I almost didn’t make it to the keyboard tonight, so busy was I boiling myself in the shower to get warm. It’s supposed to dip just under freezing tonight, which doesn’t happen too often around these parts, but when it does, I’m taking in my favorite plants and jacking up the levels of all the space heaters downstairs to 10: Hell. Right now it’s hovering around 40 degrees and I feel like I’m in Siberia.

We went south to Orange County for the holiday. It’s pretty warm all year, but my mother’s place is only half-insulated, so in one part of the house—my former room to be exact—it’s freezing in the winter and suffocating in the summer. It’s an exercise in complete schizophrenia to pack for trips to my mother’s house, because it’s one temperature up here, another down there, and yet another temperature in that room, which varies all the time. I never know what or how much to pack so I tend to just jam everything into a suitcase until it resembles a blimp.

Getting there is always a little bit like strategizing for a drive in Iraq, minus the armor (though that’s not a bad idea). Unfortunately, we got stupid and abandoned our strategies this time. We thought we didn’t need to take our secret shortcut around the worst LA freeways. Hey, don’t need to! We’re leaving so early! It’s not even the day before Thanksgiving! We were reminded of our folly for four solid smog-filled hours in Los Angeles. It wasn’t even rush hour, and the traffic was incredibly bad. Every time we tried to get out of it, or thought it might get better, maybe just a little better!–it just got worse. Try to imagine four hours of driving 20 miles an hour with not-quite-three year-old twins in the back, and you have some idea of the terror in our vehicle.

All I could think was, “why do people live here?” and, “why…no, how do they put up with this?” and finally…”What exactly keeps LA people from getting out of their cars and just throwing themselves in the opposite lanes?”

Perhaps this was our punishment for bringing a Tofurkey to Thanksgiving.

* Girls still sleeping!

* * * * * * * * * * *
Albums of Questionable Taste
Secret Santa time has begun
Flushable diapers — it’s true! (via DaddyTypes)
Works for me