jim beam

Since we have to have Jim Beam in the house I’ve made it a requirement to save the bottles for pocket change for Annie’s college fund.  This is now a family tradition since I got the idea from my dad who had many full JB bottles lining the wall of his closet … behind his enormous shoes.  So tonight, after many attempts at making Annie take her afternoon nap, I decided to lock her in our room with me so I could get some work done.  I laid out several of her favorite toys … the phone, the out-of-season bag that looks like a giant pillow with zinnias all over it, the iron, a clock, pictures of grandma/doodad/gigi/mema, screwdrivers, tampons, etc.  She was thrilled to have avoided another boring nap so she let me get about 30 minutes of work done … then I heard the clinkity clank clink, and, tripping over my laptop cord, made it to her mouth before she swallowed the funds for her first Art History textbook.  Ok, so that part was scary/funny enough, but then as I was trying to get all the dimes out of her reach, she grabs another bottle of frat-house scented coins and “takes a swig.”

I think Ben and I weren’t as ready for parenting as we thunk.

bicentennial babe

So today is my 32nd birthday.  This is how it went down…

Earlier in the week I was staying at Momoo’s where there is natural light aplenty.  I thought there was a one inch hair in the middle of my forehead so I kept picking at it until I nearly broke skin.  It wasn’t a hair.  It’s a giant wrinkle.

Today I was trying to track down my slippery mother on her cell phone and oddly enough one of her housekeepers answered.  I said, “Hello?” and Sue said, “Sammie?”  I said, “No, this is Robin.”  Sue said, “I always get you and your grandmother mixed up.”

Then tonight I finally broke into my new David Sedaris book and what did I receive from amazon.com?  The LARGE print version.  I swear the shuttle Discovery could see the print in this book.

Either I am ultra-sensitive today (duh) or the universe is telling me something.

On a much sweeter, happier note, Ben sent me gorgeous flowers at work today and took me on a date to Devito’s where we got to drink wine, order an appetizer and dessert/coffee!  I never knew how much something so simple would mean to me.

I also never knew how much I admired and respected Tim Russert until I learned of his death.  What a man.  I’m really going to miss him and what he contributed on a daily basis to the political process and American history.  He really had it together.