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No more OPEC?!

Yesterday I was reading about OPEC wanting to cut production by 550 million550,00* barrels a day and wherever I was reading that commented that the cuts would amount to more oil than the US could produce if they drilled all US land and territories. Not sure if I believe that. But the point is that OPEC is powerful. Er, was.

Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday. It said it would not honor the cartel’s production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.

As the world’s largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.
…
OPEC has made no announcement to the effect that it is dissolving, but the process is already over.

[Source, MSN Money moneyBlog Top Stocks, The death of OPEC]

Of course, I’m not an economist so I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.

Update: A friend explains that this is good for the United States in that gas prices will go down but bad for the world because greenhouse gases will go up.

Update: *Thanks to Brian Arner for the correction!

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From the mouths of babes

Amy, three, with Noah, twelve, beside her: "Can the dogs go with us to school?" (she means carpool)
Dad: "Sure but don’t let them in the car until I wipe their feet."
Noah, Evan, Amy and the dogs walk out the door. Dad from the front porch hollers: "Don’t let the dogs in the car until their feet get wiped."
Noah walks to car and puts hand on door handle. Dad yells: "Don’t let the dogs in the van!"
Noah opens the door and lets Dharma in with no effort to stop her.
Dad goes on a tirade: {this part is unprintable}
Noah: "I thought you were talking to Amy."

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The world wants to spin

I can feel the dizzy spells wanting to come back. It would be a mistake to lean my head back and look up at the ceiling right now. I must calm myself. I had two cups of coffee this morning which aggravates the problem. I really don’t want to take the Meclizine. I’d like to see a chiropractor but that’s just out the question right now. Eating right would probably help. I’m certain diet contributes to this. Mostly stress. Ugh.

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You know that scene in Caddy Shack?

Time to reenact the pool scene from Caddy Shack, only we don’t have any Baby Ruth’s in this house. Where did I leave my Hazmat suit?

Update: They called me upstairs to deal with it. I donned my rubber gloves and found two small children still in the tub. Evan was holding a brown ball of the stuff! He gave it to me then Amy grabbed a fibrous sheet of it. Yuck! Evan had quite the blowout. Amy tossed her sheet toward me and I jumped back 3 feet as they laughed and swished around in the murky water. It was all in the bath water. I was repulsed. Amy and Evan laughed and swam. Cathy laughed so hard she started to tear. Then she explained that Evan took the card board tube from an expended roll of paper towels in with him. Belated April Fools on me! Now that was funny.

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2/3s of the way there!

I feel like a presidential candidate asking for 20 people to donate $5 each to send Cathy and Sarah to BlogHer Nashville. Some amazingly wonderful people have contributed to sending Cathy and Sarah to BlogHer! Sarah is thrilled! Cathy is so jazzed that she wants to be a panelist at BlogHer 2009. So if you are attending a BlogHer event, be sure to whisper loudly within earshot of the organizers, "Gee, I sure wish Cathy McCaughan of Domestic Psychology were speaking." Sarah and Cathy are going to come back with their blogs on fire like never before! We are a 7 person household and 6 of those people have blogs! (that doesn’t include Facebook and MySpace etc.) We are "The Family That Blogs Together." With 5 children in 5 different schools this year, such a trip would not be feasible without your help. Thank you!

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Odds are your wife is doing him

If you believe a study published in the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy in 2002, flip a coin to see if your wife is cheating on you. Heads you’re okay. Tails then someone’s getting some..er, tail that is.

55 percent of married women engage in extramarital sex at some time during their relationship…90 percent of them didn’t feel guilty about doing it—they felt entitled to do it [Source, Men.Style.Com, THE NEW INFIDELITY]

On the positive side, a third of all these marriages survive! The study also said 60 percent of men cheat (maybe we aren’t supposed to be monogamous). So, getting quick with the math*, doesn’t that mean 5 percent of the women are doing 2 men? It seems to me that with a little open communication, and perhaps open relationships, half the married population would be a lot happier. Alrightee then. Now where did I put that keystroke logger?

*Yes the math is wrong. It presupposes that married women only cheat with married men and vice-versa. But it was funny!

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It’s quiet…too quiet

I love state fairs. I still remember my first state fair in the way back in North Carolina. I think that’s where I was introduced to my first foot long hot dog and on another occasion a corn dog. For the past 5 years or so, every time the Tennessee Valley Fair was here and my family was going, I was either in Los Angeles or just too consumed with deadlines to join them. This is crunch week on a project that must show great results. Tonight is the night the grandparents wanted to take the kids to the fair. I just had to say no. The funny thing is the decibel level in our house runs so consistently high that until you are alone in the house, it is hard to appreciate just how noisy we are. My ears feel like they are filled with cotton. This is almost too quiet to work!