Boo Bombards the Bed

Boo lives for the weekly changing of the sheets.

No matter where he is, how deep asleep, or even how busy he might be hunting squirrels, bunnies and birds, when he hears the sounds of the rustling of clean sheets, he comes running. His favorite part of the changing of the sheets is the laying down of the fitted sheet. He practically goes bazonkers with glee as the sheet is stretched over the mattress, and when it descends upon him and "locks him in," he is positively giddy with kitty delight.



He revels in his cocoon world until we finally make him come out, but then he knows the next treat is in order: the fluffing of the German down comforters. By this point, Boo is ecstatic. As we shake and puff and fluff, Boo jumps and twists and somersaults among the bedding, exhausting himself and cracking us up.

By the time Boo's done with the changing of the sheets, he finds the fluffiest, cloudiest place to konk out and he's gone for the night -- or at least until a few toes wiggle.

That, however, can NOT be described as fun for any of us, and any toe-attack antics on his part in the middle of the night get him quickly banished from the room!

An Ego Meme

I normally try to avoid the "me-me-me-me-me" memes, but this one looked interesting and thought-provoking so I decided to give it a whirl.

(And hey -- speaking of "whirl," is it just me, or does that picture look like a whirling, wandering eyeball?! Yeah, it's just me, isn't it?)

I tag the entire blogosphere. Hell, if we're gonna be egotistical and egocentric, let's at least do it together!

I know... that absolutely nothing is absolutely certain.
I believe... in the inherent worth and dignity of every person. (Yes, I'm pretty much a UU...)
I fought... the Vista (CA) school district when they wanted to teach creationism in public school science classes.
I am... a good mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend.
I love... my children, my husband, my parents, my brothers, and my extended family and my friends.
I take... NO time at all to fall asleep.
I need... to feel valued and appreciated.
I hear... that those of us who paid University of California tuition in Spring 2003 overpaid and that we'll get a refund! This would be great for Elisabeth because she has to pay for grad school herself, so we'd pass it right to her.
I drink... coffee. I'll drink it at home, at Starbuck's, and Peets, at Tully's and at that quaint coffee shop at Pioneer Square.
I eat... too much.
I hate... people who use the phrase "I hate" lightly.
I use... two fingers to type. I'm working on using 10, but that method is still much slower than my lightening-fast two fingers!
I want... to find the perfect job for my passions, experience and skills.
I think... I've been a victim of age discrimination in the work place.
I like... to have my back, forearms and scalp scratched. Not rubbed, but scratched.
I feel... kind of dizzy and nauseas since my eye surgery last week. According to the doctor, some of that is the result of leftover anesthesia, but much of it is my brain trying to figure out what the hell happened in that operating room and protesting the whole thing in it's own brainy (pffffft!) way.
I wear... a lot of fleece. Jackets, pants, vests, shirts, gloves, hats, even socks. What do you expect? I'm from Seattle!
I left...Germany last September before I was ready to come home. I would have loved to have traveled more with both Tom and Elisabeth. Then I would have liked to have traveled with Aleks, Peter and Kat... and my friend Kristin and my brothers... and even alone. And I was ready to explore far beyond Germany, too.
I do... unto others as I would have them do unto me.
I hope... Barack Obama will be our next president.
I dream... out loud sometimes. Sometimes I cry -- hysterically -- in my sleep. I must be deeply distoibed!
I drive... like a typical Seattle-ite: always waving "thank you" when people let me in, never honking, and never driving aggressively. I hate it when people get pissed on the road.
I listen... but probably not as well as I could. Sometimes I should work on talking less and listening more.
I think...in a very different way than my husband and most of my kids. They're analytical; I'm creative. They like numbers; I like words; they think linearly, I think in curly-q's. Drives 'em nuts!
I wish... I could have Mom back, just to check in with her now and then and let her know how life is going for the people she loved.
I should... lose some weight and grow my fingernails.
I regret... nothing. Even the painful times in my life have ultimately served a positive purpose.
I said... "What happened to your BRAIN?" to a kid at summer camp who made a gross-out face and asked, "Ewwww -- what happened to your thumb ?" (I was born with two thumbs on my right hand, and although I only have one left, it's... well, it's special-looking.) It felt great, I'm sorry to say!
I care... which means that all four of my kids in college next year will expect CARE packages!
I wonder... who wrote the book of love.
I changed... a lot since I was 20... and since I was 25. I don't think I've changed that much since I was 30, but I'm sure I have.
I cry... when I'm really frustrated and don't feel acknowledged or when I feel belittled. I hardly ever cry in sappy movies.
I lose... my reading lasses now that I no longer always have some pair of glasses on (one for reading and one for distance). I've been making fun of Tom for years because he's forever losing glasses, and just the other day I heard myself asking him if he'd seen my glasses. He just laughed. Hysterically. I deserved it.
I leave... mental breadcrumbs so I can find my way back.
I am... worth it.

Sushi-Go-Round

A few evenings ago, Tom and I joined Peter and Danelle for a double date at our local sushi restaurant. The really fun thing about this restaurant is that the chefs assemble sushi delicacies right in the middle of the restaurant, and that area is surrounded by a moving conveyor belt onto which they place the various plates of sushi. Once on the belt, the plates of sushi move right past your table on the conveyor and you just reach over and take what you want.

The plates are color-coded indicating the price of the food on them. Sushi on green plates cost $1.00, on orange plates cost $1.50, on blue plates cost $2.00, and on purple plates cost $3.00.

A variation on this theme can be found at a sushi restaurant on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley called (I think) "Sushi Boat." The idea there is the same, except that instead of plates on a conveyor belt, the sushi is placed in little "boats" that float past the guests' tables. What fun!

At the end of the meal, when everyone is full and satisfied, the plates are simply stacked and tallied. It's fun, it's easy, and it's delicious! What more could you ask?

What's YOUR favorite "themed" restaurant?

Really Old: "Going Steady." Less Old: "Going Out." Contemporary: Change of Facebook Relationship Status.

Kat's Facebook profile changed from "single" to "in a relationship" this weekend. That, she told us, signifies among her peers the official beginning of a romantic relationship.

Really nice guy. Really good to her. Really considerate.

I hesitate to say more because chances are I'd say exactly the wrong thing!

Like I'd probably say something about how cute they are together... or how happy and goofy she's been lately. I'm not sure, but that kind of stuff might be the wrong kind of stuff to be saying, so let's just leave it at "two Facebook profiles have changed"! :-)

My Son the Obama Delegate!

Our large, fully voter-registered family descended en mass upon our neighborhood Democratic caucus this afternoon to take part in a highly charged, highly personalized democratic process. We were some of the first to arrive at the large, empty elementary school gymnasium around noon, but by shortly after 1:00, the place was jam-packed, leaving standing room only.

The order of business was to sign in and declare the candidate of our choice. Then we were given about 30 minutes to debate, dialog, challenge, and otherwise verbally engage each other in hopes of swaying some votes to our side. This debate got off to a slow start, but once we got going... wow! Aleks spoke eloquently in favor of Obama and did quite well in rebutting challenges from Hillary fans. I even proudly caught the moment on video:



Once the debating period was over, we were asked to find our name on the sign-in sheet and declare our choice again. Most people wrote the same name a second time, but one person in our precinct did change his mind. Based on the breakdown of our precinct's second votes, we were asked to elect a total of four candidates, one for Clinton and three for Obama. I looked over at Aleks, silently asking if he was interested. He shook his head, no. But right away after that, he was approached by quite a few people in our group and encouraged to "run" for one of our precinct's delegate positions. It didn't take long for our precinct's voters to declare that the youth voice is very important and before we knew it, Aleks -- along with another young man as well as a 30-something gentleman -- had been nominated and voted a delegate who would represent our precinct for Obama.

That moment did this mama PROUD!

So here they are -- our precinct's three Obama delegates (Aleks is on the left)! You GO, guys! (Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Meredith, our 24-year-old neighbor, who will be the lone Hillary delegate...)

Here's Looking (Right) at You!

See how my eyeball is looking straight ahead? Not floating upwards and inwards at all?

It's swollen and red and it feels like I have a few pebbles in my eye. That will last for a week or two, but I can live with it, especially since I'm not working these days, so make-up isn't part of my daily routine. The doctor even removed a small growth that I had under my eye. (The fact that he's biopsying it has me just a tad concerned, but I'm sure it was nothing but one of those -- gulp -- "age spots"!)

This photo was taken about 24 hours after the surgery. I also have a photo that was taken about two hours after surgery, but I'm not so cruel as to show that one to you!

Obama is in Seattle!

But unfortunately I can't go see him. Damn! I'm still on a 24-hour "anesthesia watch" which includes stuff like constant supervision (though I defied that and sent Tom to work) no driving, and no physical exertion. (Does holding a sign and chanting "Yes We Can!" fall under physical exertion?) I guess I'll just have to watch him on TV, maybe holding my yukky, red, swollen eye open!

Fortunately, my politically passionate and astute son ditched school this morning with a few friends to head into the city and see Obama -- but I have a feeling he's one of the throngs of people who were turned away once Key Arena filled up.

As I watch the excitement America's youth has for this year's election, I am SO heartened (especially in light of what I posted a while back about "18 in '08"). But I'm also really worried that all the youth passion and involvement won't translate into votes at the polls. I agree with Richard Dreyfuss' assessment (see video in link above) that youth expect instant gratification and they expect to express themselves on their computers. The idea of driving to a polling place and actually voting is something that I think really needs to be emphasized. I think we have to "warn" them that, while it's great to be inspired by a candidate and to make awesome videos about them, the critical piece of the youth vote is that, well...that YOUTH MUST ACTUALLY VOTE! My four 18 to 23-year-old "kids" are all excited about this 2008 campaign, but I had to practically force them to actually register to vote -- and that was even an online thing!

Tomorrow the Washington State caucuses will be held and you better believe that our entire family of six voters will be there!

OK, actually five of us; Elisabeth is back in the States from Germany, but had to fly directly to Atlanta for a work conference. She said that it was really hard to leave Germany, that she sooo loves it there, and it was especially hard jumping right back into her "hot-shot" career when she'd rather be traveling the world -- as all 23-year-olds should!

I feel a very positive "crisis" coming on for her. As I told her, we should all be so lucky that the world is our oyster. How often can we decide to be anywhere we want and to do anything we want? I implored her to to just revel in this time -- though I know that's easier for a 51-year-old to say than for a 23-year-old -- especially one who likes everything planned and organized -- to do!

And that's all I can write without needing to rest my eye...

It's Over!

The surgery is over.

They had a hell of a time finding a vein for the IV -- tried about five locations on either arm and went through two docs... but eventually they must have found it. Kat took a picture of my eye, but in the interest of preventing gross-out among my readers -- and in the interest of my own vanity-- I decided not to post it. Suffice it to say that I look like hell!

But it's over and I'm glad and it looks like it was a success. It's gonna be weird to not need glasses anymore except to read... and then to only need generic "drugstore glasses"!

Ooooh -- and now I can actually get cool sunglasses!

(That reminds me -- here's an interesting Seattle tidbit regarding sunglasses: we have the highest national per-capita ownership of sunglasses. Considering our incessantly gray, non-sunglass-wearing weather, it seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it? It's because we buy sunglasses, then put them away because they're not needed for long stretches at a time, then we forget where we put them and we go out and get a new pair. This goes on forever, so we buy sunglasses to replace the sunglasses that were bought to replace the sunglasses that we bought to...)

And now I'm gonna sleep off these drugs that are obviously making me think weird.