Random Thoughts from the Weekend

I think we need to lobby for a more even split between the work week and the weekends. There are seven days in a week, it seems to me that a 4 on, 3 off schedule is more equitable and would probably get the same amount of work accomplished (and I'm not talking about 4 10 hour days, I'm talking about just working 32 hours a week). Was it Henry Ford who decided on the 40 hour work week? I seem to recall that may be the case. Whoever it was, we need to find Bill & Ted or Marty McFly - someone with a time machine - and get them to go back in time and give them a stern talking to. I really need an extra weekend day. Or a vacation. A long vacation. Or both.

Tim stayed home from work on Friday since it seems that ragweed around here has decided to be at a 20-year high, or some such nonsense. He has the dinosaur sinus horns to prove it. (The sinuses above Tim's eyes are the surest indication of how he's feeling. Currently they're swollen and providing a good 1/2 inch horn bud over each eyebrow. Poor baby.) The extra sleep, extra allergy shot, and extra allergy eye-drops seem to be helping. However, a good rain would also be welcome.

On the other hand, since Tim was home, he was able to collect two urine samples from the puppies and take them to the vet to see who has the UTI. (Tim is the master of this - he just swoops in with the ladle and *bing* done. I try and they just look at me like I've lost my mind and make it clear that as long as I'm around with that metal thing that they will just hold it thankyouverymuch.) (We're pretty sure, given the fact that accidents have started, that someone is in need of antibiotics.) The vet called Saturday and thinks it's Meg. Another poor baby.

Saturday I did some much needed book sorting and organizing. Daddy recently weeded through his bookshelves and handed down a ton of spy/thriller and sci-fi paperbacks. I pulled out what interested me that I didn't already have, as did Tim, and the rest were carted off to my sister. I also sorted through the boxes of stuff that I had brought home from my office when I got kicked out of my office since I'm onsite. Sent one box back to work to be stored in someone else's office and will shred the rest. But it's good to get it all out of my garage.

Saturday evening we went to one of those restaurants where they bring meat around on skewers with my family (mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law) and my aunt and uncle who were in town visiting. It was very fun and the food seems to have improved since the last time I was at this particular restaurant. So we may have to include it in our regular restaurant rotation. (Though their tiramisu leaves much to be desired - need to make a mental note not to bother with that again.)

Sunday after church we had lunch with some friends. Their 3 year old (almost 4! as she is quick to point out) was in an amusing (well, amusing if you're not the parent, I think) mood - it's always difficult for me to keep a straight face when they're explaining her choices of finishing the chicken finger or putting her nose on the wall. I don't imagine that helps any as they give me and Tim the fish eye while we're trying not to laugh.

Thereafter mom, dad, aunt and uncle came over for the afternoon. While the rib roast cooked (best one yet, I think, in my rib roast preparations. Just simple seasoning - salt, pepper, onion powder and a touch of cayenne pepper rubbed all over with six or eight garlic cloves smashed and then poked about an inch into the meat here or there - 20 minutes per pound at 350 to suit the medium-well preferences of the majority) we watched Nanny McPhee.

I was all set to dislike Nanny McPhee - mostly because I adore Mary Poppins and just don't understand why we need to mess with a classic (even if it is based on different stories). However, the story is cute and the acting is superb. Emma Thompson was wonderful (as she usually is, and it was nice to see her in a more age-appropriate role. I have a hard time forgiving her for her role in Sense and Sensibility.) Colin Firth was, well, Colin Firth. Happily he was well suited to the role - and it was nice to see him generally smiling vs. reserved and subdued. That said, as much as I enjoy him, he's not an actor with the broadest range in the world. You always know that it's Colin Firth. The children did a good job - and I know I've seen the oldest boy in something else but can't for the life of me figure out what.

I enjoyed the transformation of Nanny McPhee from snaggle-toothed old woman (is it just me who immediately flashes to Dead Poets Society when I hear the phrase snaggle-toothed?) to normal-looking nanny as the kids began to behave. But I do take minor issue with the fact that she also went from fat to thin - must we really have the implicit message that you can't be fat and beautiful at the same time? I understand that it's certianly the cultural perception, but it gets annoying.

Overall, however, Nanny McPhee gets 4 thumping staffs out of 5.

And that wraps up the weekend. Fun, productive and moderately restful. Two thumbs up.