Aimee, I had a very good friend in grad school. When she was pregnant we were talking about names and I told her that since I was a young girl I had wanted to name a child Emily Nicole. You can guessed what she named her daughter. I told her she filched my name. She was truly surprised, hadn't realized until I told her that the name had come from me.

At first I was irked, later I decided it was, in a way, an indication of her affection for me. And then Emily turned out to be the most popular girl's name for the next 5 years and I decided she had saved me from myself. And thus, Frances Lucy was born.

I'll agree with the crowd that it probably she probably didn't intentionally steal the name, Aims, but if you want I can still make snide remarks about baby weight behind her back with you.

ask the sushi chef

I'm not sure if he speaks English or how well or how open he is to sharing. It's a family place. The woman who runs the front of the house likes us, so maybe I'll ask her if he'd be open to sharing his secrets.

The first time I got a pile of sushi, I got a glare from Grandpa (I'm just assuming he's grandpa), but now he just looks a little sly as he gets another roll out of the fridge. OK, he intimidates me.

I have noticed that rinsing the rice makes a big difference, even though Hubby thinks it's silly. And smoked salmon makes a great filling.

You know though, as much and as long as I have mentioned to my friends that if I ever had a girl I would name her Lucy? I'd be annoyed if they chose it.

Maybe not angry, but they would at least get an eyeroll.

While I can be prone to hypochondria, I think I have a ruptured eardrum. For about a week, my ear has felt really full, but I could clear it by swallowing hard or doing the valsalva to pop my ear. But over the past 2 days, it won't pop, my hearing in that ear is quite reduced, and -- most notably -- there's a LOT of (I believe this is the scientific term) Oozy Ick in my outer ear. It's not wax; it's nasty crusty Ick. And when I clean it away, within a few hours there's more.

It doesn't sound like my ruptured eardrum, which was a huge relief of gushed-out liquid at ass o' clock in the morning (I woke up because my pillow was soaked and my ear suddenly didn't hurt, something I recall nearly 30 years after the fact) after a huge, weeping bout of ear pain, but I'd still say call your doctor.

Hmm. So it could be Random Oozy Ick, along with a stuffy ear.

Either way, it ain't normal, so I guess it's the doctor for me.

ION, if you are eating leftover (or fresh) chili, and you ran out of cheese and oyster crackers, I gotta say that cheese crackers are a fabulous substitute.

I need to win the lottery today so that we can stay at the beach forever.

t OK cupid rant

One extreme close up picture is ok. But if you do that, you really should have other pictures that show more than your cheeks/eyes/smile. You doing something other than sitting at your webcam. 5 pictures of various faces from the same "photo session" at same webcam, all XCU's is a really stupid idea, and made of fail.

t /rant

I fear I am too picky, and will be alone forever

While Margaret isn't such a common name anymore, it's still not so unusual that you might not expect a little overlap. You know what? You love the name, you've loved it a long time, so when the time comes, you use it and love it and cherish the special little girl it will belong to, who'll make it her own as much as Emeline is the Emeline.

Barb is wise. Plus, if the "air-quotes friend" is just doing this to fuck with you, the best thing to do is to refuse to be fucked with. You name your kid(s) whatever you and Joe darn well please. And if your Maggie is likely to be around their Maggie much, such that confusion happens, well, you have a couple of options. First, you could give your girl a middle name that would work well said aloud with the Maggie (ex., just to fuck with DJ Lucy, which yields Maggie Lu) then slyly teach her to refer to their daughter as "Just Plain Maggie". Alternatively, just keep calling her Maggie, and steadfastly refer to their girl as "The Other Maggie". t /is slightly evil

Teppy, I hope whatever the heck is going on with your ear clears up soon.

Shir, you've got the best of my ~ma.

I'll agree with the crowd that it probably she probably didn't intentionally steal the name, Aims, but if you want I can still make snide remarks about baby weight behind her back with you.

I'd love that!! I'm mostly over it now.

Now there's new drama with another friend. Ah, my life. It's actually kind of funny and the person is being a total jerk. We had a baby shower and "tupperware" party for a friend last night. One of the women invited wanted to bring her 5 month old - GoH said fine, but this woman has been posting all over FB this past week about how her, her baby, her 9 year old, and her husband have been sick - hacking, fever, coughing, snotty noses. GoH said, "I really don't want to be sick. Please don't come." Woman Freaked Out all over FB. Calling us an adult clique, saying to GoH, "You'll be less paranoid with the second one" and other bullshit.

How ridic she is being.