I followed that link to the Chinese house a few months ago, thanks to someone posting it here. Very cool. I would totally go to Salem to see it in person and have beers with Nora.

'Cause that's when the monsters come out.

"I don't know...the name of the wino...who walked out of the alley and onto the 9th street bridge, but he was wrong. Just purely wrong."

Ran up my back, danced on my head for a while and then ran down my front.

Yeah, a tall skinny kid with a little kid on top of him, beating him with a stick and yelling, "Faster, faster, you fool, you fool!"

{{{Kristin and juliana}}}

I was very accident prone as a young child. Standouts include:

• Had my collarbone broken in day care as a toddler. My mom bought me new clothes (she says I was always a fashion whore) and when she lifted my arm to try something on, I howled in pain.
• Bit through my lower lip. Newspaper on floor + running toddler + coffee table = OWIE
• Split my head open playing Ring Around the Rosie for the first time. I took "We all fall down" quite literally and just fell backwards. On to cement.

Reminded me that I have a funny niecey story from my visit. I taught her to yell "cheers!" and clink glasses while I was there. Later during dinner, she ran over to the my Mom's place at the table, yelled "cheers!" and slammed her cup into my Mom's, which was on the table. Diet Coke everywhere.

Someone needs to take the sharp objects out of this house -- before I do violence with them.

My FiL is in the next room, with the TV on, and has just turned on the radio TOO. Very loud, because he's partly deaf but also because the FRIGGING TV IS ON.

So now everyone in the house can hear Rush Limbaugh pontificating. Hell, everyone in the neighborhood can probably hear him.

Must not commit murder.

Today.

I'm considering doing the San Francisco AIDS Half Marathon to both get in shape and do something good. Has anyone else done one of these? Would I survive?

If I wandered out of her sight I would immediately hear, "Get back where I can see you".

I grew up in a simpler time. After I was about 6, the rule was within the sound of my mother's voice. If she called me and I didn't come, I was in big trouble.

In conclusion, everyone should come to Salem to see the China house, and then have beers with me.

Okay.

whoo-hoo!

Female reproductive question, which I'm not going to whitefont because, really, we're all adults, damn it.

Women: how would you define "severe" cramps? Tuesday, on my way home from work, I started getting cramps that were making me gasp (and, occasionally, yelp in pain). When I got home, I took 4 ibuprofen and lay down, and it took over an hour for the cramps to subside.

Important to note: on Tuesday, I was still 10-11 days away from getting my period, so they weren't menstrual cramps, and mid-cycle cramps aren't typical for me.

Do those sound "severe"? Or just "strong"?

And if you combine that with the fact that my lower abdomen is tender and sore when I press on it -- should I call my OB/GYN? It's been 6 weeks since I had my IUD inserted, and I know that intermittent cramping can be normal for up to the first few *months.*

It's probably just normal, right?