I had an epiphany this weekend. I can't really elucidate the details because the circumstances that led to the epiphany were somewhat questionable. But nonetheless, I figured something out. And now I'm going to try to be pro-active about stuff.

Cleaning one's home (seriously cleaning, not regular) is not so bad when it involves rum, cherry kool-aid, an old cd of awesome music and, of course, gloves and masks so it looks like you're about to either kill someone or clean up after killing someone. Shannon's mom and step-dad are coming Saturday and we didn't want her step-dad to see stuff. She was like, it's really sad that we're both afraid of my step-dad. I was like, dude, if my mom were coming over, we'd be doing the same thing.

OK, so I haven't been able to concentrate all day. Please just pray for my friend and her family who are going through something heartbreaking and also possibly miraculous right now.

I learned about a food that disturbs me today. It is a 'pie floater.' I don't know what would possess someone to place a meat pie upside down in pea soup and then cover it with tomato sauce and/or mint sauce. That sounds completely disgusting, although Wikipedia tells me that Billy Connolly loves them. I guess that's ok for him because he's Scottish and completely awesome. But eeww. What are Australians thinking?

True story: When I was eight, I had a palate expander because I have the (apparently) dominant Benz trait of a narrow upper palate. It was nothing like the one Zoe had, or even the one Mark had a few years later. It was huge and cemented in and you had to turn the key every three days. I had this fear that whoever was turning the key would drop it down my throat, so I would only let my dad turn it and I made him wrap the string the key was on around his wrist. Even as a child I was weird. I remember the day one side of it came uncemented while I was brushing my teeth. It hurt because then the other side was digging into my gums. We beat the dentist to his office that day. He was just like, oh, I guess we are finished with this now. And that dentist now lives across from my grandma. Anyway, the thing is, I thought it was called a pallid expander, because it's not like anyone showed me any literature on it and I didn't know what the roof of my mouth was called. Also, people do not enunciate and I knew that pallid was a word. You couldn't Google stuff like that back then...

Apparently BG had a tea-bagging protest the other day. On the news, they kept showing this kid who couldn't have been over 11 who was wearing a hat with ear flaps and holding a sign that said "What would Reagan do?" I was like, Shannon you missed your chance to go hold a sign like that. The year we lived together in college, there were a couple pictures of Reagan up in our shrine to Reagan because Shannon loves him so (except really not at all, in case you think I am serious about the Reagan love. I am serious about the pictures, though.). Anyway, since she missed it, we decided we just need to borrow that kid with the earflaps and the Reagan sign because he seems awesome. Seriously, how many kids really know anything about Reagan? Do you think anyone explained it to him before they gave him the sign?

OK, so I figured out why Kal Penn got killed off on House-he's leaving to do PR work for the Obama Administration. Sadness. It was kind of like that episode of ER when Gant, played by the guy who plays Foreman on House, jumped in front of a train and died rather unexpectedly.

Anyway, I made it through last week. Thanks to everybody for encouraging me. It really was that kind of week. Dave and Rachel brought me an awesome strawberry cake that said, "AL Benzes {heart} Andrea." It was so good. And my grandma made a cheesecake and then we had brownies and lemon bars. Shockingly enough, no one went into a sugar coma. The girls were all adorable and took some really good pictures. And played nicely with each other and whatnot. To give Rachel a boost this week, here is a link to Pride and Prejudice via Facebook News Feeds. And it is a masterpiece. For the boys, since I know they didn't read that book, here is The Aeneid done in FaceBook News Feeds. "The Greeks deleted the group Troy." Hah.

OK, so you know how some places make you have security questions, sometimes even when you remember your password? I was logging in to something the other day that I very rarely use and I put the name of our first pet, because that was one of the questions. That was not right. I had to think about it for a minute, because I used our first real pet, not like, the hamsters or whatever Dave caught. Then I remembered that I used Mark as my first pet for this. Yeah, little brothers are just like pets. For sure.

Funny Or Die

Rachel, this is for you, since I don't know if you've seen it yet. Also, his sad face is epic!

Zac Efron's Pool Party from Zac Efron

So, as of this morning I've already worked over 40 hours this week. I can no longer retain any information for more than a minute or two or wear my contacts more than 20 minutes before my eyes start to burn. But hey, once this week is over, it should get better. Yesterday I logged in to check my gmail for a minute and I had an email from Dave Ramsey (of the FPU) and it said, 'don't stop now Andrea! You're a gazelle!' Thanks, Dave Ramsey. I did need that reminder that I was more than halfway throught the week and not to give up. I didn't actually open it, as I'm sure it was not anything that would help me right now, but I thought it was funny.

My parents called me this morning. First problem was that my mom was all, did we wake you? Uh, no, since I haven't slept past 9 in like 3 years. Second problem was that they called because they're cleaning out their attic. My mom was all, do you want to come help? Uh, the only thing I want to do less today than clean out your attic is clean my own kitchen. Which hasn't happened yet, but we'll get to it. The rest of the house is clean now. I worked 50 hours this week and I'm seriously considering going in tomorrow. If I can make it through the next two weeks, then I will be ok. It's just really crazy right now, which if you care I'll explain later. But whatever.

Things I do not miss about working at the clinic:

Constant papercuts from pulling charts. So, not just paper cuts, but deep cuts from manila folders. Yeah, I have been pulling files today, and some of them were already put up in banker's boxes, so I even have a couple of cardboard cuts. Thrills!

Researchers say that people who grew up with at least one sister are happier, more ambitious, more emotionally balanced, and more successful than people who only had brothers. So, you're welcome, Dave and Mark. Why did you have to screw me like that, though? Why does everyone else benefit from my existence, but not me? What's that? Am I being a whiny middle child? No, but thanks for asking. Besides, I did get Rachel while I was still a teenager and I think she's helped me be less insane than I was then. I like to think we help each other out with that, but maybe not. Maybe I'm marginally saner because I matured or something. Or not. Besides, once Mark got to be 8 or 9 or so, I decided I couldn't handle having a little sister like I wanted up to that point. Mark was trouble enough... And then later, Dave.