the happy homewrecker

Get Barney's (from How I Met Your Mother) take on the Winter Olympics. I'm having post-Olympic let-down, but this gave me a chuckle.

OK, so does anyone know how to keep a toddler from climbing up on chairs? Ginger is a regular monkey. She climbs up on anything that doesn't move (and some things that do. Like Mulder.), including the Lego table, the kitchen chairs, the dining room chairs, and the side of Spencer's bed. The day is not complete if she hasn't bumped her head at least a dozen times. Sometimes I find her on top of the Lego table, with one leg stuck down inside the little mesh bag that hangs from the center. Last week she climbed on top of the Mega Blok Fire Truck, got one leg stuck down inside it, and toppled over backwards, pulling the whole thing over and narrowly missing hitting her head on the glass sliding door.

But the worst is the kitchen and dining room chairs. Even when they're pushed all the way in, she slithers up onto the seat under the table, then inevitably raises her head too far and bumps it on the underside of the table. A few weeks ago she got up onto a chair and had one knee on the top of the table before I spotted her. Spencer was never a climber so I have no experience with this sudden detour into monkey-like territory. When I catch her, I say, "NO" very sternly, remove her from the chair and sit her down somewhere far from the chair, but methinks she doesn't really care that I disapprove. I'm stumped. Suggestions? (No spanking, please).

So I really, really want to get a new cover for the couch before the party. They’re out of stock in the IKEA warehouse, so even if I ordered one today it wouldn’t be here for five or six weeks. The store in PA has them in stock as of right now, but they don’t ship store to home, you have to go pick it up. I’m thinking I might go over there on Saturday. There are some dressers for our room and Ginger’s room we were thinking about getting later this summer, and a big girl bed for Ginger, so I’d be able to check those out. Road trip, anyone?

So, what's this morning's verdict on last night's Grey's? As much as the whole Mer/George thing grosses me out (that sex scene, ugh!), I liked the episode. Two of the actors I think I've seen before (the worrying father of the kid with the head injury, and the woman who left her fiance), and it's bugging me that I can't recall where, so I'm off to look them up.

Just in case anyone was peering through my living room window just now, I was not crying when the Swedish women's team won the gold in curling. Nope.

So Taylor Hicks' song choice last night wasn't my favorite, but I liked it nonetheless. I was thinking later that if I could pick a song for him to perform, it might be "Bye Bye Blackbird" a la Joe Cocker on the Sleepless in Seattle soundtrack (for some reason that song never fails to make me cry). Also James Taylor's "Steamroller"; I would looove to hear him say, "I'm a steamroller for your love, baby/I'd like nothing better than to roll all over you . . .". Other Hicks fans: if you could choose, what song would you like to hear him sing?

Totally random tv-related thoughts:

Sayid is hot. I have a hard time deciding who to look at: him, Sawyer, Locke or Jack. Too much manly goodness in one place!

Am I the only Project Runway-watcher who dislikes Santino but thinks that his Tim Gunn impersonations are hysterically funny? "Andre! What happened to Andre?"

Watching Supernatural and reading the latest James Patterson book (Mary, Mary) is probably not the path to better sleep. On the other hand, Jared Padalecki + Jensen Ackles = sweet dreams?

I couldn't believe that the usually ultra-chatty Dick Button kept his mouth shut during the entire performance by the medal-winning U.S. ice dancing team last night.

How long has it been since we've had a new Alias? Two months?

I totally forgot that House was going to be on last night instead of tonight and I missed it.

I didn't think I was going to like Mandy Moore on Scrubs, but she was actually pretty good.

I really like Emerald Nut commercials. I should try thinking up some ideas of my own . . .

Ellen and I were discussing celebrity crushes that other people might find odd. I'll let her decide if she wants to post hers here, but I'll go ahead and say that Terry O'Quinn of Lost is one of mine. I have a friend from college who was hot for Ah-nold (I really never understood that one!) and also Stephen Tyler. It's so interesting to see whose attractive to different people. Anyone else have crushes that other people don't understand?

Today's going to be a long one. Gary's working extra, plus he's taking the van in for an oil change, so he's not sure what time he'll be home tonight. It's not even 9 a.m. yet and the kids are making me a little nutty. There's a warehouse sale at the Carter's outlet an hour down the road; it started Friday, though, so I'm not sure what would be left by today. Everything is supposed to be $7 or less, but sometimes that's not such a bargain---I can get Carter's pjs for that much at Target, and Ginger's spring/summer tees I got her from The Children's Place were $4. On the other hand, it would get us out of the house and eat up about three hours' worth of time. On the other (other) hand, it's freezing outside, and shopping with both kids is not usually a lot of fun (Ginger detests the stroller). And the men's curling team is playing Canada on television. What to do, what to do . . .

Grey's talk: George and Meredith? Are you kidding me? I know Meredith was feeling down, but was she so out of it that she'd really sleep with George? And is George so naive that he'd think that Meredith, who's never shown any interest in him, would all of a sudden fall for him after hearing his declaration of love? I can't see this going anywhere good. But the beginning of the show was funny---Cristina and Burke dancing around in the kitchen made me laugh. And lordy, but Sandra Oh is one skinny little thing. And Izzy and 'feeding the beast' and McDreamy and McSteamy . . . I was really loving the episode up until the end. For some reason that part felt completely unnatural. What'd you guys think?