Share the love

I read over at Mary's site that over at Chookooloonks site there is this new Thursday Love thing going around.

I'm too lazy to look it all up but I think I get the gist.

The thing I've been thinking about love lately, is Janice. I still think about her on a regular basis (although I haven't mentioned it here lately) and the love she showed around our house.

She definitely made me realize love means taking action. I knew that all along - I'm Catholic, that's our whole deal, God's love means you're blowing it if you're not helping somebody out - but her actions were still a revelation to me. The gift bags she would bring before car trips - OUR car trips - filled with thoughtful, tiny things that entertain small people on long rides - stickers and crayons and a package of pretty napkins. The postcards she sent, without fail, on her own trips. Addressed to the girls, written at their level, with pictures of things they cared about at the time. Mermaids or horses or pony express riders. Things she had been telling them about.

You don't have to do some big Save The World thing. Just be kind and thoughtful and take action for the people you love in your life. That was one lesson I learned from Janice.

I also think about how she would never eat the cashews I was always feeding the girls. Oh no thankyou, she'd say, I can't eat one. They're so good, I'd eat the whole can.

And now whenever I open that can, I think of her. I put a few in my mouth, for her, before spooning some out for the girls. We love you, Janice.

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What's For Dinner Wednesday - Again!

It's B-a-a-a-a-aaack!

What are you having for dinner?

Vending machine dinner?

(I keep asking that because I've had dinner from the work vending machine before. I know *someone* out there is having that delicious combo meal of mixed nuts, a bag of popcorn, and a Twix bar. I am just waiting for someone else to admit to it.)

Here are the rules for WFDW - tell us what you're having in the comments. Steal the icon, put it up on your site too. If you actually have a recipe - and God Bless You if you do - then put that up on your site too.

You can even say What You Had On Tuesday, because Gawd knows we don't all plan ahead.

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Ways in which the blog has changed my life, part one: bandaids on my head

At BlogHer (ENOUGH already!), there was a session on "How Blogging Has Changed Your Life."

I went to that one because, frankly, it was in the room with the best air conditioning. I'm typically not a big AC gal, but after a few sessions in over 100* heat....trust me, I was next to the thermostat...it was time for a change.

Anyway, (or "anywho" as some people randomly say), turns out I met some very cool people and heard some amazing stories about the consequences of blogging, in the AC room.

I am sure there are other ways blogging has changed my life, but I know this: I now wear bandaids on my forehead to go to bed at night.

Yes, it's lovely, and I'm sure Spousal finds it amazingly attractive.

But I read all about it here, actually specifically here (# 42), and if there's one thing Greek - Puerto Rican - Russian - Austrian women know, it's probably how to stay beautiful. So although I didn't start off with the golden complexion that Stephanie did (pasty Irish anyone?), the least I can do is try to avoid the big crease that is forming next to my right eye.

Thank you Blogging.

technorati tags: Stephanie Klein, wrinkles, BlogHer

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In which I complain about things that are absolutely free

After answering an online survey – and not about what you think it was about – I had the chance to get four magazines for a year for two dollars.

And then I answered another survey, and got the same deal.

So how many new magazines do we have coming to this house? That’s right, eight. I accepted every offer. We have Time and Outside and Family Circle and God knows what all.

We are pretty much up to our necks in magazines around here because I can’t throw one out until I have read it all, which is actually pretty – and I think at this point technically – impossible.

Anyway, I am now going to take this opportunity to completely complain about one of them.

That’s right. Even though it was free, essentially. And even though I have plenty of other things to read instead.

But I can’t help myself.

It’s this:



Real Simple

And this is only because I am so fundamentally disappointed.

When we lived in Santa Fe, I’d go to Whole Foods regularly. And I’d stand at that checkout counter, the smell of baked bread and European chocolate and fresh smoothies all around me, and look at the cover of that magazine. Ahhh. It looks so inviting. That’s what I need! Simple living! So I can bottle up and take home with me the feeling – if not the actual crowds and prices – of Whole Foods.

And I’d pick it up and think about tossing it on my cart, and notice the $17 newsstand price (or so) and put it right back.

So when I got my chance for a free subscription, I took it! So gleefully!

And then. Oh shoot. It arrived. The dream was better.

First, it’s mostly about things you can buy. Wonderful and amazing and well-designed and completely-unavailable-in-the-sticks-of-New-Mexico things you can buy to simplify your life.

As if buying more things would simplify my life.

They do have these sections, however, on repurposing things you have around the house.

Forks, for instance:



We, actually, use our forks. The ones I have around that we don’t use are the ones I got for a quarter at Goodwill in order for Spousal to take in his lunch, so that when he forgets them at work and they get lost in the vortex that is the Workplace Lunchroom, it doesn’t ruin my place settings.

Nonetheless, I took one of the Goodwill forks, and tried to replicate the above.

I even added the books – the ones people actually have in their house, not the ones that are in the picture because their covers are soft and light green – to try to have the same effect.

This is what it looks like in real life:



Trash. That is what it looks like. Trash stuck in your plants. Forks from Goodwill stuck upside down in your plants.

And if, just in case, some part of you is thinking - ahhh, that's not so bad - let me assure you that it is. Here:



I can just hear my friends now. “Um . . . do you know you have a fork stuck in your plant?”

Also, the magazine has some other suggestions (technically, more things you can buy), that I don’t think even qualify as Simple.

They don’t even qualify as Real.

This, for instance:



And if you would like a closer picture, try this:



That’s right. A plant that grows words on it.

Rather than Real, or Simple, I believe this falls under the category: Kinda Creepy. Or, Kinda Cool in a post-eco-friendly, we’re-trashing-the-environment-anyway,-why-not-grow-plants-with-text-on-them kind of a way.

But I have ten more months of that magazine (I haven’t read the second issue I got yet) so I am sure I will have plenty more to ridicule as the year goes by.

I also have a lot of other free things to complain about. Other free things from the internet. But this time more like things you use ON the internet. (Oooo! What a tease!) But they will have to wait until my next rant. Which might be any day. Or not. Depending on how I’m doing with my reading.

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Ode to the Blog

Ah, the blog.

How I love the blog.

And the blogosphere.

How I love the blogosphere.

But I do them both a disservice. I have so much I want to write (well, perhaps that is a SERVICE to the blogosphere that I don't spew as much as I'd like), so many blogs to read, so many people I want to connect with.

And instead, after the girls are in bed and I chat with Spousal but before it is impossibly late, I scribble a few words, slap them up, read my favorites, and go to bed.

Some nights I venture out and read a few new sites. On the days I don’t post. (Look! I found you then!)

I made the choice when I decided I needed to Do Something – blog more, or attempt to make money. I didn’t really see them as being the same, yet. I’m not quite ready to blog about Hilary Duff (as this young woman does) and as funny as I think I am, the internet has not yet discovered me. So that left blogging and going into debt paying sitters…or working.

Also – and this is serious – being a SAHM can be very isolating. If I took my “timeoff” and went in a room somewhere and leapt into the blogsphere – there’s a very good chance someone very weird and not quite myself might come out. I might, in fact, lose my mind. Meeting actual people, having a workplace, having a workproduct (home sold!) seem more tangible to me. (Than,say, having 2 billion hits! Much as I would like, say, 2 billion hits!)

So we’ll keep plodding along, this labor of love and I, and you my loyal and amazing readers. (I love you guys! Why don’t you comment more! Are the rest of you really phantom hits? I don’t think so because that’s not what the stat thingee says! So braven up out there! Tell me about YOUR blog struggles, because Lord, wouldn’t I love to hear them!)

The End.

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They deserved so much more

I have signed up to honor a funny, loving and handsome young man who was killed on 9/11.

His name was Denis McHugh III. His tribute will appear on this site on 9-11-2006.

I was randomly assigned Denis's name, and have read only a little about him so far. Yet I can tell you already that he seems like a man I might have known, someone I easily might have called a friend had our paths crossed in life.

If you would like to join this blogevent, it's called:

2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11
Bloggers honor the innocent victims of that awful day...

You can sign up to honor someone who lost their life that day. When I signed up, I was the 2006th person to do so. Only 990 more to go.

All Tributes will be published on 9/11.

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Things my baby loves that I don’t want her to have

The car keys.
Meaning, the key to whichever car I need to be driving right then.

My purse.
Especially the lipstick, the wallet, and the credit cards.

My cell phone.
Loves pushing buttons. Loves especially the one that dials people, the last call return button. Usually a client.

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Because sometimes this Baby cracks me up

OMG.



Is she not completely hilarious?



She knows she is.

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The AggroQueen Cometh!

Hey all,

Jenn Satterwhite has a new blog up!

If you're not sure who Jenn is yet (if there's any possible way that could be the case), try this:

Mommy Needs Coffee: Raising children one cup of coffee at a time.
MommyBloggers: Co-founder/Editor
Trendy Tweens Life with tweens while keeping your humor!
BlogHer Contributing editor, Mommy & Family, Conference '06 Team Member

You see? You did know who she was all along.

And now she's got this:

AggroQueen: Can a mommyblogger become a gamer?

It's all about trying to turn herself into a gamer.

Why would you try to form an addiction? I think because all her kids are in school, and she needs something to do. Ha! I jest, of course. I hear you're even busier as your kids get older.

No, I think it's because she really is curious. And she wants to get in on all the fun that the majority of her family is having.

And besides, it's excellent blog material.

As for the new blog, I suspect she thought her regular mommyblog readers might tire - or be confused - by all the references to Marauding and Gang Warfare and Pillage and Destroy - they might think she's started a political blog! - and so she's putting all those posts on this new site.

She is hilarious elsewhere, and it looks like that is holding true here as well. Even though I know nothing about Marauding and Hording and Whatnot.

(Also, for the record, you should know that Jenn and I went on a Desperation Wine and Spirits Run with Mary Tsao at the helm of the Minivan at BlogHer. And it was Fun. But more on that later.)

technorati tags:Jenn Satterwhite, AggroQueen, new blog

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The blog trippeth

I started this blog because I really wanted to write. At the time, I thought I'd focus on a particular topic. In short, How The Feminists Lied, Or, How They Led Us Down A Primrose Path and Whoops, Life's Not Like That At All! (I could go on. And on and on and on.)

But, eventually, even I - I! who thought of that topic! - got bored of that topic. But I still really love writing and loved the immediate response given of throwing it out there to the internets. Or as I like to call you, the Shiney Interneters. I don't know why I call you that, but I think it's funny. I guess that is why.

I really debated, before going back to work, whether to actually get a real job - similar to what I have now - or whether to blog more.

The first problem was, blogging wasn't going to pay much. And I just felt - stay at home mothering guilt kicking in, I guess - that if I am going to pay someone to take care of my kids, I need to do something with my time to justify that. And apparently just doing something for myself didn't count. If you're out there, and you're doing that, good for you. That's the right thing to teach your children.

The other problem I had was - I could just imagine myself escaping into the internet *even more * than I was doing now. I'm in a bit of a small town (have I mentioned that before?), I'm not that good at organizing playdates, I personally find SAHMing it to be quite isolating (maybe in a metropolis there is more to go and do with your kids than move from the yard to the park to the family room to the kitchen. repeat.), and if I took my "timeoff" to disappear online aka into my head, I might just go insane. The thought crossed my mind.

(That's one reason BlogHer was so great. Man, was it fun to meet those people in person.)

And so where is this going?

Only that, I'm sorry my posts have been so lame. I feel I have even less time (or energy) to write the way I'd like. And no time at all to work on building a community or reading other blogs or encouraging other readers. Which, after all, is the point of writing to begin with, isn't it. I guess there's a sweet irony there. It's not that great of writing and not that many people are reading it. Perfect!

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Tape Essays

We hired our decorator when she was three.

Because she had mastered The Tape.

Voila:


And don't forget:



(Notice the use of the homeowner's art, modified brilliantly by Early Decorator. This piece is cleverly entitled: Blog Ideas. Also, note use of single piece of paper to ingeniusly obscure dire need for complete bathroom remodel (CBR!)! CBR will occur immediately upon the conclusion of a number of items. Whether to remodel. Whether to just move. Whether to just move out of town. Whether to just move out of state. CBR is effectively on hold forever. Wait! Look at the brilliantly distracting use of The Tape!)

And finally, there is this ingenius essay in Tape usage and home decorating:



What? You didn't see that there? You just need to know where to look:



Ah. So subtle.

Also, another brilliant charateristic of Our Decorator. She is not above working on smaller rooms, or Smaller Houses altogether. Witness:






(Brilliant work hereby being admired by Decorator In Training. She is still attempting to master The Tape.)


technorati tags:

tape, kids art projects

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It's the freaking flood!

It has been raining in New Mexico. Rain. Ing.

If this whole global warming thing is hogwash, why is this arid state I live in acting like the freaking tropics?

It has poured buckets for hours on end every afternoon the last couple weeks, and on at least two nights this week - including right now - it's been a downpour most the night.

There is flooding, and washouts, and one of the normally dry canyons carved down a side of our hilltop town had sixty feet across of water, for awhile. That's impressive.

And if you don't believe me for any reason - although I don't know why not, I'm the one who has to run through the freaking downpours - take a gander:



This is Albuquerque, but still.

Also, if you wanted, you could look at this link, but you have to sign up and view a commercial first. So just take a second look at that picture and figure you got the gist.

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BlogHer StalkHer

I am not really kidding around when I tell you I was the blog stalker at BlogHer.

Should they really call it StalkHer?

In my case, yes.

Here I am, tormenting Heather:



(She looks tormented, does she not? Of course, it was a billion degrees in that room, and she'd just shaken a million hands, and been on a panel. So I don't *think * it was me.)

And Amy:



(She is completely hilarious in real life. Completely.)

And my other Super Favorite, Alice:



(And let's not forget Jenny and Jenn, also very funny women. But how'd they sneak into this picture, anyway?! No, I mean, Thank Goodness they were there too. To alleviate the drooling on my part over Alice.)

And not once, but twice, when I sidled into a group in which Alice was standing - thinking, you know, I'm pretty funny, maybe we can all just get into a funny little conversation here - all of a sudden Alice was spirited away by Laid-off Dad. Twice!

And immediately I think - okay, not immediately, first I think, hey! he's monopolizing Alice! - and then I think - they must be like Jerrry and Elaine, with their party-saving arrangement. With one minor indication from Alice - a tiny wipe of her tiny nose, or a rub of her shoulder - and LOD rushes in to whisk her away. Because The Interneters! They are closing in!

Or it could just have been a coincidence.

(And, in the end, the truth is that all three of them were insanely nice, and very funny in person as well. I really liked talking to each of them. I don't know that BlogHer will always be so small that you can wander up to the Big Stars at the pool, but I took full advantage this year at any rate.)

(And next year they will have a special cordoned-off section for people like me. Stay behind the yellow line, people!)

technorati tags:
dooce, finslippy, amalah, Heather Armstrong, Alice, Amy, BlogHer

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Lately, my life

So.

I came back from Colorado and I wrote this:

Ah, life in a small town when you’re newly working and still have two little kids at home.

Ah, life in a small town when your oldest, at a whopping four, has gone away from you for the first time and it’s kind of breaking your heart.

Ah. Enough “life in a small town” BS.

So, since I’ve been back from BlogHer – actually, since I’ve been back from the Cousin Extravaganza that my children were experiencing after BlogHer which prevented me from contemplating the Big B then – things have been a little nutty.

After one day back, my Little Big Girl and her Daddy, otherwise known around these parts as Spousal, took off on a vacation together.

Which, I thought, meant Baby and I could have quality time together. In the meantime some clients came into town and need to decide on their house this weekend. So Baby’s actually having some serious quality time with the sitter.

Good thing they like each other.

In the meantime, Little Big Girl and Daddy-Spousal are having a great time, visiting her cousins on the other side of the family, and everything’s going great.


Well, that was then.

Then Spousal left Little Big Girl to carry on with his own work trip, leaving her to stay with her grandparents and play with her cousins. She promptly got sick – some kind of throat infection – and starts asking me when she gets to come home every time I call.

In the meantime, my new clients got a contract on a great house, I’ve been spending parts of some mornings, but not much other time, at home with Baby, and I’m still wondering if I made the right decision to go back to work at all.

And then yesterday, I was getting Baby (really, Full On Toddler Plus) into the car to go to her sitter’s (notice I still can’t really say “day care”), and was loading everything into the car - my briefcase, her diaper bag, the Baby, a bag of toys for the day.

On my last load to the car, one of my neighbors walked by. She was pushing a stroller with *her * baby girl in it. Her little boy, Little Big Girl’s age, was walking alongside.

Hi! She called out.
Hi! I said, suddenly aware of my pointy shoes. What are you up to?
Oh, going down to see Emma and Haley. (Two totally adorable neighbor girls who live down the street. The same ones who were naken butterflies with my Little Big Girl last summer.)

Baby LOVES Haley. She will have imaginary conversations with her on her imaginary phones.

(Picking up Barbie-car remote control.)
Hawee? Uh huh. Uh huh. Huh. Bye bye Hawee.
(Sets pink remote control down.)

I have no idea what they are talking about. But I do know who she is talking to.

We have yet to see Emma or Haley this summer.

I’m going on a playdate! Says the neighbor's little boy to me, excitedly.
Great! I say. Then, silence.

Are you off to work? Asks my neighbor. The same brilliant neighbor with a science PhD and a wonderful part-time job at the National Lab here, which she gave up to be with her kids.
Um, yeah, yeah, I say. I’m suddenly very aware of Baby strapped into her car seat, though she’s a few feet away.

Okay! She says sweetly. See ya!
Yeah, I say, See ya! I say. But I don't know when.

And I get in the car. And I take my little Baby to her sitter’s.

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I knew I went there to do this

One of the things I did when I was at….at…okay, at that place everyone’s sick of hearing about…but I can’t stop because I wanted to tell this story….is to go shopping for a stroller.

This is kind of ironic (in the fly in your chardonnay way – not technically ironic, just notable) because there has been a lot of talk about the over-focus on mommybloggers at BlogHer. And there I was out shopping for a stroller.

The really notable part is that it wasn’t even for me. It was for a woman I met there, who – another notable part – wasn’t even a blogger.

The truth is, I really wanted to take a test drive in one of the convertible sports cars they had there for us to test drive, and I really thought it would be more fun to bring someone along. I asked some of my fellow bloggers, but they all kind of went - Hm. Test drive. It was only a couple hours into the start of the conference, and no one seemed ready to leave. (Or that's what I tell myself.)

But one of the vendors I had been talking to was hilarious and really fun, so I asked her. And she thought it was a great idea. Plus there was this stroller nearby that she wanted to check out…

Now, in San Jose, “nearby” could really be a relative thing. Like, not really nearby. But -notably - it really was nearby. Like, two blocks away.

So we stopped in and met the business owner in a small strip-mall commercial space, piled high with boxes and strewn about with recently-opened strollers, and we saw these incredibly cool strollers that he is selling. First he designed them and had them made. They’re basically the European stroller knock off.

So instead of voluminous amounts of plastic, most of which you can’t actually ascertain what it does, like your typical American stroller, it’s streamlined and looks basically like a buggy. The kid sits up higher, there are at least five reclining angles, it’s awesome.

And instead of costing some $700 plus importing fees if you buy an original from England or Germany, it costs $230 and you support good old American entrepenuership. In the form of a first-generation Asian American in San Jose.

These things rocked. So we got there, took one for a test drive in the parking lot, checked out all his color schemes, and wandered back to the conference.

Not without taking the convertible on the local highway so we could open it up a little. Fun. Very fun. Wind blowing through our hair. My new pal waving her hands in the air like she was on a roller coaster. (I told you she was fun.)

Anyway I begged - BEGGED - Ms maya’s mom to buy a stroller right then. Because how cool would it have been to show up back at BlogHer with a big ol’ stroller in the lap of the passenger - and appearing over the windshield and possibly hanging out the window – it's a normal-sized stroller and there is absolutely no trunk space in the Saturn Sky - in the convertible test drive car at BlogHer. Hilarious. That’s what it would have been.

Instead, we showed up to be checked back in sans stroller and just us. The Saturn man was tightlipped. He looked at us, put a check mark on his paper on his clipboard, and muttered something like: Yeah. We were getting worried about you two. And he opened the car door.

Ms maya’s mom and I just grinned. We had had important errands to attend to.

I’ll have to check in with her and see if she went back and bought that sweet Euro-Asian-American ride.

tags:BlogHer,strollers, Saturn,SKYE

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Conversation with Little Big Girl While She's Off On Vacation Having a Great Time Without Me

Hi honey! How are you?

Hi Mom! I caught a fish!

That’s great, sweetie! (hm, hm, what to ask about fishing?) What kind of bait did you use?

Um, it was a ….. (mumble, mumble, talking to Daddy) catfish!

Oh, okay honey. You caught a catfish.

(mumble, mumble, noise in background)

I GOTTA GO! I GOTTA GO DO THE SLIP AND SLIDE! (trailing off as phone is handed back to Daddy) IGOTTAGODOTHESLIPANDSLIDEBYEMOM!!

It’s impressive how urgent it can be to go do the Slip and Slide.

But that is the glory of being four.

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OMG! I'm up at Mary Tsao's place!

And don't go looking there if you kind of like the mystery.

I mean, I'm clothed and everything. But that's pretty much just me standing there with Mary. Yup. Pretty much just what I look like, as far as I know.

And without even a whole entire flourescent yellow placard in front of my face!

But I am flattered to be mentioned on her site. (Which I love, by the way, seriously.)

And I'm serious with what I said in my comment to her post over there.

I knew she was my bud when, after I said some random thing to her, she says, You are so full of sh*t.

Ah, friendship, Shiny Interneters. That's what it's all about.

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The BlogHer Rundown in an Easy Q & A Format

BlogHer the Conference - what the heck is it?

A gathering of women – and approximately five men – who blog.

BlogHer: the Conference – what is it REALLY?

Really? It’s -

BlogHer: The Reality Check.

In short, do these people really exist, or is this all in my head?

Turns out – geez, they were gathering around the hotel grounds and pool area for two days. These people are real!

(I am both startled and relieved to report that.)


Exciting Sitings:

I saw what I like to think of as the Blogging Rockstars (phrase stolen from somewhere, don’t know where): Heather, Alice and Amy.

I even spoke with Heather, Alice and Amy.

They were all kind, nice and generous. At least in speaking to a drooling, rabid fan like myself.


Sad Realization:

I am a sad, drooling fan. Kind of the blogging equivalent of a geeky thirteen year old boy at a Star Trek convention.


Proof -
Krisco speaking to most fellow bloggers:

Funny! Witty! Nice! Interested!
(Descriptions that are all, you know, According To Me.)


Krisco speaking to the Big Three Rockstar Bloggers:

Der. Uh, Er. I’m. Er. (Shoves Crib Ceiling card their way.) I really like your, um, blog. Der.


Biggest Weirdnesses:

Putting faces, not to mention whole bodies, voices, personalities and personas, to people I’ve only known online.


Gaffs

Concommitant to the item above: Talking to people and not having any idea who they are.

And then suddenly going: Oh my god! You're (fill in the blank here, of any number of people I said that to.)


Quote of the day re the men at BlogHer:

Let the men pee, ladies.
- Elisa Camahort

(There were those five men at BlogHer. Apparently last year there were even fewer men, so, since there was also more than one men’s room, one got commandeered by the ladies. This time, there was only one bathroom each, so they forbade the commandeering. Funny.)

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Back from BlogHer and swimming in kids - er, I mean - with the kids

My BlogHer tattoo has not yet worn off, and I mean that in any number of ways.

Sitting around the pool after the sessions both days (and by that I mean, sitting around the bar at the pool), the women of Mommy Bloggers handed out these sweet little “Mommy BlogHer” temporary tattoos.

Those things usually wash off me in about a day – you know, the ones that come in kids’ meals, or are given out to kids as prizes at fairs - so I figured, why not. And put one on my wrist.

Four days later, it’s still going strong.

I learned a lot, I met a lot of people, I generally had a great time.

In the meantime, I feel like I’m in splashdown. Before going back home, we're spending a few days here with the grandparents. And, um, the aunt and three cousins. For anyone counting, that's five kids under one roof. Adorable, yes. Fun for them, yes. A lot of referreing, cajoling, feeding and entertaining, swimming, and "rope course" attending for the rest of us.

I’m just glad that little tattoo is still with me, for now. As much as I'm happy to be back with my kids, it's like my own little secret badge, reminding me of a fun, engaging, and completely freeing weekend that I'm so glad I had, and of all the great blog ideas that came with it.

And good thing I wrote a BlogHer post on the plane back. Otherwise I don't know when I would have the time. That'll be up soon.

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