La La La La

Hi!

I am running out of material over here, I'm afraid. Or rather, I am running out of new ways to approach the same damn thing over and over and over and... well, you know. So, um, have I tried the "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the weekend" approach yet? Oh. Right. I remember now. How about "Do you want to hear what I bought to make myself feel marginally better"? Really? That too?

Do you want to watch me do tricks with string? Shall I recite "The Highwayman"? I have been thinking about taking up painting, largely because I need one (a painting that is) and I just haven't found anything that spoke to me. Oh! No! That is not true, either. I just saw a fabulous sketch-on-board that Annigoni did for his Margot Fonteyne portrait and it most certainly spoke to me. What it said, however, was "Steal me" because regrettably it is hanging in the dining room of neighbors. Anyway, failing a foray into art theft I was thinking why not just paint my own? My mother pointed out that I have never displayed even a modicum of artistic talent. In fact, she noted, I can barely dress myself, but I think I was just thwarted creatively as a child. I believe that all I need are a set of paints, a few linen canvases, some good brushes and a studio and I will be good to go. I will be the tenth muse lately sprung up in suburbia.

I am still waiting for today's blood test results. I am not sure why I am even interested since I am certain the hcg has gone up again and I know I am still screwed and yet I keep carrying the phone from room to room with me. Bizarre.

Steve enjoyed his xbox party very mucho and I guess they are all going to form a Cub Scout troop together or something. The Margarita Neighbor... well, let me give you a hypothetical here. What would you make of the following sentences, presented back-to-back: "I consider myself fairly conservative" and "I mean, we don't recycle." Is recycling a cornerstone of the Liberal Agenda? Is the wily-nily mixing of reusable materials with unsalvagable garbage part of Compassionate Conservativism? I guess I could maybe understand "I consider myself fairly conservative" partnered with "We do not grow our own hemp" but... help me out here my little Bushites and/or Kerryvores. Isn't this a WEIRD thing to say? I mean, hypothetically. Also, TWICE?

Still no call. I could call them but I hate to seem needy.   

Comments

[Brandee]

Call them. You are needy right now. Please call them for this neurotic, liberal, lurker. We recycle.

[Cris]

Oh, call! Tell them it isn't for you, but for your public that is living vicariously through you.

We've been taking a baby making break the past couple of months (mainly because we don't make babies, but miscarriages, with one notable two year old exception). I was thinking maybe I should jump back in, but I'm so exhausted by the stuff happening to you that I've realized I'm not ready for new problems of my own!

[VHMPrincess]

Conservative, don't recycle (not out of principle, just lazy and the recycling company never gave us a bin)

[Linda]

Liberal, recycle.

[Alexa]

Hi Julia!
I have called for beta results before, assuming they could not be ready (for surely I would have received a phone call if they were) only to have a very laissez-faire sounding nurse say "oh yes, they're right here. So I would call.

As far as Margarita Neighbor: What an odd comment. I do not recycle (though I mean to, really) either, but I do not consider myself a conservative.
I consider myself fairly liberal, I mean, I do not own any clothing emblazoned with the American flag.
Just as odd, no?

I am thinking of you, obviously, and wishing you all kinds of luck.

[Karen]

Ummm....yeah. I'm not seeing how the two statements are congruent. It's sort of like saying "I consider myself a flaming liberal," followed by "Bicycle."

There MIGHT be a link, but without seeing who's acting as conductor on her logic train, I'm not sure how.

[Kristine]

Phooey on the whole "liberal" versus "conservative" label. Reducing the whole of a person's beliefs to a single word is just...just...like insinuating that their politics hinge on whether or not they recycle. Hmmph.
Could you call the doctor, please? I'm obsessed with your numbers too.

[Libby]

That was certainly an odd comment. I am a liberal... and I don't recycle.

Call, call! I am dying here!

[Kay]

I think I'm mostly a fiscal conservative and a social moderate/liberal. I would recycle if it was offered in my neighborhood. I'm not granola/crunchy, but I would go to a gay wedding. Also, Bicycle.

So sorry for your pain and the unending torment of not knowing, but knowing. It truly sucketh.

[Emily]

What a truly clueless thing to say. And odd. Yeah, you sound like you a reeeal good weekend. I'm sorry sweetie.

Oh yeah, please call for this obsessive recycler. But see, that's because I'm obsessive. And yes, I agree with Alexa. I've been waiting around for results, literally tearing my hair out and the results have been at the clinic for hours but the nurses were just 'too busy' to relieve my severe anxiety, so I always thought I'd help them out a bit and call myself. Thinking of you.

[Crystal]

Um, ok.

I was the family liberal, and Dh the conservative conservative (thank G-d I've losened him up some).

He's always been a recycling nut, while I couldn't have cared less. Thankfully he's reformed me a bit.

[Anna]

I agree with Karen - I just don't see how the two are inextricably linked. I'm moderate/conservative and we recycle. Always did, where available and when more liberal. Again, silly to try to pigeonhole people with words, since one word usually just doesn't do it.

I, too, vote for calling. I don't think it's obsessive at all - you're just past due for this information and you'd like it now, thank you very much. Enjoy your evening, fabulous girl ; )

[Suz]

Oh! I need a painting for over our sofa too, but know that I would be so much better off getting a 2 year old to do one rather than attempting so myself.

Call!!

[libby]

I want to hear The Highwayman. Still holding out hope for you, sweetheart.

[Nancy]

She's got my number, boy: liberal and a shameless recycler.

What a weird (and hopefully not prescient) parallel to make. Do you suppose she believes she'll get snubbed by her GOP-lovin' neighbors if she leaves her newspapers by the curb? Old ladies will hiss behind their curtains that Margarita Neighbor has clearly gone to the side of the gays? Does the Republican platform actually vilify the "recycle, reuse, reduce" mantra? (bitchy comment about Bush administration's feckless approach to the environment redacted) Wow, I'd better tell my conservative parents to burn their bins, stat.

My favorite thing about it is that it's so unflattering a hook on which to hang one's political hat. Did she say it proudly?

To be fair, maybe Margarita Neighbor didn't think Calvin Trillin was kidding when she read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/opinion/14trillin.html

[Christine K]

Fairly conservative - recycle everything that the company will pick up at my curb (which oddly enough does not include glass for some reason), but too lazy to recycle things I would have to haul somewhere myself. Used to try, but then I'd have piles of garbage in my garage for months before we'd find the motivation to get off our butts and get it taken care of.

I'm so sorry things have gone this way this time again. So angry at the universe on your behalf!

But, and I'm surprised nobody else is asking, I want to hear what you bought!!!!! Share the results of retail therapy.

[Laura K.]

That IS kinda weird that she said it, but maybe she was nervous? I dunno...

I Hope you have called by now and gotten something good. I remember when my hcg was going all funko with my miscarriage - up, barely up, doubled, didn't double...it pretty much sucks to be in preggo limbo.

[Brooklyn Girl]

Maybe recycling is the cornerstone of the liberal agenda. Perhaps that's part of the whole problem.

Thinking of you.

[ManhattanAnne]

Gak. On all counts.

[grumpygirl]

i'm phenomenally liberal, and i come from communists. and i never recycle because i'm lazy...

[Jujubee]

Liberal, don't recycle. But I used to when I lived in a place with curbside recycling. Now I would have to haul it somewhere and I am just too lazy.

[Jody]

Yeah, my dad would vote for a dead dog if it ran on the Republican ticket, and he's been a recycler since back in the seventies, when you had to package your stuff out and drive to the boonies to deliver it. So not really getting that connection at all.

Still here, waiting to see what happens next. Still wishing it would be the good stuff already.

[Jenn]

Libral and too lazy to recycle. But that is weird.

[Rhonda]

I'm liberal, and I obsessively recycle. but your neighbor is weird. I think I would have asked her what one would have had to do with the other, because... well, just because.

[Elizabeth]

Yeah, that was a weird thing to say. Maybe if she had said "I consider myself fairly lazy" and then followed it with the recycling comment. That would make sense. But the liberal-conservative thing? Not so much. My husband and I share political views almost exactly, and he has a desire to recycle while I do not. It definitely seems to me to be more of a motivation issue.

[chris]

I would say that as a general rule, conservatives are less likely to recycle than liberals. Why should they? The rapture is coming soon/we'll all just move to the moon/Bush says resources will never dry up so just keep driving that big SUV/etc.

People who don't recycle suck.

[Meg]

Libertarian. Recycle. Occasionally even remember to take stuff that they won't take curbside (like plastic bags) to somewhere that does recycle them.

Had to laugh at the SUV comment, because i live in one of the bluest of blue states, and EVERYONE (except me, it seems sometimes) drives a giant SUV, so i wouldn't think of a car choice as a political thing either. But i bet that's not true everywhere....

:)

[MistressMary]

Your neighbor sounds odd. Or maybe she just has difficulty expressing herself?

I hope your limbo state is resolved swiftly. I was so sure that this time would be a charm.

[jenB]

well i am canadian and my politeness forbids me from not recycling. i am also rabidly liberal. i think environmentalist tends to be a liberal agenda, and recyling may be seen as being environmentally aware. lame, but true. i recycle out of guilt.

i am wishing the best for you, always.

and i was ALSO thinking of painting myself a picture for the living room! were you going to so something abstract? that is my thought....

[Mollie]

Yogurt in cuplets of plastic
Lunchables™, oh so fantastic
And once you fillet, just throw it away
Recycling's reserved for the spastic

CHORUS
The rapture is coming soon
We'll all just move to the moon
So bring on the styrofoam peanuts
And shrink-wrap while I sing a tune

I met a young lady with bins
She felt it would clense all her sins
But Jesus, he said it, "Store up not, forget it,"
So now she just chucks it and grins

CHORUS

It's human to waste and to use
At least that's what most humans choose
So let's not disgrace it, no, let's all embrace it
And watch as the flame hits the fuse

CHORUS

Not a cheer, but Chris, you wrote half of it for me.

[Mollie]

Oh, and Julia: I hope you called. And your neighbour is weird. And I'm sorry you are in limbo, and do take up painting (it's fun to have a studio! It's a great place to hide the dope!), and I just went to visit my three storage lockers today, and oy, sister, have I got some paintings for you. WIsh you were here.

xoxo

[MollieBee]

dang mollie, how much dope you got that requires a studio space?

I'm wishing and hoping and all that shit, Julia.

[Katharine]

Hmmm, liberal, sort of recycle (mostly the newspapers) but often shove the odd diet Sprite can down in the bin, mostly out of the granola guilt induced by drinking soda. (Clearly, NOT recycling the can will make it all better.)

I don't even know what the right hcg number would be to root for, but whatever it is, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. Selfishly, I'm terribly glad you're still writing anyway despite the suckethness...

[Sally]

*SNORT* Mollie, you're a hoot! I'm dusting off the almost unused green bins in your honor. At least Julia, you now know that the next time you don't want a movie night, you can just say they were out of Sandra Bullock and then casually pop in a Michael Moore film. Kablam! She's out of your hair and you're back in the tub. I admit I do see the connection between concern for the planet and liberalism, but it's just an odd one to illustrate your political views. Like I'd say "I tend to vote liberal, I mean, I love Rufus Wainwright..." Wha? Anyway,
good luck with your numbers Julia - may they do what you want them to do. I say that because I just refuse to openly wish for falling levels. It's bad mojo.

[Kelly]

I consider myself fairly religious. I mean, we like to eat chinese food in our underpants on the sofa while we watch Jenny Jones and listen to No Doubt.

Weirdo!

I hope the numbers do whatever you want them too. Take care of you!

[TracyB]

Never really fit into too many "stereotypes" but here goes:

Conservative, recycle, reuse and reduce. And when it's really icky, toss without a second thought.

Go for it on the painting. Or let Patrick paint something for you...

[Sarah]

wierd, back to back or otherwise.
Sarah

[elisabeth]

Oh good lord. i am sooooo sorry. i should have known, what with being in the sticks and all. But i had hoped, this being MN, that she would be ok. Let me come and save you. GOOD god in heaven who the fuck does not recycle?? drinks. on me. soon. I promise. I'm sorry.

[Lisa S (et al, aka Stolidoli)]

Steve set you up with this person? Is he angry at you?

Oh, for God's sake, CALL. If not for you, then for me.

[Rachel]

Liberal, don't recycle. Married to someone who spent his formative years recycling mandatorily and now refuses simply on the grounds that "they used to MAKE me." No, I didn't marry a four-year-old, not TECHNICALLY anyway...call them, already. Do you really care if these people think you're needy? We all KNOW you're needy and we still love you. And we're all needy, because we keep refreshing trying to find out what our poor head chicken is going through today. CALL.

[DJ]

Hmm. A friend of mine ordered a pastrami sandwich at a lunch meeting once, and her colleague expressed surprise. He: "I thought you were a vegetarian." She: "Why did you think that?" He: "Well, you recycle."

Clearly many of us have not been issued the large rule book that is supposed to accompany our recycling bins.

I've thought of taking up painting too, to do something with the 5 million little sample cans of paint I bought when testing colors for repainting the kitchen. Where can a know-nothing buy a couple of pre-stretched canvases? Anybody know?

[Kate]

Very liberal, and I recycle. I'm thinking of buying a hybrid, too. What's happening to the environment scares the crap out of me. Seriously.

[Carrie]

I don't see how anyone, conservative or liberl, can't see the benefits of recycling. A few years back I worked with a guy who was a militant Republican and REFUSED to recycle. He found it the most offensive thing on earth. We worked at a school in Oregon, with it's liberal can deposit and it drove him nuts. We had places for people to deposit their cans and then different clubs would get to collect them each week and keep the money earned. He would do everything he could to thwart the plan, including emptying the recycling bins into the garbage. What an ass. He was also gay, which I found incredibly ironic.

[Cris]

DJ - try Hobby Lobby or Michaels (or any large craft store) for the pre-stretched canvas. Another idea for a large, but inexpensive piece of art using pre-stretched canvas is to find a piece of fabric you love, stretch it around to pre-stretched canvas and staple gun it to the back. I did a really lovely tone on tone floral tapestry fixed to a canvas that way and it turned out great - easier than I thought to do and now it covers up a truly ugly fireplace screen. Much less stress for me than painting - you could pick chinese silk, tapestry, damask - whatever floats your boat. I'm sure fabric choice is determined by whether one recycles or not
;-)

But all this is just keeping us busy while we agonize with Julia, isn't it? Babe, I'm sure if it was good news we'd have heard by now, so I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If I were you I'd be crawling into a hole right now and hiding away from the world for a while.

[reenie]

Conservative (although I agree - using one word to describe my views is not nearly sufficient) and I recycle with gusto. There's no reason not to keep our planet as nice as possible for as long as possible. And for the record, Chris - my husband and I both drive Kia Rios. Small, efficient and North America's most inexpensive car. Though we will have to get something (a teensy bit) larger when our family (hopefully) expands. Maybe. I mean, the carseat DOES fit in there when my seat is smooshed up to the dashboard! And even if the Rapture happens who knows when it will be. I don't think anyone - Christian or not - wants to live in a plastic, glass and newspaper strewn craphole. Julia - I agree, call...why should you have to wait in angst? Also I agree it was a strange comment for Margarita Neighbor to make. I love how even if you never share another Margarita with this woman, she will always be Margarita Neighbor. Sweet.

[Donnie]

Okay:
Conservative (I *guess*), and we recycle... but we don't do it for crunchy granola reasons- we do it for the cash.
Also: No bicycling in our lives. Although I never thought of that as a factor politically...

Julia, I hope those numbers go exactly the way you want them to. I'm a little worried that you haven't posted about yesterday's draw. Let us know you're ok?

-D.

[wealhtheow]

Liberal. Not only do I recycle, but I keep a worm bin for my kitchen scraps (veggies and cat hair go in, organic fertilizer comes out) and we're thinking about building a small rotating compost bin for our yard waste and cardboard boxes.

[Amber]

Just wanted to be sure you knew I was thinking of you.

I don't recycle anything. I am horrible. I try to put "plastics" in brown paper bags so they neighbors don't find out.

[Sarah]

I don't see the connection between recycling and being a conservative...but what I wonder is how you responded? Have you outed yourself politically? Or on recycling? How odd. But it may be handy info for future movie nights :)

On the beta. Call. Find out. Do it for the internet.

[Elin]

I think Margarita Neighbor was fishing. Watch your back.

For the record, I had a blast recycling the crap flea market art my mother-in-law gave me each year for Christmas by painting over the canvases and going Jackson Pollack on them. VERY theraputic.

Does that make me a Liberal, or just an ass?