Friday, People. FRIDAY!

Hey y'all. Leila is in her room listening to the Electric Slide on repeat. Its starting to embed itself into my brain. Like a too tight leash on a junk yard dog.

I don't have a whole lot to write about today except to report that we are doing great on our money spending strike. We have eaten in every night this week, and I have not used my credit card even one time, or spent any other money since Monday. That's not entirely true; I asked for a back yard composter for Christmas and my mom gave me a check in a box of Harry and David fruit (the fruit was a regift.) Along with the fruit and the check, dampened from the fruit, she proclaimed that my wanting a composter was "stupid" and "ridiculous." She is not a native English speaker, so her vocabulary for describing things is limited. Everything that does not seem to her to have any practical purpose, anything that she doesn't understand, be it a movie, a religion or a recipe, and anything that she can not imagnine applying to her own life is deemed to be "stupid" and/or "ridiculous". My wanting a composter may in fact be stupid and ridiculous; I don't garden and I don't really cook that often, so I'm not sure what's going to go in there. I also don't really like going down into my back yard, or bad smells, or coffee grounds, so I really don't know what's come over me, but I really want to start composting. Ever since that field trip to the recycling center, where I learned all about the ever growing landfill just 15 miles north of my house, I've been convinced that all my kitchen scraps should serve a greater purpose. Anyway, my point is that I bought a composter, so I did spend some money, but it was cash from the check that was earmarked for this purchase, so it doesn't count.

This eating at home thing is getting really old, though. It just goes to show how much take-out we actually eat. I drove past the Chinese place and started drooling, and the same thing happened with the Mexican place. And there's a new Thai place opening around the corner, too, just to torture me. My friend asked me today if we wanted to go out to dinner with him and his kids, and it pained me to say no. Friday night is party night! I love to go out and have some wine and not cook, but nope, we are going to stay on the straight and narrow. The real measure will be to make it to the 16th (the last day of the credit card statement period) without another purchase. If we can do that, then I know we'll make the Valentine's day goal. Tonight, leftovers, tomorrow, the world!

Here's something totally else. Last night Leila and Rob were having Daddy Play Time where Rob, God love him, sits on the floor of her room and plays Littlest Petshop with her. Leila has what seems like 500 Littlest Petshop animals, and three Littlest Petshop buildings including the tail waggin' fitness center and the pets only clubhouse. Talk about landfill. No wonder I want to compost, I'm filled with ennui over all the plastic animals that will eventually reside in the landfill for 10,000 years. Anyway, they were playing and it was reported to me later that a milestone has been crossed: Leila was coupling up the pets and calling them boyfriend and girlfriend. This is completely new. Turn eight, enter a new era. Maybe my old Donny Osmond doll who lives in a box with all her Barbies will start getting some play again one of these days, too. Its been a long time for Donny, and he's surrounded by virgins. The Bratz dolls (otherwise known as Whore dolls) are in a whole separate box, and are definitely little sluts. If he goes anywhere near them, he better wear a rubber on his plastic man parts.

What the hell am I talking about?

I just figured out what Leila is doing listening to the Electric slide repeatedly: her littlest petshop animals are doing the dance, and she is running a contest or an aerobics class of some sort. She has now turned the song off, and is praising their performance, and handing out awards.

While I was at school this morning, checking kids heads for Lice (Class C4 is lice-free, I'm happy to report) a woman, who I didn't recognize right away walked by and said, 'I love your blog!" and made me feel like a total rock star, so this one is for you, L!