of the product number, and had to be fixed. He apologized for keeping me on hold, and explained that if he tried to have it fixed under the wrong number, he's lose his job. I told javier I was fine waiting, and I didn't want him to lose his job. Next came mark. Mark was also clearly indian (leading me to believe that there's a coverup going on within hp's support system), but his accent was so strong (I think that he might have had a speech problem as well) that I could barely understand him. He asked for my info again, and asked if there was any smoke coming from my computer (it took me a while to understand this- the poor guy had to repeat it three times). Then he asked how the weather was. Huh? I thought I'd misunderstood, but no, he was really asking how the weather was here. I told him it was hot and humid, although if he's in india, 95 with an oppressive dew point of 69 is probably old news. Then he asked about my weekend. It's wednesday. Smack in the middle of the week. What weekend is he talking about? Everytime he asked me something and I answered, his reply was "thank you for that." It got a little old. 52.18 mins later, Mark's having fedex send me a box that I will pack my laptop in, and drop off at a fedex delivery place. It's good that I just got the external hard drive and backed everything up since they'll likely have to erase the hard drive. Boo. It's going to be sad without my laptop for several days.

barney.spells.trouble.

After traveling through indonesia and bali for the past few weeks and leaving their dog with friends, nora and barry came home to trouble. Barry sent nora this e-mail today:

How are you feeling? I just got a call from Jason. Apparently Barney got arrested by the Waltham Police. Vincent tied him to a rope outside which he apparently chewed through. He ran three streets away and found a doggie door. The woman found him in her house eating her dog's food. When Jason and Vincent called the police they knew his name was Barney and had called you. So I guess the microchip in him works. Jason said when he got home he knew he was in trouble. Pretty funny huh?

I almost peed my pants. Can you imagine going downstairs and finding a strange dog in your kitchen?

iPod.error.

Okay all you iPod geniuses out there. My iPod's acting up. I've been using my nano since I got it in february, and have neglected my old 20gb iPod (aka- my big guy). Since I have more music than I can fit on my nano, I plugged the 20gb in to sync all the songs I've added since february, and it came up with an error message. I restored it to the factory settings (which in hind sight may not have been the best idea), but I'm still getting the same message which is:

Attempting to copy to the disk "MY BIG GUY" failed. An unknown error occurred (-69).

Any ideas?

wicked.

Every year, I go to nyc and my aunt takes me to see a broadway show. Technically it's for my birthday, but we usually go sometime in september or october. This year it's november since she's a world traveler and will be in spain for three weeks. We've been doing this for years- maybe nine or ten now?- and have seen many musicals (nine or ten). We saw wicked a few years back when it was the hot show, and it was great. I liked the whole theme of not judging people by their exterier, and thought the twist off of the wizard of oz was creative. Elphaba still ended up with the short end of the stick, and galinda was the hero (which was a bummer), but I suppose that's realistic in this day and age. Anyway. I saw wicked a second time when it was here in boston last year (incidentally, the T ride down there was what inspired this blog) and now it's coming back again. No, I'm not getting tickets. I'm a firm believer in seeing a show/movie/reading a book/etc only one time, unless it's so fabulous that a second shot is warranted (or you get free tickets, which was the case for my second trip). However, the b's are all going in october when it's at the wang, and since it will be the girls' first real musical that they can remember (I took them to the lion king several years ago for christmas), a got the cd to help familiarize them with the music and story line. They love it. They'd listen to it 24/7 if possible, and they know all the words to all the songs, and they sing along with or without the music. I've had to restrict cd play time to our ride home as opposed to our ride there (wherever there may be) and home. I find myself humming along when I'm not even in the car, and songs like popular and defying gravity are constantly in my head. It's too bad I wasn't this prepared when I saw wicked. I could be the understudy for just about anyone now.

shopping.for.rugs.

I got a rug! We went over to mal elfman's right at noon today, after calling to see what time they opened. They were not opened. In fact, they didn't open at all. It seems like it would have been a good idea to change their answering machine message to reflect their new store hours, especially since they don't have a website. It worked out anyway, because since we were on moody street, we walked around and found another rug store. It looked cheesy from the outside (lots of tacky faux orientals on the floor) but there was some great stuff at even greater prices. They basically have high end carpet remnants that they bind and sell at big discount prices. I found a 9x12ft khaki wool textured rug that will fit my new bedroom perfectly (the room's actually 9'9"x12'7"- so it will leave a nice even edge). Now I just have to figure out the paint color to go with it.

eleven.fingers.

The yard sale was very successful! And fun too! Amy compared it to a grown-up lemonade stand. In all honesty, I was shocked at the number of people who came, most between the hours of 9:30 and 11:30. The numbers are still out, but the total looks promising once it's divied up between everyone who participated. As for everything that was left over, I dropped it off at boomerangs, and picked up a receipt for tax season.

yard.sale.

We're having the yard sale tomorrow at 8am! Andrea has agreed to host it, so stop on by if you're looking for good deals! Let me know if you need the address.

hot.

Today was a toasty one! We spent the day outside. First the playground (the one with massive numbers of chinese kids, although today l was with me, and got no "you're not chinese. Ha ha. Ha ha" grief that e received yesterday), then the t to harvard square, and finally, the pool. While standing on the red line t, I could feel sweat drip down my back. Gross. I debated going for a run outside, but at 8pm, it was still 90 degrees, and I chickened out. Which means that tomorrow night I definitely have to run to keep up with my mileage goal for this month.

too.many.chinese.kids.

Since we're stuck in the south end for a couple of hours each morning, we've been spending the time at a nearby playground/park. It's really the ideal place- shady, fenced off, nicely manicured and with beautiful brownstones surrounding it on all four sides. The only downside is that it's a little on the small side. Yesterday afternoon, while looking for a parking place, we came across another playground. This one was huge and super fancy. Curving rock climbing walls, a spiderweb type net, and futuristic styling made it very appealing to the small folk. Today e and I showed up around 9:45am. The only other people there were the two boston police department woman who hang out on folding chairs. E was thrilled. She tried the big net thing first, and then made her way to the climbing wall. She was coming back when a day care class showed up. There were about twenty kids, and they were all chinese. She looked a little taken aback, especially when they all started jumping on the net she was climbing. Then two more classes showed up each with about fifteen kids. They too were chinese. At this point e, who is usually the popular one on the playground, came and asked if we could play at a different section because "there're so many kids that it's getting a little overwhelming." As we moved over, two more classes came, so there were close to 100 chinese kids on the playground. I didn't even know that there were 100 four to five year old chinese kids in chinatown. How do I know they were all chinese? Because one little girl pointed out to blond hair blue eyed e that she wasn't chinese, and said it in "a voice I didn't like." We ended up heading back to our favorite little neighborhood playground, and made friends with the few other kids who hung out there.