Detailed Review of the Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte, Which Is

... currently featured prominently on their website and in stores, boasts flavors of cinnamon, brown sugar and butter (butter?) and taunts me, TAUNTS me ...

Yum.

I have tried it, so now I can move on with my life.

If Only His Mother Would Iron His Shirts...

Sam nails Day II.

Cold with a 100% Chance of Cuteness

Miller Elementary School has a weather station, manned by various teams of 5th graders throughout the year. It is viewed daily by students throughout the school, and is also broadcast on our town's Cable Channel 10 every morning at 8:15-ish.

Sam informed me a week or so ago that he was "one of the chosen ones," which means he gets to be a member of the weather team for three weeks. He rotates through various jobs, including screen manager, camera man, standby, cue card guy, meteorologist.

Well, today he got his first turn as on-air talent. Unfortunately, the only way I could get a digital recording of this was to stand in front of the TV and actually videotape the screen, so the quality stinks, but it's better than nothing.

The whole kid-operated, cable access weather broadcast is adorable and hilarious (e.g., the camera is wobbly, the writing on the screen is crooked because of the camera placement and the fact that it is projected onto a piece of wrinkled fabric or maybe construction paper, I'm not sure which.)

But yes, Sam's appearance made his mother cry. He waited two years to do this, and this morning he looked simultaneously confident and vulnerable, and... it just put me on the floor.

UPDATE: We went to Uno's tonight for a celebratory weather dinner. Our table was next to a door and window, and I was c-c-c-c-cold. Sam reached across the table and very sweetly warmed my glacial hands between his own small but warm ones, and I thanked him for being so thoughtful and loving. He looked straight at me with his gorgeous green eyes, smiled a little, drew a little closer.

Then, he said, "Bite me."

Um. HUH?

I don't think he took me very seriously while I tried to explain that "bite me" really wasn't something he should be saying. To anyone. My stern life lessons don't go over very well when I'm laughing in hyena-like fashion.

Quote of the Day (and the reason I opened the wine early)

Abby: I think I'm getting puberty. My left nipple is hard.

UPDATE: She knows she only checked a few days ago, but she's sure it has grown since then. Donations of chocolate and additional alcohol will be enthusiastically accepted.

Public Service Announcement for Computer Doofuses Like Myself

I am officially back in business, as the nice man from Fed Ex appeared at my door yesterday and handed over my repaired computer, complete with a brand-spanking new shiny, happy (blank -- ouch) hard drive. I have almost restored it to something that resembles my own computer, since by some miracle I had filed important software (printer, Microsoft Office, etc.) in the basement.

Anyhoo.

The public service announcement portion of this post: Back up your stuff. Hard drives die with no warning.