"You could have sex relatively comfortably on a platform of books...

but not on a platform of PDA.s. Hardcover books. Paperbacks might start sliding around. Though I'd still prefer paperbacks to a pile of PDA.s."
-- William Gibson

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My dear hubby is feeling put upon and overworked. He did express gratitude recently for my cooking and laundry-doing but admitted he took the bathroom-cleaning for granted. Who exactly did he think was going into the bathroom and scrubbing the mold out of the shower (hey we’ve got 90% humidity here these days, there’s even mold on the toilet lid at this point if we don’t leave them yawning wide open), scouring toothpaste out of the sink, and wiping pee off the floor? The Oompah-Loompahs? His mother? He should try being 30 weeks pregnant, then we’d see how overworked and put upon someone can REALLY feel. I am beginning to feel like the poor wife in The Good Earth – I am expected to gestate and go on about my usual manual tasks without any flagging of energy or respite. Thank God we have no potato fields or rice paddies. This is what happens when you’re pregnant with the third kid. I feel as if somehow I am being reprimanded for exceeding the population-replacement child quota.

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”Harvard can wait”. One of the reasons I send my kids to daycare twice a week is for the social benefits. They are generally good about sharing, they play well with other kids, and they are learning to deal with being around kids that may not be raised or disciplined the same ways they are. I think these are all good things. The other reason is, I get to go to work, pee by myself, drink my coffee hot, and engage in semi-adult conversation. Simon can read, but he won’t be going to kindergarten this year, mostly because his birthday isn’t till December so no kindergarten will take him. I am moving him into a preschool program that meets three mornings a week, to help transition him into the five-day full-day kindergarten that is pretty much the norm now. But mostly I am ok with him being home with me another year, because regardless of his intelligence and skills, he is still only four and I don’t want him to be overwhelmed or hate school because he’s the youngest in his class. Plenty of time for him to be a genius later : )

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Last week we had to take a trip to the pet store because mysteriously both of my cats’ collars disappeared from their necks. They needed new flea collars pronto. While I picked out the collars, the boys wandered the store saying hi to the bunnies and sampling the dog biscuits. Yes, you read that right – I found Jude up to his elbows in the “doggie bar” dog biscuit bin. He enthusiastically licked his arms, plunged them into the bin, and the licked the biscuit dust off his arms. Si was slightly more reserved. It reminded me of the neighbor children in Betty MacDonald’s The Egg and I. Betty’s Grammy would bake the most godawful, heavy, wet cookies, throwing in whatever leftovers were in the fridge – a smidge of jam, a couple green beans, the end of a ketchup bottle, the last spoonful of mashed potatoes…whatever. While the Bard children struggled manfully to choke down these cookies for their after-school snack, the neighbor children enjoyed an afternoon snack of dog biscuits from the five-gallon bucket on their back porch. One day the Bards offered one of the cookies to the neighbors and there was enthusiastic response. They thought maybe Grammy had succeeded in baking an edible cookie finally, but no…they were still the same gross things as always. Thereafter they just fed these disgusting cookies to the neighbor children.
So I don't know, how gross could doggie biscuits be?

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I had dinner with a friend last night whom I haven’t seen in a while. We had a falling out when Gina and I discussed the Jennifer Anniston-Brad Pitt split on our joint blog. S. told us that having to read about those two on the blog was like “finding someone had taken a crap on her living room carpet.” Soon thereafter I came under attack for mentioning my toddlers, words were exchanged on the blog, and Gina and I decided to start our own blog. Having dinner with her was fine, but I was *so* much more guarded around her than I have ever previously been. She has been my friend through two babies, several tense work situations, and semi-separation from my husband (she was the one who picked me up sobbing at the gas station after I had a fight with Dan, took me to her apartment, and plied me with cigarettes and alcohol until I felt marginally better.) And I did not dare mention this blog, since it’s one of those “puerile blogs” that she would not stoop to read. I feel so conflicted about this relationship – I like her, I find her funny, I respect her considerable intelligence, but I don’t think I am a bad or boring person because along with reading Nabokov and the Booker prize winners, I also happen to be interested that Jude Law bonked the nanny.

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Quick INXS recap –
Swiss Miss stunk. Will they please just get rid of her? I can’t stand her. Not to mention she is easily pushing forty and dresses like she’s 18.
Daphna was embarrassingly bad this week, as was the hippie dude Brandon.
JD was TERRIBLE, but since this was the first time he really sucked maybe people will be kind. I hope so. He’s a jerk but he’s talented.
Jordis was amazing as usual. She’s still got my top vote.
Ty Taylor is just too theatrical – he left me absolutely cold last night. I like that REM song and he did nothing for me.
Despite the Sgt Pepper coat, Mig did a relatively great job with a boring song (“Lola”).
Dan liked the guy who did the Nirvana song but I thought he was boring.

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Snippets:

I am smarter than my VCR. No, really, I am.

I realized after the HP posts exactly how sexy I find Alan Rickman. The man is almost sixty and he’s still amazingly hot.

My PNP called back yesterday to tell me thanks!! She told the ref librarian on duty that she had had several librarians working on her problem and I was the only one that was any help at all. Funny, since I was one of the librarians who spent all day Saturday working on this problem. Oh well, at least she’s happy. Wonder what her crazy question this week will be? Ah, the life of a librarian – never a dull moment.

And speaking of: “Today I had to go see the gorilla master.” I overheard someone say this in the library the other day. I don’t think I want to know.

I heard a little interview with Rona Jaffe on NPR this morning. I have never heard an author read from his/her own work with less enthusiasm or inflection. She sounded positively bored. Not a ringing endorsement to check out her books.