I Speak With the Tongue of a Thousand White-Hot Lies!

We're all kinda crabby today, so I am going to make a totally happy post.

1. doggiesushi will be here soon, which will probably cheer all of us up quite a bit.

2. I saw three odd birds yesterday on my way home, two together on 41, then another of the same sort about a mile or two down the road. Got home and looked them up in my bird books, and they were apparently sandhill cranes. Which was cool, but also strange because according to my book, they don't come to this coast. Which would explain why I'd never seen them before--I mean, they're huge; you'd think if they were local I'd have noticed them before now. Still, my aunt saw ... was it a wild canary? a bluebird? ... some bird in Tennessee that doesn't actually live in Tennessee at all, but it migrates over Tennessee, so we think it was making a pit stop. These could be the explorers of the sandhill cranes, the pioneers. Or the ones with no sense of direction.

3. I also got the print I ordered from visioluxus, an amazing photographer whose website is here. The one I got is three rows up from the bottom, third in from the right. It's gorgeous on the computer, but it's bloody amazing in person; it's metallic and the red is beautiful and it makes stories in my head, and I'd stare at it all day if I wasn't afraid the Zweeble would get ahold of it.

4. Okay, remind me to post about my father vs. the aquatic mammal, because it deserves its own post.

5. Thank god, the Zweeble has finally fallen asleep.

6. The fact that I can bribe my kid into his high chair not with candy or sweetened cereal--no, the Zweeble loves saltines. Crumble him a cracker and he's all set. (Ours are no-salt, even.)

7. A mystery text message from someone wishing me a happy birthday. I texted back to find out who it was, and spent an hour or two digging that I had a somewhat secret well-wisher.

8. We bought the Zweeble these things called dippers that look like a cross between a Dr. Seussian dagger and those handle things you stick in your corn on the cob (except no metal parts, just plastic). They're meant for the kid to grab, dip into baby food, and then shove in his mouth and suck on, all in an effort to get him to feed himself. For 98 cents, we figured what the hell--I kinda figured they'd be another thing for him to teethe on.

But no! He grabbed one, dipped it, and sucked the food off as soon as I showed him what to do. Hooray imitation! Granted, he didn't do it the whole time, but progress is progress.

9. Phone call from doggiesushi on the road, during which gnadige called.

10. Called Erin back and discovered she's on the road, too!

11. Birthday wishes from sugarcoatedlie, rounding out happy birthdays from all my friends (jkason posted earlier today and coined my new favorite word, "stotaninity") on my actual birthday, which I don't think has happened in ... well, ever. (We're a scattered bunch, what can I say.)

12. E-card from the husband. In addition to my awesome mix tape.

13. The mystery texter texted back and revealed himself to be "David, Jason's David" (I guess like Bond, James Bond?), which is an extremely satisfactory resolution to the mystery. New friend wishing me a happy b'day rocks.

14. We have the Simpsons movie and two chocolate-covered cream horns awaiting us. In honor of the film, I say Best. Birthday. Ever.