Remembering the long weekend

1. After chirpily telling the neuro. that I "hadn't had a single migraine this month," I have basically had one for six days since. The pills have worked, but when it keeps coming back like this it means the headache never really goes away. This is the first old school, pre-medication headache I have had since before they started pumping me full of medicine, and I am not happy about it. I was supposed to be getting off all these pills around, oh yeah, right around now.

2. Nice weather brings out the neighbors. Maybe its good that we have basically nine months of bad weather here in B-lo. On Saturday we had the teenage version of the Michigan militia next door. About 20 teenage boys were suited up to go and play paint ball in the the woods but they looked like a freaking S.W.A.T. team, and I found all of their guns very disturbing, not to mention the sound of the guns firing. Then on Monday, after I had spent two full days putting close to 30 2 cu. ft. bags of mulch on my flower beds I look up to see my next door neighbor planting silk flowers around a tree right next to the road. Wtf! And these are just the nice neighbors that happen to live on either side of me.

3. Cary spent most of the weekend potty training Lucy. She is doing great. She actually woke up dry this morning. The whole process makes me incredibly tense though, so I am glad he is willing to handle it. I just had to take over when he went back to work on Tuesday.

Here are a few pictures from the garden. Warning: None of these flowers are made of silk!


Pic 1. Allium, Clematis, and annual Phlox
Pic 2. Sempervivum in bloom
Pic 3 Perennial Osteospermum

Lucy Visits School, Mother Forsaken for Toy Microwave

1. Lucy and I visited the preschool that she will attend in September today. Nothing went wrong at all until it was time to leave and I practically had to pull her with all my might to get her to let go of the door. "No," she protested, "I play!"

2. Another Venuszine review is available here.

3. Awhile back Auntlyh expressed interest in my Amp Camp reviews. Here is the link to all of them. I don't know how long they will be up for though, so knock yourself out.

Mother's Little Helpers

1. Went to see the neuro today. I don't get to go off any of my migraine meds yet because, unfortunately, I am still getting headaches. Post-nasal drip, stress, and anemia be damned! So now I am going to up my dosage of one of the little pills, plus take some more iron. I may take some Claritin too, to help with the drippiness. I wanted to take fewer pills after this visit, not more. But hopefully that day is coming. I don't go back until September though, so until then I may need to go by one of those massive day-of-the-week A.M./P.M. pill organizers with an alarm on it to keep everything straight. I feel like a I should get a senior citizen's discount as well.

2. Both kids said things today that made me laugh out loud. First, Henry asked me for a slice of ham when I was making Cary's lunch. Then he said, "Ham is my favorite kind of Turkey, you know." Then when I was waiting for coffee at the drive-thru, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel to a song by the Veils, Lucy said, "Stop dancing mommy! I'm trying to sneeze." That's the kind of help I really need to get through the day.

Why I have this blog

1. So last night Cary and I headed out to see Tapes 'n Tapes (from Minneapolis!) at Mohawk Place. Ladyhawk was the opening act. I had lots of comments to make, but now all I will say is this. I love going to Mohawk Place, I do. But I think if they know one of the major components of their sound system is broken they should fix it, especially when an act that you want to come back again is in town.

The only band uglier than Ladyhawk is Vietnam. Ladyhawk had a guy planted in the audience throughout the show playing the tambourine. I've never seen anything quite like it before. We missed the opening act, which was supposed to be Harlem Shakes, but I think was someone else, namely Mr. strange tambourine guy. Because he and another guy got on stage for Ladyhawk's last, best, and most Sebadoh-esqe song, "My Old Jacknife."

The crowd was kind of lame but at least no one yelled out "Let's go Buffalo" like they did the last two times I've been to the Town Ballroom. Sometimes I hate living here.

2. I dragged myself out of bed this morning and got Henry off to school as usual, even on little sleep. Lucy and I were about to head to the gym, then I was going to drop her of at my mom's so I could work uninterrupted on some pitches for my stymied freelance writing. I got into the car and noticed that all of the interior lights were on.

Two hours, two visits from AAA, and $120 later, I had a new battery and a working car. Apparently one of us had left the interior light on last night in our post-concert fatigue. This little debacle systematically undid all the fun I had last night.

3. I've got a new review up on Venuszine. You can read it here.

General Crumminess

1. I was concerned that Lucy's walking pneumonia had returned, but it was just massive constipation. Don't ask me how I confused the two.
2. Henry's folliculitus has returned but I have been to overwhelmed to do anything about it. As long as it doesn't look like chicken pox, nobody gets hurt.
3. A bunny ate portions of one of my favorite new plants and then just left the evidence there, as if the plant wasn't even worth chewing once bitten. OK, Bunny, then why did you keep chewing after the first bite?
4. I bought a replacement corded phone today and learned upon setting it up that the only thing wrong with the "broken" phone was that it wasn't plugged in.
5. The Sabres. Another game tonight. This series is killing me, and everyone else in town. They will seriously need to put Prozac in the water supply if we lose tonight.
6. I went to the doctor today and learned that I am vulnerable to mumps. Hmph.
7. We are supposed to go see Tapes 'n tapes tomorrow but Ticketmaster has still failed to deliver the tickets. Cary has instructed me "not to worry" and to schedule the sitters like we planned. I can't help wondering how we're going to get into the concert.
8. I just read that Violent Femmes are coming back to Thursday in the Square this year either things are getting pretty weak for Gordon Gano and co., or they actually enjoyed that particular gig.

Avian Visitors Continue to Arrive

I think this may be my favorite time of year. Today two more birds arrived, and one, the red-headed woodpecker, was a first time visitor. Generally our hummingbirds start arriving around Memorial Day, so this was a bit early.I did not take either of these pictures because the hummingbirds are too skittish and the Red-headed woodpecker was too far away.



In other bird-related news Lucy had gone to sleep with a little bird toy in her bed, and the belly section had become completely tangled in her hair this morning so the toy had to be cut out with scissors. She woke up saying, "Mommy, get bird out of hair, pleease!"

By the time M.I.A.'s new CD is available for purchase most of the backyard birds will no longer be giving me the time of day, but here's a little something to tide us over until then. M.I.A - "Bird Flu"

Welcome Visitors Return

Spring has finally arrived. Last Friday I was excited to see a Rose-breasted Grossbeak land on my bird feeder. The Grossbeak was followed a few days later by the return of the Baltimore Orioles. I have seen as many as three at a time this year. Last, not a sign of spring but fun nonetheless, we have seen a wild Turkey in the early morning the past few days. Yesterday they were all visiting at the same time so I tried to take some pictures.












That's the grossbeak on the tray feeder and the oriole on the suet.
(Hint: click on the pictures for a slightly better view.)

While I am not usually a fan of Andrew Bird (get it the tie in?), but he too has been welcome since I have been playing one song from his latest record nearly non-stop. Check it out. Andrew Bird - "Imitosis"