*I'm scared to mention it again. In the four months since my account first went below 50%, there have been 105 days under, and only 21 over. We can but hope that this time it's going up.

The LA Puddlers have a 3-9 record. Hee hee hee. Of course, once Shaq's toe heals from the beating his steroid-enhanced body has given it, things may change.

Yesterday we ran errands. We needed to pick up the little red wagons, on a day when maybe ToysRUs wouldn't be too bad a zoo. We got Rich's medicine and see that Kaiser pharmacies have a deal on pedometers. Then we stopped to get him new shoes, so I got myself two pair as well. Our final stop was at the Discovery Museum where we looked at the space toys exhibit and renewed our membership. We spent over $200 in very short order.

Almost all the toys talk to the child. We looked at the Fisher-Price Little People toys and Rich pointed out that the prices haven't really changed. They were $20-30 in the 70s, in '70s dollars! Part of the explanation is that most of them are made in China. I'm simply amazed at the choices. There are SO MANY TOYS!!! (And Genevieve has all of them!)

I made a reservation at the Sheraton (!) for after Monday Night Football.

This morning I took the neighbor to her dentist. She'd chosen him so she could walk to him, but she's still pretty banged up from her accident. This man, who is semi-retired, used to be Vincent's dentist. I like him a lot. We watched the neighbor child while she was gone. All he wanted to do was to play with Sailor and climb our tree, which is fine, but a waste of a lot of good videos or my Lego.

Today I picked Casey up right after school so we were only a little late to the snake lady program. I was surprised at how many kids were there. (Actually, I was surprised at how many moms brought their kids there!) We looked at snakes and lizards and tortoises and also mounted alligators and crocodiles. Even the librarian, who had not planned on holding any snakes, happily carried one around to show everyone. Then I read Casey some books and the kid also read a few things to me (like the title of "If I Ran the Zoo.") We also had two more chapters of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH.

Our afternoon talk-show host took time out from threatening Tom Daschle (it's a joke, folks!) to adopt a baby girl from out of state. His sons are grown and gone, and here they have a new infant. He's simply over the moon (and understandably looking into a convent for her between 13 and 40!) Meanwhile, a Jesuit alum who's big in TV news just had his third child (well, you know what I mean), second son. He says they named him Eamonn. He had to stick with the Celtic names... "once you name a kid Liam, you can't follow up with Giovanni!" Heh.

My carnivorous plants are going dormant for the winter. I'd be worried, especially about the pitcher plant which is going all brown, except now I know about this. I intend to take the seed pod and stick it into a pot of moss and see if I can sprout some new ones. The nepenthe, with the pitchers off the ends of the leaves, is still doing well. In the kitchen window, all four christmas cacti are blooming like mad. I love it!

I had to laugh at the Nissan's license plate: UFFDAA. It was encircled by a Japanese Motors frame, written in Oriental calligraphy.

Lady Liberty Fireworks.

Bernadette uploaded last week, and this one made me laugh!

Acidman has some toy ideas.

Daschle, what a nut.

This man represents the party that thinks Barbra Streisand has something to contribute to the political scene. This man representst the party that takes in truckloads of cash from Hollywood moguls, and which hired TV producers to try and script Bill and Hill's first year in office. And he's decrying the entertainment aspect of politics? That's rich.