Random Bits

This morning, I was getting Cecilia's diaper changed and I said, "We're going to church today. Who will we pray to?" She answered, "Mike Revak."

Caroline has declared herself "The Emperor of Chickens." Indeed, she is. She runs around the yard with a long stick, herding them around. We have set the rule that she cannot touch the chickens with the stick because that frightens them. I can only smile and think of The Story about Ping - except Caroline doesn't spank the chickens on the back with the stick.

Our parish is having a "mission" this week, where we have a visiting priest come and do a series of talks, preceded by a dinner each night, of course! Father Lukefahr, or "Father Luke," has done missions at our parish many times now, and we always enjoy it. He comes for a full week, and he celebrated Mass on Saturday evening. We were at the vigil Mass because Chris left for the ATL airport on Sunday morning at 6. So, after Mass, Caroline invited Father Luke to come with us to El Zarape, the Mexican restaurant where, ten years before, Chris and I had our first date. So we celebrataed that anniversary with two kids, a priest, and a pitcher of beer. We had fun, and Caroline was thrilled that Father agreed to come with us!

Unfortunately, due to Chris's trip, he is missing three nights of the talks... and so am I, because the girls and I came to visit my parents while he is out of town. We will get to attend Wednesday and Thursday nights, though. So far in Atlanta, I have been honked at loudly by a car carrier on the interstate and an extremely indignant woman in the Trader Joe's parking lot. Now that is a parking lot that has always been too tight anyway, but last time I checked, I was within my rights when backing out of a parking space into my own lane so long as there was nobody coming down the aisle behind me... apparently it is not okay to back out if somebody else decides that they can use your lane because they can't wait for the senior citizen bus to move out of their lane. I truly believe with 100% of my being that she would have hit us if I hadn't stopped. I haven't driven here regularly in over ten years, but I think the prevailing attitude is, "I am the most important one in the world, and anyone who gets in my way or delays me slightly is just a huge inconvenience to be looked upon with contempt." People act like other people aren't even human - they are just objects in their way. Culture of death, anyone?? I don't even get angry... I just stare in bewilderment as they honk and zoom around, wondering why they hate life so much and why they can't just chill out? Come on, people, it is just a parking lot - chill out! There are lots of cars, and sometimes we get in each other's way... patience!! All these haughty drivers are going to die of heart attacks if this is how they approach every slight inconvenience in their lives!

Speaking of cars... a few recent noticings of mine:

Is it ironic to have a bumper sticker from the radically liberal "move on [dot] org" on the back of a Lincoln Navigator in the Starbucks drive-thru? I mean, how is driving that monstrosity of a vehicle even slightly on the agenda of the enviro-nutty? Aren't people who like that website into the ideas of only using a square of toilet paper for each bathroom visit and such? Why would they drive the hugest vehicle short of a Suburban that they can find? And Starbucks? Don't they use disposable cups and encourage money-wasting?? (Oh, I was in the line because I found a gift card in my mom's house... and because I like idling in drive-thrus and emitting more toxins from my exhaust pipe, hee hee!)

Another thing... anyone else notice the recent trend of people monograming their cars? They have their initials on the back windows, usually in some pretty script. Uhhh... why??? I just don't get that at all.

Another car trend I don't get is the "in memory of" stickers on the back windows. Are people dedicating their cars to the deceased?? I understand everyone has their own ways of dealing with grief, and perhaps this is healing to some people. I personally just think it is a little strange, particularly when there are four different dedications on the back of the same car. I mean, most of my grandparents are dead, but I don't advertise that on the back of my Mazda, ya know?

So, off my car ranting now... My mom has been referring to Cecilia as "sweetie pie," to which Cecilia replies, "Gramma, I'm not pie - don't eat me!"

And speaking of Cecilia, she is used to Daddy putting her to bed each night... not me. So, it has taken me an hour and a half to get her to sleep myself. Being at Gramma's house makes it harder to calm down for sleep anyway, I am sure. I just think it is funny that I can still nurse her to sleep within minutes for a nap each day, but not at night. So strange. So, today was her first day ever with no nap at all... I purposely didn't give her a nap. We went to the Children's museum and a playground downtown, and she fell asleep tonight within minutes. And then she woke up at 10:20, but I got her back to sleep... for now, that is... I jinxed it just by typing about it here... when she woke up, I was in the middle of the previous sentence. Okay, and so now she woke up again. I'll just shut up now...

The other day...

Caroline: Hey, what's that big red thing up on that hill?

Me: A roof of a building. A house, maybe.

Caroline: Or a barn.

Me: Maybe.

Caroline: Or a Dairy Queen.

Just as a side note... she used to call Dairy Queen "The King Dairy," just less than a year ago!

Final note... the other day, my husband informed me that an old radio station in the Atlanta area, 99X, had returned... but instead of being at 99.7, they are now at 97.7. I almost didn't believe him... how can a station at 97.7 call themselves anything with "99" in the name?? They ceased existing just a few years after I'd finally gotten used to their name change from Power 99 to 99X. So today, while flipping through the stations, I came across 97.7 and thought, "Hmm, this really does sound like the old 99X in its early days, soon after Power 99." It was weird... they were playing songs like this, and this... songs that were coming out while I was in my freshman year of high school. And they kept playing songs from this album... why? Is "alternative" music of the early/mid 90s in high demand again all of a sudden? Very odd.

And off to bed I go before Cecilia wakes up again... which it sounds like she might with all her tossing and turning!