This is posted late because I missed the Members Area downtime by about 3 minutes. Oh well.

I went to Les Schwab this morning to get my pancake tire fixed but it was unfixable so I said to just sell me a new one and I'd get 3 more like it when I could afford it. The guy looked up what he had available in that tire size (we have a Maxima) and the cheapest tire he had was $134. He apologized saying that the only kind of tire available in that tire size was a performance tire. I didn't really want to spend $134 for 1 tire (and then have to buy 3 more to match). He said he might have a used tire to sell me and left for a few minutes. When he came back, he told me he had a good tire with lots of tread (better than the one I was replacing) for just $54. Yeehaw! So now my tires are all inflated and ready to roll. Knowing that it's going to cost me over $500 to get 4 new tires makes me want to get the most amount of use out the ones I have.

So. I get done at the tire place and head to school. I'm about 15 minutes late but that's no big deal since it was a 3-hour open lab. I was all excited to try my handmade paper from Friday. I got my negative all set up and got out a sheet of treated watercolor paper and expose it then pop it in the developer and it's fogged. I try another piece and it's fogged worse. Damn! All my paper got fogged by the safelights while the paper was drying. I thought I had it in a dark-enough corner but I didn't. Crap! I was able to do some prints, still, but they aren't optimal and wouldn't be acceptable for critique. I am going to reuse the paper, though. It is thick enough that I can put the liquid emulsion on the other side and use it that way. I also was able to test all the papers I tried--the copper-coated paper didn't work (the emulsion slid off) nor did the nubbly hand-made paper (it disintegrated) nor the canvas board (the emulsion bubbled up and slid off) but it worked *great* on the thin "hand-made" paper with leaves and twigs embedded in it. In fact, it looks really, really kewl with the green leaves in the print. I'll get some more of that and do it again.

I don't mind the wasted paper, since it wasn't expensive or hard to get but I hate that I wasted half a bottle of silver print! Man, that cheeses me off! It costs $31 per bottle. Arrrggh! When I came home, I went through my scrapbook papers and realized that I have a bunch of papers that will work--handmade papers with silk threads, straw, leaves, bark, some vellum in several colors, and a few other fancy papers. I'll know better next time, though. Do one or two sheets, dry the paper with the hair dryer, put it in a paper safe and then do a few more. And make sure not to put too much emulsion in the bowl because you don't want it to get fogged before you put it on the paper, either.

I think our dense, pea-soup fog that persisted until noon was rather symbolic of my fogged paper.

I got home about 5 minutes after Joey and she was inside and had already started her homework. Wow! She thinks it is so very kewl to let herself in the house before I get home. I've arranged with my neighbor to watch Joey get into the house when I'm on my way home from class. There's about a 5 minute gap between our arrivals. One day I hurried really fast and made it home just as she was getting home and she was so bummed out. It was pretty funny. I was tremendously impressed, though, that she had started her homework. Man--that's good stuff!

I watched some Olympic curling. I love watching curling--it's so absurd but they're so serious about it. When Ed and I got married, we went to Canada on our honeymoon and got our first exposure to curling so it is inextricably linked to the happy feelings of the fresh bloom of being newly wed. I watch it whenever I see it on TV which is exceedingly rare. I was happy to see the US beat Sweden but sad to see our defeat at the hands of the Masters, the Canadians.

I also watched some Olympic snowboarding. Man--those guys are maniacs! It's hard to look at them, though, and see them as athletes because they too closely resemble the slacker snow-and-skateboarders I've known since high school--the Spicolis of the world. But this is the real deal. And I'm pretty darn sure they aren't the drug-heads I've known since that's prohibited by the Olympic rules. Still, it's a cognitive dissonance for me.

And can I just say that Sale and Pelletier were ROBBED? Robbed, I tell you. It's some kind of freaking conspiracy, that pairs figure skating Russian connection. I was appalled and disgusted with the results of the competition. I felt so sorry for the Canadians. They deserved by all rights to wear that gold medal but they took their defeat with grace and aplomb. The Russians even looked embarrassed to be receiving the gold medal. I'm sure they wanted it but probably felt it was a hollow victory to win this way. I even got choked up watching Jamie Sale stand on the medal stand with tears rolling down her cheeks, trying so hard not to cry but being unable to prevent it. They were definitely the champions in my opinion.

Oh, and Joey and I did catch some of the Westminster Dog Show. She thought it was so cool because she's crazy about dogs. We especially liked one of the terriers--this cute little thing all in white, very low to the ground with a giant white poof on the top of his head. She thought the handlers looked so silly running around the arena in their suits and dresses, though. I was right with her on that. Now she wants to see a cat show.

Sheesh--what a TV head I've been today!

And now is the time in Lobotomy Land when we share some trivia. Did you know that more than 65 million Tootsie Rolls are made every day? That's a freaking lot of Tootsies! My friend Gwen says that they are her favorite candy. I like 'em ok, but usually only as the inside of a Tootsie Pop.

Mary and Pat and Julia have been encouraging me to get my thyroid (T4 and TSH) tested to see if perhaps that's the cause of my extreme sluggishness. I had it checked 2 years ago and a few years before that and a few years before that and my T4 is always low-normals. Damn! I'm going to beg and cry and beg some more for thyroxine if my tests come back normal. It certainly is a good idea to get it tested again. And if my thyroid is normal, perhaps we can talk depression. Then again, I'm not sure if I want to risk the libido and weight gain side effects of taking an antidepressant. Aren't there any antidepressants that don't have sexual side effects?

Today, a local weatherman went to Joey's school and visited the entire 2nd grade. He took a picture of the kids and showed it on the 5pm news. Joey pointed herself out in the picture--good thing she could tell which one she was because I couldn't without her help! She was so excited to see herself on TV, though. It was fun to watch her dance around the family room. She's so cute when she's excited.

Tomorrow I have to go get 105 tangerines for the second-grade Chinese New Year party. This is party week for Joey--meterologist visit today, Chinese New Year party tomorrow, Valentine's Day on Thursday and 100th day of school (and a small celebration) on Friday. Man, wish I had a fun week like that!

Note to John Kitzhaber (our esteemed [not] governer) needs to get a haircut. I think he must be seeing the same barber as Donald Trump. I'll bet the good people at Great Clips could do him a world of good.

Last, but certainly not least, what exactly are we supposed to do with this FBI alert? Are we supposed to stay home? Not send our kids to school? Keep our eyes out for suspicious-looking people? Put mirrors on sticks and check under our cars for bombs before we starte them in the morning? I just don't get it--what is the point of these warnings and without giving us specifics, what the hell are we supposed to do? These alerts make a mockery of legitimate threats of terrorism, if you ask me. Do they really listen to what they're saying? "Hey, something really bad could happen, possibly tomorrow, possibly later, possibly never. We're not going to tell you what the bad thing but you be on the lookout and don't say we didn't warn you." Feh!

--L