Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee!!!!! :D Maybe I'll have something profound to say later. Probably not, though. ;)

This morning, I wheeled Julia around the grocery store singing the theme to Elmo's World. I just had macaroni and cheese and mini veggie corn dogs for lunch. And I'm about to go to Toys-R-Us to get some finger paints for us to play with this afternoon. Yeesh, I feel like such a mom. Someone stop me before I start watching daytime TV!

I'd better stop by B&N while I'm at Toys-R-Us and get a caramel macchiato* to maintain my cool nerdy chick cred.

*Fine, I'll also be going back to the children's books section to get more books for Julia.

This is Julia. She looooooves to read!

Her favorite book right now is Baby's First Bible, which she brings to us saying, "Bobby? Bobby?"

That's cute and normal and all, but on two occasions today I've come into the sunroom to see her camped out by a bookshelf holding a copy of Pascal's Pensées. That's two occasions. OK, fine, so it was within easy reach, and she grabs pretty much anything she can get her hands on. Still, I like to take it as a sign that she's on the road to supergeniusdom. :D

I'm not sayin' I'm a commie or nothin', but this guy seems pretty cool.

I knew the new Starbucks drive-through was going to be the death of me. Now that I can get coffee drinks without all the hassle of, you know, getting out of my car and walking my fat can up to a counter, I talk myself into indulging in them far too often. Usually I'm going for the iced caramel macchiato, but today I felt more like my runner-up, iced mocha valencia (read: iced mocha with orange-y syrup). When I got it, the chick told me they found out today they were discontinuing it. BOOOOOOOOOOOOO-URNS Starbucks!

Today begins my week of "vacation." And by "vacation" I mean "not going to work, but staying home with a toddler and a puppy and trying to start and finish a freelance project by next Monday." Should be some good times.

Also, MAJOR UPDATE: T-minus 3 days until my birthday! WOOOOO!!!

Yeah, you lost me at "helpmeet."

You people can't say I ain't keepin' it fresh!

Of course, I'm defining "keepin' it fresh" as "posting a two-sentence update with a link to an oldie but goodie."

BLOGFIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!

Truth, righteousness, and justice vs. Indianblog.

I'm pleased to report that sweet corn is ready in central Illinois! We picked up a dozen from a dude selling them out of the back of a truck Saturday. It's some kind of newer hybrid variety, I dunno, I don't remember. But man oh man, was it great! Absolutely lived up to the months of anticipation.

It's so marvelous to enjoy fresh corn on the cob on a summer night, so wonderful, that I can't say the joy is even mitigated by the necessity of shucking, a job I hate probably more than ironing. It's THAT great. And this particular round of shucking even included a giant green worm. *SHUDDER*

Julia wasn't old enough to try corn on the cob last year, so this was her first time. To no one's surprise, she caught on right away. That's our girl!

You know what's freaking cool? Being a 70-year-old theological thinker who's willing to change a long-held position.

My mother-in-law says that as we age, we don't change, we just become "more so"...that is, our peculiarities solidify and intensify so that we're increasingly ourselves, only more obnoxiously so. I hate to say that it seems like there's a lot of truth to this.

That's why it's so refreshing to see an older, conservative man adopting a different position that many in his circle will decry as "liberal." I hope that I'm able to carry that kind of humility and intellectual curiosity into my last day.

(Incidentally, his new position is entirely correct and will ultimately be seen that way by the majority of Christians. Not that I'm intractable on this, or any, point of doctrine. I'm still pretty young, right?)

Peace out, kids--have a fresh weekend!

P.S. Yes, I am stealing material again from Brant. And props to my homie Don Follis, who wrote the linked reflection.

This is sik and rong.

Next up: blending all U.S. states together in one mass so we don't have to remember those pesky state capitals anymore.

MAJOR SCHADENFREUDE UPDATE!!!

As you faithful readers know, things did not end well with the owner of the home we just moved out of (which we had rented for a couple of years). There was no big blow-up, and in fact the guy may not even realize that we think he's pretty much shown himself to be a first-class dinkwad. Point being, the guy nickle-and-dimed us enough that after we moved out, we found ourselves actively wishing for his house to stay on the market. For, like, a long time. Nothing against the house--we had a great stay there. We just thought it'd be pretty cool for him to have to pay two mortgages for a year or so. So we would drive by pretty regularly to see whether the for sale sign indicated any sale, and every time we saw that it was still for sale there'd be this sick little satisfaction and a Nelson-Munz-style "Ha-ha!" would spring forth.

Well, last week I drove by and saw a sale pending sign. I was so disappointed that I think I actually did yell "Dammit!" to no one in particular (seeing as how I was alone in the car).

I don't feel too great about my attitude here. But then I remember all those imprecatory psalms, and figure maybe I'm doing well if I'm not imploring God to ice him.

So, congrats on the house sale, Cheapy McTightwad. Now, you think you can see your way clear to return our security deposit?

Wow, looks like I managed to go the entire month of June without updating. Yay me! Ah, keep your pants on, people, I've been unpacking.

How lame is it that after a month of non-updateage, my triumphant return is blatantly lifted from one of my favorite blogs?

LOfreakingL. It is so much worse than I remember, and I remember it as one of the worst music videos of all time. While watching it, I keep imagining what the planning sessions must've been like: "And then, you can just like stand there and mouth part of the song, and--OH! Hey! I know! We'll have the other guy face you and he can mouth the words too, then we'll put the chick between you. But we'll film it from the SIDE! Then in this other part, Steve, you can walk backward through this maze kinda thing we'll set up to look all warehouse-y."