LauraCatoe.com

I’m glad I don’t bet any money on Idol. I so would have picked Paris as the one dropped this week.

I enjoy how Idol is this weird gender, class, socio-economic equalizer. Tuesday I was working in the yard and some of my neighbors walked by. There was a dad (late 30s I’m guessing), his daughter and two young teens who live on the circle. They came over to see what I was doing. “Playing in the dirt until American Idol comes on.”

Instantly, all eyes light up and I ask who their favorites are. “Taylor,” says the dad. “Paris,” says one girl. And the other girl says “Kellie” with an unspoken “duh, of course!” at the end. Then she says she can’t believe Bucky was cut.

“I can’t either,” I say. Mentally, I mean I can’t believe Bucky was cut after Mandisa.

Cookie and Jaimie came over to watch, too, and before we settled in, I called GJ to remind her “that singing show” was coming on.

And this I love more than all of it: she calls me back during a commercial break to compare notes on how mean Simon was to Kellie. While Cookie texts meta commentary to her internet friends on commercial breaks, my 91 year old grandmother calls to do the same thing. “I usually like Simon,” she says “but he rang the bell on that girl.”

This weekend, one of my coworkers is giving Carrie Underwood tickets to her step-daughter for a birthday present. They won’t get the real tickets for months, so she asked if I could make fake ones so Ariel has something to open. I thought they turned out really cute.

(Ariel, on the one in a zillion chance that you stumble across this page before you receive the tickets on Saturday, please act surprised when you get them so that Kim and your mom don’t kill me. Thanks.)

Tomorrow is Kris’ first Wednesday at the Moxie, so now he’s only commuting 2 days a week. Brad is officially on board as the other Moxie stylist; he’ll make the Trussville to Gadsden jump at the end of May instead of spreading it out. (Mark is still apprenticing, so he’s doing cuts, too.)

Kris will be here full time as of July 5. I expect it we will rock the 4th of July this year like… like… like it’s a thing to be well rocked.

I’m waiting for May 1 to switch to a new design I’ve been working on for LauraCatoe.com.

Frodo is doing better. I’m glad that Kris isn’t squeamish about grabbing the cats by the scruff of the neck to immobilze them and then jamming some medicine in their mouth. Cause I sure am.

I am also glad that he has the mojo for successfully plunging a toilet. Because I? Do not.

I appreciate that he takes the full garbage can down the driveway, as it tends to take me down the driveway when I try. I show my thanks by bringing the emptied trashcan back to its perch.

I am very thankful that he does the driving when we are on an interstate in a big city, as such conditions make my blood pressure rise.

And I’m lucky that he does my hair, cause otherwise I’d have a frizzy unkempt ‘do and craZy brows.

My grandmothers constantly tell me that I should be thankful for Kris. “He cooks!” “He cleans!” “He likes to work in the yard!” “He knows how to fix stuff!”

Mostly, I am just thankful that we met. And that he didn’t run away when he had the chance. Cause there’s no way I’m letting him get away now.

The Times has been looking at PRIZM data to learn more about readership. PRIZM lumps people into broad stereotypes and gives them little nicknames like “Blue-Chip Blues” (blue-collar suburban families who visited a theme park in the last year) or “Shotguns and Pickups” (white high school graduates who own guns and watch the Daytona 500).

It took a lot of staring and a bit of finagling, but I decided Kris and I are Young Influentials. Demographically speaking, that fit us best, except it said we’d be renters. Then there were suggestions of our “Lifestyle traits,” i.e. what we’d own/buy, where we’d eat/shop and what entertainment (TV/radio) we consume, what we drive:

Bought a high end computer
Eats at Whataburger*
Reads GQ magazine
Watches That 70s Show
Drives a Mazda Protégé

When we bought our computer two years ago, yes, it would have been considered “high end.” I am sure we eat at Whataburger’s equivalent (Gadsden doesn’t have a Whataburger). I bet Kris sometimes flips through GQ at Rococo, as I will sometimes watch an old episode of That 70s Show while I eat a frozen pizza.

Across all 60+ categories, I couldn’t find a magazine, TV/radio description, store or vehicle we actually use. When I tried to find us by food establishment, it said we were Black or Hispanic.

The online summaries are slightly different. Judging by those demographic stats, I’d put us in Brite Lites, Li’l City. But as for those Lifestyle Traits? No, no, no and… no.

So I’m going to construct my own Catoe Household data set:

< 35 years old
H.S./College
White
Landlords
Church-going
Foreign vehicles
Networks TV dramas / Comedy Central
XM radio / iTunes
Locally owned restaurants
Unsweet tea / Killians-on-tap
Bloggers

There. What can be our jaunty nickname?

*The website says Hooters instead

Hit a snag in my week of birthday outings. Cramps thwarted me yesterday. Today, though, I am back on track. Had lunch with Terica and tonight, will see if I can wheedle GJ into going to the wine tasting at The Grind. I mean, c’mon, it’s Australian wines! Can’t miss.

Last year, I talked Kris into opening a Roth IRA. He did really well contributing to it over the year. And now we have to empty the account to pay taxes. On the one hand, it’s like “why do we even bother?” And then on the other is “well, but if we hadn’t, where would we be?”

I was balancing my checkbook this morning (today was payday) and trying to see which checks have cleared (Citifinancial has, Mastercard has not) and which checks I can write (Visa I can, car payment can not)… when all the checks written and to be written clear… I will have $1 in my checking account.

Which is like the IRA: on the one hand, one dollar?!? And on the other, well, at least there was enough to get this far.

That’s all I can ask for really. Enough is good.

P.S. Word on my granddad is that they may do surgery that will restore vision in his right eye.

P.P.S. Elizabeth Adell Wilborn was born today a little after 2:30 p.m.