Ginger Unplugged

You know, it wasn't that bad. First of all, there are only 24 members of the family. Oops. But yes, half of those are children. I brought pretty much everything I said I would and played football, husker-du and set out the flannel board book but other than that, the kids really took care of themselves. Enough toys of the right variety work wonders. It was really nice to get together with family, celebrate birthdays and eat stuff. The flying monkey was pretty mellow actually. Diaper rash. :( I guess it slows him down. Unfortunately, no one even mentioned Apples to Apples. Not even my mom. Oh well. Maybe next year.

This all started the other night when I went for a walk with my friend. I had been looking forward to it all day and by the time we could go the sun had set, the clouds had rolled in and it was dark. We walked along the river trail anyway where before long the trees were creaking and lashing out at us in the howling wind. I admit, it was a bit spooky. But when my friend said something like, "Heaven's unleashed its fury!" You know what I said? "Bring it on." There was no way she was getting out of that walk with me. The walk was relatively uneventful. To liven things up, I decided to see if my pepper spray worked. It didn't, which was good to know. It just drizzled down my glove and smelled like aerosol. Are you supposed to shake that stuff first? Do you have time to shake it while attackers are pouncing? Does it just get shaken naturally by your fear? Anyway, I went walking today again. I wore the same gloves. I rubbed my eye. As I threw my contact into the ...

Today is Thanksgiving, that day of the year when my grandma Lois wants the whole family in her house for dinner. Let me elaborate: the whole thirty-four member family, and possibly friends, in her lovely but small 1940's style house. Twelve of those 34 members are children under the age of 10 (and one is a flying monkey). Cap this off with the fact that Grandma has a little yard, the weather has recently grown COLD and Grandma and Grandpa like it quiet and calm. Like REALLY like it quiet and calm. And did I mention that Grandma went to the hospital the day after Thanksgiving a couple of years ago from all the stress of trying to keep everyone quiet? At least that's what we think it was. Or the stress of everyone not being quiet despite her stern looks. So last night my mother called me. She had that tone between anger and hysteria that means "Look, don't discuss, just do this." "Hi," she said. "Do you have Apples Junior?" What the heck? "Y...

Yes, another tragedy in the family. The New Yorkers said they brought my laptop to life for an hour. Then it died. It's gone. They retrieved my hard drive information, though, and are sending that and everything back. My husband is going to sell my laptop's little parts on eBay--at least the parts that work. He told me the news as he presented me with THIS--a new MacBook with the Leopard operating system. Aaaah. I had very mixed feelings about the whole thing. But I think this laptop and I were meant to be together and there was no other way than the death of my other computer. I wish I could have been there when it woke up for an hour. At least it got to see New York before it gave up the ghost. Everyone should get to do that.

It all started on Halloween when, for the second year in a row, I didn't have a costume and wanted one at the last minute. You know those emergency Halloween parties? Well, I went to one. As I stood there behind the spiderwebbed cupcakes and the green-colored cheese bread, my friend said she liked my vest. "Did you make it?" she asked (having made her Bellatrix costume herself--including the corset and everything). "Um, no," I answered. "I bought it a long time ago." At that moment I realized that the huge belt, the white shirt with the awesome cuffs and collar, the slightly big and funky jewelry, the boots and, of course, the vest that I still wear under suit jackets were all items from my own wardrobe. My own wardrobe. My personal style through the ages has been "Modern Pirate!?" Luckily, I still have both calves intact and a serious aversion to knickers (my first 6th grade boy/girl dance--don't ask) or I think people would expect me t...

My computer has yet to turn on. I took it to a Mac repair place where I was informed that the power cord connection has a short--guess that's why the little light never even came on when I plugged it in. More tragically, the logicboard has a short, too. I don't know what a logicboard is, but it's apparently pretty important since it costs $1260 to replace. The whole Macbook only cost me $1200. My husband, bless his heart, loves me dearly. And his favorite way to show this is through electronics which he doesn't get much chance to do. Electronics and I don't get along so well, even when they haven't had water poured on them. Anyway, Husband found a place that claims to fix water-damaged logicboards in New York. We tried to explain to them that it must have a lot more wrong with it since we couldn't even get the info from my hard drive to transfer to another computer. Still, they wanted a shot. If they can't fix it, we don't pay. All hail the New York...