PIE! [link]

But don't start driving over because it is almost all gone. You'd think my family was starving the way they dove in.

still doing taxes. taking forever. the playdate is now almost over and I never made it to the storage unit. ugh.

In Cutting Edge 3, the hockey-playing girl is Latina. She can make figure skating people make horrified faces and drop things just by smiling and saying, "Hola!"

Wait. I have seen this movie before. I'm puzzled at the same thing I remember being puzzled at last time -- the second movie ends, as these movies do, with the skaters kissing and declaring their love for each other and that they want to be with each other forever. Then in the third movie, which is supposed to take place five years later, the woman from the couple in the second movie is the coach, and she mentions that her marriage recently fell apart. With that one line, they just totally destroyed their own happily ever after fantasy.

If they are going to go there, make her a widow instead of "the marriage fell apart". Both are contrived but at least that doesn't negate the previous ending of love conquering all.

The woman in the second movie is the daughter of the pair from the first movie.

Also, I love how people keep having deep meaningful conversations while skating Olympic programs. You'd think they wouldn't want to waste energy or concentration on anything other than skating for those few minutes.

And in this one, the coach wants them to live in the same place so that can always train together. He lives alone in a huge mansion with a ton of land for going jogging. She lives with about 10 family members in a little apartment above their taqueria. For some reason, they go to live with her family, where he is sleeping on a couch, rather than at his house.

With that one line, they just totally destroyed their own happily ever after fantasy.

Which, supposably, is why Mary Richards was single instead of a divorcee -- the network didn't want people to think she and Rob had split up.

Good heavens, I just read like 750 posts. My houseguest took my attention from you all last week. meara of the last few days:

Red leather. Supple regular leather, not patent.

Steph. Good heavens, woman. I can't be thinking things like that about a married woman!

my nails are a WRECK right now (won't. stop. peeling.

smonster, my nails start peeling if I wear nail polish with formaldehyde in it. I'm allergic. Maybe that's what's wrong with yours? Last year at Seattle F2F I got a mani-pedi and forgot about the formaldehyde thing, wore the polish for a few weeks (good manicure) and when I took it off, my nails were peeling like onions. It's taken this long for them to fully recover. Never doing that again!

Her sister had an intruder threaten to rape and kill her. She talked him out of it. Her success was one of the reasons she went into psychiatry. The other reason was the corpse in the morgue that sat up at her.

That's amazing. What did the corpse have to do with her decision, though? Did he have a message from TPTB? (I know why corpses sometimes sit up, but if I actually saw it happen, I'm sure I would have a moment of sheer terror before reason returned.)

Now I'm convinced my runny nose is actual my brain leaking.

Oh goody. *sniffle*

I saw a car start to back over a toddler

I often park far away from other cars in parking lots, because I have a horrible fear that I'll back up and hit a kid I couldn't see. I've never even come close to doing that, so I don't know where the fear comes from, just knowing it could happen, I guess. I get mad and terrified when I see people paying no attention to their kids in parking lots.

More meara:

OK. Here's a random question: Anyone ever have a near-death experience? Like an accident, a near accident, or perhaps a medical condition where death was likely? If so, did it change your outlook on life? Did it make you glad to be alive, want to embrace life and all that?

Here's one: I had a DVT and a pulmonary embolism after a "minor" elective surgery a few years ago. Admitted to hospital and not allowed to leave the bed for *anything* for five days. I had called the EMTs myself because I knew something was wrong, just couldn't describe it (claimed "trouble breathing"; that'll get you to the ER stat). The Doctor later showed me the scary PET scan of my lungs and solemnly informed me that if I hadn't gotten myself to the ER, I would very likely have died that night. I was perfectly calm in the hospital, though afterwards the nightly panic attacks went on for months. But I remember lying in the hospital bed, bored, thinking "I could be dead. Never mind the bucket list of amazing things I want to do in life. Even if I spend the rest of my life doing nothing more exciting than watching reruns of Buffy, I want every damn second of it." What I got from that experience - besides a standing refill of Valium - was the feeling that life is wonderful, even when it's ordinary. I don't have to be doing memoir-worthy things to have a life worth living.

No serious car accidents. *knocks wood* There have been more than a few near-misses with vehicular injury, but it's always been me in the defensive position. I am extremely paranoid about accidents and other people doing stupid things. I tend to view every situation with an eye to the worst thing that could possibly happen. And then there was one time when I was a teenager that I deliberately rode my bike *right in front of an oncoming car*. I knew it was potentially fatal even as I speeded up to do it. And I pedeled away from the incident laughing. Weird. I don't know why I did it.

Oh, yeah, and there was the time I woke up at 2am going 70 mph on the interstate between Knoxville and Nashville, headed right for the flimsy guard rail, beyond which was a gazillion-foot sheer drop off a mountain. If you want to believe in guardian angels, there's a little piece of evidence for you.

I had the whole bright light/ out of body thing going on. It was unpleasant.

Did you see your body lying there? Do you think it was a real experience or a hallucination? I've always wanted to have one of those, just so I could form an opinion and further elucidate my reality.

I think maybe I don't actually know what "elucidate" means.

I did pass out when the anesthesiologist cranked the epidural back up before my C-section, and Stephen tells me the doctors were all "Whoops" about it.

Oh, no. No doctors going "whoops" around me, please. Anesthesia scares me. Actually, since the above NDE, I've been scared of everything to do with surgeries of any kind.

Anesthesia works really oddly on me though, and although I have only had one surgical experience (wisdom teeth) I was actually aware and frozen during it.

Speaking of being scared of surgery, Aaiighh. I'm not so sure that's "working oddly" so much as "anesthesiologist screwing up".

Yet more meara. Bwahaha!

Re: house repairs: I took out insurance that covers all the working "parts" of the house, from plumbing to electrical, including appliances, with discounted prices on replacement. $42/month and whenever something breaks, I just call the number, 24/7/365, and an actual qualified technician comes swiftly to fix it. What's the biggest fear of home ownership? "What if something happens that I can't pay for?" It's a huge weight off my mind. My sister said it was unnecessary, but she has a fat savings account and I don't. I think it was a good idea.

So, oatmeal. Eat it, y'all.

OK, I'm eating oatmeal RIGHT NOW and it's ... sorta OK, so, how much, and is Quaker Instant good enough? Because my LDL/triglycerides need to come down a few points.

And while I go to the gym, it's only 3-4 times a week

hahahaha. I wish I could get myself there twice a week.

the L-word

I once got into a 2-year relationship with a girl I was casually dating, because I casually told her I loved her - she'd driven me to the hospital, and I was still believing that she was a really good person, and I meant that I loved her but not that I LOVED loved her, you know, I was trying to say something like "I love you for doing this for me" but before I could say anything to further clarify, which I was about to, her face lit up like Christmas and angels sang and bluebirds appeared and tied ribbons in her hair and she exclaimed "oh I love you too I can't believe you said it first!" and well. 2-year relationship. With what turned out to be a crazy person. I am MUCH more careful about saying the L-word now.

Tresabel Pitcher

That is a wonderful name! She must have been a fascinating person. There should be more Tresabels in the world. And yes, she should have a book.

I haven't seen Iron Man OR Sherlock Holmes.

Did you know some IV meds taste on injection?

Noted. I'm probably gonna use that in a novel sometime.

ION, my hair keeps getting awesomer. It's now about 5 inches of deep copper red, with jet black tips. Looks good curly, looks better straight.