meganbmoore

Scott's new favorite TV show is Phineas and Ferb. Cordelia loves it, too. Me, I'm torn. On the one hand, it's funny and family appropriate and so on. On the other hand, I cringe every time Baljeet shows up.

For those who aren't familiar with the show, it's a Disney channel cartoon about two kids who create spectacular new projects (like a roller coaster, a spa, an aquarium large enough to house killer whales) in their back yard and about their older sister who's always trying to get their parents to notice. The b plot of every episode follows the boys' pet platypus, Perry, who is actually Agent P, a sort of James Bond critter out to thwart the evil Dr. Doofenschmirtz. The episodes are mostly under fifteen minutes long, and all contain at least one musical number.

Baljeet is a supporting character. He's a nerdy, super smart, Indian kid with an accent and an obsession with rules, good grades and so on. He's bullied by Buford, another supporting character, and often made to look gullible. If Baljeet were white, I'd think he was straightforwardly funny. He's not white, however, and I can't stop thinking about the stereotypes he's reinforcing.

Then I start thinking about the other characters and trying to decide which ones could be changed from white to some other race without being insulting. They're all stereotypes on some level, but I think some of them who're currently white could have been designed as not-- Perry's commanding officer, Doofenschmirtz's daughter and ex-wife, Ferb and his dad, Phineas and Candace and their mother. (I don't mention Isabella because the commercials for the Christmas special indicate that she's Jewish. I haven't seen anything reflecting that before, but I don't want to take it away now that it's there.)

Anyway, I wish for more from Phineas and Ferb. I still enjoy it. I just wish for more.

The new couch is here. I'm sitting on it and worrying that it won't help after all.

The seat is higher than I remember from the store. The cushion still feel comfortable. I'm not sure about sitting here and using my laptop. I may need a new strategy for that. I suppose I'll see.

I just made an appointment for Cordelia to get flu shots. It's for Friday at 4:30. Scott ought to be home by then. If he isn't, I don't know what we'll do. There's no way I can get her there by bus given her vehement opposition to shots (not to mention the weather). I picked the time with the idea that Scott would be available, so I hope he is.

I have one remaining PT appointment. That's on the 18th, in the afternoon. The therapist wants to see me to check my alignment. She's of the opinion that a root cause of the problem is that my sacrum keeps pulling to the left. She can't teach me a way to straighten it, so we'll have to hope that the new couch helps. Otherwise, I'm stuck with pain because I only get so many PT visits per year. I can't just keep going in for her to work on things (I'd need to go twice a week, really, and that's too much, too).

My pain levels are down. That's something. The pain just isn't gone, and some days it's sharper and more present than others. I do think that the new couch will help. The days we were out of the house for long periods around Thanksgiving were lower pain than the days I spent mostly at home. I just have to get through to Wednesday.

I'm still doing my assigned PT exercises. I'll be doing them for at least another month, I think. The therapist said that, once I get to thirty repetitions, I should keep going for two more weeks and that I can then stop. I'm at twenty now, and they're hard work. I think thirty is a ways away yet.

In years past, Cordelia has had the sort of Advent calendar that has little pieces of chocolate for each day. This year, with our efforts to keep her away from dairy, Scott bought her a different sort of calendar-- It's a Playmobil thing with a little toy for each day. Cordelia loves it. Scott hopes we can put it all away at the end and reuse it next year. I hate it because it's more clutter, clutter with teeny pieces to get lost.

Of course, I'm currently seeing everything as clutter. I want to throw out everything we own, even the things we use or value highly. Refraining from going overboard means that I'm doing nothing to reduce the problem, and really, I have no idea where to start or where to draw the line. Plus, throwing out things that belong to Scott or Cordelia without consulting them seems a Bad Idea. I may end up doing it, especially with Cordelia's stuff as she won't okay getting rid of anything, but I'm trying to hold myself back for fear that I'll start pitching things I oughtn't.

This has led to a difficulty with Scott's parents. They want a Christmas wishlist from me, and I can't think of anything to put on it. I want nothing tangible coming into the house, no clothes, no books, no DVDs, no yarn, nothing. I can't think of anything I want enough to ask for it, at least not stuff they can give. All I can think of is the stuff I don't want.

I'm hoping that, once my leg is doing better, the urgency of the clutter hate will die down enough that I can work on a purge without worrying that I'll go too far. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until Scott or some other adult has time to help me out with it (or maybe until Cordelia grows up).

We bought a couch and loveseat on Saturday. The trip to IKEA led us to conclude that they had nothing that would work, so we went to Art Van. There, we found several things that I thought would work. We ended up with a model called the Hancock. It reclines, so Scott will still have somewhere for his early morning naps.

I'm just praying that this one will work and won't be another expensive mistake. I sat on it for a good twenty minutes at the store and had no pain from it. I hope that's enough.

The couch will arrive some time on Wednesday. We'll spend part of Tuesday moving the remaining pieces of the Tylosand couch to the basement and cleaning so that the space for the new stuff is clear. Wednesday morning won't be fun for any of us as there will be nowhere to sit but the floor, but we'll get by. I just wish I knew now what our delivery window will be. I want to know if I need to make arrangements for someone to drop Cordelia off at school or to pick her up afterward.

Now we just have to list and sell the old couch. Scott wants to hold off on listing it until after we have the new one. I understand that intellectually, but emotionally I want it over. I'm going to be freaking out over the whole thing until it's done. I can't even think about the holidays right now.