Every Day Life: Project Eradicate Mystery Bugs

By Lara

I have mystery bugs in my apartment.

I first discovered them three weeks ago. I went to open a bag of flour, and there were three mystery bugs munching away on the glue holding the flour sack closed. I immediately exercised capitol punishment on the mystery bugs, and sifted through the bag of flour. No mystery bugs were found within the safety net provided by the thick paper sack. My flour was safe.

I cautiously looked through my cabinet and didn't see any more bugs. I didn't think too much more about the mystery bugs after that. I was hoping that it was an isolated incident of insect anomaly.

Let me describe these mystery bugs to you. They are small. Approximately the size of a long skinny baby ant. The smallest ones are black. As they get longer, they turn a reddish orange. The biggest ones are still rather small. They have a lot of little legs. I know what kinds of bugs they are NOT. I still have not identified them.

Last week I found more mystery bugs on my counter. It was time to declare war.

Friday night, armed with a can of bug spray, I opened my cabinet. I removed everything from the cabinet and inspected it for evidence of the mystery bug. Toby, my fearless gray tiger, was more than happy to assist. Once I declared my non-perishable food-stuffs bug free, I liberally sprayed all three shelves in my cabinet and shut the doors.

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Every Day Life: Life Goes On...

By Beth

Here we are, at the end of the road, the path we've been walking down is splitting into two. This will be my last post for MAD21 as the next few paragraphs will explain. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience I was given and this will not be the end of my writing, I don't think I'll ever stop writing. This is not a result of an argument or difference of opinion, simply my life is heading in a much more complicated direction and I would not be able to keep up with getting my posts in, let alone getting them in on time. I wish everyone here the best and hope to actually meet some of you someday. Good luck!!

My life has taken a significant turn over the last several months. Last summer I started a new full time job, my first full time job since my son was born. He's 10. I chose to stay home and work part time while my kids were little because I thought that was best for them. I wanted to be the one raising them, not a daycare or a babysitter. My plan had always been that when Ben started middle school I would find a full time job. Things just kind of got rolling a year earlier than I had planned.

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Thinking About Thinking

By Lara

Recently, a friend asked me how I think. I asked for some clarification, because that's a strange thing to ask someone. He explained that he was curious about how my mind processed information and how aware I was of the inner workings of my though processes. Sigh. Engineers...

Needless to say, I haven't thought about thinking in quite some time. I decided to take the challenge and think about it. It is an interesting question, afterall.

I found myself trying too hard to be consciously aware of my thoughts. Nothing seemed natural. Every time I remembered that I was supposed to be thinking about how I think, I started talking to myself in my head.

I tried to explain this phenomenon to him. We talked about the modes of thinking for several minutes, but I was sure that I hadn't really captured my inner mechanism.

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Every Day Life: A Refrigerator of MY OWN!

By Lara

Many years ago, while I still lived with my parents, I wrote the following paragraph in my journal.

Sometimes I fantasize about the day when I will have my own refrigerator. A day when I can open the door without having to worry about bowls of leftover pasta falling out all over the floor because they were precariously perched on a quarter head of lettuce, a rotting green pepper and 3 half sticks of butter still in their tinfoil and covered with toast crumbs. Where I could open the freezer without seeing 4 hideously decaying bananas that have been reserved for "smoothies" that are never made... or banana muffins. I HATE banana muffins. A refrigerator from which I could pull a block of cheese without having to smell it in order to identify what is smeared all over it (peanut butter). A refrigerator that does not have a small tupperware container with a clove of garlic perpetually suspended in the ice flow forming in the rear corner. There would be no ice cube wars. There would be no battle to see who throws away the last piece of leftover meatloaf.

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Every Day Life: Random Workings of the Human Mind

By Lara

All weekend, I have been unsure about what I would write for my article this week. I did see Beth over New Years, but we didn't have any huge adventures. Beth had just gotten over the flu, so we had a rather low key New Years celebration that involved playing board games and watching DVDs. Granted, sometimes that sort of celebration is nice as well. Still. That doesn't take a lot of words to communicate. You already have the picture in your mind, don't you? Two women sitting around a coffee table with a board on it eating rice krispie treats. There you go.

Earlier, while sitting in Panera enjoying a chicken Caesar sandwich, I started thinking about possible article topics. They had one of those folding advertising things on the table. I was slightly pre-occupied, but started absently reading about their fresh and tender chicken. I only started paying attention to the content of the advertisement once I saw the claim that their chickens are fed "a totally vegetarian diet."

My brain stopped. When it started again, I thought, "Carnivorous chickens, really?"

I wonder how many people per year are brutalized in attacks by voracious chickens. One minute they're scratching around in the dirt; the next minute they're flapping in your face and going for the jugular. I'd like to see more media coverage on these tough and less fresh carnivorous chickens. Perhaps an expose on 20/20 or 60 Minutes...

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