She Dreams in Color, She dreams in Red

Now I lay me down not to sleep
I just get tangled in the sheets
I swim in sweat three inches deep
I just lay back and claim defeat

Chapter read and lesson learned

I turned the lights off while he burned

So while he's three hundred degrees

I throw the sheets off and I freeze

Lately, and I know I'm not alone in this, I've had a very hard time sleeping.  Lots of tossing, lots of turning, my mind thinks about all sorts of mundane things that don't matter one iota at three in the morning.  At first I thought I was just stressed about some medical test results that were pending, and when that resolved, I blamed it on the moon.  But now the moon doesn't seem to be bothering anybody else, so I'm not too sure what it's all about. 

Lids down, I count sheep

I count heartbeats

The only thing that counts 

is that I won't sleep

I countdown, I look around

My hands are locked up tight in fists

My mind is racing filled with lists

of things to do, and things I've done

Another sleepless night's begun.

Everyone tells me "Sleep when your children sleep."  As if such a luxury was something like a switch.  I could just crawl into bed at quarter after eight when the shortlings are snoozing and go to sleep.  Now, don't get me wrong, dear blogfans, I would love to do just that.  But sleep is so elusive as of late.  And I don't know why.  I think about it.  Actually, when I get out of bed in the morning, my daydreams for the first hour or two are usually about my pillow.  I love my pillow(s).  

There's so much joy in life

so many pleasures all around

But the pleasure of insomnia

is one I've never found

With all life has to offer

There's so much to be enjoyed

But the pleasures of insomnia

are ones I can't avoid

My mother informs me that one simply "Can't just continue on like that," and assures me that I will "crash and burn," eventually.  Crashing and burning really doesn't sound like something I'm into, but at this point, I'd take what I can get.  Last night, after an excessively long day of errands, doctors appointments, dinner with the shortlings and hubbin', a drive to and from Tysons Corner in DC rush hour traffic I decided that enough was enough.  I examined a bottle of outdated prescription Ambien, and decided that the expiration date of 2+ years ago was just too much.  A good nights sleep was just not worth poisoning myself over.  So, I took two benadryl and called it a night.  I insisted that the grouchy hubbin' rub my back until I fell asleep.  I don't know how long it took, but truth be told, it didn't feel all that long before I drifted off into blissful sleep.

Oh yes, I said it: blissful sleep.  Prior to the never-being-able-to-fall-asleep drama of '09, I was plagued with the super-realistic-and-horrendous-dreams trials.  However, last night I had no such experience!  My dream, the one that I remember, was quite pleasant:

In my dream I was with my sister in the MAC store.  This was no doubt fueled by my longing gazes at the new MAC store in Tysons earlier that same day.  Anyway, so we were shopping, and there were all these truly wonderful eyeliners - ones with sparkles, and ones with big blunt tips, and ones with tiny little points, and brushes and lipsticks and I just couldn't help myself!  We were filling up basket after basket of stuff, it was like children in a candy store.  Everywhere we turned there were more wonderful cosmetic products to play with!  I turned to my sister, and asked where the eye shadow was.  A salesgirl, overhearing directed us to a separate room - one filled floor to ceiling with eye shadow.  Colors from every inch of the spectrum, lined ceiling to floor.  And blog readers, believe me when i tell you - Angels Heralded in my dream.  Choruses of perfectly pitched, exact key "ahhhhhhh" rang out in my dream.

And on that note, no pun intended, I have very high hopes for tonights sleep.  Oh, and I think I might have some underlying issues with that whole Heaven-is-a-MAC-store bit.  

Who needs sleep?

Well, you're never gonna get it

Who needs sleep?

Tell me, what's that for

Who needs sleep

Be happy with what you're getting

There's a guy who's been awake

since the Second World War

In My Daughters Eyes

On Sunday, we were driving home from my mother-in-law's house, and since we were within 45 miles of it, I made Evan stop in Hoboken for a slice of Gio's Pizza, and a sandwich from Vito's Deli.  

Since there has not been an open parking spot in Hoboken since 1947, we double parked in front of the deli, and Evan ran in to pick up our sandwiches.  It had been a while since we've been there, and a little (somewhat trashy) lingerie shop opened up a few doors down, and we were conveniently parked right in front of their giant windows.  

I spent most of the time convincing Cecilia that Hoboken was not, in fact, Sesame Street, despite her protests of how much the big brownstones looked like Sesame Street and Hooper's Store.  The abundance of pigeons, which she dubbed "Like Burt's Bernice!" didn't help my case, either.

But I digress.  After I finally convinced her that we were only in Hoboken, the backseat grew quiet.

Suddenly she piped up loudly, pointing out her window:

"Look Mommy!  It's like you!  It's like you in that store!  There you are!  In red!  Mommy!  There you are!!"

Much to my amusement and chagrin, my three year old was pointing to a mannequin in the window of the lingerie shop, who happened to be wearing a hooker red sparkly baby doll nightie, and sporting a bleach blonde wig with blunt cut bangs:

Well, if that isn't a dead ringer for me, I don't know what is.  

How to Save a Life

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

It's that time of year again, everyone.  The National Bone Marrow Registry is doing their annual sign up drive!  There is usually a $100 fee for signing up, as the bio-typing is quite costly, but now through June 22nd, 2009, the fee is waived, and you can save a life for free!

Most of you know, my mom was diagnosed with end of life stage leukemia.  Her body was shutting down, her white cellcount was over 600,000.

It is because of donated bone marrow that she is alive today.  To see me get married, to see my children born, to see my sister graduate high school and then college, all because of a bone marrow donor.

The typing is easy, you guys.  They will mail you 4 giant Q-Tips.  Stick 'em in your mouth, swish a bit, then put them in the pre-paid envelope that came with it, stick it in your mailbox, and that's it, you're done.  Just like that, you're on the registry.

So please, go sign up.  It's easy, it's painless, and you could save a life.

Cooking with Saki

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  I don't love breakfast at breakfast appropriate times, opting instead for several cups of coffee (mmm....coffee...), but I have to say that this recipe rocks my socks.  I have a striking inability to mess up all homemade banana bread, and most muffins.  My kids, however, happen to love banana muffins.  I hate making boxed muffins, as they are filled with god only knows what kind of preservatives, and you can always tell that they aren't homemade.  As with most of my favorite recipes, this one comes from a beautiful and very dear friend, Lindsay.

Normally, this would be the point in the post where I tell you to get yourself together and go to the store, but this recipe is so easy you probably already have everything on hand.  Go check, because you will need:

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/4 tsp. baking powder

4 ripe bananas

1/2 c. softened butter (not melted)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, mixing until well blended.  Slowly add the dry ingredients so as not to make a giant mess on your counter tops.  In a blender, blend together bananas and vanilla until it is pureed.  Add this to the mixing bowl, and give it a stir.  Pour into muffin tins, and bake at 375 for about 15 mins, or until muffins are a dark golden brown and cooked through out.  

Eat them hot with a little butter, and try to control yourself, because they really are that good.  

Attention Virginia Democrats!

Today is election day!  Go vote in the primary!  

If you don't vote today, I don't want to hear any bitching and moaning out of you come November when you don't like any of the candidates.  

Don't be jealous...

Well, okay, go ahead and be jealous, it's impossible not to.  I have the prettiest sister in the world

Things that make you go "Hmm.."

Given the recent finger pointing about the financial state of our country, I thought it would be fun to blog about money.  I enjoy spending money, I will admit it.  And really, who doesn't?  I tried to think of the largest sum of money I've held, and I don't think it was much (relatively speaking.)  I think I had maybe two thousand dollars in cash on me at one point when I was buying my second car.  At any rate, it's shocking to see how small two thousand dollars is when you hold it in your hand.  So much money seems like it should carry some weight to it - a hefty bundle.  So, let's look at money, shall we?

This is a $100USD bill.  Don't bother trying to print it out, that is fraudulent, and MSNBCasey can not be held responsible for your heathen activities.  Depending on the size of your screen, it should be pretty close to actual size.  H'anyway, this is the largest bill currently in general circulation:

Next we have a packet of one hundred $100 bills.  It is less than 1/2" thick, and contains $10,000USD.  Will fit perfectly in your pocket, and will provide days of fun: 

Believe it or not, blogfans, this next pile is a cool million - that's one hundred packets of $10,000.  It might not fit in your pocket, but I'm pretty sure I could cram that into the ol' Coach bag:

And now we're getting somewhere.  This is a picture of one hundred million dollars (Let's all do the Dr. Evil pinky-to-the-lips).  That is $100,000,000USD.  It fits nicely on a standard size pallet:

And now we have one billion dollars:

Next, we will look at one trillion dollars, since thats the recent drama.  For those of you, like myself, who are not of a math mind, a trillion is a one followed by twelve zeros.  And if you were to lay it out in hundred dollar bills, this is what it would look like.  Be sure to note that those pallets are double stacked:

Oh, and just for kicks, here is the national debt laid out in $100 bills

What the effing crap?