129 sonnets to go...

129 sonnets, read one over, figure it out, 128 sonnets to go.

Ha! Okay, so a songwriter I am so definitely not. One who finishes her reading before the day of discussion I am also not. I just can't stay awake that much longer and finish these. Actually, I probably could, but then I would be forced to sleep all tomorrow. That's just not going to work, people.

(I'm in word processing mode...I just hit the little apple key and 's' to save this. Yeah, I'm an automaton right now.)

So, Cardo and I are still debating what to get Pic for her birthday (and I can share with you because she doesn't read this yet). He wants to get her a Disney Princess dress-up dress. I do not. He says, 'It's what she likes. She'll like it.' I'm all for the shaping of the child into a shape that doesn't so resemble Disney princess. Anyhow, we went to the Disney Store and looked at the dresses and saw a Belle gown for $80 and had simultaneous heart failures (this isn't really funny, considering Cardo's heart, but I'm using the phrase anyway). I knew that looking at the Disney Store would be risky, for just this reason, but he wanted to look there anyway and I wanted to hang out with him for an afternoon (this was last Friday when Pic was in school). We also looked at Target and at Wal-Mart. He wants to get her an Aurora dress, I think, but we didn't see one of these anywhere we went.

I don't have a clue what I want to get her. I'm thinking sleeping bag. She really wants one. Our dearly beloved friends just bought a house (their first and possibly last) and Pic chose a room for her own. It was designated as their office so I suggested she could just sleep in there in a sleeping bag. She was all for this suggestion, so now she wants a sleeping bag. I looked a bit online for kids' sleeping bags and, freaking deal, most of those are covered with trademarked characters. I just want a sleeping bag, not an advertisement. I swear that not everything I owned growing up was covered in some mass market character. I did have a Barbie and the Rockers lunch box, and later, in high school, I had both a Scooby Doo and a Little Mermaid lunchbox. I might have also owned a few pieces of clothing with such characters on them, but I can't recall any at the moment. Now, though, this marketing is like a disease and sometimes it makes me crazy (can you tell?). So, anyway, I'd like to get her a cute, un-brand-splashed, not too expensive sleeping bag. Thoughts?

Okay, while I have you thinking, what about a gift for Cardo? I asked him if we were exchanging Valentine's Day gifts this year and he got kind of quiet and gave me a look as if to say, 'Duh, I bought yours last month.' We aren't gift-exchanging people so my somewhat unromantic question was, I believe, warranted. Other than giving birth to our child, I don't believe that I've ever given Cardo a Valentine's Day gift (and, hey, isn't that enough? and, he was nice enough to not pass out so that's enough for me). Cards, yes. Dinner or lunch, yes. Gift, I don't think so. So, do you exchange gifts with your significant other? If so, please give me some ideas. And, no, I can't buy him a Silvia, so I need actual, affordable ideas, please.

Grazie mille.

Now, I have to go pack up all of my four thousand books for tomorrow (er, today) and throw* together some lunches and pretend to sleep.

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'Throw them?' Pic would ask me had I said that to her. She's very into what things mean right now and creating definitions to her nonsense words. And, she's very into denotative meanings of words, which made a recent message from a friend to 'shoot me an e-mail' something of a concern for Pic.