Ha, Mare thought to do a little googling, and she found that we don't know the only Hitler cat. There's a whole website of 'em: Cats That Look Like Hitler. I'm gonna get permission to add our kitteh to the bunch.

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This "art project" is just beyond anything my brain can comprehend:

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

That's art?

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.
...
But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for “shock value.”

“I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts said. “Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it’s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.”

What could you possibly think your art project is going to inspire me to talk about, besides the fact that you horrify me as a human being? Do you think people will go to the exhibit and say, "Huh, I had no idea there was so much blood during an abortion. Thanks to this display, I feel educated on the subject." You're unbelievably stupid if you don't think the only thing people will feel is shock and revulsion.

Look, even people who think that there might be some times when the morning-after pill or an abortion is the right choice for a woman, that time is certainly not whenever you feel like pumping yourself full of sperm and videotaping your miscarriage for a passing grade in art class.

And because these days I have a hard time seeing anything without my own lens of reproductive woes, this just appalls me on levels I can't even describe.

What in the hell is wrong with "artists" these days? Doesn't anyone just paint anymore?

UPDATE:

Here's another completely awful "art" exhibit. This time, a dog is chained up Tantalus-style, just out of reach of food. And left to starve to death. It's art!

Posted by: Sarah at 04:09 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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I read yesterday at CG that a blogger I've never read before, Dispatches from Blogblivion, has fallen on hard times. I noticed his wife has an Etsy shop, so I went and bought a cute crochet pattern. If anyone is so inclined to get a crochet pattern in exchange for a little charity, her Etsy shop is here. Looks like I will be crocheting little birdies at some point in the future.

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These LOL Cats are hilarious (via Mare). I crack up at this kind of stuff, but I'm easily amused. A simple "teh" can make me want to wet my pants.

Anyway, Charlie loves cats. Loves them. His first cat experience was with my in-laws' cat when he was young, and their cat thinks he's a dog. Seriously. He goes on walks and stuff. And he wrestles with Charlie. They scrap and fight and roll around. Unfortunately, Charlie now thinks this is how all cats are supposed to act. He's since scared the bejesus out of numerous cats because he wants to play with them and most kittehs are not into that sort of thing.

But he got to play with his favorite cat all last week, which was so fun to watch. Sadly, it's not so easy to photograph. But here they are, face to face, right before the cat reaches out and punches Charlie in the face.

Also, I forgot to mention that this cat is hilarious for another reason. The jokes write themselves because he has a dark patch of fur right under his nose. Beware of Hitler Cat.

Charlie doesn't seem so scared. Maybe he thinks his blond hair and blue eyes will endear him to Hitler Cat.

By the way, he would make a great LOL Cat.

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Found this story on ABW's site: Baby left at doorstep finds new home

BAGHDAD – Spotting irregularities is a tactic that is drilled into the minds of Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers throughout training and in practice while in Iraq. Soldiers recently watched as a car pulled up to an entry control point at Forward Operating Base Callahan in northern Baghdad. They continued to watch as a woman stepped out of the car holding a bag. Once the woman dropped the bag near the gate, internal alarms were ringing and a careful search was called for and conducted.

That search yielded a newborn baby wrapped tightly in several cloths. Soldiers raced to the bag, retrieved the child and brought him to the aid station to be examined. “We unwrapped it to make sure he was alive – and he wasn’t sick, he wasn’t dead, he wasn’t injured,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Briscoe, the Aid Station NCOIC at FOB Callahan. “He was a perfectly healthy baby. I’m guessing three to seven days old. He was in perfect health. There wasn’t a scratch on him.”

And what's to happen to the little bouncing boy? That's the best part of the story:

The baby is to be adopted by the brother of a local national, who works at the base. The brother and his wife have been married five years and have been unable to have a baby of their own. The interpreters at FOB Callahan have taken a collection to donate to the family to help care for the baby.

A happy ending for everyone. Plus I like thinking about manly soldiers in Iraq changing diapers and cooing over a newborn.

Heh, that reminds me of the time we went to visit some friends who had just had a new baby girl. While we were there, our friend was telling my husband about the new pistol he'd bought. He brought it out to show my husband, and oh how I wish I had a picture of my husband holding a newborn baby girl under one arm and aiming a Glock with the other.

Now that's hot.

Posted by: Sarah at 08:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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We had our mail held while we were on leave, and it just got delivered today. Some interesting pieces in there. First of all, via the university my husband is about to graduate from, there's a letter urging him to consider joining the Army. Heh.

Secondly, our 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal. Wanna know the choices for race?

• Mexican, Mexican Am, Chicano
  
• Puerto Rican
  
• Cuban
  
• Other Hispanic, write in Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard
  
• American Indian or Alaska Native (print name of tribe)
  
• Asian Indian
  
• Chinese
  
• Filipino
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Vietnamese
  
• Native Hawaiian
  
• Guamanian or Chamorro
  
• Samoan
  
• Other Pacific Islander, write in Fijian or Tongan
  
• Other Asian, write in Hmong, Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian
  

Oh yeah, and White or Black.

Christ on a cracker, where to begin? These are not races; these are national identities! We're really going to let Asians self-identify as Japanese, Korean, or Laotian but white Europeans can go f themselves? Oh, and remember, Arabs are considered "white." So we'll lump Swedes, Sicilians, Bulgarians, and Arabs all together, but heaven forbid we don't know whether you're Fijian or Tongan living in the US.

This makes me so mad I can't even see straight.

Who cares about any of this? You know what prevents us from moving from the color of one's skin to the content of his character? This bullcrap. I have the audacity of hope that one day we won't have to check stupid effing boxes like this, that one day we'll just all be called Americans.

Is that too much to ask? Really? Because otherwise I want a write-in tally for German-Irish-English-Native-American-American.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:32 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 I thought the same thing when I got the census today. Where's the "other" category?

Posted by: Green at April 15, 2008 05:12 PM (6Co0L)

2 So now you're on Rachel Lucas' blogroll. Congratulations!

Posted by: Oda Mae at April 16, 2008 01:54 AM (6zvrq)

3 This has bothered me FOREVER... I remember having a discussion with a Frenchman (he was not carrying a white flag.) Explaining am German, English, French, Lakota... DH is Austrian, Irish, German, Scottish.... the Collective...the mind boggles... The Frenchman thought it was disgusting...

Posted by: AWTM at April 16, 2008 04:49 AM (xa7ES)

4 I am (where to begin!) from my genealogy work: Swiss, German, Dutch, Belgium, More German, More Swiss, Spanish, Brazilian (Dutch East Indies era ), French Hugenot, English, Scotch Irish, Scottish, Irish, more German, Mexican or Spanish, more German, Irish, etc and so on and so on. I'm sure I've left some out. It is ridiculous, Heinz 57 as they used to say. Do you know how many ancestors there are when you really do them? My ancestors were here in 1648 and 1748 and 1848 when I can trace them to the shores. What do I check? I, too am looking for strictly American, or other.

Posted by: Ruth H at April 16, 2008 06:45 AM (FAgoX)

5 Out of four grandparents, two were directly off the boat from Europe. The other two were first generation Americans. They were all extremely proud of not just their heritage but the fact that they made themselves part of this country's culture. They'd be insulted that I don't get to check the "American" box, or not having one of those, the "European American" box.

Posted by: Ann M. at April 16, 2008 07:10 AM (HFUBt)

6 When I joined the British army in 1940, I was interviewed by a sergeant who, while taking down all the relevant particulars, asked, "What is your race?" Well, nowadays, I would say "white" or "Caucasian," but at the time, that wouldn't have occurred to me. In England, we never spoke about race. I knew what the Germans meant by it, however. So I asked the sergeant whether I should put "Jewish" in that category. "Nah," he dismissed. "That's your religion, and we've already got that on another line." At that point, I was completely mystified. "What, then," I asked, "am I supposed to put?" "As far as the British army is concerned," he replied, "there are four races: English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. You are clearly English." So, I went to war with documents that said that I was British by nationality, English by race and Jewish by religion. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546415778&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Posted by: David Boxenhorn at April 16, 2008 09:48 AM (SEEcB)

7 I guess I'd really be screwed. I know I am an American and will gladly check that box, when if ever offered, but for now what do I do? Black AMERICAN father - German National mother - born on German soil in German hospital. Gone are the days of check what you look like. PC crap! Where is Archie Bunker when you need him?

Posted by: Vonn at April 24, 2008 07:05 AM (gNLi0)

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Today is tax day, the craptastic-est day of the year. Well, OK, it wasn't tax day for us; we filed months ago because we were owed a ton of money that the gov withheld from my husband's retention bonus.

Anyway, today is the day for Boortz to shine. Read here.

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This is just...well, awful. It's one of those stories that on the surface sounds funny if it weren't so damned serious and sad.

'World peace' hitcher is murdered: An Italian woman artist who was hitch-hiking to the Middle East dressed as a bride to promote world peace has been found murdered in Turkey.

The artist's sister says it all:

"Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust."

Indeed.

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I've decided that whoever came up with the expression "misery loves company" has never truly been miserable. Real misery feels worse when you hear someone else is going through it.

I got to go check my email at the local public library while we were on vacation. I found out that two other bloggers had miscarriages this week.

I cried quietly the whole way home from the library.
I do not want to share that misery with other people.

We're home now. I've got some stuff to share, but I'm too exhausted from the 18-hour drive to do it now.

But I did have a laugh the first night we were gone when I heard that Hillary's story of the girl who couldn't raise $100 for a prenatal visit, the story I wrote about when she was campaigning here in town, was baloney.

I missed my blog that night.

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1 Oh thank God! I missed you way too much - I clicked over here so many times just to check it bordered on stalking behavior. But I did manage to control myself a bit, as I didn't start hounding you or anything. But only because you had to spend some time with the husband.

Posted by: airforcewife at April 14, 2008 01:34 PM (mIbWn)

2 Although I have never experienced that misery, I do remember going through the motions to try to conceive and they can be brutal, for those you know through the blogsphere that lost their little ones this week, my heart goes out to them, that heartbreak, I can only fathom in my worst nightmares...... On the lighter note, it's good to see you back, get some rest....

Posted by: A Soldier's Wife at April 14, 2008 04:53 PM (U2GKz)

3 I have experienced a miscarriage and well, the misery is simply unbearable. The real misery though? Those people who just don't understand how miserable you are. Hang in there.

Posted by: Tonya at April 15, 2008 09:29 AM (KV0YP)

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My husband deploys in about a month and I haven't given it any thought at all. In fact, it just now kind of hit me. We've been so wrapped up in trying to have a baby that we haven't had time to think about any other emotions. We haven't even talked about his leaving.

And all of a sudden, I am sad. I am really going to miss him while he's gone.

I went and read the things I missed about him last time he was gone. Ha, they're all still true. Mostly this time, I will miss his company. Last time, I had many good friends whose husbands were deployed with mine, but now...well, I don't have any friends here in town. All of my friends are internet-based, and when the husband won't be coming home at the end of the day, I fear time is going to drag.

But anyway, enough about that. My husband is signing out on block leave today, so tomorrow we're headed across the country to visit his parents before he deploys. And while everything is up to date in most of the city, they haven't gone as fer as they can go at his parents' house. My in-laws don't have internet access, so I will be taking a week off of blogging. Don't have too much fun without me...

Posted by: Sarah at 09:32 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Have fun! We'll all miss you

Posted by: Ann M. at April 05, 2008 07:08 AM (HFUBt)

2 I am thinking that I may need to come see you once your husband deploys so you can teach me to knit, I can take Charlie for walks, and we can work our way through some of your awesome cookbook collection. We could make some meals to put in your freezer for later, if nothing else. But, I SERIOUSLY need to learn to knit. Or, you could come here & teach me AND GBear to knit as we live so close. LOL Have fun @ the in-laws!!

Posted by: Guard Wife at April 05, 2008 09:24 AM (BslEQ)

3 Have a great time and a safe trip!

Posted by: Butterfly Wife at April 05, 2008 09:43 AM (K0acE)

4 Hey! I'm here in town too! We just have to drag our friendship off the internet for lunch or something when you get back. You can teach me how to knit

Posted by: Green at April 05, 2008 11:44 AM (6Co0L)

5 It's funny how our love and desire grows so strong for our spouses with each deployment. Civilians will never understand the strength and committment that develops. Look forward to his return and making your bond that much stronger.

Posted by: Vonn at April 15, 2008 07:00 AM (5ZDPj)

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A good Townhall article today: Do We Care What They Think of America?

I wonder whether Democrats ever indulge the suspicion that "world opinion" may be bunk? Let's contrast, for example, the popularity of Israel (19 percent positive, 52 percent negative) and North Korea (23 percent positive, 44 percent negative).

You can imagine the juxtaposition she sets up between Israel and North Korea. Why do we care if Europeans don't like us; if they nestle us in betwee China and North Korea, they're the ones with problems, not us.

Also, Lorie Byrd wrote an article called I'd Pay to See Movies About American Heroes and opened her piece with quotes from lil ol' me. Aw, shucks.

(Both articles found via Conservative Grapevine, one-stop shopping for good links.)

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Oh my heavens, now MEN are getting pregnant before I am.

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AirForceWife wrote the following recently:

A few weeks ago I read an article that summarized a study about kid play. The results of the study were ASTOUNDING. The gist of it was this:

For the last fifteen years or so, parents have been directing children's play more and more in an effort to help them learn earlier and more easily. Action figures are no longer generic, but so specific they can't even be kept in the same vinyl storage case. Rather than "free play" where kids interact together with a minimum of adult involvement, adults are now fully involved and moving their spawn from place to place and activity to activity without giving the kid a chance to just play.

And a lot of kids don't know how to "just play" anymore.

The results of the study showed that in trying to help our kids this way, we were actually stunting the evolutionary adaptions that kids self-teach themselves to problem solve and interact in society. These learned behaviors are the basis for everything else a kid learns. In effect, we are giving our kids learning disabilities by trying to give them learning advantages.

I am no longer teaching knitting classes, but I am still working at Michaels when they have in-store events. And my favorite thing to do is watch parents interact with their kids when they bring them in for the kid-geared free events.

One example was the day sponsored by Crayola where the kids got to try out these fancy new markers and paper. So the craft was to make a door hanger, you know, like a Keep Out sign. And it was fascinating how many parents didn't like the way their kid was coloring or what he was doing and literally took the markers from his hands and made the hanger for him.

Yeah, little kids color like crap. The door hanger will not have their name and a fancy drawing of a cat if the kid is 3 years old. But if he just wants to take one marker of every color and draw a mess of squiggles, why not? It doesn't hurt anything, and it sure doesn't teach the kid any skills when you take the marker away from him and do the craft yourself.

At the play-doh section, I saw one parent tell her kid his thing was ugly. And she was right, it was ugly. But dang. She made him re-do it.

I think this is related to the idea of "free play." One thing that I have learned from watching all this parent-child interaction is that I will have to remind myself someday to let my kid put whatever he wants on his door hanger. And not do it for him. No matter how ugly it is.

Posted by: Sarah at 11:34 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 #3 made me a necklace of beads (she used my expensive ones) for my birthday. It's hideous. But I wore it anyway. And smiled. She and The Boy made it behind my back when they thought I wasn't paying attention. Cleaning up the beads they left behind made it kind of obvious what was going on, but it was so funny and sweet that they were trying! I think a lot of the parent problem with directing kids making door hangers has to do with the fact that they are around other people and conditioned to the thought that we all have to have little prodigies. If they did these things at home more often, the kids might have more chance to express themselves without being directed. Or, maybe they should just give their sons mohawks and teach them to yell, "Gernomino!", which makes the kid stand out sufficiently enough to make them a little less subject to the whole group dynamic pressure. Or maybe I just scare people.

Posted by: airforcewife at April 03, 2008 11:40 AM (mIbWn)

2 From door hangers to school projects. My kids definitely turn in their own work, even though it is hard for me to step back sometimes and not say a word. I sure don't want to have to go to college with them because they can't do things themselves! When my oldest was little and in Gymboree, she was 2 and she and her little friend were the only ones that weren't in freaking golf lessons! The other Dad was a golf pro too, but he didn't see the point in it and neither did I. Oh well, so I am not raising a Tiger Woods, but my kids certainly don't lack in creativity! One thing I will definitely do as a teacher is to nurture the spirit. I see too many kids during my observation hours that are beat down and told horrible thingsat home and then always think the things that they do are not good enough and want to give up. Maybe...hopefully...I am determined to make a difference. Pretty soon Gunner's hooch will be decorated in early childhood scribble and I know he will love all of them.

Posted by: Army Blogger Wife at April 03, 2008 12:17 PM (Y3JJK)

3 This reminds me of that chain email that was purportedly from Paul Harvey (but was a hoax, but I still liked the message): We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. http://cluestick.info/hoax/Paul_Harvey_Riddle.htm

Posted by: CaliValleyGirl at April 03, 2008 01:43 PM (U2RJu)

4 I always thought that when you're a parent, everything your kid makes is a work of art. Not so?

Posted by: Green at April 03, 2008 02:09 PM (6Co0L)

5 My SIL is like this. The kids play all these sports and never have time to do things on their own. It's sad. And she's always making fun of the projects they do in school. I don't see the point of that. Allowing them to suck at stuff gives them the skills and practice they need to get better.

Posted by: Ann M. at April 03, 2008 03:25 PM (HFUBt)

6 I think too many parents obsess about credentials and "skills," while ignoring *metaskills*...or what used to be called "character." It doesn't matter how good your grades are, or how many extracurriculars you were in...once you get out into the world, if you can't take initiative and make decisions for yourself...if you can't bounce back from a disappointment...it's unlikely that you're going to be very successful.

Posted by: david foster at April 03, 2008 05:15 PM (ke+yX)

7 Moderation is the key. Let them do stuff on their own and every once in a while stick your nose in and teach them how to do it a little better. I don't know if I was any good at it when my kids were small. You'd have to ask them now that they're grown up. I was too tired to hover (hovering is a hell of a lot of work). LOL. They did much playing on their own. I will never forget one of the mothers I knew who was a "hoverer". She would listen at the door of her daughter's room to see if everyone was getting along. I asked her what she was doing... when she told me I said - leave them be, they can work out their own problems. She said "but if there's a fight I want to settle it fairly". I said, "Oh hell no, if they fight and come to me to settle it - everyone is in trouble... that makes them work at it harder next time." I believe she thought I was insane. LOL.

Posted by: Teresa at April 03, 2008 05:17 PM (rVIv9)

8 It is hard to let your kids do it themselves. My husband is way better at this and has helped me. Even with the everyday stuff. As soon as the girls could walk, he had them walk as much as possible. Get out of the car, they walk to the door. Go to the grocery store - once we are inside, walk down the isles with us. It made things slower and sometimes it would have been easier to pick them up and go. But now they are both excellent walkers!!!!

Posted by: Amy at April 04, 2008 06:47 AM (x3nWw)

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Oda Mae emailed me to say that someone mentioned me on a Rachel Lucas post about people's favorite bloggers. So I just spent ten minutes reading through all the comments looking for my name, cuz I'm a douche like that.

Anyway, thanks to MargeinMI, whose moniker I recognize from years of readership, for mentioning me, especially in the same breath as names like Lileks and Steyn. It was such a compliment.

And she shaved four years off my age, so there's that compliment too!

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1 Wow! I got a thrill there Sarah! You ROCK and so does Rachel. I hope she checks in here now that 'Rupert' is being deployed. I think she would get a lot of comfort from your POV. I remember when I first started reading you and you were so thrilled at getting an email from Stephen Den Beste. (I miss him!) Now I know just how you felt! Too Cool. )

Posted by: MargeinMI at April 04, 2008 02:22 AM (rmiFZ)

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Let the going nuts commence:

Real Katrina hero? Wal-Mart, study says

"Profit-seeking firms beat most of the government to the scene and provided more effectively the supplies needed for the immediate survival of a population cut off from life's most basic necessities," Horwitz wrote in the study, which was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "Though numerous private-sector firms played important roles in the relief operations, Wal-Mart stood out."

Stuff Mentioned That White People Hate:

free market solutions
corporations
evil Wal-Mart
the government sucking
bottom-up problem solving
how price gouging saves and appropriately distributes resources

(This blog post patterned off of the White People in the News category at Stuff White People Like.)

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I considered writing about Obama and his "I donÂ’t want them punished with a baby" comment. Then I considered not writing about it because I am weary of thinking about other people having unwanted babies. But I will just say a couple of things.

As much as I want a baby now, that's how much I did not want a baby previously. I can't say that I would've used the word "punished," but I would not have been happy if I had gotten pregnant before I was ready. Not happy.

Right before my husband left for Iraq the last time, he was out on a training exercise for a month. During that time, my grandmother died. I was stressed with his upcoming deployment and being half a world away while my mother was losing her only living parent. And I was ten days late for my period. Even though my husband was in the field and there was no possible way I could've been pregnant, I was freaked out. I did not want a baby. I had been married for a year and a half, we had the same good relationship that we have now, and yet I did not want to have a baby yet. Not at all. I know we would've gone on to be OK with it and been a great family, but still I'm glad I wasn't pregnant back then. Even knowing what I know now -- how hard it's been to start a family -- I still can't honestly say I would've wanted it to happen four years ago.

Much less before I was married. No freaking way.

So that's my thoughts on that. I don't think "punished" was the right word to use, but I completely understand Obama's idea that a baby isn't always a blessed miracle. And while today it is really hard for me to think about all the unwanted babies in the world when we want one so badly, I still can't say I think it's appropriate to saddle young girls with a baby they don't want. Having to have a baby you don't want is the flip side of the coin to not being able to have a baby you desperately want. I wish no one ever had to live through either scenario.

Rachel Lucas has more thoughts on the matter: Reality always trumps idealism.

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I found this article funny -- Average British family eats the same six meals every week -- because it's a running joke in our family that we never eat the same thing twice. The only time we have repeats is when we have company over because I'm not brave enough to try something untested when guests are coming. Otherwise, I browse the cookbooks every week and find something new to try. The downside to this is that my husband is not so vocal about what he likes and dislikes. He said once, "What's the point; even if I love it, we're still not going to have it again." I say there will be plenty of time for repeats once we have kids. For now, there's no reason why I can't spend three hours making enchillada green sauce from scratch. Yum.

Posted by: Sarah at 03:21 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I finished reading Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom. I think for accessibility's sake I prefer Thomas Sowell's books, but without Friedman there would be no Sowell.

One thing that struck me was how little progress we've made in 46 years. Most of the points Friedman argues are the same points I've heard from the likes of Sowell, Stossel, or Elder. School vouchers, ending the minimum wage, a flat tax, the unsustainablility of social security: Friedman was talking about all of these things in 1962. 1962, for pete's sake. And we haven't done anything about it since then? These problems have been common knowledge for nearly 50 years, and still we manage to screw it up.

A lot of the book felt like it could've been written last week, since we still face the same stupid issues today. That is, until he starts using actual facts and figures.

In 1961, government amounted to something like $33 billion (federal, state, and local) on direct welfare payments and programs of all kinds: old age assistance, social security benefit payments, aid to dependent children, general assistance, farm price support programs, public housing, etc.

Then you see just how boned we are. Each of these programs alone is more than $33 billion these days.

We've had 46 years to take the advice of the world's greatest economist. Why have we been so stupid?

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Do you remember that episode of House where all those people got sick on the airplane, and it turned out they were all psychosomatic? I completely believe in the power to think you're sick and the placebo effect. One thing I would love to see, which is a completely unethical experiment, is to give women positive pregnancy tests when they're not pregnant and see what symptoms they report. I would bet that most of them imagine themselves nauseated.

For over a year now, I have spent the final days of every month trying to guess whether I feel pregnant or not. All of a sudden, you notice every twitch and twinge in your body. There are pains in your abdomen you swear you've never felt before. You sit and wonder if you could throw up. And every month save one, all those symptoms I felt were imaginary. It's amazing what the mind can be tricked into thinking when you really want to be pregnant.

So I'm sitting here trying to fight back nausea that most likely only exists in my head. Mind over...mind? And then at the end of every month, I have this fight with myself because I get so annoyed that I fall for it every month. I berate myself for even entertaining the hope. Because when you start to feel the twinges and nausea, you start to imagine all the good stuff: taking a positive test, calling mom and dad, finally getting to use all the lovely things I got at my baby shower. And then it just hurts your heart even more when it turns out to all be in your head. It's a stupid cycle.

Posted by: Sarah at 02:52 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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The husband is busy finishing up his MBA before he deploys, so that's why I'm writing about so many TV shows. Anyway, today I watched that National Geographic show Aftermath: Population Zero. I wanted to watch it after Lileks wrote about it, but I guess I remembered him writing more favorably about it. I checked his post again during the show and realized that it wasn't exactly a glowing report. What he said was this: "If the Aftermath show has any message, itÂ’s how useless the world would be without people." I thought he meant that's what the program showed. Nope, that's just what Lileks himself took away from the story.

I can't get past the absurdity of the claim that all humans disappeared from the face of the earth in the blink of an eye, leaving their cars and microwaves running, but no animals were touched. I can't think of any scenario that would make that happen, so some of the animal scenes seemed pretty dumb. Though I did thoroughly enjoy watching a skunk eat Frankenberry cereal.

I did enjoy watching the physics of crumbling buildings. But overall I spent most of the time rolling my eyes at how evil and awful human beings have been for the poor earth. Yep, we ruined everything.

Lileks again:

IÂ’d love to read an interview with Gaia in which she says that her goal all along was to come up with a species that could produce Beethoven and make rockets to send the music deep into space.

Now there's something to mull over...

Posted by: Sarah at 11:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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