Is it weird that I'm a little more than slightly embarassed when people comment on what a large house we have? I had a party this evening (don't get all excited; it wasn't that kind of party) and one of the guests brought her children so they could play with Grover and Ollie. When it was time to collect said children and depart, I mentioned that the kids were on the third floor watching a movie. My guest exclaimed "Third floor??? I thought your house was big and I didn't even know you have a third floor!" She went on for a few more minutes about how big and beautiful our house is and instead of feeling complimented, I was embarassed. Like I should be living in a shack or something? What's my problem? My husband and I worked very hard to buy this house as our first home because we thought it was perfect for a family (which it is) and I should be proud of it.

I don't know what the average house size in the U.S. is (Fishmonger?), but I would consider our house to be about average or slightly larger. I drove through a neighborhood of "executive homes" in Cary the other day and my entire house would fit in a living room in one of those houses. We do have a third floor, which is most commonly referred to around here as a finished attic. (I always thought that was code for not enough storage space.) It has no bathroom and is a very odd shape so that it's not really useful space. We painted, put up a wallpaper border and I had curtains and covers made for very large pillows to line what would be called a window seat if it were under an actual window. It serves as our rec room - kids' toys, husband's workout equipment, TV/VCR/DVD and the dinosaur computer.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I think I have some misplaced emotions, but I can't figure out what they are. Any ideas?

This pretty much sums up my college experience:

I don't know what's happening to me. I'm turning... nice! At the grocery store today, my total came to $76 - $4 shy of being able to use a really good coupon ($4 off an $80 order) that happens to expire in 2 days (not enough time to rack up another $80 grocery bill). The teen-aged boy at the register suggested I pick up $4 worth of gum and I'd basically get it all free, but seeing as I really don't need $4 worth of gum (???), I opted just to let it go. Normally, I would be irritated at the fact that I was so close and yet so far and would have just groused about it all the way home, but not today. No, today, I did something completely unusual (for me, anyway). I walked over to another cashier's line where a rather harried-looking mom and her two kids were piling groceries onto the belt. I handed the cashier the coupon and told her to use it for the woman's order. I just essentially gave a total stranger 4 bucks. I can't let this get out (although I just did); my reputation will be ruined!

After numerous blood tests & medication changes, all to no avail, my doctor sent me to a sleep specialist to find out why I'm so tired all the time. Even after what many consider a full night's sleep, I'm completely exhausted when I wake up in the morning. Finding no obvious cause, the specialist sent me for a sleep study, which I went for last night. It was interesting, to say the least. They had nice little rooms with real beds (inasmuch as a motel bed is "real"), soft lighting and a TV. The nurse hooked up about a thousand wires on my head, upper body and legs and then I got to go to sleep. Except that - despite going before I got hooked up - I had to go to the bathroom about an hour after I lay down. That was a process unto itself, but I'll spare you the details. I had a little trouble getting used to having the wires everywhere, but worse was the fact that every time the A/C turned off, I could hear the person in the room next to me snoring like a freight train. (In my evaluation of the study before I left, I recommended sound proofing.) I woke up a few times but finally slept fairly soundly for what seemed like 10 minutes before the nurse announced over the intercom that she was coming in to get me up. Needless to say, I came home and went back to bed. And now I think I'll go take a nap.

I was all ready to babble on and on about my latest addiction (sushi) and how I got my fix last night and how delicious it was when Ollie points to the oriental rug in here and announces "Poop! Right here!". Fearing some catastrophic potty-training accident about to occur, I immediately turned my attention to the 3YO standing with one hand on her hip and the other pointing to the carpet. The good news is that potty-training (the child) hasn't derailed yet; the bad news is that apparently The Idiot struck again. So now I have to pull out the steam cleaner (which I just cleaned and put away a few days ago) and figure out how to steam clean the rug without ruining the hardwood floors. I am getting really sick of this so I'm taking her to the vet this afternoon. I don't want her to be sick but I do hope that can find a treatable cause for her "incontinence" or else The Idiot will be an outside dog very, very soon.

UPDATE: The vet was unable to make a definite diagnosis other than it's not worms or parasites. Thank God because that is beyond gross! She didn't think it was an ulcer or blockage but didn't rule it out based on The Idiot's age (49 in human years). She said it was most likely some kind of bacterial infection and gave me two prescription antibiotics - because I don't have enough fun in my day, I guess, I need to shove pills down my dog's throat twice a day. I have to take The Idiot back in 10 days for a follow-up, at which time I think I'll take her to the groomer, too. I've decided that it's well worth $25 a few times a year to have them spend 3 hours brushing out her undercoat.