Funniest TV Line of the Week...

On 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's character states: "I once rented a car and drove it into the Hudson just so I could practice escaping." This following not too long on the tail of our watching Myth Busters' episode about how to escape a sinking car...

Bloggers...

Okay, so I've noticed that there are people who like blogs and people who either don't, or at least, seem to have no interest. Me personally, I'm nosy, I love blogs (that being said, I rarely read random blogs-- mainly I like blogs of people I know)... its a great way to keep in touch, see what's going on-- generally I just think they're fun. Now I know there are some people (Dave, for instance) that have very strong feelings about thinking blogs are goofy and specifically prefering individual personal written or voice communication. I can respect that. What I find odd are those people out there who you give your blog address to who *never* visit it. Not even just once, not even out of curiosity. And they don't even say anything-- no protests, of "I think blogs are dumb, I'm not going to visit it, just send me an email when something important happens..." nope... some of them even make an overture that they will look at it (perhaps they just never get around to it)... Either way, I think to myself, hmpf. What's with that? Too busy? Not a fan of the internet? A slave to a poor dial-up connection? Too many other things to do? Not interested in seeing what I have to say? Not even the least bit intrigued?

Anyhoo, thanks to all of you out there who do visit! I hope I can keep you entertained!!

Clown Shoe Saga Continues

So this morning I get an email update regarding my order from Converse.com. The email begins by saying, "If you've received this email, one of three things will happen next..." Sounds a little omninous, but okay... the message then goes on to list the three things: (a) if your item is in stock and has shipped, a tracking number will appear below, (b) if your item is on backorder, the details of the backorder will appear below, and (c) if your item has been discontinued you will receive a call from Converse to discuss your options. This can only raise one question for me-- does Converse have its legal department drafting its forms of email shipping notices? Do I really need to be forewarned that if I've received the email one of three things will happen and that two of the three things involve information at the bottom of the email? Why not just send me an email that says either: (a) your item has shipped, here's the tracking number, or (b) your item isn't shipping, we'll let you know if it eventually does, or (c) that crap you ordered we don't even bother to make anymore, too bad. Call us if you want your money back. Isn't that easier?

By the way, my amaranth clown shoes supposedly have shipped. Via UPS. Needless to say, when I went to UPS.com and put in my tracking number they advised that they had no record of it in their system, meanwhile the pregnancy feet are swelling by the minute. Soon I'll need flippers.

Bad Things...

I've been working on a Loan Agreement for five days. It just keeps going and going. I'm hoping to be rid of it soon but I've been a slave to my laptop and I've got bad pregnancy posture (even worse than normal) so I've had this annoying pain in my rib cage all day from leaning over the keyboard. Now its 10:37pm and the Husband has left the family room to go I'm not sure where and he has left me watching a special on PBS about Milton Friedman. Why and I still watching this?? Why???

Seacrest Out.

I hope that Ryan Seacrest feels like a real jackass for criticizing Angelina Jolie's red carpet behavior at the Golden Globes. Perhaps she had more important things on her mind.

Chuck Taylor

So, last year I bought a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor low top sneakers (laceless) in navy blue. I found they were a bit clunky and too big to wear without socks (which is my preferred method of shoe wearing in summertime). However, now that its winter I've been wearing these quite a bit with socks as part of my weekend pregnancy wardrobe, because really what says stylish more than cargo pants, a blue cable knit sweater from JCrew (at least its cashmere) and a pair of Chuck Taylor laceless lowtops. The other night I was at Marshalls (egads) and I saw a great looking pair of purple low top Chuck Taylors and I thought, hey, those aren't too bad. Of course, they only had them in Men's sizes 11 and 13 (even though they were on display in the women's department). Because really, there are so many men in Princeton who want to wear a size 13 purple clown shoe.

After seeing a girl on the subway this morning wearing converse I thought about the shoes again and decided to visit the website. Therein lies my problem. The Converse website is designed for people on Crack. I have never seen a consumer site so poorly designed. You can't hit the back button without totally losing your selections, god forbid you try and click on a shoe style to see it up close because if you want to go back you're at the main page again. At first glance you can't even easily tell how the hell you shop for shoes in the first place. They apparently make 97 different types of hi tops, low tops and other sorts of shoes but they certainly don't make it easy for browsers.

I managed to find my shoe style at least and then I'm looking for "purple". God forbid that's easy. Maybe its me, maybe I'm color blind these days but I'm looking at the little swatches on the page and I don't see purple-- instead I see four different shades of black. A scroll over these areas reveal "black, black monochrome, olive and amaranth." Okay, Amaranth rings a bell from the shoes I saw on display at Marshalls, but tell me this. Again, you're selling what are, essentially, unisex clown shoes... this isn't Scalamandre, why does the color need to be "amaranth"? Why can't it just be purple? Has Prince copyrighted the word "purple"? Is it in some way not descriptive enough?

I manage to get these things in my cart and I'm still working my way through the check out now... it's great to know they'll ship these puppies to the Jersey Isles, and that my purchase is in "US Dollars", tell me, is there really an international demand for these things???

QE II

Okay, so it's official, I guess I am now *never* going on a cruise. The QE II is now the latest ship to have its passengers catch the novovirus. 17% of those onboard the latest round the world cruise on the ship have gotten sick. What I want to know is who the hell has so much time on their hands that they can spend 108 days at sea travelling around the world!?!

1,500 Random Thoughts...

Hi Everybody! It looks like, thanks to the folks at StatCounter who keep track of these things, we have hit 1,500 hits (this is since we've been counting... back in August, thanks to a tip from Ana at the Ruby Red Slipper Blog. Anyhoo, just wanted to say thanks for visiting and I'll try and keep things interesting for you!!!

Okay, on to the random thoughts. First. Last night on the way home we were listening to "Roam" by the B-52s rather loudly in the car and Baby G (as she has affectionately become known) was really moving around quite a bit. We've decided she's either a B-52's fan or was protesting how loud the music was. We'll have to give "Rock Lobster" a try and see what she thinks.

Second. You should check out TMZ for the latest story which claims that Rachael Ray made some racist remarks about Oprah and some other derogatory comments about Brangelina last year over a dinner at Houston's. I know some people can react violently to Houston's spinach dip, but that seems a bit intense... I know I shouldn't perpetuate gossip, but it just sounds a bit wacky and far fetched... decide for yourself, but I think we all know how Tony Danza would come out on this one!

Love and Kisses,
Wonder

Oscar Snub...

Okay, who has Leonardo DiCaprio pissed off in Hollywood? MSNBC has the list of Oscar Nominees and, while Leo is nominated for Best Actor it's for his work in "Blood Diamond" rather than "The Departed"!?! What's with that???? All signs point to, you're not winning if you're associated with Marty Scorsese.

Rembrandt Peale...

The Husband and I have been looking for ages for an old oil portrait that we could hang over the fireplace in the library. The other day I was checking on Ebay and I found a "live auction" out of Morris Plains, NJ and there were two nice looking oil portraits, both with low opening bids. I placed an absentee bid of about $150 for each. Yeah. I didn't happen to look at the "estimated" sale price for either of these paintings. The other night I show the Husband and I happen to see in the description of one of them that it's a Rembrandt Peale. The Peales were a very artistic family in the 1700 and 1800s, one of the Peale's painted a very famous picture of George Washington (or was it Barbara Bush.... oh, that's just mean, anyway I digress). Needless to say I'm not holding my breath that either of these jobbies will end up over *our* fireplace. Did I mention that upon closer inspection they're estimated to sell for between $10,000 and $50,000? Nice try, though.

Pants, Pants and More Pants....

Okay, so I actually did end up taking one of the second hand pair of maternity jeans to get altered. They were practically brand new and they're Citizens of Humanity. Though there is still the shame of having carried a garbage bag through midtown.

Otherwise the weekend was pretty quiet. Yesterday we had an approximately 4 hour round trip to visit Leda and Demetri in Stamford, Mel and Mike also visited and they brought the best cookies we've had in a long, long time. All thanks to Pastisserie Lulu in Scarsdale. The cookies and the company made the drive worth it, but damn, I don't know who is worse-- Connecticut or New Jersey drivers. And the signs! Thanks to poorly lit signs on the Palaisades Parkway we actually had to cross the GWB into New York only to get off on 9 and cross the GWB to get back to New Jersey. If you know me, you know how I feel about crossing bridges and there were wind gusts between 40 and 50 miles an hour--- the Tappan Zee was really enough for me, having to cross the GWB due to poor road signs was just adding insult to injury.

Finally, we took down our Christmas trees-- yes, it is the weekend after Martin Luther King Day and the trees had still been up, we're busy people, lazy, busy people... what can I say.

And, lastly. The Dad said we should watch the Colts/Patriots game. I was mostly cooking (roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus and then brownies...) the Husband however watched the game.... and for all that "21 to 3" business, at the end of the day the Colts won. Ugh... This means we actually will have to root for the Bears for the Super Bowl. Nobody likes Peyton Manning, and the head coach guy (formerly of the Jets and always angry) is even worse!

Adventures in Midtown

Yesterday the Husband and I had to travel to the far east side to pick up donated maternity clothes. We didn't really want the clothes but it became one of those things that sort of spiraled out of control and I felt like I couldn't say, "no, I don't want the used clothes" without offending someone. These were clothes of a friend of a friend and that friend's husband would only take them so far as his wife's old apartment building. Mind you, said wife had already picked through the bags for herself.

We were told the clothes were in two garbage bags and that when we arrived we should probably pay the doorman a few bucks for his time and trouble as a thanks for minding the bags. We did this and then found ourselves wandering around midtown carrying two large garbage bags. This didn't stop us, luckily from going to Ess-a-Bagel for lunch, but needless to say we were rather humiliated to be carrying these things around and to then have them at our feet while we at lunch. A pregnant woman wandered in (dressed very spiffily in some sort of sparkly top) and I did suggest that we call her over and ask if she wanted to pick through the bags, if only to lighten our load for the trek back to the office.

More Random Thoughts...

Liz Lange has great maternity clothes (not that crap she sells at Target, but the real stuff...).

It's actually starting to get cold here... but so far no snow. This means I've officially broken out the "puffy coat". As I've said to the Husband, I feel like its a cop-out. The coat is like a sleeping bag with arms. It has made it much easier to sleep on the train these days because my entire body is in a down cocoon. Downside is when I went to Alfredo's of Rome today for lunch I didn't wear the coat because I am kind of ashamed of it from a fashion perspective. I just didn't want to have to deal with trying to "check" it, since again, it is the size of a small duvet.

ps. never go to Alfredo of Rome. I should have known better not to go to a place that actually has a location at Epcot Center. The food was awful! Awful I tell you. (This is why I hate being the person to pick a restaurant.... sure, I wanted to go to The Bar Room at the Modern, but no.... Open Table denied me!)

Other thoughts? Night at the Museum was pretty cute, though I would go to a late show. A very late show. We went at 2:35pm and it was a mad house.

Finally, in other news-- we've officially felt baby movement. Even the Husband was able to feel little kicks and punches. What can I say, the baby likes to be most active just after I've finally laid down for the evening. Whatever, works for me.

Cats and Cupcakes...

This evening I was making mini cupcakes. I had my batter on the kitchen table along with my mini cupcake pan. I had batter in almost each cupcake paper and then all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see Miss Kitty jumping from the floor up on top of the table and I can see that she is bound to land *exactly* on top of the cupcake pan. I shout a loud bloodcurtling hoping to be desert saving "noooooooooooo!!" and she manages to clear the pan. Just barely.

Prince Harry

Okay, so am I the only one that thinks its a little suspicious that they're sending Prince Harry to Iraq?

Fondue!

Okay, it's the fifth anniversary weekend and last night we ate ourselves into a food stupor. We had our wonderful three cheese fondue, followed not too long after by chocolate fondue, and yes-- fruit. I actually ate real fruit (though covered in chocolate, with a hint of Grand Marnier). Three strawberries, a pineapple part, and a bunch of grapes. Very exciting.

It's the Great Name My Baby Contest!

Yes folks, according to the level II ultrasound that we had done yesterday, all signs point to us having a little girl! (While, as Dave indicated, with the girl prediction nothing is ever certain until the actual birth, for now, I'm sticking with it). Anyhoo, the call is now officially going out for baby name suggestions (see earlier post re: restrictions, though 410e9th has already voted for "Tootsie Roll" despite the provision that former pet names are ruled out). In the event your baby name is chosen you will win a special prize! (Namely, for friends and family, dinner in the NY Metropolitan area-- for clarification purposes, half sandwich and cup of soup does not a dinner make, Mendy's or not) other voters' prize to be determined... :)

Donald versus Rosie, lets all jump into the fray!

Entertainment Tonight claims to have obtained a copy of a letter that Donald Trump sent to Rosie O'Donnell regarding their recent spat and Donald's thoughts on the one and only Baba Wawa. I think it's great! It sounds just like something the folks at Saturday Night Live would have penned and had their "Donald" impersonator read on the air. All I have to say is the Mom has already decided that the Donald's recent irrational behavior may be the result of some sort of head trauma or a brain tumor (hopefully begin). Thoughts?

Maple Syrup... blame New Jersey.

So, as most people now know, Midtown Manhattan and parts of New Jersey were hit with a mysterious smell yesterday morning much akin to a natural gas leak. On the local news I saw that the Time Life Building was "evacuated", may I mention that I work in the Building next door to the Time Life Building. Thankfully, due to my condition, co-workers advocated that I go home (this is easier to do when said co-workers are also pregnant, and also going home)... today, Mayor Bloomberg is trying (not surprisingly) to blame New Jersey.

I personally love how this reminds everyone of how in late 2005 the city "smelled like brunch", or in other words, there were those few days which had the unmistakeable smell of maple syrup which no one could explain... it was like Aunt Jemima exploded over New York. What's next, febreze? Whatever it is, just claim it came from Secaucus.

Weekend Adventure-- ChikaLicious!

This Saturday we headed into the City to spend the evening with Thisbe and PBB! Things started off fun at Artisanal where we had fabulous french onion soup, the Husband had pork chops, I had fish and Chips and the lot of us shared fondue. Next it was on to A Chorus Line. All I am going to say is that the Schoenfeld Theater leaves a bit to be desired. The seats were beyond tiny and it was rather warm. I waited the whole show for "One" and finally, at the last possible moment is when the whole chorus line came out in the sparkly gold outfits... next it was on to ChikaLicious. Since A Chorus Line is run through without an intermission, Thisbe suggested that we could get dessert after the show-- she did some internet research and found Chikalicious-- what a find! Turns out it was just featured this week in New York Magazine's best places to eat. It's a tiny little spot on East 10th Street (being just a stone's throw from our friend at 410e9th) and you have to get your name on "the List" by 10:45pm. There was a bit of a wait, but it was very fun and very New York, especially as more and more people tried to get on the list after 10:45 and we just watched as they were turned away-- Ha! We ended up being the second to last people seated, and it was terrific because we got to enjoy our deserts leisurely and we got to watch Chika and Sofia putting together our fab desserts. I had a warm chocolate tart with red peppercorn ice cream and a red wine sauce, the Husband had white chocolate mousse with kiwi (not just any kiwi, mind you, but kiwi that had been marinated in lavender), Thisbe had panna cotta with sorbet and PBB had this really tasty apple pudding cake in a creme anglaise sauce. We also had an amuse bouche of roasted banana ice cream in a darjeeling tea gelee and there were neat little petite fours for after the main course. We practically closed down the house and had a nice little chat at the end of the evening with Chika, her husband Don (who was just lovely) and Sofia. All in all, great dessert spot, and worth the wait and deserving of the hype.

It was a wonderfully fun night, Thisbe and PBB are always fun and it was nice to be able to chat about all things baby, as the Thisbe family has paved the baby way with their adorable Wee Kraken.

Anyhoo! Here's to future fondue plans at the Melting Pot!!

Blasphemy!

Okay, so what the heck happened to Citarella at Rock Center? The turkey chili, the sushi-eqsue sandwich rolls? One day it's there, the next day-- poof! Gone, windows dark, no more Citarella, what am I supposed to have for lunch now???

Name Game

So Baby Center suggested to me via email that when thinking about baby names some couples find it useful to set "ground rules". Such ground rules include the decision not to entertain using any names of former boyfriends/girlfriends or any names previously used for family pets.

So I guess Gunther and Tootsie Roll are out.

What Gives?

Here is a story on MSNBC about Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis who have been refusing to transport passengers with dogs (including service animals) and people carrying liquor. My thought is, if you drive a cab for a living, you really don't get to make choice about (a) who you pick up, (b) where you're taking them, and (c) what's the best way to get to your destination. I'm all for cab drivers making decisions based on their own safety (i.e. okay, you don't have to pick up the scary guy in a ski mask with a bulging coat pocket at 2am in the bad part of town), but if your religion is going to interfere with who you're wiling to drive somewhere when you're getting paid, then you need to find a new job.

News of the World...

Here are a bunch of typically random thoughts....

First, thanks to Em for sending this New York Times story about the closing of Micawber Books in Princeton. It is quite a shame-- Micawber is one of the fun places downtown to go, hang out and find fabulous books, used and otherwise. To paraphrase Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail, it is likely to now turn into something really depressing like a Starbucks or a Baby Gap. (Actually, it appears that the space will be taken over by a chain book store hired by Princeton University and will be part of the University Store).... sure, why didn't we ever have anything like that at the Big Red Store at Cornell???

Next item: The Good Shepard. I had high hopes. The husband, however, knew it would be a borefest and he was right (he had the fine idea to stay home the day the folks and I headed to the Garden Theater to see it.... note to the folks who run the Princeton Garden Theater-- fabulous theater, but really, you need to sell Nachos.) Clocking in at almost 3 hours long those are 3 hours I'll never get back. Towards the end of the film I leaned over to my mom and said-- I'm going to need a ham sandwich after this (okay, so that had less to do with how boring the movie was and more to do with the fact that there were no nachos involved-- see complaint above). All I can say is De Niro is an incredible acting talent, but he needs to leave the directing to Scorsese. A mental comparison between this flick and The Departed and there is no comparison. And that guy that they got to play Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie's son?? Okay, just because you have big lips doesn't mean you look like Angie's offspring. I'm sure it was all make-up, but they needed someone considerably less goofy looking to play their kid. Why don't you just hire Crispin Glover and get it over with?

On other fronts. Today is one of those pregnancy low-self-esteem days. Mainly because I'm not wearing maternity clothes-- I'm wearing regular clothes that were just a big bigger than most of my stuff and I generally feel like a water buffalo. As Dave commented, if people don't know I'm pregnant they're going to think I've just packed on a few pounds. Great.

Shout Out.

The blog got a shout out on this Tracy Morgan related news buzz webpage...

New Year's Thoughts, Stolen from Texas Jack.

I liked this concept from Amy's website

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before? Baby ultrasound!

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I have no idea.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Amy! Thisbe!

4. What countries did you visit? Does Massachusetts count? I know people from Maine would think so.

5. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? Those ever elusive MegaMillions Lottery winnings? A new dishwasher (trust me, we need it).

6. What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory? September 22nd!

7. What was the best thing you bought? All of that stuff that created the new and improved Smallest Bathroom in Middlesex County (especially that claw foot tub), okay, the DvF wrap dress I got on sale was pretty cool too.

8. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Sadly, Casino Royale? Saturday Night Live? Going to that casting call!

9. What song will always remind you of 2006? Ain't No Other Man. That Christina can sing.

10. Compared to this time last year, you are: More rotund.

11. What do you wish you'd done more of? Travel, relax, knit...

12. What do you wish you'd done less of? Work!

13. How did you spend Christmas? With the folks!

14. What was your favorite TV program? Heroes-- Save the Cheerleader, well, you know the rest.

15. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 31...Went to Le Cirque for lunch, told the grandparents to be of the baby on the way...

16. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Is there ever just one?

17. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006? All about scarves. 2007-- the search for pants that fit.

18. What kept you sane? That assumes that I am sane!

19. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006. It's my cat's world, I'm just living in it.

Pregnancy Symptom #3036

Full body rash. Need I say more?