Taking a little time for meme

Sandi tagged me to do a meme. It was actually be two memes, but I’m going to combine them.

Five things 25-year-old Nichole didn’t see coming

  • Having two children over a 2-year, 4-month span. I’d always imagined having two kids, but not so close together.
  • Rockford not working in a lab.
  • Planning to move to Holland.
  • Changing that plan.
  • My blog reading and writing habit.

Five things I was doing 10 years ago

  • Dating Rockford (and most likely pestering him to propose).
  • Working at a Hampton Inn housing lots of FBI agents. It was surreal to see so many guns in the lobby.
  • Driving a red ’92 Chevy Cavalier, which we sold two years later to fund our move to Missouri.
  • Going to class. I don’t remember which classes I was taking in 1998, but I’m willing to bet there was at least one writing class.
  • Falling for Mac.

Five things on my to-do list today

  • Make dinner.
  • Hem Poppy’s new curtains.
  • Pester Rockford until he puts up the curtain rod in P’s room (some things never change).
  • Clean the bathroom. (Also on yesterday’s list.)
  • Watch “Lost.”

Five things I will do when I am a millionaire

  • Pay off our debts.
  • Shower my loved ones with fancy gifts.
  • Buy a house.
  • Bury whatever’s left in a jar in the backyard. (Or put it in a savings account.)
  • Hire a personal trainer.

Five things I will never wear again

  • A marching band uniform.
  • A tennis skirt.
  • Tight-rolled jeans.
  • A Desert Storm t-shirt.
  • Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth

Five of my favorite toys

Five banes of my existence

  • My metabolism.
  • On a related note, my sustained levels of chunkitude.
  • Cleaning the bathroom.
  • Driving.
  • The Affleck.

I tag these five poor, unsuspecting people

"The Rabbit Factory"

I wasn’t sure I wanted to finish “The Rabbit Factory
” after the first 8 pages. The first character we meet — a man dressed as a cartoon rabbit at an amusement park — is beyond unsavory. He’s quickly dispatched, though, and his departure kicks off Marshall Karp’s impressive first novel.

Karp’s protagonists, Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, are the LAPD detectives assigned to the rabbit murder. They’re well drawn and likable — something you don’t always see in mystery novels. The first killing rapidly leads to a second, and the body count climbs as the book proceeds. It’s not a happy story, but it’s nicely paced and pretty suspenseful.

This is a long book (632 pages), and I think some of it could have been trimmed. One side plot in particular — in which we meet Lomax’s brother — struck me as unnecessary. Overall, though, it was an enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to reading Karp’s next book, “Bloodthirsty.” (Charming title, isn’t it?)

Quick change

Works for Me Wednesday logo

That guy who said necessity is the mother of invention? Not in my house, fella. Around these parts, laziness leads to innovation.

A year or so ago, Poppy woke up screaming around 1am. It wasn’t her usual “I’d like to get up and play” scream. She meant business. I stumbled out of bed and into her room, where I discovered one distraught little girl and a whole lot of vomit. I cleaned her up and calmed her down while Rockford changed the sheets.

About half an hour later, she screamed again.

We spent the rest of the night cuddling in the bathroom floor, administering Pedialyte and holding little Pi over the potty every few minutes. It was not a fun evening.

But there was a silver lining! Ever since that late-night sheet-changing fest, I’ve double-sheeted the beds. (The kids’ beds, not ours. Although that would save a full-on sheet change every now and then, wouldn’t it? Hmm …). Pete’s crib, for example, has several layers: the mattress, a mattress pad, a sheet, a sturdy piece of cloth, another sheet. This came in handy a few days ago when he had a major case of the spit-ups during his nap. All I had to do was pull the nasty sheet off and viola! Clean sheets!

If I were on top of things, I would have put another fresh sheet on top as soon as I had the chance. I’m taking baby steps toward efficiency, though, so that hasn’t yet happened. Maybe I should go do that right now.