Irrational Fears

I have this irrational fear of the dentist. I am almost certain I won't be dying in his chair today. I'm also fairly certain he's not going to hurt me, and I am 100% sure he won't screw up (I've been seeing this dentist for about 20 years). He's also pretty easy on the eyes, one of those men who get better looking every year he ages. This dentist office knows me by first name when I come in. They're a great bunch of friendly people I've trusted with my teeth for so long, and I know there's really no reason to be afraid.

I'm getting a temporary crown and a filling replaced today. I've been having anxiety dreams about this for a few days and I seriously tried to rationalize cancelling this appointment until next year.

My Dad likes to blame this fear on what happened to me when I was about 8 or 9. My grandparents in Texas had a dentist who lived next door, and would see me every time we visited. He explained I was going to have too many teeth and suggested he pull some and try to prevent me from having braces. They pulled 7. It did work, I never needed braces. I do think it left me a teensie bit freaked.

Tell me about your irrational fears. What scares you even though you know it shouldn't?

UPDATE: I love my dentist. When he got in there to do the crown, he decided to try saving it with a filling instead. He saved me over $400 this morning PLUS the anxiety of a crown. Even though I ended up with three fillings this morning (I forgot I was getting two fillings replaced plus the crown originally this a.m.), and I'll probably be numb for hours - I am on top of the world!!

The Thirty Second Bunnies Theatre Library

This site was seriously amusing. Bunnies recreating popular movies in thirty seconds. Check it out! Angry Alien Productions

My favorites? It's a tie between "Scream" and "The Shining". Something about cute little bunnies in horror is hilarious to me.

This is what I'm doing instead of writing out my Christmas cards.

Lazy!

What is it about Thanksgiving weekend that makes me so lazy? I was just reading Teri's blog where she was blogging this morning instead of writing her 10-page paper; I can totally relate. I have been thinking about the Christmas tree since early this week, but it's still not up. I have laundry to do, but the washing machine is silent. Our closet is full of Christmas presents that need wrapping, I have pictures to mail and Christmas cards to send out. Our backyard is screaming for some attention; the plants are overgrown and desperately need a trim. Madison is napping, so I should be busy, busy, busy! Instead, I'm watching VH1 and posting about how lazy I feel. I think that I have so much to do that I don't even know where to start.

Gimme Some Pie!

It's a four-day weekend! Muahahahahaha!

Even better. The only thing I've done in preparation for tomorrow is make an artichoke dip. Tomorrow I bake some frozen pies. Wow, that's a lot of work, eh? It's a beautiful thing that we're going to my Dad's for Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law may actually go with us. Do you hear that? It's Hell freezing over.

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. So instead of making a top-ten list of those things, I wanted to leave you with this:

I hope your list of things to be thankful for is at least as long as my own. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving; may it be filled with all the things that give you warm fuzzies, may your bellies be full, and simply enjoy a beautiful day.

Go Cowboys! :)

There is Hope For Me Yet

Yesterday I thought I'd hit an all time Christmas spirit low. We did the first of two photo sessions with Madison - yesterday she took pictures with one of her cousins. Anyone who knows anything about children knows it's mostly a horrific experience to get their pictures done when they're toddlers (I hear it doesn't get much better for awhile, either). With two of them yesterday, I thought I'd been placed in purgatory. One finally smiles, and the other one cries. The crying one settles, and the first wants to move. You get the idea.

Last night Madison watched the short included with the Madagascar CD called "The Penguin Caper". If you haven't seen it, it has a Christmas theme - and while she stared at the TV trying to make sense of it, I imagined Christmas morning - introducing Madison to her stocking and all the goodies inside, the look on her face and the excitement of new toys. Then I thought about my own childhood - My parents pretending to be Santa Claus and the looks on their faces when I ripped open presents from under the tree. I remember always waking them up long before the sun rose to see what Santa left, making cookies for Santa with my Mom, finding my first bike under the tree. They always made it so fun for me... I can't wait to do the same.

Today's picture adventure went much better. We went to The Picture People. If any of you need a good place to take family portraits, I highly recommend it. The young lady took her time with Madison, who only wanted lunch and a nap.

Tagged!

I was tagged by Angi, so here I go!

2 names you go by:
-Momma (obviously)
-Loo. I gained this nickname back in Junior High, my friend Jennifer used to call me LoraLooooooo (she sort of sung it, guess you had to be there).

2 parts of your heritage:
-Mostly German from Mom and Dad, which is probably where my impatience and my like for beer came from.
-Much of my mother’s side fought in the civil war.

2 things that scare you:
-Dying before Madison has kids of her own. That’s a LONG ways away, considering she won’t be dating until she’s like 30. LOL
-Heights. I am terrified of open heights. I can get on an airplane, but don’t ask me to climb a ladder!

2 everyday essentials:
-Coffee. I am down to one cup every morning, but I can’t function without it. Seriously. I can’t even talk before half that cup is down.
-Smiles and kisses from Madison and Karl.

2 fave bands/artists: This is so hard, I have so many. So, I’ll narrow it down to the two I’ve been playing in the car, who happen to be on my top ten list:
-Third Eye Blind
- Smashing Pumpkins

2 favorite songs:
-“Photograph” by Nickleback
-“All I Really Want” by Alanis Morrissette. My IPod brought that up yesterday in the shuffle, I forgot how much I love that song.

2 things you want in a relationship (other than true love):
-Growing old happily together.
-The ability to speak without saying a word.

2 favorite hobbies:Holy crap. Hobbies? What are those? That’s one of those questions you see in all sorts of profiles, something you get asked when someone’s trying to get to know you, and in these meme thingies. Perhaps they’re telling me something. I think my attention span is too short to actually keep one of those up, because I’ve tried. Really!

2 things you want really badly:
-To be financially sound through retirement.
-A honeymoon.

2 places you want to go on vacation:
-Hawaii
-New York City

2 things you want to do before you die:
-Tour Europe
-Plan Madison’s wedding (after she graduates college!)

2 ways in which you are a true girl:
-I have one hell of a horror movie scream. Anyone who’s been through a haunted house with me knows.
-Bugs FREAK me out!

2 things you are thinking about right now:
-The stomach flu is going around one of the lockup facilities I routinely visit. I don’t want to bring it home.
- Every morning when I sit here and drink coffee on the sofa, our cat Dallas sprawls out next to me and demands love. His purr is one of the best sounds.

2 stores you shop at:
-Target
-Walmart

2 people guaranteed to make you laugh:
-Karl (hubby) is one of the funniest people I know.
-My coworker Stew. We’re both SNL fans. It’s especially great on a really baaaaad day.

Hmmmm. I tag… Martin, Layla and Vavoom. :)

Cheap and Cynical

As I was paying the local phone bill today, I was pondering all the services we pay for, and don't really use anymore. I remember the days before 3-way calling, or call-waiting! What an invention call waiting was. It had to be the operators threatening a strike that brought this invention about, and it probably saved a billion hours in payroll; I spent most of the early and mid 1980's calling operators to break into phone calls, because I desperately had to talk to someone whose line was busy. Come on, we all did it . Can you imagine being an operator before modern telephone technology? Oh my God. I hope they're all sitting fat in retirement. Call forwarding is also pretty nifty, but I don't ever use it. If someone really needs to reach me, they can call my cell phone (provided I actually shared that number with them). Isn't that what the other fantastic feature, voicemail, is for?

Perhaps karma is the reason why I'm now having so much trouble with Sprint. I've been trying for over a year to use that nifty "one bill" feature for our local and cell phones - the one they spent so much time advertising - and they still haven't gotten it right.

The big question is, why exactly am I paying for all this stuff I don't use? I'd get rid of it all. Karl isn't keen on the idea. I must be getting cheap - I hate paying for all those cable channels we never watch too. We pay for several "tiers" of channels where there's only one damn channel in each tier we actually watch. If I told you our monthly cable bill, I bet some of you would pass out. It's robbery.

This whole rant is now making me feel kind of old. So I'll stop here and post a picture of someone very young. :)

Beautiful Day

I'm having a writer's block kind of day, so this is a random list of what's on my mind.

1. I love the way Madison wrinkles her face when she exclaims "Eeeewwwww".

2. I hate Christmas shopping. I have a little bit still to do (I always start in September - don't throw tomatoes), and I just hate it. We've picked names on my Dad's side (big family he married in to) and we'll probably have Christmas eve dinner with Karl's Mom, wishing each other (as adults) a Merry Effing Christmas over a bottle of wine. I'm totally good with that. I guess that makes my middle name Grinch? It's really all about the kids in my opinion. I couldn't care less otherwise. The marketing behind Christmas ruined it shortly after my very first Christmas on my own. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)

3. We're NOT hosting Thanksgiving this year. That is a beautiful thing.

4. There is a marvelous feeling about ending the day in your freshly scrubbed house. I'm so anal and have very little time to do as much about that as I'd like. So when I do a down and dirty kind of cleaning, I feel elated.

5. Karl and I are catching up on the recorded TV programs tonight over a Papa John's pizza. Just thinking about it is making my stomach growl. Oh, wait... I forgot to feed my own face lunch today. That will do it!

6. I can't wait for the new Harry Potter movie. I am seriously looking forward to seeing it. So much so that I might actually step foot in a movie theatre. Egads!

7. Madison is having Christmas portraits done next weekend, and I cannot figure out what I'm going to do with her hair. I also have to find some tights and black shoes - she has the most beautiful dress!

Madison is finishing up her bath, time for me to take over and get her dressed for bed. Have a great weekend.

Bork Bork Bork!

Anyone using Firefox - I highly recommend the Bork Bork Bork! extension - it takes your favorite web page or text and allows you to view it in Swedish-chef-speak. I viewed my own blog using this extension and LOST it. Great therapy... I think I'm going to go look at some security reports now, they'll be so much more entertaining.

Happy Monday!

I Need an Idea Lightbulb

I need some ideas. Madison has two ladies that primarily take care of her at daycare, and they're both really neat people... I am planning to get them both Christmas gifts, but haven't a clue what to buy. I don't know these ladies too personally at this point, so that doesn't help matters much. Anything that pops in your head, I want to hear it. Keep this in mind: I haven't a crafty bone in my body. :)

I Want My VH1

No matter how many times they run it or recycle it - I can't get enough of VH1's "I Love the 80's". Apparently I'm not the only one, I read about it on Lily's blog too. :) It's like a crazy addiction - I can watch it over and over. Madison and I watched some of what I think was 1982 together for an afternoon snack. Her thing right now is making animal sounds when she sees that animal, and this extends to dinosaurs (she makes a T-Rex roar when she sees one). The funny part? She thought Weird Al Yankovic was a dinosaur. I think it was that bad hair.

VH1 is one of my regularly tuned stations - I caught some of that "Breaking Bonaduce" show when she was sleeping too. I had no idea he was that screwed up... that show is a real trip. If you're feeling down, watch it. You'll go away realizing it really can't be THAT bad.

Our Little Nemo

Madison's 1st Halloween costume. Yeah, it's not girlie, but I anticipated it to be a lot colder - I wasn't keen on the idea of a little princess-like dress in 50 degrees. She LOVED the Nemo costume! We visited grandparents only - she is still sick, and was so kind so share it with her Mommy.

Notice the rabbit she's carrying in this picture. Her bunny. This is her "security" item - it now goes EVERYWHERE. My friend Linda brought this to the hospital for her when she was born - I need to find out where she got it, as I think I'm going to need a backup. It's getting cleaned and washed a lot.

Hope you all got treats and not tricks for Halloween!