Dirt and Toilet Bowl Cleaners

We had dinner last night at my brother and sister-in-law's house. They announced her pregnancy a week after I quietly miscarried. They don't know about it at all. They have their 9-week ultrasound photo framed and matted in their living room.

*sigh*

At least my sister-in-law got sleepy around 8:30 p.m., so we took our leave early.

I woke up early today, because our beagle Wendy decided she NEEDED to eat RIGHT NOW at about 7 a.m. I did a bit of ghetto shopping at K-mart, across the street from the local hub of Salvadoran gang MS-13. I went early, before the bad people were awake, a tactic I learned when living in Brooklyn, N.Y. My neighborhood post office was on the other side of the Gowanus Expressway, across from the infamous Red Hook projects. I began using the early-morning tactic after just one very uncomfortable trip down there on a late summer afternoon to pick up my delivery, a large box with J.CREW printed conspicuously on the side.

Things at K-mart were quiet Sunday morning. The highlight of my day was my purchase of a disposable toilet brush system. I recently had to throw out our reusable brush because it had poo on it. The brush holder also featured a small but thriving ecosystem of liquid and poo germs. In this day and age of global warming I know we should be moving away from disposable anything, but I think our house will be a far healthier place for this decision.

Steve spent most of the day out back grooming the grounds. (And when I say "grounds" I am referring to our .04 acre of land, including the townhouse footprint. Yes, the decimal is in the right place.) I spent about half the day out back trying to find a gardening task that agreed with me. I first tried pulling up monkey grass. I didn't like that. Then I tried hoeing (heh heh) the dirt to get up the grass roots. Didn't like that either. Finally Steve suggested I prune the giant 20-year-old azalea. I didn't really like that either but it was better than the other options. Now my back hurts and I have twigs in my hair.

For dinner, Steve cooked some delicious grass-fed steaks on the grill, and I partook of an O'Douls. Not a bad day.

Today also marked the day that this pregnancy has officially lasted longer than the first.

Actually, when I called the new toilet brush the highlight, I misspoke. The highlight really was this conversation with Steve, while we cleaned up after dinner:

Steve: I'm happy I'm here.
Me: Instead of in Iraq?
Steve: Instead of anywhere else.