I come to you, my ingenius creative friends for help. In my nano story the main character's sister has given her a gift. It seems like this gift is really important, but I can't figure out what it is. My character, Dori, has been doing a bit of soul searching throughout the story, and is rather confused about who she is and what she believes in. She kind of want to be told what to believe in and doesn't want to do the legwork.
Thoughts about what her sister got her?

Audit and Adjustment corp are the most heartless, compassionless, aggressive, rat bastard mother-fuckers I have ever had the misfortune of having to deal with.  Consider this a public service announcement.

Maddie peed on the pottie TWICE today! No kidding!   She's not even 16 months old yet!  Both of my kids are freaking awesome!! (Remind me that I wrote this next time one of them is driving me crazy lol)

Voter pamphlets and ballots came yesterday.  Gavin mentioned it this morning and Elias asked if he could vote.  I had noticed there would be a "mock election" online that kids could participate in, so I said he could vote in that and we would talk a bit about what he would be voting for.  He wanted to talk about it now, so we talked a little bit about I-1033 and R-71.  I explained (as neutrally as possible) what R-71 was and what it did.  Afterwards I asked him what he thought.  He thinks on it a bit and says, "Everyone should have the same rights as everyone else otherwise it isn't fair."  Ladies and gentlemen, my son is smarter than half the country.
 I guess I did something right.

If anyone is planning on going to the Puyallup Fair this Sunday, come by the Education Stage at 4:30 to see Saqra's troupes, including Alahad Shamal which I am part of, perform!!!

I guess I'll dig under the couch for change later.

So to speak. 

So I signed up for a 5K event, something I've never done before, that's for sure.  I've been busting ass the last month or so, and this will definitely help!   No, I won't be running, don't look at me like that!  But I can walk 3.1 miles. 

And it's even for a good cause, so there. 

And I'm going to be doing some training with some members of the mom's group I belong to.  They want to work me up to running lol, they want to do a half-marathon next May.  ?#$#%$  What?!?!?!  But you know what?  That's half a year away.  And last year the idea of even walking a 5K would have been something to laugh at.  And I have no doubt that I can do this.  I'm not going to say no sweat, I'll be sweating plenty.  But it's nice to KNOW that I can do this.  And it's going to be AWESOME when I cross that finish line. 

I think I'm probably some kind of masochist. 

The Maddie-Bug has taken her first steps!!! 

She can do about 3-4 at a time, then she realizes she is walking and lands on her butt ;-)
I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up....

She'll be running circles around us soon, she dances (and even does jazz-hands lol).  I tied one of my coin belts around her waist (pretty much made a wrap skirt for her) and she boogied in it :-)
She grabs the Rock Band microphone and sings into it... I think I'm raising quite the little performer!

Maddie, baby, anything you want to do, you have my full support and I will help you in any way possibly, my sweetheart.

That the moon passed between the earth and the sun?

Yesterday the student troupe performed at Kent Cornucopia Days! My first public outing as a bellydancer!!
Next weekend we have MedFest so that will be completely awesome :-)
Things went... interesting lol...

( Photos of bellydancers under the cut!! )

Last year for Valentine's Day I won a radio contest where the challenge was picking the 3 songs you and your sweetie could live with the rest of your life (spin-off of a regular feature they have called Desert Island Discs -- the 3 CDs you could live with the rest of your life).  I chose "Push" by Sarah McLachlan, "Crash Into Me" by Dave Matthews Band and "Always With Me, Always With You" by Joe Satriani with the explanation of how those songs represented our relationship.  The prize was a collection of CDs Folk Music from 1960 - 1990s and tickets to a concert.  We didn't get a chance to go to the concert (failure to procure a babysitter), but the best prize was hearing the songs played and having the DJ talk about us and our relationship.  It was really special.

You see them at all hours, weekdays and weekends.  Zipping in between the slow-moving traffic, insisting that others "share" the road but acting like it belongs solely to them.  Looking condescendingly down their noses at others trapped in the fume and pestilence spitting vehicles called cars.  Knowing that they personally are saving the earth.  Thumping their fists on the hood of the gold Hyundai who was trying to make a turn and happened to stick it's bumper 2 inches into the cross-walk.
Self-righteous U-district bike rider, you're one of us. 
And like you, we... oh wait.  You don't own a car.  You don't need our product.  But you better pray that that SUV you just dove in front of has Pemco because next time they might not be so quick on the brake.

And you thump my car again, I'll thump you WITH my car.  Jerk.

On a more positive note, I heard a public service announcement on the radio decrying the use of "That's so gay."  Two thumbs up, sez I.

I've always been partial to "schadenfreude."  Leave it to the Germans to come up with a word that expresses delight in another's misery.

My Dad used to dumpster dive.  Still does, although now he calls it metal detecting.
When I was in middle school we owned a sort of farm, with several animals, including goats, sheep, cows, horses, pigs, turkeys, chickens, and ducks.  Feeding all of these critters was incredibly expensive so my dad figured out that on the way back from his "real job" he could swing through the back of a grocery store (I think he used to hit the Stock Market that was in Gig Harbor, and I know he was hitting an Albertson's somewhere too) and go through their dumpsters and if he hit it at about the right time, he would catch all the produce they were getting rid of for the day.  So all the animals would eat well.  In time he started bring back stuff like potato chips that were past their "peak of freshness" and such.  We didn't particularly care, it was free food. 
I think my folks had some kind of idea that when we moved from University Place to the Key Peninsula they were going to be some sort of pioneer and live off the land.  We had a lot of books about "living simply" and raising your own food and stuff like that.  Although, if you know my mother, you would know that the idea of her "living simply" is a  bit of a joke.   She is of the sort that think  "camping" involves either an RV or a 4-star hotel.  Although I guess dumpster diving is in a way "living off the land."  Especially when Albertson's is throwing away perfectly good potato chips.

Spent today cleaning the house.  How I miss the days when I didn't have to work and I could just run around the house in 15 mins or so tidying a couple things and the place looked spotless.  Now it always seems like a constant battle to keep up with it.  And with Maddie cruising around like a little maniac, it really has to be done.  She finds freaking EVERYTHING and shoves it in her mouth.  Plus it's really hard to gripe at Elias about the condition of his room, when the rest of the house isn't much better.  Tomorrow I'm going in there with garbage bags and boxes though.  He's had all day to make some headway, and he hasn't done a damn thing except make his bed.  I tried to give him some really specific directions ("Make your bed with clean sheets.  Pick up all the books and put them neatly in the bookcase. Pick up your CDs and put them in this folder.  Put all your clean clothes in the laundry."  But it takes him forever to do the simplest task, because he gets so damn distracted halfway through and finds a toy he wants to play with.  So he sits and messes around and then comes out to tell me he completed whatever specific task I gave him.  Well, I'm trying to sweep the floor, or scrub the table or something, and so I don't go check and I give him the next assignment, only to find a few minutes later that he never completed the other one.  The kid has the attention span of a squirrel, I swear to you.  No, that's not true.  A squirrel is able to spend the year gathering nuts rather single-mindedly.  Okay, what creature has a crazy short attention span?  A cocker spaniel I guess.  Or a chihuaua.  However you spell it.  Blegh.
At any rate.  It's safe to put Maddie on the floor again.  Although she has been pulling herself to standing on all the furniture.  So I suppose we aren't so very far from the next great adventure..... walking.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeee......