Who's Holly, Anyway?

(Warning: There's poop in this blog.)

Among other things, I consider myself an environmentally conscious person. I try to do the right thing, most of the time. I recycle, I reuse, I try to reduce. I use Freecycle and Craig's List regularly. But I have a little issue with low flow toilets. Admit it, it's a widespread problem (so to speak). Sometimes, you gotta double flush. A gallon and a half just doesn't do the job.

I have a little phrase I use for the double flush...Awhile back, on an episode of Home Improvement, Tim accused his wife of not paying attention, and asked her what kind of carburetor was on his hotrod. She replied, "A Holly Double Pumper." It made me laugh...I know nothing about cars. Well, the Holly Double Pumper is what comes to mind when pushing the lever for the second time. This usually happens at my place of employment, where the toilets hold merely a trickle of water...it's a challenge to get more than a few squares of toilet paper down, never mind something, um, substantial.

Somehow this phrase has crept into home life, specifically into the process of diaper changes. When E had a really nasty ucky diaper that needed two wet wipes, I would say, "Wow, that's a Holly Double Pumper!" Well, our little Baby M has set a new standard for nasty poo...I've had to change several Holly Triple Pumpers, and one or two Quadruples! Now that we have TWO children in diapers, we have a Double or Triple about once a day. We have got to work on potty training with E. Holly needs to take a hike.

What Ever Happened to Sonia Rapley?

(Warning...there's puke in this posting)

Although I didn't know the final score until today, I would say that our Super Bowl "party" was a success. The food was yummy, the babies were entertaining, and I won 3 out of the 4 quarters in our random squares pool. I went to sleep happy, content, and Baby M was actually sleeping IN HIS CRIB. Well, midnight rolled around and I woke up from a deep sleep with a tummy rumble. Having had many, many fights with "morning" sickness, I could feel that this one was a losing battle. I had caught the bug that E had last week...by 2 in the morning, it was going full blast (so to speak) and M was starting to feel the same way. Uh. I had forgotten how bad this flu could get.

I was reminded of two such sicknesses that left lasting impressions. When I was in high school, a family trip to the beach turned sour when a virus went through the beach house, flattening a dozen adults and several children. I didn't get it until after the drive home, which was unfortunately the day after a BIG crab dinner. I loved crab. Past tense. 'Nuf said.

The other experience was in middle school, maybe 7th grade, when my favorite class was ceramics. I felt the first twinge of ick before lunch, but ceramics class was in the afternoon and I didn't want to miss it. We were taking vases out of their molds, and I was very excited. So I didn't go to the nurse...I just did my best to stare straight ahead and breathe deeply...it worked until shortly after class started. In a moment of middle school misery, I took one look at my vase and puked on Sonia Rapley's leg. She was wearing a skirt, no jeans or other such fabric to protect her. And do you know what she said to me? She said "Oh, my gosh! Are you okay?"

Maybe someday Sonia Rapley will google herself, and come up with this blog...so if you're reading, Sonia, thanks for the compassion. The world needs more 7th graders like you.