I don't like to use pesticides, because wasps are usually good guys in the insect world, but if you have a nest near children I'd be inclined towards killing them. I don't seem to have any wasp and bee allergies, so I usually just leave wasps or, if they're in a place that puts them way too close to people, I whack the nest in the middle of the day with a stick. Then they have to rebuild, and sometimes they go elsewhere.

One Quattro Stagione on a thin crust to go, please, Maria.

Had I gone with that one, can you see what I mean?

Yes, but I see the two examples as radically different--can you explain why they are similar? How about a definition where a neurosis can be stimulus for a compulsion? I mean, the compulsion are the tasks you execute to relieve the distress caused by the neurosis?

My mother tends to go for the "Did you forget you have a mother" voicemail.

I get that one too.

Ha! F2F in PA. Twelve beers on tap, and dad's homemade wine. We can fit up to 200 in the place, if you count the outdoor deck. For those who don't want pizza, there's subs (homemade bread) and pasta and meat and fish too.

Seriously, if you can make it to the east coast, we can road trip. My dad is used to me bringing friends up on a moment's notice. Last year, the entire neighborhood caravaned up for dinner on a Saturday. It was a blast.

I got an "I HOPE YOU'RE NOT DEAD" e-mail.

I'm more likely to be the one to send that email. See above article. My life is much less action filled.

Breakfast pizza:

I got an "I HOPE YOU'RE NOT DEAD" e-mail.

I get the phone call. From my mother, who's been told by my father to find out what's happened to me, even though she knows everything's fine.

When I'm traveling, I need to let them know I arrived safely at my final destination. When I go up there for the weekend, I need to call when I get home, even if it's 2 am. God forbid I forget. My father will then proceed to blow up my phone, DH's phone and the house phone until he speaks with me. He also insists on calling my sister to find out where I am if I haven't called in what he deems is a reasonable timeframe. Like she's going to know.... I love him to pieces, but it can be a little much.

Maria, clearly your father and my grandmother must never meet. It would be like a black hole of overworrying.

Ha! F2F in PA. Twelve beers on tap, and dad's homemade wine. We can fit up to 200 in the place, if you count the outdoor deck. For those who don't want pizza, there's subs (homemade bread) and pasta and meat and fish too.

That would be seriously kickass.

Breakfast pizza:

Now I want breakfast pizza!

It would be like a black hole of overworrying.

Oh my sweet Jesus, it would be more dramatic than a supernova. With added lamentations in Italian.

That would be seriously kickass.

It would be so totally awesome, but I don't know if I want my parents exposed to the Too Much Candy phenomenon. There are some things I just would rather they never know about.

::shudder::

Brain bleach in aisle three, please!