Rackin' Frackin' Monday

1. Got a paper cut opening junk mail.

2. Fell in the driveway of a supermarket while walking along the very busy street to my office. Just went "kerplop!" and skinned my knee. I did my very best to maintain my dignity, though. As I got up, I did NOT look around to see who was laughing at me, and I did NOT look accusingly back at the asphalt as if it had tripped me on purpose. I just brushed my hands off and moved on.

3. Got a parking ticket. Metermaids ("Parking Enforcement Officers") NEVER, EVER check this street unless there's street cleaning or I decide to park for more than 4 hours.

4. As I pulled the ticket from under the windshield wiper, I noticed the back left tire was pretty low. "Oh well," I thought, "I need gas anyway, I'll just put some air in it at the gas station." As soon as I pulled away from the curb, it became clear than the tire was fully flat, not just low on air. You know that sound of the metal rim on the asphalt? Yep. I didn't have my cell phone (left it in the diaper bag - of course) so I drove slowly to the nearest gas station. I figured I could call my emergency road service and they could change it for me. The gas station I pulled into had half the lot roped off and there was nowhere to park my car and wait. Crap. So I pulled out again, slowly crossed the busy intersection into another station. Fortunately, though, this one actually had a mechanic on site at 8:30pm and he was able to fix the hole that this big honkin' nail had made in my tire. Guess G_d decided to cut me a break.

So, I got a paper cut, skinned my knee, got a parking ticket and a flat tire. And how was your Monday?

In other news: This could go above, but it's actually kinda funny. I awoke to the dulcet tones of my toddler throwing a fit in the family room. He wasn't stopping, so I gave in and got up. G (who'd gotten up with him a full hour earlier than usual) told me in a rather tight voice before handing him over to me and going back to bed, "He wanted to watch Little People and it wasn't time for Little People." A is quite addicted to the TV, and although we are careful about what we let him watch, he'd really like to have it on all the time. So we're trying to limit it a bit, and he is not happy about it.

Anyway, he has a couple of tricks when we say "no" to the TV or videos. First, he tries bringing us the remote and instead of asking to watch TV, he'll tell us to "push green circle," like we just need to be directed on HOW to turn the TV on, or maybe we don't realize that pushing the green circle will result in the TV being turned on and by the time we realize it, it will be too late and we'll be drawn into Elmo's World.

Second, he goes through the list of shows he likes, just in case it's the show we're objecting to and not the TV. "Little People? Farm Animals? Thomas? Teletubbies? Sesame Street? Stanley? Clifford Big Dog? Dragon Tales? Wiggles? JoJos Circus?" We keep saying, "No, no TV right now." So he was very unhappy about it all this morning. Finally he handed me the remote again, and said in a very plaintive voice, "John Kerry?"

Poor guy was so desperate to watch TV he was offering to watch the cable news channels that G watches. The news channels and any red/white/blue sign is "John Kerry" to him. This weekend he pointed at an American flag at my sister's house and said, "John Kerry! Pez-ident!" That's my boy. Didn't work with the TV, though. But I gave him props for trying a new angle.