April 29, 2008

things that are weighing on my mind

1. My hair is a disaster. I had it cut two weeks ago, and it’s already a mess. Also it is longer on one side than on the other, which makes me crazy. I think I need to change stylists, AGAIN, which REALLY makes me crazy.

2. On Sunday, we put mulch in the flower beds, over the flowers we planted on Saturday. I wound up with a wee sliver of redwood mulch in my finger, which REALLY hurt. Today it worked its way out and now my finger is fine. The human body is an amazing thing, you know.

3. Charlie has had at least one gigantic sobbing meltdown every day for nearly a week. I think he’s had it with the broken arm and the strep and the itching and the medicine and the missing school. And while I wish he would stop crying about his PANTS already, I feel for him; I would like to lie down and cry about my hair, for example (see #1).

4. My birthday weekend was lovely, clouded only by intermittent moments of badly behaved children, which is pretty much the norm around here.  But the entire quart of Thai peanut chicken salad that I ate made it all better.

5. I’m getting a new camera! Probably a Cannon Rebel, unless anyone has any other suggestions.  It needs to be very VERY simple to use and VERY easy to carry, because I am a delicate flower with a short attention span.  And a limited budget.  Just so you know.

And if you have any ideas about my hair, I would love to hear those, too.

Today is Tuesday, which means that while I was worrying about my hair and marvelling at the fact that my body PUSHED OUT A WOOD CHIP, I was also writing about other things, like what to wear to a new job and why the white handbag is the Perfect Bag for Summer. Go, read! You might learn something.

April 1, 2008

too sexy for my blog

Today in the car, I heard Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt.  Nothing starts the day like a good 80s dance tune.  Too bad that wasn’t one.

Right now, my bed looks like this:

Which would be fine except that I really need to get some sleep.

I will be on the road for the next few days (assuming I can get all that stuff into the suitcase which is really still up in the air right now); I will also be taking this whole blogging gig on the road as well, in a virtual kind of way. You can read all about what I have in the suitcase and who I’m hanging out with and just how short Chris’ bangs are at Friday Style.  There will also be Flickr photos and lots of Twittering.

And Friday Playdate will be back on Monday.

Now I have to go jump up and down on the suitcase.  Wish me luck.

March 18, 2008

what have I been doing?

Chris called me this morning. “I linked to you today,” she said. “So you might want to post something.”

“Meh,” I said. “Maybe. If anything good happens today.”

Nothing happened. Seriously.

Wade and I are watching The Real Housewives of New York right now; it is truly mesmerizing. Like a black hole of stupidity. Really wealthy overdressed stupidity. It is also the most interesting thing that has happened all day.

I would look away, but Life in the Fab Lane isn’t on tonight. I love me some Kimora Lee Simmons. Seriously. All kinds of things happen to Kimora Lee. Also she owns 400 pairs of jeans, not a single one of which EVER makes an appearance on her show. Go figure.

Today is Tuesday, which means that I am all over the Internet (because good lord are you still here? nothing to see! move along! watching trashy Bravo reality TV! sheesh). At Work It Mom! I’m asking what you wear to work at home; at BlogHer I’m wondering what inspires you to get dressed up.  And at AisleDash I’m speculating about the marriages and tattoos of various celebrities. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

And now I have to get back to the Real Housewives.  I sense some drahmah coming.  God knows there was none of that in my day.

I’ll bet Kimora Lee had dramah today.  And 400 pairs of jeans.

March 6, 2008

petty larceny and teenage hi-jinks

Thank you all for your kind comments, and your assurances that karma is a bitch and she will certainly get the jerk who stole our stereo. I’m still pretty stunned about the whole thing, but I’m moving on. With the help of the Internet and that bottle of Absolut in the freezer, of course.

Also, tangentially related: we got our homeowners association newsletter today, which included a bit about how some of the neighbors have had their mail stolen. And while that pissed me off all over again (because WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?) I had to giggle at the wording of the little piece, which included the phrases mailbox malfeasance, teenage hi-jinks, and post box plunderers.

Apparently my neighborhood is somewhere in the 1950s. Which is funny because the police officer who came to my door yesterday cut right to the chase and described our incident as LARCENY (which isn’t nearly as picturesque as a malfeasance, really, but is certainly more accurate).

Anyway …

In all the brouhaha, I completely forgot to mention that Michele interviewed me this week for her new site, Special Needs Parent. The interview is here — come on over and see how many times I can use the word “consistent” in the SAME PARAGRAPH! And then look around the site a bit, because Michele is an incredible resource, and she has developed such a wonderful site.

It was an honor to be included. And it has also convinced me to cut my hair already. So thank you, Michele! On both counts.

January 29, 2008

ONLY because you asked

While I did not mean to leave that last post up there for so many days (hello, virus that will not die! and also sick child who stayed home from school yesterday! which made a FULL WEEK of some sick person in the house with me all day!) I really appreciate all of your incredibly nice words. You all are truly the best, and I would buy each one of you a drink, if the idea of alcohol didn’t really skeeve me out right now.

Because I am still sick! How is that possible?!? I have no idea.

I do, however, have some Big Ass Antibiotics (yes, that is what they are called; says so right on the prescription) so I should be all better ANY MOMENT NOW. At least I hope so because this is really ridiculous.

In with all your lovely compliments on how I did not look like I was dying (Prescriptives Flawless Skin foundation and Girlactik Star Powder in Lace) were a whole bunch of questions about how to go from girl with a blog to paid blogger. And since I’m finding myself writing the same e-mail over and over, I thought I would just toss the whole thing up here and be done with it.

And then we can get back to talking about really important things, like when it’s okay to drop a kid at a birthday party and leave.

If you are really serious about wanting to be paid to blog …

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January 25, 2008

it turns out “dilettante” actually IS a career (at least, according to ABC)*

In the spring of 2000, I left my last full-time job, as an instructor in the English department at the University of Puget Sound. I was expecting a baby, and Wade and I had decided that it made the most sense for me to stay home full time. We agreed that of course I would go back to work — when the youngest child was in school full time. It was going to be so easy, I thought, this little break from working.

Henry was born in June, in what was the hottest summer on record in Oklahoma. We only had one car with air conditioning, and Wade drove it to work every day, which meant that I pretty much just stayed home with the baby. I read a lot, about the opt-out revolution and about how women weren’t really giving up on their careers, they were just taking time off and then stepping back on the work treadmill right where they had left off. And I started to panic a little because how on earth was I going to do that? I didn’t have a “career” to speak of — I had been a university adjunct, without health care or even an office, but still, I loved teaching because it made me think, and that mattered to me.

And I started to wonder: what was I going to DO with myself when my kids grew up?

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