Why In The World?!

I want to know the etymology of the word playard. What was wrong with the word playpen?? Playard is the most ridiculous looking word...and are we supposed to believe it is like a yard to play in....spacious and grassy and wonderful? Let's be honest. It is a holding pen for babies!

My precious

So we haven't been able to get much lunchmeat recently. (Lunchmeat or Cold Cuts? But that's a question for another time)

I'm at work, hungry, and I open up my lunch to pull out a snack.

Then I remember the rye and Boar's Head baloney that my MIL brought over.

A selfish smile crosses my face......

my preciousssssssssss.....



(Thanks to Beth at the Chronicles of Mommia for the fantastic image!!!)

More Stuff for Benjamin

Yesterday my mom came over on a mission of mercy (since I am sick again, although very much on the mend now) bringing me split pea soup, mushroom barley soup, bologna, cameo apples, toothbrushes, and mindless reading material (in the form of Good Housekeeping magazine).

Since I was feeling well enough for my first venture outdoors for several days we went and picked up this freecycled playpen that I can keep at my moms. It was even nicer than we had hoped and folds up into the nice little case and everything.



Then we went to Babies R Us to add a few things to the registry that we will need. While there mom bought this adorable....I don't know what to call it....snow suit type thing to bring Ben home from the hospital in (since he is due end of January). It is a really soft fleece with an adorable zebra (huh, I thought it was a giraffe...I usually hate zebras!) on the front and a cozy hood.




On the way back from Babies R Us we planned on stopping at a diner for a bite, but a bloody geyser erupted from my nose and got all over my shirt (and the seatbelt strap)......so we thought it best to head home LOL..Ahhh I am shameless.

Pictures courtesy of my mom :)

Back to throwing shoes at the television

So I feel punchy lately. Jamie's watching 20/20 and they do this *horrendous* piece on ex-gays/reparative therapy. Total propaganda. I said to Jamie at the commercial...you know one name you won't hear...Dr. Robert Spitzer, who actually got homosexuality pulled off the list of psychological disorders in the 1970s, and who published a famous study a few years ago that indicated that therapy to cure homosexuality can work in some cases. Sure enough, nary a mention.

I did my usual yelling at the TV, then I fired ABC a little email:

Your last program "The Toughest Call" on ex-gays/reparative therapy was, to put it bluntly, ridiculous. I noticed you were quick to point out the professional organizations that came out *against* therapy for homosexuality (e.g. the APA), but conveniently left out Dr. Robert Spitzer's name, the psychiatrist who famously reversed his own position on this issue.

Funny...those screaming for freedom to *live* a gay lifestyle seem to get awfully upset when people use that same freedom to *leave* it.

I feel like I need a literary shower. Dante feels right about now:

The wasteland was a dry expanse of sand,
thick, burning sand, no different than the kind
that Cato's feet packed down in other times.

O just revenge of God! How awesomely
you should be feared by everyone who reads
these truths that were revealed to my own eyes!

Many separate herds of naked souls I saw,
all weeping desperately; it seemed each group
had been assigned a different penalty;

some souls were stretched out flat upon their backs,
others were crouching there all tightly hunched,
some wandered, never stopping, round and round.

The three herds: the Blasphemers, the Usurers, and the Sodomites.

Benjamin's New Duds

Doesn't that sound like the title to a great children's book?? LOL Anyway, since we found out yesterday it was a boy AND I got a 15% off coupin for Kohls in the mail I decided it was time to buy Ben some clothes. I found some REALLLY adorable stuff.

Thoughts on the Ontological Transformation of Gumby

Maybe it's fatherhood that does this to you.

I had the Gumby theme song in my head this morning. It occurred to me that a critical piece of information is missing from the song:

"He was once..."

Ooohh good, a story!!

"... a little green slab of clay"

Really??! Clay?! Holy cow! So what happened?

"but you should see"

Yeah!???? Tell me!!!

what Gumby can do today."

Huh??

"He can walk into any book"

But how did he...?

"with his pony pal Pokey too..."

But how did the clay....?

"If you got a heart"

Yes, but is that really at issue here...?

"Then Gumby's a part.."

He's a part of something? Something magic?

"...of yooouuuuuuuu!!"

Me??! Whaddya mean ME?

(end music)

So what the heck happened there? We start out with this inanimate green slab, we're on the cusp of this great fairy-tale transformation, and then BAM.... right into "lookee what he can do". I know what he can do! I'm sitting at the TV watching him do it! But how can he do it? How does clay get this power? Magic? Vitamins?

See what I'm saying here? There's an ontological transformation that's just TOTALLY glossed over.

This ain't just idle speculation here, folks. Somehow this creature is apparently part of ME. I can't just brush that off.

Maybe I need to watch the intro again....there might be some visual cues I don't remember.

And no, Wikipedia doesn't know either.

We're having a......

You Know It's Bad

The light at the end of the tunnel has been temporarily extinguished due to budget cuts....We apologize for any inconvenience..

Neither of us have anything even slightly interesting, enlightening, or amusing to blog about....

Cla threatened to post about his obsession with kosher salami.

That is about all we have to say today.

Rise and Shine and Give God that Glory Glory!

So this picture was taken by my uncle. It is a picture of the Verrazano Bridge which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island. The sun came out shaped like the Star of David...and the picture wasn't doctored...it just came out that way. It is beautiful.

So, anyway. I have another cold :( It is my lot in life...I am literally genetically disposed to it. I started using Zicam (which is safe to use in pregnancy) and it really seems to be working! I can breath!!!!!!!

So I am REALLY not a morning person, but at around 4am I found myself wide awake. I tried to ignore it and make myself go back to sleep. Didn't work. So then I played with the cat for a while, but eventually even he took his toys and went home. So at 5 am (Cla's regular waking time) I decided what the hay...I got up too. So here I am at 5:27 posting random ramblings on my blog.

I am sure I will need a nap at around 8am LOL....I am truly pathetic.

Well to all my adoring fans adieu till the sun rises!

Angry Italians to go on national pasta strike

Hat tip to Zadok Romanus for this story!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/31/wpasta131.xml

In brief, Italians are protesting the escalating price of pasta. Why escalating? The pasta makers say that farmers are growing grain to fuel cars instead of people. Consumer advocates say that it's just rampant speculation on the makers' parts. So who knows.

I dunno about the pasta makers theory though. I'd expect that of American farmers to think it was a good idea to starve ourselves to feed our cars. But Italians? That doesn't sound like the race I know!!

The TV traditionalists

So we've been thinking about ways we can trim the fat from our budget. (Washington DC, nota bene!!!!)

Several years ago we made the infinitely wise decision to be cavemen and get rid of cable.

Yes, I know: "BARBARI!!!!"

Well, not exactly get RID of it. We switched to the tier below standard cable, called basic or antenna cable. Basically, we just pay for better reception of the broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and those UHF channels hosted by frogs, mice, vermin, and whatever lab animal got loose from the lab last week.) And they throw in a few actual cable channels to boot: we get C-Span, TBS, and EWTN. All this for a reasonable $10 a month instead of the $53 (!!!) that is the standard cable package.

BUT we've been thinking about ditching even that $10 a month and going back to the old rooftop antenna. (And here Claudio has fond memories of sitting in his living room as a child trying to tune the antenna....just...so....to pull in those snowy New York channels from Lower Bucks County. Ah, the days!)

Ok, but nostalgia aside. I wondered, how feasible are antennas nowadays? Has everyone gone cable and satellite? Are tv stations going to totally phase out over-air signals in the years to come? Will your screen be blank without some kind of subscription service (perhaps not a bad thing in itself actually).

Well, I am happy to report after a bit of web research that not only are antennas not going anywhere, they are making something of a comeback because they are actually BETTER for the new HDTV sets than cable or satellite!

Huh? Come again?

Yep..better. Seems like the networks will be broadcasting HDTV over the air in all its full bandwidth glory, whereas both cable providers and satellites have to compress those same signals to cram them into an already crowded line (or beam).

Here's the article:

http://www.hometoys.com/article.php4?displayid=758

I think this settles it. Goodbye cable company.

Oh that is so nice to say.

Baptismal Gown

Here is the baptismal gown I just won from ebay for the Bumbry. We love it.

ACHEMM!!

I would just like to point out that he accused ME of watching sub par television and now ADMITS to watching Benny Hill videos!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is awful!!

Shhh

Jamie thinks I'm working downstairs. She has no idea I'm just watching Benny Hill videos on YouTube.

No one needs to know.

It's an Honor Just to be Nominated!!

So, for all those fans of Claudio posts. All day he has been in the basement "working." Apparently here is the outcome of his labor!! He just brought this upstairs to me. In case you can't read it it says, "For resting, relaxing, and watching sub-par television to keep Bumbry healthy."

He is lucky he is so cute or I would kill him! LOL...BTW, yes...I was reduced to watching Martha Stewart this morning...

More Sandwiches!

So I tricked Cla into making MEEEE a sandwich this afternoon!! LOL here are the remnants of my salami on rye with a REAL BATAMPTE Garlic pickle.

So I have meant to post for days...but first I had nothing even remotely interesting to say. So then I tried for a few days to convince Cla to post something amusing but his reply, "I'm doing something!" In other words, as he predicted his interest in the blog would be fleeting at best. And we all will suffer because of it.

I have been on "bed rest" or in my case "couch rest" for the last two days due to some bleeding I had Saturday. I was sent to the ER...the U/S looked good...saw the heartbeat and all. Exam looked good. But of course this had to happen on a holiday weekend so until tomorrow when I can talk to my ob and hopefully go in to be checked out I am basically stuck in a horizontal position.. So please pray for the Bumbry!!!!!

We have been praying: Mary conceived without sin pray for us who have recourse to you.

And of course STORMING St. Gerard and my dear patron St. Anne. So far they haven't failed me. Please join us in storming heaven that this was just a weird fluke and all remains FINE!