How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?

So, we weren’t feeling particularly “church-y” yesterday and skipped Easter. Sorry ‘bout that, Jesus. (Status of my Eternal Soul? Code Red.)

Taxes are completed, e-files are accepted, checks are inked, envelopes are stamped. I just need to join the Parade at the Post Office this morning and then I AM DONE. I really try not to complain about taxes because I do consider myself incredibly fortunate to have to pay them. Seriously. I have what I refer to as a Lost Tax Year in my records because I didn’t even make enough money to have to file. But DAMN. This year sucked. We sold our rental house in Virginia and it was a freakin’ mess. It still wasn’t as bad as 2003, though - the year that X lived in Missouri, worked in Kansas and owned a house in Virginia. I worked in Missouri, lived in Kansas and owned a house in Kansas. Then, to make things super gooeylicious, we got married that year.......... Oops. Tangent much?? ........... Anyway, the thing that gets me about tax prep is that I halfway know what I am doing. If I don’t know what I am doing, I at least know exactly where to research to figure it out. Based upon certain tax questions I have gotten over the years from friends and family, there are WAY too many people out there doing their own taxes which is pretty scary. I do question Block’s and TurboTax’s marketing strategies - despite their very cool, slick tax programs, you still need to know what TO DO WITH IT.

So, Thursday, Arun and I went to the University of Kansas to visit my mother. She works there and has been very antsy for us to come visit so that she can show the furry kid to her colleagues. It was lovely to be on campus during school hours. I frequently drive through campus as a treat when going to my dad’s house, but that is usually on weekends and after-hours. I haven’t actually parked and walked through campus during school hours for years. So, we parked by the Union because I wanted to check out the bookstore for some language books. I was hoping they would have some good Hindi and Malayalm resources. I totally scored in the Hindi arena, but wasn’t surprised to find nothing on Malayalem (the language is only spoken in Kerala, a province of India). I have been dabbling in Hindi for a long time now and will probably never be fluent, but I am very excited about these new books and CDs. So, are X and I going to teach our own little demi-desi Hindi or Malayalem? We have discussed this quite a bit and X is emphatic that he would rather Arun learn SPANISH, as that is more useful. So, at the most, Arun will learn some Kitchen Hindi and Malayalem - at least, he will be able to order his Indian meals with correct pronounciations and accents. Teaching Arun Spanish? Not sure about that. I am not fluent in Spanish - when studying it in college, I could hold simple conversations because I had so many Latin American friends (I still contend that to be able to gossip in a foreign language exhibits true mastery). But now? I could safely get myself off an airplane with it, but can't really hold a decent conversation anymore. I am sad that Arun won’t be learning Malayalem, at least. This would be the easiest for him to learn, but X thinks it is silly and I can’t convince him otherwise.


Anyway, the rest of the weekend was spent in Lazy Heathenism rife with good food, coffee and wine. X had an appointment in downtown Kansas City, so I dropped him off and then went walking around in the Rivermarket. After X was done , we ventured out to Parkville for some coffee. We have a copy of The Best Little Coffeehouses in Kansas City (sorry, couldn’t find a link for it, but it can be found all around town) and have been gradually making our way through it. So, Saturday, we ventured out to try the Parkville Coffee & Fudge spot on Main Street in Parkville. I give it a big ole “BLEH”. Seriously - AVOID THIS PLACE. They served some of the worst coffee and their fudge wasn’t all that, either. Thankfully, we followed up that disaster with some dumplings at the Blue Koi on 39th, so the evening wasn’t a total lost cause.

Must-See TV Blog: The thoughtful folks over at Throwing Things have provided a great link to a blog written by the great television critic, Alan Sepinwall, named What’s Alan Watching?. At a minimum, this is certainly worth it for checking out his Monday morning quarterbacking on the Sopranos episodes.


Simian Snaps:

I love this photo because I waited so long for him to find his thumb and had given up on it. He would never take a pacifier and because of it, we have spent many stressful hours trying to get him to sleep. He had no mechanisms for self-soothing and it was very frustrating. So, he JUST started sucking his thumb on Thursday, although he is not doing it when he is upset or sleepy. Apparently, it’s Just for Fun, at this point.

I took this photo of him in front of the Watson Library because I spent hours, hours, and hours doing research in this library and studying there (pre-Internet, folks. GASP!) By the time Arun heads to college, they will probably issue some sort of micro-chip for the brain thus rendering libraries irrelevant.

It was hard to get him to be still for this photo because now he gets too excited when he sits in the chair.

Dead SEXY. .....Bow, chicka bow bow......