Is it time for Cubic Zirconium?

Multiple choice question:

What is missing in the above picture? 

a. a cubic zirconium

b. a lump of coal

c.  a wad of bubblegum

d. a diamond

If you answered quickly and correctly (d.) then you are a regular reader of this blog. Or you are just unusually intelligent. I know this because this is the best picture I could get of my ring with out the diamond. If you squinch your eyes up real tight and stare like crazy, you can see where the rock used to be.

You say chip; I say rock. It hadn't sunk in that it is truly gone until today, when I went shopping and I started clicking my left hand ring finger on the handle of the shopping cart and the click was gone. I never realized how much I like clicking my finger. Sometimes it's the little things we take for granted and miss the most. Like my little diamond. 

Why Not to Clean

This post could be about Kristen and the fact that she goes to this church for the free food. 

But it's not. At least for now. 

So I am just chillaxin after a long day. Today I cleaned areas that haven't been looked at, let alone cleaned, since we moved into this house almost 4 years ago. Yikes. I dusted (if you can call it that) the top of the armoire. 4 years of dust. Yuck. I took apart the fan and gave it a good detail. I threw away a bunch of random things like baskets and candles and little stuffed bunnies (why do I have little stuffed bunnies in MY room?) and the like. I'm so over baskets, candles, fake flowers, ceramic figurines; basically anything whose main function is to attract dust. I put Laura, from Little House on the Prairie, in a box. I'm not going to throw her out...she is "Laura"  after all. Oh, I loved those books. When we go camping there is a tiny part of me who still pretends she is Laura. You don't have to tell me that's weird. I know. 

I cleaned out the humidifier. If I could invent the self-cleaning humidifier I would and I would be a rich woman. What is all that un-identifiable crusty gunk? But the good part is making my house smell like a swimming pool with all the bleach in the bathtub. Yum. I cleaned out the dirt cup thing in the vacuum cleaner twice. I love cleaning out that dirt cup. It's the best part of vacuuming. Not that there really is a "best" part of vacuuming, but if there were... Something about unlocking the little dirt holder and dumping it out and pulling out the filter and scraping and shaking the accumulation of dust off is oddly satisfying. I always want to vacuum it clean, but then I realize that what I want to vacuum IS the vacuum. What I really need is 2 vacuums in tandem. (That would be my 2nd idea for an invention in one day; how DO I come up with this stuff?)  (And how can I take these ideas and turn them into cash?)

I had 28 to be read books next to my bed; piled on, around, under, and next to my bedside table. Those are just the books: there were also a bunch of magazines and yet another cute, albeit dusty, bunny.  I shelved a few books, threw out the magazines (that was the hardest thing to do), and tossed the bunny. Then I stacked the 25 remaining books very symmetrically. They will stay that way for approximately 24 hours. 

All this before 2 p.m. I forgot to mention that Wes played fake sick today so he was kind of hanging around with me doing the fake sick thing. I have to pretend like I think he is sick, but he knows that I know that he isn't, and I know that he knows that I know he's not sick, but sometimes a kid just needs a day off. I think. 

But now, instead of reveling in my accomplishments I am not. Why? Two reasons: one, I am suffering either from food poisoning or something else that is causing my stomach to feel like it is doing jumping jacks inside my gut. Reason number two would be the fact that today I lost THE DIAMOND FROM MY WEDDING RING! And when I say THE, I mean the BIG one in the middle. (BIG in relation to the other teeny diamonds around it). And that is one want there is no turning into a need, no matter how I try. 

So, today, instead of a post where I explain all about the epiphany I've recently experienced, I wrote about the day where I cleaned where no man has cleaned before, recognized someone needed a day off, ate Rice Krispies for dinner, and lost a treasure. I gave up the baskets, the bunnies, the magazines, and some ceramic figurines; did I have to lose my diamond too?

Did I?

Apples and Penguins and a long story.

Yes. That is a pretty seriously weird picture. (It was taken by a seriously weird person.) The picture is to serve a two-pronged purpose. #1, to get you to read this post. And #2, it leads into a funny story. 

Funny story later.

You may be able to tell that I have been figuring some stuff out with this blog thing. I have added some new "gadgets" as they are known. If you are on the list and don't want to be, let me know. If you know someone who might want to be on the list, let me know. I want the list to be very long. I would love comments too, especially if they are nice. I will take constructive criticism if it is given in a loving manner. That applies always.

It is Wednesday, but it feels like Friday. Or perhaps Wednesday of next week. 

It all began Sunday with my eyes hurting. They hurt often because it is so dry here; but they were hurting in an unusual way. All sting-y and burny like. By Monday they were even more burny feeling for me, AND I also noticed that Wes' eyes were all bloodshot. Which usually means too much time playing video games, so I really didn't pay too much attention to that. BUT, he was in such a foul mood, not just normal kid bad mood. He was simply unbearable at times. 

But, Monday just wasn't a good day for any of us. Kevin and I realized last week that we had not registered the truck in November. We had had it inspected, just did not register it online. Miscommunication. We know from personal experience that you can get a ticket for that (let that be a warning to all of you), so after finding out it was too late to register it with the emissions info we had taken care of in November ($45), we had to have the emissions tested again.  Another $45; what a racket. It failed. Of course. Took it be fixed, part has to be ordered, ($65), take back to be fixed (on Monday), pick up and take back to be re-checked AGAIN. 

In between Jessie and I running back and forth with the truck (it takes 2 people to do all that car switching, you know what I mean) and dragging foul mood Wes with us while he tells us in no uncertain terms how evil we are, I am attempting to make a poster for Wes for his "star of the week" turn at school. (Whoever came up with "star of the week" should really reexamine the necessity of this tradition.) This making of the poster causes me untold grief and frustration. Plus my eyes hurt this entire time. Problems with flash drives, printers, computers in general, blahblahblah. Pure frustration. 

About 4 pm or so Jessie and I drove to Jiffy Lube to pick up the truck in what should have been the final chapter before finally registering it. We debated for a moment on who would drive the truck and who would drive my car. Jess took the truck; me, my car. She left before me, and I was following in case she was stopped by the police. (Because of the non-registration, not because she is routinely stopped by the police.) It could not have been 20 seconds later that I notice the traffic going all weird because there is a wreck ahead of me and then about 5 seconds for me to figure out it was Jessie that was in the wreck. I missed seeing the actual accident by about 2 1/ 2 seconds. (I was really watching the second hand on my watch.) I consider not actually seeing the accident a blessing. She was standing next to the truck so I knew she was okay; but the truck and car involved were not. The car pulled out in front of her as she was driving straight down the road and there was no way she could stop. She's okay, the other driver whose fault it was is okay. The truck not so much. May be totaled, but Kevin has high hopes that it will not. Nice guy who saw the accident called the police before I even stopped, another man stopped and offered to do CPR (Jessie was standing next to me; I'm not sure on whom he wanted to perform CPR); we called Kevin who fortunately works about a mile from there; the police FINALLY show up (aren't they supposed to be able to drive fast?) and did I mention it was FREEZING. 

Do you like how dramatic I am making this? When your kid is in an accident it is dramatic. And you mix feeling like crap, stupid star of the week poster, and Wes being a monster because he is getting sick all together you get drama. It is Wednesday and I have been staying home with a sick Wes. I feel like crap. I have to listen to star wars playing in the background constantly. And Hunter barks at his own poo. Kevin leaves for a week tomorrow. I deserve to feel dramatic. Or maybe pathetic.

Oh yeah, the funny picture with the funny story. When I asked Wes what he wanted for his birthday he said the usual Legos and Wii things which I expected, but then he had a couple of other requests. 

A talking apple and a live penguin. Look at the picture as more of a dramatic portrayal and not as an actual representation. Because that is one more thing I can't figure out on this whole blog thing. How to post pictures other than my own. Maybe you could help me out with that. If anybody would like to see Wes' poster, let me know, it never made it to school.

*Very Important P.S.* 

We are very fortunate that Jessie was not harmed in the accident. If you had seen the cars you would be surprised that no one was hurt. Jessie held herself very well during the entire time and I was really very proud of her. We all feel so blessed that it turned out that way it did. With my pessimistic way of expressing myself it may seem like am not grateful for our blessings. Tis not so. I just have a hard time with expressing revealing emotions. 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.