I am still in too much shock to say much about this. I just wanted to express my grief and sorrow for the people who suffered from yesterday's catastrophe and those who are still suffering and in so many ways will continue to suffer the effects of this tragedy in the days, weeks, and years to come.
Watching the citizens of our community sacrifice their own safety to help out in a time of need made me realize that I love Minnesota, and once again, reminded me of how much I love America.
"The universal brotherhood of man is our most prized possession." -Mark Twain
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Life through the toilet bowl
I've been thinking lately about how un-fun it really is to be sick all the time. Thankfully, all of this time being sick has given me time to think like a true artist. I watch all of these strange shows on tv - mostly decorating but some are just bizarre collecting shows - and saw that someone has actually made toilet seat art out of around 500 toilet seat rejects from a manufacturer.
So, here's my idea. In 1993, I went to Europe for a month and saw about half of the really important things you must see when you are in Europe - the Rijksmuseum (http://rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp) in Amsterdam, the Diamond Factory, Anne Frank's house (http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp), the Dutch Masters' paintings - including, of course, the Nightwatch by Rembrandt, the Louvre, the Colleseum, etc. You get the picture. The only problem with the trip was that I found out I was pregnant about a week before I left, which I didn't think was going to be a problem. Yeah, right. I was so sick that I got to test toilets across Europe for smell, quality of toilet paper, etc. as I gracefully and sometimes not-so-gracefully puked my way through the countryside and city alike.
As a side note, I must add that Europeans seriously need to air-condition their continent. That's why Americans invented the air-conditioner - to better the world, not just America. And Geneva, Switzerland had the worst restroom I had ever seen - no stall doors or seats on the toilets, and they did not provide toilet paper. However, it was a public restroom - out by their famous gardens - and I did not have to pay for it, like I did all the others, so that was nice.
Okay, well it sucked and I kissed the American soil and, in particular, the KFC, when I returned. After throwing up blood and being hospitalized, I found out I was suffering from hyperemesis - a fancy Latin word for, "You sure puke a lot!" I decided that I would have to go back to Europe when I wasn't pregnant so that I could enjoy it.
As luck would have it, I moved to Germany with my ex-ex-ex-husband (emphasis added for his personality flaws) in 1998, so I could see Europe without being pregnant and take my perfect little rocket-scientist four-year-old daughter with me to enjoy it. So, I got pregnant again, had hyperemesis again, spent a month in a hospital that wasn't air-conditioned during the dog days of summer, and discovered that Europe causes hyperemesis. Not really. But trying to cool off was a beast. Our apartment building had a cement floor basement, and there and the butter section in the commissary were literally the only cool places you could go. No air-conditioned department stores, grocery stores, or libraries. It royally sucked. Europe through the toilet bowl.
So I was thinking, now that I know how to use Adobe Photoshop, I should take a variety of toilet pictures - you know, some of them flushing, some with interesting seats, whatever... and put all my pictures of Europe in the rippling water in the centers of the toilet and publish a book, since I've always said that I've only seen Europe through a toilet bowl.
I guess it's not just the decorator and collecting shows that are inspiring me - it's the inordinate amounts of time I've been spending lately with my toilet bowl, and the obvious cognitive depreciation that is occurring as a result.
But do you think the book would sell?
So, here's my idea. In 1993, I went to Europe for a month and saw about half of the really important things you must see when you are in Europe - the Rijksmuseum (http://rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp) in Amsterdam, the Diamond Factory, Anne Frank's house (http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp), the Dutch Masters' paintings - including, of course, the Nightwatch by Rembrandt, the Louvre, the Colleseum, etc. You get the picture. The only problem with the trip was that I found out I was pregnant about a week before I left, which I didn't think was going to be a problem. Yeah, right. I was so sick that I got to test toilets across Europe for smell, quality of toilet paper, etc. as I gracefully and sometimes not-so-gracefully puked my way through the countryside and city alike.
As a side note, I must add that Europeans seriously need to air-condition their continent. That's why Americans invented the air-conditioner - to better the world, not just America. And Geneva, Switzerland had the worst restroom I had ever seen - no stall doors or seats on the toilets, and they did not provide toilet paper. However, it was a public restroom - out by their famous gardens - and I did not have to pay for it, like I did all the others, so that was nice.
Okay, well it sucked and I kissed the American soil and, in particular, the KFC, when I returned. After throwing up blood and being hospitalized, I found out I was suffering from hyperemesis - a fancy Latin word for, "You sure puke a lot!" I decided that I would have to go back to Europe when I wasn't pregnant so that I could enjoy it.
As luck would have it, I moved to Germany with my ex-ex-ex-husband (emphasis added for his personality flaws) in 1998, so I could see Europe without being pregnant and take my perfect little rocket-scientist four-year-old daughter with me to enjoy it. So, I got pregnant again, had hyperemesis again, spent a month in a hospital that wasn't air-conditioned during the dog days of summer, and discovered that Europe causes hyperemesis. Not really. But trying to cool off was a beast. Our apartment building had a cement floor basement, and there and the butter section in the commissary were literally the only cool places you could go. No air-conditioned department stores, grocery stores, or libraries. It royally sucked. Europe through the toilet bowl.
So I was thinking, now that I know how to use Adobe Photoshop, I should take a variety of toilet pictures - you know, some of them flushing, some with interesting seats, whatever... and put all my pictures of Europe in the rippling water in the centers of the toilet and publish a book, since I've always said that I've only seen Europe through a toilet bowl.
I guess it's not just the decorator and collecting shows that are inspiring me - it's the inordinate amounts of time I've been spending lately with my toilet bowl, and the obvious cognitive depreciation that is occurring as a result.
But do you think the book would sell?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Maria's flowers
I just wanted to post a beautiful picture of my friend's bouquet with the wedding bands. Thanks for letting me be a part of such an important event in your life!
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k11/heathheather/?action=view¤t=collage3small.jpg
http://s84.photobucket.com/albums/k11/heathheather/?action=view¤t=collage3small.jpg
Saturday, July 21, 2007
I love people who cook...
I know that sounds silly, but I am so impatient when it comes to food. When I decide I want some, I want it NOW. I have no idea why I have the patience to spend hours in front of a camera or on the computer, using Photoshop, but I have no patience when it comes to cooking.
I just spent a couple of hours on the phone with my closest friend, who lives in Virginia now. We met in Germany nine years ago in the gym (because she said I didn't look like an intimidating person to ask how to use the equipment) and we have been the closest friends since, always visiting each other every chance we get. That is not often enough, by the way, because we are both poor, but that will change someday. Anyway, she never forgets my birthday because I share it with her grandma. I always forget hers, and she loves me anyway. She called to wish me a happy birthday and then we talked about food. Yes, food. For two hours.
We talked about the ribs she cooked all day on low heat, and how they fell off the bone when she served them. We talked about the cooking shows we like to watch - because I like to watch other people cook. :) I thought about how we always talk about food whenever we do talk, and I can't help it! She fed me so well when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, and I miss her cooking!
Now I am more resolved than ever to move back to Virginia, which is where I grew up, when I am done with school. Then I can be at Tessa's for dinner every night. ;)
I love you, girl!
I just spent a couple of hours on the phone with my closest friend, who lives in Virginia now. We met in Germany nine years ago in the gym (because she said I didn't look like an intimidating person to ask how to use the equipment) and we have been the closest friends since, always visiting each other every chance we get. That is not often enough, by the way, because we are both poor, but that will change someday. Anyway, she never forgets my birthday because I share it with her grandma. I always forget hers, and she loves me anyway. She called to wish me a happy birthday and then we talked about food. Yes, food. For two hours.
We talked about the ribs she cooked all day on low heat, and how they fell off the bone when she served them. We talked about the cooking shows we like to watch - because I like to watch other people cook. :) I thought about how we always talk about food whenever we do talk, and I can't help it! She fed me so well when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, and I miss her cooking!
Now I am more resolved than ever to move back to Virginia, which is where I grew up, when I am done with school. Then I can be at Tessa's for dinner every night. ;)
I love you, girl!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
My first wedding...
I'm photographing my first wedding tomorrow and I'm terrified. I just wanted to say, though, that the people at Central Camera in St. Cloud are the nicest, most helpful people in the whole world, and I thank you so much for all the helpful advice you so freely gave me. Thanks for spending so much time with me and sharing your vast knowledge. I just KNOW that you saved the wedding photos from the recycle bin!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
I wish I actually knew how to do something besides write and obsess. You know, something useful - like grind the disgusting grout out of the 100-year-old bath and tear all of that tile out of there and, and, and...
See? That's the problem. I have no idea what to do with it, and neither does Tony. We're not the useful types of people. I do believe that we have the ... errrr... intellectual ability to know when someone else is doing something wrong when they're working on our house (ha ha) or to figure out exactly what needs to be done in theory before collapsing, overwhelmed by the thought of doing it ourselves, on to the bed, and decide it will have to wait for another year. (You know, that elusive year where we have so much money that we won't miss spending it on a serial-killer contractor). That's just a secondary reason for why we haven't done anything to the bathroom. I got a quote last fall - $15k - $20k for what I wanted done. Another paralyzing moment. I'm obsessed with this bathroom problem.
I noticed something about house projects. They are like diets. If you spend a lot of time thinking about them, talking about them, and planning for them, you get some sort of mental satisfaction from that process. It's enough to make you feel like you DID something, and then you don't. You do nothing - like implementing the perfect diet (or workout plan, or whatever). So I must have delivered the necessary amount of dopamine to the little receptors in my brain that were thirsting for them, because the project got put on hold again.
I told Tony that I would NOT get pregnant until he did something about that bathroom because I don't want to bathe a baby in that tub, or keep turning the house alarm off to go downstairs and pee 10x a night because the upstairs toilet doesn't work. Now I'm pregnant and protesting loudly again, but I suspect that absolutely nothing will happen.
That doesn't mean that I didn't get my Black & Decker Complete Guide to Bathrooms out again!
See? That's the problem. I have no idea what to do with it, and neither does Tony. We're not the useful types of people. I do believe that we have the ... errrr... intellectual ability to know when someone else is doing something wrong when they're working on our house (ha ha) or to figure out exactly what needs to be done in theory before collapsing, overwhelmed by the thought of doing it ourselves, on to the bed, and decide it will have to wait for another year. (You know, that elusive year where we have so much money that we won't miss spending it on a serial-killer contractor). That's just a secondary reason for why we haven't done anything to the bathroom. I got a quote last fall - $15k - $20k for what I wanted done. Another paralyzing moment. I'm obsessed with this bathroom problem.
I noticed something about house projects. They are like diets. If you spend a lot of time thinking about them, talking about them, and planning for them, you get some sort of mental satisfaction from that process. It's enough to make you feel like you DID something, and then you don't. You do nothing - like implementing the perfect diet (or workout plan, or whatever). So I must have delivered the necessary amount of dopamine to the little receptors in my brain that were thirsting for them, because the project got put on hold again.
I told Tony that I would NOT get pregnant until he did something about that bathroom because I don't want to bathe a baby in that tub, or keep turning the house alarm off to go downstairs and pee 10x a night because the upstairs toilet doesn't work. Now I'm pregnant and protesting loudly again, but I suspect that absolutely nothing will happen.
That doesn't mean that I didn't get my Black & Decker Complete Guide to Bathrooms out again!
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