Cyanotic

A bluish coloration of the skin due to the presence of deoxygenated hemoglobin in blood vessels near the skin surface. It occurs when the oxygen saturation of arterial blood falls below 85%.
-Wikipedia

Where to start. Kitten has turned blue three times in the last week. Hands and feet are apparently of little concern, but blue lips are a problem. An emergency room problem. Blue lips can be a sign of heart problems, lung problems. All sorts of bad things.

So we went to the clinic today and Kitten got a chest x-ray and blood drawn. And tomorrow we have an echocardiogram and an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist.

Nothing like taking your 2-year-old to the cardiologist.

Pants's new bumper sticker

My man's superpower? Coming up with incredibly funny bumper stickers. Not exactly invisibility, but mine is the ability to hear my boss calling me before the phone rings at my desk, so his still ranks as cooler.

His new one? I told him I wanted the bumper sticker that says, "In case of Rapture, this vehicle will be unoccupied." because I just find the concept so utterly ridiculous. His response?

In case of Rapture, leave your keys. I want to try out your car.

[For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, or who have not watched Kirk Cameron's Left Behind for the entertainment value, the Rapture is the second coming, in which true believers will be whisked away to heaven while all of the non-believers will be... Left Behind.]

The Match Game

Match the weekend movie to the Cable Channel:

a. Bravo
b. Logo
c. Lifetime
d. USA
e. TBS
f. A&E

1. Adam & Steve
2. Leprechaun 4 in Space
3. Old School
4. Cries in the Dark
5. More Haunted Houses: Tortured Souls and Restless Spirits
6. Bad Boys II

PSA from the 70s

This cracks me up! I actually remember it airing originally.

Why I'm not even considering NaNo

• The kids both have raving colds - and Pants and I are both coming down with it too.
  
• I am training this week and the week after next, so I have to be at work by 8. Traffic is so bad that leaving by 7:15 doesn't guarantee it.
• My house is a mess again and we haven't gotten our room cleaned out yet, either.
  
• Have you met my children?
• We have tons of mature trees - and haven't raked once yet.
• Kitten is out of pants, and Pants is out of shirts.
• I only have 6 pages left to go in one of my scrapbook albums - and if we can get our rooms switched, I can actually clean out my scrapbook area and finish.
• Christmas is coming and much shopping and crafting needs to be done.
• The Christmas cards are in and need to be addressed and sent.
• I've started digital scrapbooking and might need to do more for presents.
  

The oath was written for times like these

So, I had a discussion today with my trainees regarding the integrity of my company when we were taking a beating during the years when we couldn't match the numbers other companies were putting on the board. When it came out later they were cheating, we were certainly vindicated, but we spent a lot of years with our stock in the toilet at least partially because of it.

Then this evening, L&O SVU had a case regarding a psychiatrist who participated in "torture-lite" in Iraq and didn't think it really conflicted with her Hippocratic Oath.

So, the question is, when do you abandon some principles for others when they conflict? When do you just abandon your principles? If you find a wallet with $1000, do you return it? Return it empty? Take the money and send the wallet back anonymously? Take the money and chuck the wallet?

If you're against war, is it ever okay? What about the US entrance into WWII? Is it okay if you try everything else first?

If you're against hate, is it okay to hate a racist? Is it okay to judge the whole person based on the fact that they are a racist?

If you're against murder, do you convict the parent that kills a child's killer? Is murder ever justifiable? Are you against the death penalty, even if it's only given out when someone is convicted of murder?

Fantastic

"Gween! Gween wight! Iss gween! Iss gween, mommy, iss gween!"
"Great, I needed another backseat driver."

Random Thoughts

So, if I pled guilty to a crime that I was arrested for, and then people found out and I was embarrassed, I could appeal my plea? 4 months later? Would I have to wait until everyone found out, or could I change my mind about my guilty plea if it was still just my (guilty) little secret?

I was cut off by the same green Blazer no less than THREE TIMES this morning on the way to work. And do you know what really irks me? His flagrant lack of blinkers? His sudden darting into my and various other lanes? His 2-inch proximity to my front bumper on several occasions? No, it's the fact that, even with all the lane changes and cutting me off over a 7 mile stretch of freeway, he still ended up RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME at the end of the journey. Excellent plan, dude. Endanger everyone's life for, um, getting to work no earlier than if you drove legally.

And then, when I got downtown, a very large van ahead of me pulled over to the curb in front of the Target office building. Now, I hate these people - the drop-off-ers, who back up traffic waiting for a spot so they can pull over to the curb (or worse, they stop traffic and don't pull over at all), and they don't get over far enough, and then they try to pull some asshole move when they are pulling away from the curb 2 seconds later, cutting everyone off and stopping traffic again. But this van was not dropping someone off - he just pulled to the side. But his van was too large for the designated parking area next to the curb, so he already stuck out into my lane. AND THEN HE OPENED THE DOOR. AND GOT OUT. INTO THE STREET. WHERE IT WAS NEARLY INEVITABLE THAT I WOULD HAVE HIM AND HIS DOOR DRAPED ACROSS THE HOOD OF MY BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER. How dumb are you? It comes equipped with side mirrors, pal. Use them to save your life.

Great. That's all my PTSD needs is a horror film about a parking ramp.

I really don't like the Sarah Silverman Show. Is that so wrong?

Sign of the Times

I am watching Gossip Girl and am suddenly horrified that they're at a club drinking. These girls are in high school! And they are aiming this show at high school girls! They are making it look like this is just what high school kids do. Like it's cool and this is what rich people do, and shouldn't we be like them? What are they teaching impressionable girls in their early teens who watch this crap like it's real?

Ack! I feel like such a mom.

Stop me if this sounds crazy...

So, MIL mentioned that we should move Kitten upstairs into our room and we would take her room. Both of us kind of brushed her off, as usual.

We're actually considering it. It solves a couple of issues - Kitten's room being so cold and not wanting to set up the space heater now that she's free to roam around. Taking down the hall gate and just closing the bathroom door and letting them roam in and out of their rooms (which we can't do today because the cat's food is in our room). Getting the toys out of the livingroom. My reservation was the closets, but duh, we can just get a $20 rack from Target.

Because moving into Kitten's room would not be the final destination. We talked tonight about building the downstairs into another bedroom, so it would basically be a hallway, Kitten's room (which would open into the hall instead of the half room), the office, the master bedroom, and the laundry/bathroom. The master would be built around the fireplace and would encompass the area under the stairs as one closet and the area created by the hallway as the second closet. We would tear out the bench to give us more room. And because it's stupid.

We could use the downstairs space that never gets used today. We could have a guest room. We could have a toy-free living room. We could dress Kitten in something less than a parka for bed.

And we could have a bedroom away from the TV, away from the kids, with a fireplace.

You're fluin' yourself

Have you seen that new commercial where they encourage you to get a flu shot so you don't give it to your kids? Because, "You're not just fluin' yourself?"

That's bullshit. You know why I get a flu shot? Because my kids are in daycare and they would bring home the plague if it was going around.

I get the flu shot so I don't get infected. BY THEM. Now, that's a commercial.

Pumpkins

Gorgeous day. Perfect weather. A field full of pumpkins. Oh, happy day!

I do more laundry by 10 a.m. than you do all day

Yes, this weekend is laundry. I want to fix up my bedroom, but we decided we should wait until we could see the floor first. And now that my closet rack is fixed, I have a place to put the clothes when they are clean.

There are also various other small projects I want to finish. Among other things, I want to get a little wicker stand painted for the front hall and get the sidelight window frosted. I feel a little exposed when the neighbors can just look right in, as I occasionally need to run downstairs in my underpants. I think a little artful frost can clear it right up and keep the hallway light.

On the downside, I am starting to consider having to purchase a new door since the one we have is so poorly sealed. Apparently, you can't just buy a new frame for your gorgeous, solid wood, hand-carved door. Boo.

As for the rest of the day, I am attempting to unclog the bathtub drain, after which I will need to attempt to rethread the plug back down into the drain, since MIL pulled it out for some reason after she gave the kids a bath Thursday. It's one of those old ones that is actually connected to the whole contraption, but can be pulled out far enough to clear the drain. It's just a real bitch to get back in.

The frenzy continues...

Ok, I put up the rack in the shower to hold the shampoo and stuff, and fixed my closet tonight.

Am I exhibiting signs of bipolar disorder? Is this a manic phase? Or is this how normal people act? Spending a few minutes during commercials in the evening to work a couple of simple projects? Or clean?

Ewww. I'm coming down with Normal Disorder.

In which I rock the house...

So, apparently if you can crow bar my butt off the couch for a few hours of cleaning, sometimes I can't stop.

I cleaned and organized the junk drawer in the kitchen.

I cleaned off the side counter, which normally just collects crap.

I moved all the garage sale stuff into the well area, and organized the extra stuff on the shelf under the stairs.

I cleaned and reorganized the linen closet in the bathroom, using one of those plastic shoe pocket door hangers on the inside of the door. AWESOME.

I vacuumed upstairs. This may not sound like much, but it's a lot in this house, as one of the children is afraid of the vacuum.

I moved about half the toys out of the livingroom and swapped some of the others out. We were getting overrun.

I got through all of the dishes. And cleaned the counters and stove.

And my crowning achievement? Check it out:

If you haven't been here, you might not know what this is. What this means. You might think I just went out and got a new shower curtain. But oh, it's so much more.

Those of you who have been here might know what I'm talking about. This morning, my bathtub had shower doors. Icky, dated, moldy, rusty shower doors. I took them off. And then went shopping.

Bath time was so much easier with those doors out of the way!

P.S. - don't the fabulous, retro pattern and the great colors almost make it look like I should have lime green bathroom fixtures?

Where are those fucking fairies?

So, I've been waiting for a week and a half for the cleaning fairies to come while I was sleeping, but they must be going to the wrong house.

We've been cleaning today, Pants in the garage, me upstairs. In between the few moments when the children slept today, we started getting some fall cleaning (and just regular cleaning) done. It was very enlightening.

This is why we need a larger shed, for example. And this. And this. And this. And this and this. And this.

I once again purchased the wrong size brackets for my kitchen shelves at IKEA. Suckage, although it means I may be going back tomorrow.

I found the source of that smell in the car.

Someone pulled the open bottle of infant Motrin onto the kitchen floor. Then put the bottle back up on the counter.

If laundry were water, I would have to claim my house a loss for insurance purposes.

I am so into... Fall TV Edition

Pushing Daisies - thanks AKJ! By the way, the narrator is the same guy who read the Harry Potter books.

Gossip Girl - it's so wrong, yet so right.

Survivor China - I rooting for James, the gravedigger. Dude's massive.

House - 40 new interns. It's 13 and 1/3 times the fun.

I am so over...

Kimora Lee Simmons - what are you, other than the rich trophy wife of Russel? He BOUGHT you.

Heather Locklear - I'm just done.

Dancing With the Stars - no one I want to see this season.