Boldmama

Book Gnomes Please Help

2010-12-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

I think gnomes are little creatures that come in the middle of the night to do things for you right? If so, I need their help.

Currently I am having a mini internal panic attack. When I was a kid I was never any good with math word problems. I still am not good at them. I take a look at the words and I start to think of variables that could change the outcome of the answer. I know the point of these problems is to take the information and be able to put it into a mathematical formula, but I could never get past the story told by these problems. Heck, I wanted to know if the cyclist would finish the race, if that well was ever going to be dug, and is Chris ever going to save enough money and why was he saving it.

Now I am having word problems again. Except this time instead of trying to find the right words I am totally stalling on putting that formulaic problem behind those words. Maybe this makes no sense. But when I wrote the first draft of this novel I just wrote. I didn’t think about character development, emotional responses, imagery, themes or any of that. Every once in awhile it crept in, but it was mostly by accident. I started at Point A and I knew I was going to arrive at Point B approximately 50,000 words later.

I have read through almost half of my rough draft thus far and I feel like I made a seven layer bean dip and forgot layers two, four, and six and now I have to somehow shove them in and make this bean dip still turn out like the picture in the recipe book. Right now I am trying to determine the most efficient way to tackle this problem and my mind is giving me several solutions. None of them are easy. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But every solution also comes with its own problems.

Bottom line is that I am no good at the technical stuff. When someone tells me to define a character’s want and their goal my mind thinks, “Well, they want their goal, isn’t that one in the same thing?” If I am told to give a synopsis, summary, headlines, sequence of events, of each chapter, I also see that as one thing. Themes and imagery are oftentimes so intertwined I have a problem pulling those apart also. Tell me to give you a one sentence summary of my novel and I have a mental aneurysm.

And this is why I have flailed and failed every time I have attempted to edit one of my manuscripts. I am getting dizzy with this ever changing focus on the background and then on the foreground that I can never get to the heart of any of it.

Rough day. Moving on.

Word Cloud

2010-11-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

This is a word cloud done of my novel. Such fun, and as much as I will share of it before editing.

Create one of your own at http://www.wordle.net/

Night of Writing Dangerously

2010-11-24T19:18:00.000-08:00

Beside me sat a rotund, aging man whose front teeth had all but rotted away, though his conversation and breath were much fresher than the blackened corn kernels that were all that was left of his front teeth.

The two life partners beside me were equally jolly and lacking in dental hygiene and I begin to wonder if this city doesn’t put fluoride in the water.

In contrast the four young girls across the table look like they are playing hooky from high school. And if it wasn’t Thanksgiving break that observation would be true.

I’m somewhere in between. I have a child, have long left my high school years behind (thank God), but still have all my teeth, even though some may have cancer causing metals drilled into them.

The woman to my right has a patch of dry skin between her eyebrows that sinks down to her nose. Her limp dishwater brown hair in two thin braids hanging down over her shoulders. A calling card that she is no longer a little girl but would like to remain girlish.

The verbose sixteen year old across the table speaks freely about intimate details of her life with exuberant animated gesticulations. She is a recovering Mormon, her grandfather had a seizure, the kids at school think her best friend (who is sitting next to her) is her life partner. She blabs more than I do after the two cocktails and glass of wine I have had.

The two girls sitting next to them make comments and I know they will go back to their hotel room and laugh at the other two girls for being awkward and perhaps saying too much. One of them says something that shows me how little of life she has seen, “I’ve never seen snow before.” I cringe thinking that my four year old son has seen snow, oceans, beaches, and even Disneyland at his tender young age. I wonder if he’ll ever know how much life his father and I try to breathe into him between working ten hour days and collapsing in front of the television every night. I hope when he gets older and compares notes that his childhood will match up to whatever becomes his expectations. Even though by then “do overs” are not an option.

Every person at this table is different than me. And yet we manage to banter about everything except the common thread that has brought us all there together. Writing. We are all writers but we speak nothing of it. We talk of our excitement, our fears, our shortcomings, and our bed times. But somewhere through it all we are talking because we know deep down we all have that similarity.

It’s like we are fishing. Trying to find the right bait of conversation that will bring that fish to the top. But that fish is smart and really doesn’t want to be caught. We can only be left to imagine its colors, its shape, whether or not it would win catch of the day or be thrown back to mature.

As my flight starts to descend back into my familiar territory, back into my day to day mantra of reality, I can only hope that I will bring back some of the spark from these curious people at the table with me and the hundreds more in the room whose greatest wish is to put their words to paper, have someone else read them, and have that someone believe in those words.

Building a world in 30 days

2009-08-25T16:49:00.001-07:00

I've been tossing around ideas for Nanowrimo. I really think that I need to complete the trilogy that I started. Problem is I have never felt completely comfortable with the world I created for my characters to explore.

My first novel took place mostly in Seattle and Israel. I spent months researching Israel before Nano started. My scenes ended up great, but the characters needed a lot of work.

Second novel I wrote in first person and had it take place mostly in Paris. I had been to Paris before so I relied heavily on that. I dealt with some issues my characters were going through but I didn't like my depiction of Paris. And I found out I don't like writing in first person so much.

All that and I still have not developed the fantasy portion of my characters lives. The rules that guide their powers and define what should happen.

So, I am going to take the next 30 days to create my world using this little guide I found online. Linky later. Day one is climate. Wish me luck.

Too much. It's all too much.

2009-08-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Too much to go over that is. That is what happens when you neglect your blog for almost a month. I went to Sock Summit and was completely overwhelmed. I know I did not see 75% percent of what the vendors had to offer because I spent too much time wandering around with my mouth hanging open in sheer amazement of the scope of this event. I have never been to a knitting conference, but I can say that I will try my darnedest to be at any future Sock Summits regardless of whether or not I even get any classes.

Here is a cool video someone took with an overview of what was happenin' at Sock Summit:

I had five classes and I enjoyed 2.5 of them. Yarn Harlot and Chrissy Gardiner were the bomb and I would takes any classes from them again in a heart beat. Otherwise I could have spent the rest of my time more wisely in and about Portland and the Marketplace because there was too much awesomeness to possibly pack in four days.

Here is an awesome video of the Guinness attempt which took place on my birthday:

Did I mention that I also had a last minute roommate who was uber-awesome? I think I may be the Washington version of this Michigan native because we had too much in common to list and she was a blast. Only wish I could have been less overwhelmed and hung out with her more.

I completely went head over heels for fiber. I'm addicted. I joined the Blue Moon Sock Club which has already been going on since January. Today I got all my kits, four in total, that I had missed. I am simply aghast at the time and effort not only put into these beautiful yarns, but also in the presentation of the individual kits. Money well spent and I will definitely be a repeat customer.

Also, there is this little thing called Nano that is knocking on my back porch.

Yes, I hear you there Nano. Yes, I will be participating this year. No, I'm not entirely sure what I will be writing, but I will be there. Yes, I will. And to make it official:

Guinness

2009-07-22T07:34:00.001-07:00

Guinness World Records that is. Yep. I'm going down in the history of Guinness. In a little over two weeks I will be attending the Sock Summit in Portland. One of the events scheduled to take place is breaking the world record for the most people knitting in one place at the same time for 15 minutes. The previous record was about 276 people. There will be quadruple that amount at the Sock Summit. So cool!

In other news, BB told me this morning he did not want to go to school. I think it had to do with him being shushed during naptime yesterday. He is very prideful and it takes him awhile to recover from being criticized in any way. Hmmm...wonder where he gets that?

Post school exhaustion

2009-07-21T07:19:00.001-07:00

BB had a great first day at school. Although he did come home exhausted. He spaced out on the couch for awhile when he got home. Hey, kind of like what I do when I get home from work. He was excited to go back today, so I'll call that a good sign.

Peanut Pug had his neurology appointment yesterday. His exam was normal, so we're just going to treat this freak seizure thing conservatively. Mostly because we don't have a few extra thousand lying around for an MRI. But he is acting happy and about 90% of the pug we once knew, so all is well.

Have a trial starting next week and I am going to have to majorly buckle down the rest of this week.

A gamer in the making

2009-07-17T19:06:00.001-07:00

What is it like to be a paralegal

2009-07-16T16:57:00.001-07:00

The picture above is what you will see a lot of if you become a paralegal. This is only one of five aisles of files in only one of the rooms in our office space which spans two floors. Many people talk about the paperless office and I just don't think it is possible in the legal field. At least not in personal injury cases.

You need a few things to deal with all this paper. First you need the will not to run screaming from the office. Next you need high level organizational skills and a file clerk that knows their alphabet so that you don't lose anything.

Sometimes I like to stand here in the stacks. It is quiet like a library and its dark. It smells like paper and plastic binders and I can pretend I'm at the bookstore.

Lately my work load has been obscene. There is this fine line between having enough to do so that it propels you forward and then having so much to do that it stops you in your tracks and makes you want to hide in the stacks.

Good news is that my team finally got an email today from my attorney thanking us for all our hard work and acknowledging that our workloads have been "unhealthy" as of late. I don't really see how it will change anything, but maybe it will make me feel better.

Not quite seeing the light, but trying to be lighthearted

2009-07-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

I think the Gods Must Be Crazy. Did you see that movie? Don't feel bad if you didn't, it was released in 1980. But it pretty much sums up my reaction to the last few weeks. No, a coke bottle didn't fall from the sky, but I sure have had a lot of shit rain down on me and I sure wish I could drop it all at the end of the Earth and have it disappear.

We have Peanut scheduled for an appointment with a neurologist on Monday. Mike and I have been total wrecks watching our little pug baby go downhill. He turns nine next month. I thought I had another few years before I had to deal with geriatric dog issues.

BB starts school on Monday. Not sure how he will take this. It will be the first time he has ever been left with a bunch of people he does not know. I am hoping his curious nature will take over and it won't be too big of a deal. Probably won't be good if I start crying though right?

But before Peanut went and became epileptic on us last week, my mind had finally drifted back to one of my heart's desires. Writing.

I was reading The Writer, a magazine I subscribe to, and there was an article by a YA Author named Mandy Hubbard about getting published. Her biography indicated she was from Enumclaw which is in Washington. One thing I noticed was missing from her biography was her educational and publication background. When I read these articles I mostly see that they are written by authors with a laundry list of articles written, and oh, yeah, they all have MFAs. I checked her website and there was nothing on there either. So I took I chance and emailed her.

She was very responsive and confirmed that she was able to publish her debut novel without an MFA and without having ever published anything else before. She has also graciously agreed to meet with me to talk about it more and I will hopefully be taking her up on that offer next month. That will also give me time to read her debut novel, Prada and Prejudice.

Nanowrimo is starting to knock on the back porch of my brain. Reminding me that I have three months to come up with another concept for a novel if I hope to finish this year. I keep telling Nanowrimo to come back after Sock Summit in August and then we can talk.

You know you are stressed when you start talking to random constructs of your own mind.

Dog Epilepsy

2009-07-13T07:22:00.001-07:00

We don't yet know why, but Peanut Pug has some type of epilepsy which causes Grand Mal seizures every five hours. It all started Friday night.

My husband was up late watching TV. I was already fast asleep in bed. At 11:30pm Peanut woke from a dead sleep and started seizing. He foamed at the mouth, his eyes rolled into his head, and all his limbs shoke violently. My husband rushed him to the animal ER. He was fine by the time they got there. There was nothing that could be done.

At 4:30am I awoke to sounds of Peanut's body being thrown against the inside of his kennel as he had another seizure. My husband rushed to catch me up on all that had occurred. We waited for the vet office to open and was told no vet was in until 10am.

At 9:30am he had another seizure. This one was worse and Peanut lost all bowel control. At 10am he was at the vet's who took a full blood panel but was reluctant to start him on any meds unless he had another seizure.

At 2:30pm he had another seizure and he was back at the vets who put him on phenobarbital. He hasn't had a seizure since. The side effects of the medication make him lethargic, unsteady on his feet, and obsessively drink water to the point of throwing it up. But no seizures.

The blood work came back inconclusive. They can't tell what is causing the seizures and we would have to go for further testing with a dog neurologist in order to find out.

Now two of my babies are on meds twice a day.

The Stress

2009-07-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have been highly irresponsible in not updating you all on little BB. I blame it on The Stress. But to cut to the quick, BB is doing fine. The specialist called him normal and sent us on our way with two months of medication that should make things even more normal. Boy thingies are very confusing. I'll just put that out there.

But The Stress. It causes funny things, The Stress does. Causes me to break out like a teenager, become so fatigued that I put myself to bed at 8 p.m. right after my son is tucked away most nights and still wake up tired, causes my pipes to back up (was that TMI?), causes me to involuntarily make faces that reflect my inner turmoil while I am on the bus which then makes people look at me funny. Yes, The Stress.

It has been caused by this recent medical drama with BB, the fact that we had (just three days before) signed him up for pricey private school, and that my boss is so stressed with work that he keeps shoveling it onto me. I have no one to shovel my work to, so that leaves me with a lot to do. And the fact that during the summer the Washington State Department of Transportation causes tons of traffic grief by starting all these road construction projects that tack on an extra hour to my daily commute to and from work. Pack onto that the laundry list of tasks that has to be done every summer around the house: painting the front deck, staining the back deck, pressure washing the roof, weed/feed the lawn, etc., etc.

And here is the kicker...it's all normal stuff I am grousing on and on about. I know this. I know that most every family with children and two parents that work have to deal with these same things. And I guess that I am complaining here because I am also too busy to have many girlfriends to sit and chat with about these things. None of us have any time for each other. That and most of my friends live in Seattle proper and I live in the burbs. Therefore, after work I have to head straight for the buses and go home instead of meeting up with them for Happy Hour. Straight sucks!

My hubby and I are trying to plan something for our 10-year wedding anniversary in September. Problem is, we have to do this on Labor Day weekend because we can't take BB out of school right after he has started it and there is no one to take him to school but us. That and we actually can't afford to go anywhere and do anything on Labor Day weekend because everything costs twice as much. That and we HATE HATE HATE Labor Day weekend crowds and traffic and blech! But its our ten year wedding anniversary and we want to do something special.

Ugh. Sorry. Maybe now that I have purged that from my system we can go onto better things tomorrow. We are going to Remlinger Farms tomorrow for my husband's company picnic. That should be fun. Woolly sheep, gobbly turkeys and a beer garden.

I'll report back.

On hold

2009-07-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

I've been on hold for four days now. On Thursday my son was diagnosed with phimosis. His pediatrician said it was severe enough, in his opinion, to require surgical correction. He then gave us the phone number for a pediatric urologist. Unfortunately this was late in the day Thursday. We were his last appointment. And the office of the specialist, and every other place I called, was closed on Friday for the holiday weekend.

I have never loathed a three day weekend before. I have now.

I am on the bus right now headed to work because their office still does not open until 9am. Might as well pretend I have the focus to do work for a few hours.

Okay, so the hair kind of looks the same

2009-06-30T13:06:00.001-07:00

Got my haircut at a different salon this morning. I know this picture kind of makes it look the same as it did before it was cut. The thing you can't tell, but I can feel, is that she took a ton of weight out of my hair. Feeling light as a feather over here.

Unfortunately my workload is not light, so my post today is short so I can work on trimming the weight from my in box.

That and my boss is going to start wondering soon why I have my door closed and he keeps hearing my cell phone shutter noise everytime I take a picture.

Only a few more weeks

2009-06-29T18:46:00.001-07:00

Today was our preschool observation and interview. BB did great! He is so ready to go to school. The teacher commented that he was really focused during the activities. We are putting him into school for a few weeks at the end of July as a trial run. That means we only have a few more weeks until school starts. We have to get BB a lunchbox and a sleeping bag for naptime.

We also had to get new shoes for BB because my 3yo now wears size 11.5 shoes. The moms will be impressed. That's some big baby feet.

Its back to work tomorrow. We took today off to get BB's school straightened out. Good part is I have a 3 day weekend followed by a 3 day work week and another 3 day weekend. Ahhhhh.

And my Mom got me Cookie A's new sock knitting book and had it signed by her as she was just at my LYS. My Mom told Cookie A that I got Yarn Harlot's class at the upcoming Sock Summit. Not even Cookie A could get into the class! Wow! Feeling lucky again and really excited!

Zucchini and Basil Lasagna

2009-06-25T16:59:00.001-07:00

I got up this morning and started work at 6 a.m. Good news is that I did all my work today from home. Sweet! Especially since we had a day game today and getting out of downtown Seattle right now is probably hell.

Also, I got to make yummy Zucchini and Basil Lasagna. It is deceptively simple. Meaning that although it only has eight ingredients it takes over two hours to prepare and cook. Phew.

Can't believe that both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died today. I grew up watching Charlie's Angels and dancing to Thriller. Makes me realize I am not getting any younger. Originally I started this blog with the idea that it would give me writing practice and also that it would give me something to point to if I ever wanted to apply for a writing gig and I needed some writing samples.

That was a year ago.

I still haven't pursued any writing gigs.

Why?

I know applying for writing gigs without any kind of degree in writing and without ever having published anything guarantees I will be rejected. Writing is something dear and special to me. I don't know if I could handle the rejection well. That, and I have no idea what I could write about. I mostly write fiction. If I want to get paid I need to start with articles right? But about what? Ugh!

But then I go back to life is short. I'm at a crossroads.

Beer 3

2009-06-24T20:37:00.001-07:00

Hi there baseball fans! Boldmama here. Reporting live from behind first plate at Safeco field. Mariners versus Padres. My man Branyan hit a homer and now we are up 3 to 2. I only hope we can break the curse. You see, every game I see we lose. Eek. But I'm loving it.

I brought my hubby's sock to knit, but I'm on beer 3, and doing decreases for the toe is not something I can do on beer 3. Did I mention I am working from home tomorrow? Thank goodness!

Letter from the Editor

2009-06-23T06:54:00.001-07:00

Dear Boldmama,

I have noticed a lot of misspellings in your blogs of late. Please fix this. It is very disconcerting to your readers and a big no-no for bloggers. You should be ashamed.

Sincerely,
Editor (i.e. SuperEgo)
**********
Dear Editor,

While I understand your concern, what I don't think you understand is that most of my blogs of late have been completed on a mobile phone. Sometimes, like now, while I am waiting in line for the bus. To take me to my job. You know, job. The thing that keeps us both flush with tawdry paperbacks and sock yarn.

So chill-ax.

Yours truly,
Boldmama (i.e. a little bit of Ego and a lotta Id)

Note to self

2009-06-22T16:54:00.001-07:00

1. Get more sleep. Ha! In you dreams.
2. Fix that mop on your head.

I am in desperate need of sleep and a good haircut. Neither have anything to do with each other, but I feel a whole let less patient with my mop head when I am tired.

My son woke up at 4am saying his feet hurt. Note to self:

3. When BB says his feet hurt he means they are cold.

After 30 minutes of consoling him, clipping his toenails in case they were bugging him, and seeing if he had to pee, my hubby figured out he wanted socks. Ten minutes later my alarm went off.

And then there is my hair. I pay entirely too much $ for it to look like this EVER! It's flat and uneven and has no style whatsoever! I briefly thought maybe now is the time to grow it out. Then the reality of another year of bad hair reminded me that would not be good.

So if you know of a good, no great, hair stylist in Seattle let me know. Or I might just go Britney on this freakish hair-do.

Ignore the messy house

2009-06-21T10:23:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day! I woke up early and made French Sugar Rolls, Farmers Breakfast, and chopped strawberries for my hubby. This was a treat. Usually he is the one doing all the cooking, so I thought I would switch it up a little. Then I made dinner. Red beans and rice is simmering away as I type out this blog on my G1.

I figured I would forego the cleaning of the house since the boys are using the entire living room to create a Lego city.

Also, some great news! The vet called to say that the icky lump they took out of Peanut's neck was not cancerous. So he'll just be Franken-puppy for a little while until his fur grows back and all will be well.

Date Night

2009-06-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

Out tonight with my hubby. We had a unbelievable dinner at Txori. Can you call it dinner? It's a tapas bar. We pretty much ordered half the menu and came out stuffed. The main course went down too fast to capture on film, so the picture is of our wee tiny desserts.

We're waiting to see Midori. Our tickets got upgraded and we will be five rows back from the front. Squeeee!

Poor puppy

2009-06-18T16:27:00.001-07:00

It looks worse than it is. We hope. This is our eight year old pug Peanut. It is the second time they have had to remove a growth from the back of his neck. This one was really big. We should know the results of the biopsy in a week or so.

This sucks. My two childhood dogs also died of weirdo cancers earlier in life than they should. Makes me think there is something in the water or something. What gives?!

On a positive note, as we are completely done with the potty training we are taking BB for his preschool interview in a couple of weeks. Yeah, interview. Should I make him study up his ABCs and 123s? They probably thought I was weired when I asked them if I needed to bring anything. Like perhaps bribe money? Nah! In this economy they will probably accept anyone who is ready and willing to pay.

It is five or six more weeks until Sock Summit. I am getting nervous. There is all this homework I need to do. Hi, anyone know how to do a provisional cast-on? And I need all these supplies for my classes and I have zero dollars. See photo above if you want to know why. Doggy surgery isn't cheap.

Going to see Midori at the Symphony tomorrow. I know she will make me yearn to pick up my violin again.

Eat your dinner, then you can have one

2009-05-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

Cloud 9-10-11

2009-05-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

Things have been going pretty darn well as of late. So much so that I have kind of holed myself up and haven't written in awhile because I have to keep shaking my head and pinching myself. Oh and, no, I did not win the lottery. If that happened then I would be flying somewhere tropical right now.

My son is completely potty trained. All that muss and fuss and it took him less than a week to finally cave in and do it. As long as he is sitting on the potty backwards, he is good. He always has to find his own way to do things. I have no idea where he gets that from. *pointing at myself*

This week marked five years that I have been with the same law firm working for the same attorney. I truly love the firm and attorney I work for and would not have it any other way. It is even better that they feel the same about me. My review was glowing and they remarked that I am basically working at an Associate level. Associate attorney that is. My husband and mother-in-law sent me some beautiful flowers to mark the occasion. My husband also picked me up from work to go see Star Trek and have a yummy dinner of popcorn and Junior Mints. The movie was awesome!

Then I decided to go for something I had been mulling over for months. My birthday is the first week in August. Same time as the Sock Summit in Portland. The registration for classes opened this week. I had decided I would try to get some classes and if so, then I would make it a little vacation all to myself, for myself, for my birthday. Well, registration was freaking nuts!!!! Their server got 30,000 hits all at once of people trying to register for this thing. The knitters of the world broke the internet!

After much sadness at all the classes being taken up within the first 30 minutes, I started to hit the Ravelry boards. Seemed there was some problems with registrations. I kept my eyes peeled on the Sock Summit website. And then a shining light appeared, all the classes opened up. I got every class I wanted. I then raced over to the Rav boards and told everyone to "TRY AGAIN." Tons of other people got their classes too and all were thanking me profusely for letting them know as soon as it came back up. I felt like a knitting hero! Needless to say, I did not get much done at work that day.

So I will be at Sock Summit in Portland for four glorious days. All to myself! My schedule is as follows:

Thursday, August 6th: Rivendell and Beyond with Janel Laidman
Friday, August 7th: Toe-Up Socks for the Stubborn with Deb Barnhill
Saturday, August 8th: Knitting for Speed and Efficiency with Stephanie Pearl-McFee
Saturday, August 8th: Conquer Short Row Heels with Chrissy Gardiner
Sunday, August 9th: Top-down Socks That Use Up All The Yarn with Charlene Schurch

There are tons of vendors that will be there. There is going to be a massive Ravelry meet-up. I plan on hitting Powells and Voodoo Donuts, doing tons of knitting, and tons of reading. Not to mention my brother lives down that way and hopefully I can see him too.

So yep, all is well and good and I feel most lucky!

SLUGS!!! -- A Sitcom

2009-05-20T07:14:00.001-07:00

This morning was kind of funny. At least I think I would think it was funny if I was an observer and had nothing personally invested. As an update, my son continues to wet himself and refuses to go near the potty. It's a battle of wills at this point. His willingness to go around in wet pants and my willingness to do a heck of a lot more laundry.

This morning he woke up dry. He had not gone in his Pull-Up and I was thinking I had a shot. Nope. He did the potty dance all morning. It was painful to watch. He whined and grimaced through eating his cereal. I casually mentioned he might feel better if he went and he let out another roar of, "NOOOOOOOO!" At this point I was just wishing he would wet himself to get it over with.

We finished breakfast and headed out to the cars. I tossed a few cloth diapers at my husband so he could put them down on the carseat before my son sat down. I mean, the kid was ready to burst and I didn't have time to deal with a wet carseat. "Tell him it is because the seat is cold," I said, knowing my son was sure to protest. Sure enough I heard him whaling. "He doesn't like it because it's different," I heard Mike say from outside.

I walked outside to the car trying to think of what to tell my son. My eyes stopped on the beautiful Gerber daisies I had planted only a few weeks ago. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. My hands went straight out at my sides and I think I started bleating a little, like a sheep.

I knelt down and picked a huge slug off the nearest flower which was now a mass of holes. I threw it across the yard yelling, "Damn you slug!" I looked down and realized there was a plague of slugs upon my plants. My husband got out of the car. "What are there a lot...holy hell!" My husband does not freak out. I knew this meant trouble.

"Go in and get the salt," he yelled after me as I was already halfway into the house. I came back out with chunky sea salt and watched as the slugs started to burst into orange-y globs of goo. "It's not enough, we need more! Give me your keys" My husband ran inside and came back out with the Mortons. Of course. What was I doing with this stinking sea salt?

I think my son had stopped crying by that time and I also would have been sure that he had peed himself. Except just two minutes ago I got a call from my husband from home saying he had gone back to change because our son had just peed all over him.

Oh well, just a normal morning for me. Now, off to work.

Intermission

2009-05-16T20:59:00.001-07:00

My snake is trying to escape.

2009-05-16T15:23:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T07:19:00.001-07:00

I had a great Mother's Day. I was going to spend it with my mother, but she got sick. Instead I took time to dye my hair while reading from the Sookie Stackhouse novel I am currently into. Afterwards we went to the hardware store and got some Gerber daisies which I planted out front. The weather was gorgeous, in the mid 60s. Then I finished knitting a sock, onto sock #2. My hubby cooked a great dinner of steak, potatoes, and corn on the cob and I passed out last night feeling happy.

Of course I was a little perturbed about the 10+ phone calls to my cell phone from an international # of someone trying to call their mother. "Nope, still wrong number." And I will probably be paying through the nose for answering it. I finally had to shut off my phone because they would not stop. Then we got a wrong # call to our home phone for someone else trying to call their mom. Dang! Do people only call their mom's on mother's day and don't have that number on speed dial? So sad.

But my mother's day was great. Now on to the work week.

This is what I am eating now. Aren't you jealous?

2009-05-01T19:16:00.001-07:00

A beautiful day in my neighborhood

2009-04-30T07:10:00.001-07:00

The boys in San Diego

2009-04-18T14:04:00.001-07:00

Random bus view picture

2009-04-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

A Very Handsome Recycle Man

2009-04-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

A VERY HANDSOME RECYCLE MAN from GRANDMA ARLENE on Vimeo.

Blogging from my phone attempt #2

2009-04-15T17:12:00.001-07:00

I think I have this set up right. I hope. Perhaps I'll accidentally post to someone else's blog. Do you know how hard it is to type with this tiny phone keypad? Maybe I can train my son to type my blogs for me.

Going to Legoland this weekend and I couldn't be more excited. Theme park, beach, great weather, time off work, time with the fam, you really can't get any better unless you add win the Lotto to that.

Dangerous. I found out that there is a new yarn shop .3 miles from my office. I am only staying away because I am planning on also going to a yarn shop when we are in San Diego.

Oops. Bus is coming into the station. More later.

It is too warm to think

2009-04-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is where I start typing and hope that something witty will come out. It is another sunny day in Seattle and I am staring out the window thinking, "Why, why, why, do I have to be inside today?" Come this weekend it will be rainy and cold again. We should just move the weekend in cases like this. Really.

I am starting to see a trend in my blog traffic which relates to the fact that I work as a paralegal. I can only imagine how disappointed those readers I have that come here because I am a paralegal, because I don't talk about it too much. It is kind of ingrained in you not to talk about it because like doctors and patients, attorneys and their clients have this whole attorney-client privilege thing and just to be on the safe side, you just don't talk about your job. Though I can talk in generalities, which I often do. But it really is not all exciting and glamorous, so to blog about it is not all that interesting. Kind of like this post.

But hey, I re-caulked my tub this weekend. Is that interesting? I am digging myself a deeper hole aren't I? I'll stop now. Promise to return with more good stuff once the weather gets all gloomy.

Starting to recover

2009-04-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

I tell ya. This weather really has me down. It snowed yesterday. It is April and it snowed. What the heck is going on? Do you know I have a pool in my backyard? When I lived in San Diego I did not have a pool, but now I live in Washington and I do. Mostly it just sits there with a big black tarp on it all year. Then when the sun does come out we spend several weeks trying to get the green stuff out of the water just in time for it to start raining again. Need I say that the house came with this thing and we thought it was a good idea at the time...now...not so much.

But a few weeks ago I was in Los Angeles and I have yet to put any of my experiences into bloggy format. On the Friday that I arrived I was up from 3am to 3am. 24 hours baby. And I felt it. My activities of the day included flying first class, hiking up Runyon Canyon (pictured above), seeing my high school buddy Ryan Gowland and his wife Erica perform at the IO West Theatre on Hollywood Blvd., and going to the Truckstop. It was quite a whirlwind.

Also, I can't really go any further without mentioning my experience at Truckstop. First, I should say, the gal pal I was visiting in LA is a lesbian. Therefore, the bar we went to was a lesbian bar. Apparently there are only two lesbian bars in LA, the other is called Booby Trap.

Before we went to the club we picked up another friend to join us. As we circled for parking I noticed that the line out the club was rather long. It reminded me of that movie Night at the Roxbury and I was starting to wonder how long I would have to stand in my heels before being given the once over and approval to go in. However, the gal we had picked up to join us was a regular. We walked up to the front of the line, kisses on the cheek ensued and we were soon whisked through the satin ropes like royalty. The bouncer inside even stowed our coats for us, since they had no coat check, and a beer magically appeared in my hand. Let me remind you, I had been up about 20 hours at this point and hiked up a frickin' mountain, and I was in 3 inch heels. Then the "show" started. This bar has this Coyote Ugly thing going for it and every hour they have girls dance on the bar. They also have a special girl that gives lap dances for people having birthdays, or I suspect, anyone who happens to say it is their birthday. There are a lot of people having birthdays there, I'm just sayin'. So, while I am not a lezzie, I have to say, I admired this woman's acrobatics and I also was thinking -- yikes. I found a video of her on You Tube.

A word of warning -- this is soooooooooooo not PG. You better not have any kids in the room if you watch this, and definitely a no-no at work.

Re-addicted

2009-03-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

I've fallen in love all over again. What's the name you ask? H&M. I first discovered this store over ten years ago in Europe. So many cute clothes, decent quality (I still have most all of the things I bought in Europe over ten years ago) and awesome prices. I was so sad when I came back to the States and learned that not only were there no H&M stores in the U.S, but you could not order their clothes online either. Bah.

Just this year an H&M store opened in downtown Seattle, a mere three block walk from my office. Until yesterday I had avoided it. I think I was afraid that I would walk in and my memory of it would be sullied. This had happened with MANGO. It was a European chain that opened stores over here and they greatly paled in comparison to their European counterparts.

But no! Seeing as I will be in L.A. on Friday, I thought I needed a few cute new tops to wear. So I trotted over to H&M. Glory be! Just as awesome as I had remembered it. Still good prices.

Now I just need to find my sunglasses...

There's been a break in the regularly scheduled program

2009-03-11T07:42:00.001-07:00

"Listen....do you smell that?" Ghostbusters circa 1984.

I hear myself collapsing and I smell the bittersweet stench of defeat. I have given up my editing on NanoEdMo. My body demanded it when it decided to get an awful case of the stomach flu this past weekend. This is what happens when you fill your plate too full. This month is barely halfway over and it is packed to the gills with appointments and flights and dinners and the symphony and soccer practice and weddings and dentist appointments and WHAMMO getting sick.

Not to mention, but I will, that my work is so busy I can't even breathe most days. I come in an hour early every day, I don't take breaks and I still can't keep my head above water. Oh I take lunch. If I don't I would run away from this office screaming. And when else can I plug into hulu.com and catch up with all the shows I don't have time to watch as I scarf down my lunch. My keyboard is starting to suffer from me eating at my desk. Many crumbs. But I digress.

What was my point? Oh, I am going to L.A. next weekend. I am actually taking some vacation and going down to see a friend of mine in L.A. So excited. I grew up in San Diego, but I never really spent too much time in L.A. I went up a few times to Hollywood when I tried out for a game show as a kid. And I would have made it too if the partner I tried out with wasn't such a fuddy-duddy. I have a lot of family in Costa Mesa, so I have spent a fair amount of time there and around Disneyland. You know, the O.C. But that is way different from L.A. proper. Also, my friend is a musician. Not too sure what to expect when I go down to visit her. Just expecting to visit with her honestly, but I don't know what her day to day life is like and how I will smush into that for a few days.

But it will be my first trip alone since I had my son almost three years ago and the first time that I have been without him for three days straight. So I am excited and worried at the same time.

The Elephant in the Room

2009-03-04T08:04:00.001-08:00

1235836242889, originally uploaded by boldmama.

First, my husband is the best. Check out the elephant pancake he made for little BB this past weekend.

But the elephant that is actually in the room is the fact that I do not have a Facebook page. I often get those email requests from friends to join, but I am reluctant to do so. Why? I have soooo many websites I currently keep up with (social networking and others) that I am starting to lose track. Honestly, if all my friends knit and were on Ravelry, I would be a happy camper. I am on that every day.

My train of thought has switched tracks. I am so tired today. I went to a wedding last night and stayed up too late of course. I am also getting a filling this afternoon which I am none too happy about. I can hear the drilling sound now. Eek.

Lemon Curd and Red Boots

2009-03-02T07:56:00.001-08:00

1236008801671, originally uploaded by boldmama.

Feeling a little fancy today. I am wearing my new red boots. Also, I had a crumpet with lemon curd and fresh blackberries this morning for breakfast. I love Trader Joes. They have all these different things, like lemon curd, at reasonable prices so you feel like you are splurging. Oh, the boots I did splurge on.

I went to a bridal shower on Saturday. It was fun and emotional. I am still exhausted from the white knuckle driving I did on the way up there. I had no idea where I was going and I have not done a lot of driving lately. My husband does that. Thank goodness for the GPS on my phone or I never would have made it. The bride to be is a dear old friend of mine and the combination of her overexuberant, non-english speaking, Portugese in-laws combined with the immediate families' mix of joy and sadness at the passing of her grandfather two weeks ago packed a punch. My face hurt from smiling and my mascara ran from the crying. Her wedding is Tuesday and if I was not so busy at work I would just take Wednesday off.

I am on Twitter now. Boldmama. Of course. I also edited my first chapter yesterday and I have brought my second chapter with me to work to edit as I watch the Sarah Conner Chronicles and Dollhouse I missed on Friday on hulu.com during my lunch hour.

I'm trying to multi-task here!

Excuse me...What?! It's March on Sunday?!

2009-02-27T07:45:00.000-08:00

I just realized something. It's March on Sunday. I know, I know. Crazy, huh? Especially since I signed on to do NanoEdMo which begins in March, which is two days away. I thought I procrastinated better than that. Really, I am disappointed in myself. But no, I will do NanoEdMo. I already have a draft of my first Nano novel printed out. Dedicating two hours a day to editing it will be difficult though. I am going to consider it a success if I can even stand to look at it every day this month. I'll let you know how it goes. I was thinking of Twittering it. Anyone out there on Twitter? I haven't signed up yet, but I was considering it.

Another milestone today. I just wrote the last check for my husband's student loan. It is paid off. Mine are paid off (the ones in my name anyway, sorry Mom). We have finally paid off our student loans in time to start paying for our child's school. Yippee!

My first Oscar!

2009-02-25T07:47:00.001-08:00

1235575942570, originally uploaded by boldmama.

I am happy to report that although I did not win at Valentine's Day BINGO here in the office, I did win the most coveted prize of the year. First Place Movie Nerd! Every year our HR manager puts out a ballot for everyone to fill out saying who they think will win in each category. The prizes are sweet...as in candy...but we also get movies tickets and a movie. I was hoping to snag Wall-E since I had not seen it and I thought BB would like it. So there you go folks, I have the Oscar. Through the marvelous powers of the Internet and all the bloggie folks out there who made their various predictions, I was able to comb through everything and pick most of the winners! And last night we saw Wall-E. So cute. BB loved it and I am happy to say that we might be watching that every night for the next two weeks instead of Mighty Machines, which I was getting a little tired of.

Speaking of geeking out. Since that is what I was just doing. I heard that Depeche Mode is dropping a new album in April! I've seen DM in concert three times. My first big stadium concert was the Violator Tour. Another thing I learned was that they are the first band to offer an ITunes Season pass. This means if you plunk down $19 you can download a song from their upcoming album right now, and between now and April you will get exclusive videos, B-sides (and anyone who loves DM knows that their B-sides are a big reason why we love them), and other stuff. This strikes me as funny since DM has been around for a long time and they are the first to offer this kind of thing.

Which brings me to my next geeky topic. I need to go to Fry's and get me some RAM because I have been downloading too much and my desktop computer is filling up. And I think I might just have to get the DM Season Pass. Eeeee, I feel like a teenager again!

Rockin' the home office

2009-02-23T15:18:00.001-08:00

1235430560444, originally uploaded by boldmama.

I am rocking the home office today. I have been busy at work. Did I say busy? I meant I have been that kind of busy where you are so busy you actually start to lose hope that you are ever going to get a handle on things. My theory is that there is a fine line between having enough to do to propel you through your days at work and crossing over to that point where you don't even want to try to decrease your stacks of paper because what is the point? I've reached that point. I am trying not to let it get me depressed. Honestly, I have enough to do for two full time people right now. Ick.

So, I am working from hope in an effort to actually get stuff done because at work I am constantly being bombarded with more requests from people to do work and I needed some Zen. My husband, who has to work overtime himself tonight, came home at lunch and brought me some Quiznos. He is a doll.

It is hard in this economy because you have to be grateful you have a job, so when you have the job of two people you should be frickin' ecstatic right? Right. Ha!

BINGO!

2009-02-13T07:34:00.001-08:00

Happy day before Valentine's Day everyone. Yes, I do not really celebrate Valentine's Day in all its glory, but my office does. On my chair when I came in this morning were some marshmallow Peep hearts. I heart me some Peeps. It is the best part of Easter, and now that there are Peeps for all seasons, even better. Also, we are playing Valentine's Day Bingo today in the office. Our HR gal loves to celebrate all the holidays here in the office. She is going to be sending out emails throughout the day calling the numbers and we are supposed to email back when we get a Bingo. Eeek. So excited. How will I work today?

Also, our dinner to Restaurant Zoe was rescheduled at the last minute. We will be going next Thursday. That's okay, we decided to take little BB out to Applebee's instead. We don't usually indulge him in many fried treats, so when he does get them, he goes a little bonkers. Here he is teasing Dad with the fact that he has fries and Dad does not.

Then he realizes that he needs to tease Mom as well. Because Mom has plain ole mashed potatoes and lets see her try and do this with those mushy things!

So innocent, so sweet.

While he is not looking Dad decides to steal some of those fries. You can only hold out so long you know.

Hope all you work horses out there have a great three day weekend. It is our last one for awhile, so enjoy it while it lasts. I'll update you on my Bingo status at the end of the day.

UPDATE: It's 2:40 p.m. The five games of BINGO are over. My in box is full of emailed letters "B5", "N32", "O66, but alas, I did not win even one of the games. My Achilles heel was I26. I even went into the HR office and demanded to see the I26 card to verify that it was indeed in there because after three games it had not been called once and I was starting to wonder. I was shown the card. It was there, but again, it prevented me from winning the last two games. I am coming down off my BINGO high and I guess I'll work now. :-)

Progress

2009-02-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

This is about two days of work on my husband's socks. Well, if you consider the fact that I only knit about four rows on it yesterday, it is really one day of work. Whenever I am wearing something I have knit people always ask, "Wow, how long did that take?" The answer is never a simple one. Reason being, it could take a week, it could take a year, depends on how much time you put into it. But before considering a hobby like knitting, people always want to know how long it will take. So sad. Speed knitting, while it is a skill that some people covet, is not really the point as far as I am concerned. But I digress.

Do you see those two people on that flimsy little platform on the high rise in the background of my picture? I have been watching them up there all week.

And do you like the orange glow my skin has? That is from my florescent lights. In natural light I am white as a ghost, but in my office I look like I've slathered on a bottle of fake tanner. Apparently.

Tonight my hubby and I are meeting friends at Restaurant Zoe. I'll make sure to give a full review tomorrow on all the scrumptiousness.

Feeling a little bipolar today

2009-02-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

I was just reminded the other day that Saturday is Valentine's Day. Traditionally my husband and I don't usually do anything special on that day. In fact, I think we have an appointment for the car's oil to be changed. The reason we don't do much on that day is that we are lucky enough to have lots of date nights throughout the year. Both of our mothers live close by and are always ready to have little BB over so my husband and I can go out. We're going out tomorrow night in fact. Yes, we are lucky.

Yesterday I received a wedding invitation for a dear friend of mine. She is the first gal I met when I came to Washington to go to college and we were sharing an apartment when I first met my husband. I know her as one who does not give her heart easily and I am so happy for her that she has finally found "her man."

This morning I got an email from another dear friend of mine that she is getting a divorce. I have only been an attendant in one wedding, and it was her wedding. Although I don't know the details and she has indicated to me that she is better off, it is still sad.

So that is why I am feeling bipolar.

But speaking of February and love, mark your calendars for February 2013 if you are going to be in Sweden. Because we are having a renewal of our vows then, and if by chance you are in Sweden, you should come. Because we are going to be here:

This is a shot of the Ice Hotel in Sweden. We don't have the exact date nailed down yet because, darn them, they don't start taking reservations for 2013 until 2010. But we get to ride on dog sleds to the hotel and sleep on reindeer pelts on a bed made of ice. Frickin' awesome! My husband is from Alaska, what can I say? :-)

DIY

2009-02-09T07:42:00.001-08:00

I don't often place myself into the category of a "do-it-yourselfer." My nickname around the house is Mrs. MacGyver, but that is because whenever some electrical/mechanical thingy is broken, I often have this natural knack for fixing it. But to create something from scratch, well, that's not my forte. My husband is the cook in the house. I bake. I can use and follow most recipes and do fairly well. Give my husband a recipe and 99% of the time it doesn't turn out right. But he works marvels with the spice rack when given free reign.

Why do I mention these things? Because Ms. Lion has issued a challenge which includes making something from scratch that you would normally purchase. By doing so I am supposed to feel mass quantities of superiority and probably a little bit like Martha Stewart does every day.

And while I normally would balk at such a challenge, it just so happens that I had some time to be a wee bit Quaker this weekend.

Here is the soup I made yesterday that I brought for lunch today

The important thing to note, aside from the snow in the background, is that those beans in that soup started out dry. Yes, I had to soak beans in order to make that soup. I did use Mirepoix, and perhaps that is cheating, but because I get to say "I used Mirepoix" and it sounds foreign and mysterious, it still makes me feel superior.

Then there is the fact that I just finished my first pair of socks this weekend.

And while it does not save you money to knit your own socks, you do feel superior when you put them on. I can attest to that.

If I post it, it will happen

2009-02-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

I said I was going to think about the novel editing today and I am. But, since I like to put off today what I could do tomorrow, I have decided that I will participate this year in NaNoEdMo which just so happens to be taking place in March. I have not had a lot of time to peruse their website, but at least this gives me a timeline. I signed up and now all I have to do is put 50 hours of editing into my novel in March. That is actual changing of words time, not research time. Eek. Hmmm. Well, what's done is done.

And since you were so good and came back to check on me, here is the view from my other window.

Trying to get back into the swing of things

2009-02-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

I am trying to re-focus myself on these supposed goals I set which included editing my Nano novel from the year before last. But instead, let us take a look at the view from one of my office windows this morning.

Yes, aren't I lucky? I get to stare out my window each morning and look at other windows! Sometimes people go out on the roof and I get to see them walking around. Once some crazy prom kids were dinking around up there. Stay tuned for my post tomorrow. I may actually let you see the view from my other window. It is even more exciting.

I don't officially start work for another half hour, so really, I am not wasting my employer's time. I am just chronically early, and then this happens.

Wow, I look tired. But actually I'm doing pretty good today. Those eye bags are au natural. I don't even need to be tired to look like I am tired. Aren't you jealous? Yes, I get much sympathy from this natural talent of mine.

Anyway, I suppose it is about time I start work. I'll think about editing my novel tomorrow, yes, that's it, tomorrow.

Holy crap is it February already?

2009-02-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

Okay internets, let me get this straight, it's February? How did that happen? Where did my January go? It was busy as all heck, I can say that for sure. I'll have hit some of the highlights:

1. Went on the yarn train. OMG!!! (it deserves that acronym). I had way too much fun. My Mom and I hit the train station bright and early on a cold Seattle morn and did not return until late the same evening. I was completely exhausted for two days afterwards and basically had zero brain function. We hit four yarn stores, had an awesome Indian lunch and dined at an Italian cafe and I got to meet up with a gal from high school (Ms. Lion) whom I have not seen in 15 years. Oh, and did I mention Powells? We went there also. It was sweet!

2. Went to open house at Spring Valley Montessori School. It is getting to be that time that we need to think about where we are going to send BB for school. Scary! He isn't even started to potty train yet, but I am pretty certain that by Fall 2009 he will be ready. Living up here in WA, my biggest fear for my kid has been the public school system here. I have been here since 1993 and have had my fair share of conversations with those who have grown up in WA and have learned what the basics are as far as instruction goes and it is no where near what I received in CA. Sorry to be snobby, but my hubby does agree with me. Of course he thinks I am smart or something, so that could be why. So, that leaves us paying for private school for BB. We really liked the school we visited and I would be willing to sell my soul to send him there, so as long as he potty trains, he will be enrolled for Fall 2009.

3. I got a Google Phone!!!! The whole blogging thing is a wee bit hard at this point, but I am sure someone will write an app soon to fix that and then I can blog from my phone on the bus! Whoo-hoooo.

Above is a picture of my desk today (taken with my new phone!), which reflects the chaos on the inside as well as on the out.

From my phone

2009-01-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

I am blogging from my phone. Wow. I am impressed with mysel
f. More to come once I figure this Google phone out. Yippee.

I've had better days

2009-01-17T21:27:00.001-08:00

I'm not a soccer Mom anymore. The first two times we went to soccer BB loved it. He was enthusiastic about going onto the field, loved to play all the games, and generally had a great time. The last three times we have gone he kicked and screamed and wanted nothing to do with it. Today, fifteen minutes in, we left after he had the same reaction. Considering it takes us longer than that to even drive to the lessons, we figure we are probably not going back. Sad because next week was team picture week. Sad.

BB is definitely in the phase of not doing anything we want him to do. I think he has jumped from infant to teenager, except that he wears diapers. Another thing he refuses to give up. We have tried every method, every bribe, everything. I'm done. If he wants to wear diapers from infancy to his geriatric phase, I'm okay with that.

Spent a week getting over half way done with a sock only to have to rip the entire thing out today and start over. When you have to teach yourself anything, you have to make a lot of mistakes. I hate that. The mistake making. It takes up a lot of time and my time is very limited these days. Regardless, I got almost four inches worth of sock back on the needles this afternoon and that makes me feel a little better.

Met up with a downtown Seattle knitting group on my lunch hour on Friday. It was great to see 7+ gals all knitting in one space. Funny thing is, when I arrived there to meet up with them I came upon a gal sitting and knitting some gloves. "Are you part of the knitting group?," I said. Turns out she wasn't. She was from San Francisco and was just knitting there waiting for a friend of hers to get out of a meeting. What are the chances?

One week until the yarn train. I need to spend a night this week planning "my attack" of all the knitting shops and Powells. I can't have a visit to Portland without a visit to Powells. Planning on taking a taxi over to Twisted to see that shop as well when I am down there.

In any case, tomorrow we are hoping for a better mood out of BB. We are going to the Pacific Science Center. We have an annual pass, so if he throws a fit we will just leave and we aren't out anything but the gas money.

Just some ideas about this coming year - no resolutions here!

2009-01-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

It's that time again. A new year. I suppose we need to reflect and blah-blah-blah. Well it ain't happening! Sort of. If I try and think of all the lofty goals I have for myself I am going to completely shut down. So, I think I will focus on three and let life just live itself out for the most part. Okay, I can't really escape the fact that I am a goal-oriented person, so here goes:

The first thing that needs to happen by the end of April is the potty training. BB is still showing absolutely NO interest in the potty. And I tell ya, we have tried everything and nothing. The doctor says by age 3 there should be some progress in that area or we are going to have to get tough, whatever that means. So I am really hoping that by his third birthday in April, and before we go back to the doctor, we can at least have made great strides in that arena. That and I am going to be looking at schools for BB and he has to be potty trained in order to go, so the sooner the better!

Next is the knitting. I have been neglecting this past time and have not really developed it like I have wanted to. I really want to knit some socks this year. They have never turned out for me, but I have bought about four books on the topic in the last few weeks and I am determined that I can do it!
This year instead on focusing on writing more, I am going to try to edit my very first Nano novel. It needs some serious help and I want to fix it. I will also be doing Nano again in November, so hopefully I can make some progress on my first book before going on to the third. We won't talk about the second one I did, ick.

There is a whole heck of a lot more going on this year. My hubby and I will be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary and BB will be starting school in Fall 2009 (my goal).

I wish health and happiness to all in this new year!

I did not sign up for this!

2008-12-22T07:53:00.001-08:00

I grew up in San Diego. When I was little we did not even own an ice scraper for the car. On the few days that there was ice on the windshield, we would take a cup of hot water and splash it on the windshield. I have lived here in the Puget Sound Area since 1993 and I have never seen so much snow here!!! Here is a series of pictures since December 18th.

December 18th - My backyard

December 21st - I think my backyard is under there?

December 22nd - Where the heck is my backyard?

Yesterday I tried to make the most of my indoor time and I put together that puzzle and arranged my cookie plates to give away to my co-workers. Of course, since I have not been to work since last Tuesday and my office closed today, I am not sure when I will be able to give them away. I may just have to eat it all myself.

Good news is that we did not lose power this year. I am going to spend today cleaning the house like a mad woman because we have extra family that may be crashing at our pad. My husband's family is in Alaska and all flights from Alaska pretty much have to route through Seattle. All the flights out of Seattle were cancelled yesterday and most were cancelled today. So his family that were trying to get from Ketchikan to Phoenix are stuck. Perhaps until the end of the week. So we are going to have a good old-fashioned family Christmas and try not to have it end up like my favorite movie, Christmas Vacation.

Yarn, Knitting, Needles, Oh My!

2008-12-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

I have just signed up for the Seattle to Portland Yarn Crawl. I am so excited, because I just missed this event last year by a few weeks. Mom, if you are reading this, you have until December 17th to sign up, so click the link and we can go together.

Oh, and Miss M, if you are not busy, perhaps you can join in on the yarn-y fun in Portland and the book goodness at Powells and we can finally see each other after, oh, 15 or so years.

Anyway. If you knit and you live in Seattle, you need to check out this fun Amtrak adventure. My husband said I could go as long as I knit something from my Naughty Needles book. You know that just mean more yarn and more knitting, so I am cool with that.

Hee-hee.

Nanowrimo wrap-up

2008-12-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

I got an email today from Chris Baty as the final Nanowrimo wrap-up message. There was a part of it that I found truly inspirational and awesome and I think you should read it:

Okay. Jobs. Having a job is one of the greatest, trickiest things you can do as an adult. Employment brings perks like challenges and growth and (sometimes) money. But the longer you work at a job, the easier it is to confuse what you are doing with what you can do.

This is true whether you're a dental hygienist, a stay-at-home parent, or Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, the Forestry Minister of Finland. Because careers tend to be all about specialization. Human beings, on the other hand, contain multitudes. Each of us has a wealth of talents spread broadly over domains both marketable and deliciously impractical. The tricky part is that we tend to develop the former at the expense of the latter. Passions become hobbies. Hobbies become something we swear we'll get back to when we have more time. Or when the kids are grown. Or when the stock market recovers.

Which means we leave unexplored many of those paths that ultimately make us feel most alive—the moments of creating, building, playing, and doing that lead to extraordinary and unexpected things.

Like writing a book.

Or, more loosely, postponing the must-dos of the real world to spend 30 days exploring an attractive, improbable dream.

Giving ourselves that time is so important. Because the world can wait. It's what the world does best, in fact. It was hanging out for 4.5 billion years before we arrived, and it'll be waiting around for another few billion after we're gone.

Our dreams, however, have much shorter shelf-lives.

If there's one thing I've learned from running NaNoWriMo, it's this: Whatever you think you are, you are more than that. You possess a fearsome array of skills and abilities, and the most satisfying of these may be completely unknown to you now. Your curiosity is a dependable guide; follow it. Put yourself in unfamiliar places. Kindle passions. Savor the raw joy of making things, and then remake the best of those things until they take someone's breath away. Wrestle bears.

Actually, skip the bear-wrestling.

But do keep trying big things, okay? Sometimes we can wait so long for a clear sign that it's time to begin, that the opportunity sails right past us.

Life is so short. Adventures beckon. Let's get packed and head out on a new one today.

I think it's time.

Chris Baty
NaNoWriMo

I used to like roller coasters

2008-12-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I used to love roller coasters. We would go to Magic Mountain and the big huge wooden one was my favorite. Why can't I think of the name? Anyway, I would open my eyes and stare all around and gleefully shout with everyone else as the cart was headed up the hill. Then as it slowly started to tip forward and cross the line from safe to scary as hell I would enter this creepy meditation phase. I would close my eyes and take deep breaths and not make a sound as everyone else around me was screaming their heads off. I just held all that fear and terror inside until we were safely to the end and everyone would look at me like they thought I was weird or something.

This is what this week has felt like.

I gave my presentation on Tuesday at the convention center. Good news was that I only had to present in front of eight people. Bad news was that it was for over an hour. I was all frothy dry mouthed and wishing I was anywhere but there. It got better towards the end, but please, an hour!

After it was done I was happy as a clam. Stress had fallen away. Then I realized that me being sick last week and all the time I had put into this seminar has taken a major toll on my workload. Meaning I have tons of it. So I was in the position of working from home today, but that didn't work out. I had to call my office and say I was going to take a personal day because nothing was getting done. The coup de grace was when I backed my brand new car into my Dad's car in my own driveway causing over $1400 in damage to my car and making it my first ever claim on my insurance.

I really hope this ride is almost over, because I am ready to get off.

I am a soccer mom

2008-12-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

Yes folks, I am officially a soccer mom now. We took BB to his first soccer class on Saturday. He freaking loved it. However, all the other parents looked at me like I was bringing in a ringer because my 2.7 year old looks like he is "4 or 5." I put that in quotes because that is what the guy said when we went to sign up for the class. "You're son is 4 or 5 right?" And I am like, "Well, no, cut that in half and you got it."

Here is BB in the lower left corner frosting cookies at Grandma's house today. BB is the youngest one in that picture with the exception of the little blond girl in the middle on the right who is three months younger than him.

I must have done something good

2008-12-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

If you know me then you also know that I love musicals just about as much as stereotypical gay men do. One of my faves of all time is the Sound of Music. I have watched it as long as I can remember having ever watched television. I own the movie, the soundtrack, and the sheet music for my violin. The ringtone on my cell phone is the song "My Favorite Things." I kid you not.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I was told that my Xmas present from my mother-in-law is tickets to attend this with my hubby and a babysitter provided on January 2nd: 5th Avenue Theatre Song-A-Long to the Sound of Music. Think traditional Rocky Horror Picture Show but with the Sound of Music. You dress up, you boo at the Nazis, and there are a lot of women running around in sexy nun habits. But I digress. My husband and I are determined to find costumes fitting the scene where the party is going on at the Von Trapp family house and there is that dance scene between Maria and the Captain on the patio. We also plan on learning the dance. The Landler. Yep. Ah-huh. That's what we are going to do.

Cousin Kate

2008-12-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

Back in 1997 I met this wonderful woman named Corinna. We had many crazy times and many deep thought invoking times. She is one of those people. You know. Those people you meet and then no matter where they go they always remain in your heart and in your life despite the distance and the time that may pass. She went to L.A. quite a few years ago to follow her dream of becoming a professional singer. She is finally seeing the fruits of her labor and sacrifice and I am so proud of her. I am so happy for her because she deserves this. Watch this video. I tell you, this woman is certainly inspirational. Here is Cousin Kate performing. Corinna is twin on the left. :-)

http://www.myspace.com/cousinkate

Not cool

2008-12-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

Part of my job as a paralegal sometimes means I have to go the "extra mile" and do things out of the box. Tomorrow that literally means going lots of extra miles and I am terrified. That map up there shows where I have to drive to and from tomorrow. Yuck. I do not like driving. Despite the fact that I have my cute new little orange Honda Fit, I hate to drive. I take the bus everyday to work and I love it. I can read. I can sleep. I can listen to my IPOD. I can watch a movie on my IPOD. I can knit. I can do lots of things. And mostly I end up at work without much stress and ready to start the day. When I drive I look like this:

Except I don't really look like that because it is not a picture of me. Seattle has some terrifically horrible traffic. I have lived in Southern California, so I can say the following with much certainty: Traffic here is worse than in Southern California.

So wish me luck. And wish me luck in arriving to the courthouse on time with the video that needs to be played by 2:30 p.m. after I pick it up at Noon in Tacoma.

Yikes. No potty breaks for me.

I've now written two novels

2008-11-29T15:33:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T12:04:00.001-08:00

I know the Thanksgiving feast is supposed to be all about the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all that goodness. But I must admit that the thing I am looking forward to most tomorrow is that pie pictured up there. It is a "Pumpkin Pie" from Cold Stone. Meaning it is made of pumpkin ice cream. "Pumpkin Ice Cream in a Graham Cracker Pie Crust, topped with Whipped Cream, Cinnamon & Chocolate Maple Leaves."

Drool.

Books

2008-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

So I have been thinking about books a lot lately. Could be that I am obsessed with them. It could also be that I am towards the end of writing another one. Could be that I am reading one. Could be that I spend a good portion of my day on paperbackswap.com. Any one of those really.

I recently got another package of books from a PBS member (paperbackswap.com member for those of you who are not hip to the lingo). In it was "The Well of Lost Plots" by Jasper Fforde, "Paris to the Moon" by Adam Gopnik, and "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquirel.

It was the first time I had ordered multiple books from one person. I received the books and flipped through them. They were all on the magnitude of being just like new. Kind of like all the books I send out. All of my books are read and either stored on bookshelves or piled neatly next to my bed as I read them. I commute on the bus and I lovingly encase each book in a vinyl, zippered cover that protects it from the depths of my backpack. In other words, the books I send to my fellow PBS'ers are like straight from Borders (most of them still have the price tag on them). But I digress.

I was thinking of the fact that the person who I received these books from is probably a lot like me. I think that the books you choose to read shows a lot about you. To read a book is usually not a rash decision. Not something you can be peer pressured into. You devote a good week, at least, to each book. You don't choose lightly if you have a busy life. Unless of course you review books for a living and have no choice. Um, heaven. So, my point? I don't know.

But perhaps the reason why I treat each book so grandly is that I treat them like a new friend. A new friend who has given me a new outlook on the world and then after I am done with it, sits on my shelf. Its spine bared to me as a reminder of all the lessons I have learned from my secret friend, in reality, the author who has shared their words with the world.

I can only hope that someday my spine will be staring out at millions of others and that I will someday leave my outlook with this world. It is my greatest dream.

I have been invaded

2008-11-22T10:25:00.001-08:00

I have been invaded by books. Yes, I know, I have a problem. But there are worse things to be addicted to right? I did not even bother to take pictures of all my son's books. Maybe I should open a library in my house.

That last shot is my "book nook." It is where I have been doing my writing for Nano while I am at home. What you don't see in that shot is that there are actually books stacked from top to bottom on shelves on the other side of that chair.

I am almost at 37,000 words for Nano. Trying to stretch out the end of my story this time. I think this particular story is not going to be one I want to edit. I tried writing in first person and have found I just don't have the skill level to pull that off yet. My first Nano novel was in third person, and I liked that better. But it was a learning experience and I am bound and determined to finish.

I love my dogs

2008-11-20T20:56:00.000-08:00

I love my dogs. Aren't they cute? Before you gag and leave this blog, know that I will soon be on PETA's watch list, so keep reading. The dog on the left is Peanut. He is our 7 year old little guy. An angel really. Doesn't bark, never steps out of line, and his only fault is a penchant for begging which was encouraged by our many years of giving him table scraps. See the pug on the right? His name is Jelly. *big awwwwwww* We purchased him a few weeks before I found out I was pregnant with my son. Jelly is 3 years old. Jelly barks a lot and is generally the complete opposite of Peanut. Can you tell from the picture? I kind of think you can tell because Peanut seems to be giving Jelly this look like "Oh, get up off it, you know you are a devil incarnate."

Where is this coming from you ask? Possibly the fact that I have had to steam clean the carpets for the last two nights in a row because Jelly has decided to become un-potty trained. Did I mention I was so close to giving up Jelly after my son was born that I had the Pug Animal Rescue number memorized and the address for the drop point map-quested?

Why has Jelly survived in this family? It is because two weeks after my son was born my mother took Jelly for several weeks to preserve the last bit of sanity I had left. You see Jelly had taken to barking up a storm for every little coo and cry my son gave out. Not a pleasant experience.

Jelly does have one good point. He is very loving and will always cuddle with you, while Peanut is more like a cat and would rather sit on the back of the couch.

Here is to hoping that tomorrow the carpets are dry.

Can I say TGIF? Is that still cool?

2008-11-14T19:52:00.001-08:00

Today instead of going to work I went to a seminar. A seminar on E-discovery. I was hoping to learn about E-discovery and hopefully gather some tips on how I should handle the hour I am going to be speaking in front of a group of paralegals in a week in a similar, if not identical, setting. I think I might be able to keep everyone from nodding off or from sneaking out early if I dressed like Julia Roberts over there. Then again, most paralegals are women, so I might not have such great luck after all. The seminar was snoozer. Of course, it is not something I do everyday, E-discovery, and it is something I now know I probably don't need to worry about. So perhaps I was not their target audience. But there was this entire section on rules with accompanying power point slides with so much text I thought I was going to go cross eyed. I mean I did go cross eyed, but I tried really hard to hide it by burying my head in the seminar materials.

Then a ray of shining light. That link over there to Melissa Lion's blog...well okay here it is to make it easy - Melissa Lion - go over there and watch the presentation she just gave in front of like 100+ people last night. I am wishing two things after seeing that...that I was giving my presentation in a cute dress and heels and that it was only five minutes long instead of an hour!!!!!!! No, but seriously, I am going with your advice Miss M, show them the shiny. I'm going to have pictures on 75% percent of my slides I think -- forget this word stuff, that is what is supposed to come out of my mouth right?

Ugh. Oh, and I am a wee 1,000 words behind right now on the Nanowrimo, but it is completely manageable and I plan to get back on track this weekend.

Don't laugh at me and Nanowrimo Day ???

2008-11-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

Last night we decided to have a Mexican Fiesta. Not really a party, it is just what we call dinner when we have burrito fixings. The centerpiece of this dinner was homemade guacamole. I chopped up garlic, shallots, jalapeno pepper, tomato, avocado, and squeezed the heck out of a lime. It ended up being a little limey, but it was still good.

I washed my hands really good, but after I took out my contacts for the night I noticed my eyes were burning. Oops, probably those jalapenos. Okay, that sucks, so I won't touch my eyes. Easy. Right? No.

This morning I got up and did the whole shower thing. I went to put in my contacts and they burned like a mofo. So I am thinking, must have gotten the jalapeno in the contacts somehow. Time for a new pair. I opened a new pair and pop them in, same thing. Now my hands are starting to burn. Burn-burn. I had to put ice on them this morning. Guess what? Damn jalapeno oil. Soaked into my skin and now its there until it wears off. Who knows how long that will take.

I am wearing my glasses this morning and got a bit of a late start.

Doing okay on Nano. I am just on the cusp of having enough words to keep myself on track. I probably should be doing a lot better, but the weekends are difficult for me. I did all my writing yesterday while we were driving to and from the Pacific Science Center. BB loves to pet the hissing cockroaches. Eeeeewwww. :-)

Inspiration strikes

2008-11-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

Inspiration strikes in the oddest of places. This Nanowrimo thing is finally starting to click a little in my brain. After a week of writing I am actually seeing some kind of story forming. Magical, since I wanted to chuck the whole thing out the proverbial window a day or so ago.

The seasons have changed here in Seattle and so has the time. This means that my daily commute to and from work is in dark rainy muck. This also adds 1.5 hours to my daily commute because people freak out and can't drive. This is the time of year I usually start surfing Craigslist for jobs closer to my house. Not because I don't love my job, but the commute starts to wear down on my patience. Then I realize that all paralegal jobs within a reasonable radius of my home would pay me half as much as I am making, make me work longer hours, and also require me to make coffee or something else lame like that and I go back to trying to find ways to amuse myself on the bus.

Today I sat down and was immediately dismayed when a woman sat down next to me with the pungent odor of flowery perfume. Immediately my breathing became labored as I seem to have an allergic reaction to cheap crappy odors. Not only that, but she started up a loud conversation with the gentleman sitting across from us on all things mundane. She did not stop talking the entire hour long commute and her volume level was always above the roar of the bus engines. As I was shoving the IPOD ear buds deep into my ears and wondering just how many decibels it takes to start effecting your hearing, inspiration struck on two fronts.

I am writing two things right now. The Nano novel, and working on my hour long speech on litigating auto accidents, with a sidebar on ethics. My Nano novel screamed out at me, "Hey, that flowery perfume is pure evil. It should be the signature scent of your evil character. I think they should smell like that. Seems appropriate." Then my speech screamed out at me, "Hey, you should do this thing during your ethics speech. This thing is your cell phone rings while you are talking and you proceed to have a loud conversation about how your attorney sucks and what a crappy day you had working on that such and such case which will then lead into your bit about conversations we have on cell phones and with coworkers in elevators and on public transportation and the like that may be considered unethical and why we should not do these things."

So I got a few inspirations from that annoying lady on the bus. That and I figured if she could talk nonstop for an hour on the bus, perhaps I could talk an hour about a subject on which I have 10+ years experience. I think I can do this thing.

1984

2008-11-05T20:19:00.001-08:00

1984. That is the number of words I wrote today. Didn't do it on purpose I swear. Therefore I am taking it as an omen. It means good literary things are coming my way right? I mean 1984, George Orwell, The Animal Farm. 1984 and The Animal Farm are both great short works of fiction. Maybe that is what I am destined for. You can dream right?

Then there is 1984 the year. I was 9 years old. It was a good year. Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters (which I saw in the theater and then stayed through the credits to watch it again), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (okay that was a bust), Gremlins, The Karate Kid. It was the year for entertainment. Then there was the Olympics and Mary Lou Retton. My babysitter at the time used to teach us gymnastics on the front lawn. She would lay out all these tumbling mats and we would have handstand contests and she would try and teach us ariel cartwheels, back handsprings, and how to do the splits.

I remember singing on the corner to the traffic that went by as my friends and I pretended we were Kids Incorporated. We also played "V" and "Cloak and Dagger." V was that popular miniseries about aliens. Not sure how we played that, but whatever.

Tonight, for the second time, I watched my all time favorite flick as a kid with my son. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I watched it so much that my Dad "accidentally" taped over it. I'm sure he still can't get that Oompa Loompa song out of his head. I still love that movie. At the end of the movie Willy Wonka says something rather profound to Charlie. It pretty much sums up my feeling about the election results last night and life in general with my little family.

"Charlie, Don’t forget about the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted."

"What happened?"

"He lived happily ever after."

Nanowrimo Day 3 Distractions

2008-11-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I am feeling very distracted today.

1. This time change thing is wigging me out. It is only 4pm, but I can’t work anymore today because my brain insists it is 5pm and has logged off.
2. The day before the election. So nervous.
3. OMG – Are you kidding me? Obama’s grandmother died? I can’t think of anything sadder right now.
4. Nanowrimo. Writing and hating every word that I am writing. Still keeping pace. But its not hard for me to write mass quantities of crap. I think I use the words “really” and “okay” in every paragraph and that is really not okay. That and my “novel” is turning out to be more like a diatribe than an actual story.
5. My mother-in-law is going in for surgery for breast cancer on Thursday. My mother and my step-father are stepping up on Thursday and Friday to watch my son so I can still go to work.
6. Still thinking about that hour long speech I have to give in a month and how I am going to do that.
7. My son is going on “sick” for three weeks now and the doctor said on Thursday it was not an infection and to just weather the storm for now. My son is not happy about this.
8. The dogs need a bath.
9. Speaking of stinking, I tried to write my Nano novel at the public library today on my lunch hour. Mistake. The stinkers hang out there. The stink was distracting and my verbiage reflected this I think. I need to find a coffeehouse instead.

I've never seen a lightening bug

2008-11-02T14:21:00.001-08:00

Here we are. Nanowrimo day two. I didn't quite write even a thousand words today. But as I had overdone my word count yesterday, I still total over 1667 words a day on average. I didn't attend a write-in today so I had to set up my own writing station. My novel takes place in Paris, so I dug up one of my old Rick Steve's guides to help me out with maps and such. Brewed some Mango Ceylon tea and filled a dish with dark chocolate M&Ms. Turned out I was more interested in the tea and chocolate than writing today. It's okay. At least I took the time to figure out what I was going to start writing about tomorrow and to get my bearings as far as Paris goes. I haven't been there since my honeymoon in 1999.

So, everything I have written thus far is pretty crappy. I am hoping I can work this crud out of my system and after several days of writing a thousand or so words a day I will start figuring out how to put them in an interesting order.

Oh, and yeah, I have never seen a lightening bug. But that fact really has nothing to do with anything else. Perhaps it hooked you into reading this though. ;-)

Nanowrimo Day One

2008-11-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

I made it. I have like a little over 2,600 words. I was pressed into action by the local write-in arranged by our municipal liaison. We all met up at the Borders cafe at Southcenter mall. Besides trying to find parking at the mall midday on a Saturday, it was a great location. Smack dab in the middle of a ton of books. There was even an author there doing a signing. Don't ask me who, I don't know. Nonetheless, I started with 0 and a few hours later I had 2,600 words. The Nano site has been dicey, but I was able to jet on and update my word count, which makes me happy since last year the site was down the entire first day.

I am pretty bleary eyed and exhausted at this point. The day has been a blur. Woke up, shoved down breakfast, took my toddler to Gymboree, met my husband at the vet where our dogs were getting check-ups, gave son to husband, drove to grocery store and bought food for the week, drove home, shoved in some lunch, drove to Southcenter mall to start writing a novel, and here I am now at home.

I need a nap.

Writing, or something like it

2008-10-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I think I am supposed to be writing about now. I mean I have this Nanowrimo thing starting, oh, day after tomorrow. I also have been informed that the first hour of this presentation I am assisting with at the convention center is all on me baby. 100%. Me. Talking for an hour. WTF did I get myself into?

I don't think I can B.S. that long. I think I am really going to have to put in some hard work on a PowerPoint or something. Download a template. Research. Wait. Calm down. It's not like I haven't been working in this job for ten years. It's not like I don't know what I am talking about. Here's the thing. After the seminar people get to fill out this forms to tell you anonymously, so you can't track them down later, what they thought of you. I will be sent a stack of these forms. Yippee. What I am getting at is that the shit I am talking about is pretty dry material. I have to inject some funny. I have to keep these people engaged. Not like that should be too hard since I am going first and everyone ought to have had their lattes by then. But still.

Can you tell the seminar is stressing me out more than Nano? More than writing 50,000 words without an outline this year. I think if I read all my 50,000 words, it still would not take an hour. OMG. How many freakin' words am I going to have to write just to do this seminar? Am I going to have to write over 100,000 words this month on car accidents and on some funky fantasy novel my brain is cooking up? Those two things are in complete opposition to one another. Maybe I'll stick a demon or fairy into my PowerPoint and perhaps tips on interviewing a witness into my Nano novel. All chaos will break loose. I will be up on stage yukking about ethics and all of a sudden I will start talking about what to do when there is a demon running loose.

I think I need a drink.

Aloha Kauai

2008-10-23T11:59:00.000-07:00

Aloha means hello and goodbye. Today we are leaving Kauai. The past nine nights and days have been truly rejuvenating. I can't imagine how anyone living and working on this island can experience even a fraction of the stress that city-folk do. Perhaps I am naive, but it just seems that surrounded by all this lush beauty, lapping waves, and sandy shores, you can't help but drink it in. I have completely forgotten all about my other obligations while I have been here. Just me, my husband, my mother-in-law, and my son and we have had a great time. But today we are going back and I have to start thinking of all those obligations again. First, I have a week until the start of Nano. I am nowhere near as prepared as I was last year. However, I am also starting to become more and more confident in my storytelling abilities. I have some general ideas. I have my characters. I have my setting. I am lacking a little motivation in the department of my evil-villainous characters, but I am sure I can settle that.

I also need to write a couple hours worth of speaking material for a seminar I am co-presenting at the Seattle Convention Center during the first week of December. Since I will be writing Nano all of November, I don't think I will have much time to work on my material. I am going to be speaking about auto accident litigation from a paralegals perspective. The first topic I get to speak on is interesting, what happens in the first 90 days. But the second topic, ethics, is a notorious snoozer and of course they stuck an hour slot of time for me to talk about it at the very end of the seminar. I think I will need to offer prizes to whomever actually stays through that speech! So I am gearing back up again, but I am full of energy and I think I will actually make it through the holidays and Nano without burning out.

Thank you Kauai and Aloha!

Palin Clinton on SNL

2008-09-15T07:45:00.001-07:00

This is hilarious!

Obama Biden

2008-09-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

O-B
It's the way it should be
Keep it simple
And set yourself free
From the extra
That you really don't need
Just try O-B and you'll see

Music makes me tingly

2008-09-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. BB stayed overnight with Grandma and we went to dinner at Tango Restaurant and then saw the Phantom of the Opera at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle. We had an awesome time. I had always wanted to try the tapas at Tango. We gorged ourselves on four different hot tapas, one cold tapa, a carafe of sangria, two desserts and digestifs. Then we rolled down the hill to the theatre which is completely fit to house this production. This is the third time I have seen Phantom of the Opera. The first time I was 16 years old and my Grandmother took me as a birthday present to see the production in Los Angeles. I will never forget it. The second time was when my husband and I were first dating and we flew to San Francisco on an extravagant date that I am sure we are still paying for. The third was last night in celebration of our anniversary.

It is amazing what hearing beautiful operatic voices will do to you. You get shivers and tingles all down to your toes when they hit the notes spot on. Its almost like my entire body is a tuning fork. Except that I don't make a noise when you hit me.

I am gathering more and more ideas for my Nano novel. There is so much fodder for science fiction buffs these days.

Succubus

2008-09-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

What do you think? Whilst perusing the D&D monster manuals I came upon this demon and I think it would make a good main bad "thing" for my main characters to go up against in my next Nanowrimo novel. I may have been inspired by the Republicans pick for VP.

I've got a location, my main characters, my main bad guy, and a motivation. Now I just need to mash it all together into 50,000 words or so.

Lots of good Sci-Fi TV shows on to suck me in these days. Sarah Conner Chronicles started last night and tonight is Fringe. Then of course, my guilty pleasure of the season is The Hole in the Wall. That show is just a bucket of fun right there. I am definitely putting the catch phrase into my novel, "It's time to face the hole." Hilarious! There are two hosts on that show, the token pretty chick that actually talks to the contestants, and then the dude up in the balcony that says, "It's time to face the hole" like 15 times a show.

Only five more weeks until Kauai. So excited! We took Brendan to his first baseball game on Sunday. He loved it and we were able to stay through the whole game. It was even more enjoyable because we won.

Getting closer

2008-09-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

I started to re-read my Nano novel from last year. Hmm. I see a lot of good ideas in there, but I also see how my mind was thinking chapters ahead of where I was writing and how I was trying to fit a book twice the size of the one I wrote into 50,000 words. I believe it can be improved upon, that's the good news. The bad news is that if I don't start focusing on my next Nano novel right now, that one will never get done. I am going to re-read the last Nano novel once and then start to work on scene development for the next book.

I went to the Nano site today and saw that the t-shirts are in for 2008. I, of course, snatched one up immediately. I love to advertise Nano. I printed a flyer and stuck it on the bulletin board at work.

I hope I can rope my Nano buddy from last year into doing it again. Our writing sessions were very productive. Another piece of good news is that kick-off for Nano is on a Friday night this year, being as October 31st is on a Friday, so I might actually be able to attend one of the gatherings. Though I can't remember the last time I stayed up past midnight, I'm kind of getting old I think.

A weekend of labor

2008-09-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

What a glorious three day weekend! My husband and I are finally starting to reclaim our house for the first time since our son was born. We actually have a living room again, having moved most all of our son's toys into the den adjacent the living room. We spent most of the weekend cleaning. The only sad thing was that I couldn't spend another day just sitting in the clean house and enjoying it. Six more weeks until our Kauai trip!!! And nine more weeks until Nanowrimo!

I still haven't re-read my last Nano novel. I told myself that as soon as I am finished reading the last of the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series that I will seriously start in on Nano. Problem is, this last book of the series is rather painful to get through. However, after reading 1800 pages of the first three books of the series, I'll be damned if I am not going to finish the last book! Even if it sucks.

I did Pilates again last Saturday for the second time and I am still feeling pretty good. My left foot and leg are still numb, but I've been told it will be like that for awhile since nerves don't like to let go of things as easy as muscle, etc.

Unfortunately I missed summer. Since this injury happened in June it has all but passed me by. The weather is starting to change up here, though they have promised us a weekend of weather in the 70s and no rain. I'm not holding my breath. The heat kicked on this morning for the first time in months. That only means it is going to get colder.

My son, who is barely 2.5 years old, is riding a two-wheeler. It's crazy. I've got to post a video of it. The bike has no pedals, but he shoves off with two feet and then holds them in the air, and balances as he goes through a turn. He only pauses to put down his feet when he has lost his momentum. I had training wheels until I was like 12. Okay, so I also had an over-protective mother, but still! He is 2! My baby is getting so big. :-)

That's really long

2008-08-29T07:19:00.001-07:00

I got the thumb drive out that had my Nano novel on it from last year. I double-spaced the text so I would have room to "edit" and then proceeded to print it out. Holy Moses. It was about 250 pages. Seeing it all printed out like that is daunting. Now I have to read the thing. As I started to think more and more about my story I also remembered that while I was easily able to make the 50,000 words due to the large amount of scenes in my head, I never solved some key problems with my story. For one, I never wrote the end, although I had versions of it in my head. For two, my main character has a "super power" that I never completely defined as I was leaving that to be revealed in the end scenes, which never got written. I have a lot of work to do so that I can even move forward to the sequel.

My husband gave me a great idea last night. He was talking about the sorts of monsters he thought would be good to be present in my next novel. He took them from his knowledge of D&D (yes, we are both Dungeon and Dragon nerds). I remembered then that D&D has whole Monster Manuals which give you vivid descriptions and pictures of different critters. I think I will definitely be researching in those this time around. Although I don't intend to completely copy verbatim the critters, it will give me better ideas of how to define my main characters powers by looking at the magic user powers given to the characters in D&D. Sorry, I went nerd for a second there.

This weekend is three days long!!! Who-hooo! We have friend gatherings planned every day of the weekend. My back is feeling loads better. I am probably going to be discharged from physical therapy today and I have another private session with my Pilates instructor on Saturday. Good times.

Making a decision

2008-08-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to decide what I want to write about for Nanowrimo. Last year when I dreamed up my story I had enough material in my head for the beginning of a sequel. Writing a sequel will force me to actually re-read the story I wrote last year and fix some of the bugs in it. Although it would probably be easier just to start a whole different story, I can't put to rest the ideas I have had floating about in my head for the sequel. So I am going to do it!

I had a day to myself last Saturday. This was the first day I had to myself since, well probably, before my son was born. My husband took Brendan up to Ketchikan to visit his father and they went fishing for the day. They caught a nice Coho salmon and brought it home. I spent the day doing Pilates and then puttering around the house. I dusted off the Dana word processor that I had written my last novel on and made sure it was in working order. I credit the Dana/Alphasmart for actually allowing me to get it done last year. I was able to take it everywhere. I wrote on the bus, I wrote in my office before work started, and I wrote the last bit of my novel while we were on vacation in Kauai. I could have used my laptop, but I know it would have just been full of distractions for me.

Hopefully I will be able to print out my novel from last year and start looking at it this week. I'm a little scared to do so.

Day One of being a "single" Mom

2008-07-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

This evening will technically be Day One. My husband and his buddy are off to Canada to the Bowron Lakes to go kayaking. This leaves me alone with my son, our two pugs, and a snake until July 27th. Yes, I am scared. I'm not so much scared for my husband, even though before he is allowed on the lake circuit the parks department requires him to watch a video on bear attacks. No, mostly I am scared of being alone with my two year old son who is simultaneously learning to sleep in a toddler bed, go potty, and back sass his Mom all at the same time. That, and I am still a bit of a cripple, so I can't really muscle him around anymore. Pretty much, if he goes running into the path of a car in a parking lot I will have to rupture another disk in my back to save him. So I think we won't be going very many places in the next couple of weeks.

I got my husband a SPOT personal tracker for when he is out in the wilderness. I am hoping it works. The first one we got was a dud and we had to trade it in. There is a website all set up so I can see where he is at and not worry too terribly. Which I am sure to do anyway.

The light at the end of the tunnel looks like a ladybug

2008-07-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a fairly rough day. Started with physical therapy, a report from my daycare provider that my son needed to see the doctor, then off to see the spinal surgeon, then sat in traffic for two hours getting home because of a horrific accident.

But guess what? This morning is looking pretty good. We think BB is fine. He has been reporting that his wee-wee hurts. This seems to happen when he goes to the bathroom. So we thought it might be a UTI. They started him on antibiotics just in case. My husband had to sit in the doctor's office with him for three hours before he finally provided a sample for testing. Who-hoo! Myself, I think it is just his way of telling us he feels like he needs to go potty. He has also been holding it a lot. But he still doesn't quite get the sitting on the potty and actually going pee yet. But I think we are getting close.

Last night was the first semi-serene night of sleep since we started the toddler bed. I did my research and talked to some parents here at work and ended up purchasing a nightlight of sorts. I thought maybe he was waking in the night screaming because it was dark and he couldn't see. The nightlight I got him is a big stuffed ladybug (because he likes bugs) and it has a hard shell that has the constellations in it. You push a button and the shell lights up and projects the constellations on the ceiling in either red, blue, or green. The bug automatically shuts off after 45 minutes, but can easily be turned on again with the push of a button, and my son is able to do it himself.

BB turned on the bug several times through the night and never cried for us to come lay next to his bed. It was marvelous!!! It is made by Cloud b, but I bought mine on Amazon. They also have a turtle.

My physical therapist did some manual traction on me yesterday and it really helped take pressure off the nerve, so my leg pain is a lot better.

The surgeon said I should get better and should not need surgery.

All in all, the very stressful day ended well.

Chaos

2008-07-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Life is a little chaotic. More so than usual.

On Friday my husband is leaving for a week-long kayaking trip in Canada with his best buddy. This leaves me alone for one full work week and two weekends with my son. Did I mention I have a bad back and that my son is in the 100th percentile for height and weight? He wears size 4T clothes and size 10 shoes.

Last night we decided was a good night to transition him to the toddler bed. This being a necessity since once my husband leaves I physically won't be able to lift him in and out of the crib by myself.

Let's just say that to decide to transition your child to a bed from a crib (while the crib and the bed are both in the same room) on a night where you have to wake up and go to work the next day is S-T-U-P-I-D!!! So, my husband and I were stupid last night. Yes, we both got the equivalent of about 3 hours of sleep, maybe, and during that time we were both having strange dreams. Mine was about leaving the house and forgetting to take our son with us in the morning and drop him off at daycare and his was about the house burning down.

My son finally went to sleep at about 9:30 p.m. (his usual bedtime being 7:30 p.m.) with my husband lying next to the bed. We went to bed and then at about 2 a.m. he got up and was standing in the middle of the room screaming. My husband finally crawled back into bed at about 3 a.m. The alarm goes off at 4:51 a.m.

I am hoping this will only last out the week. We shall see.

Work is mega stressful this week. The administrative assistant for our work group is on vacation for the next two weeks. She has no back-up, and my attorney will be on vacation next week. So this week EVERYTHING has to get done. Oh, did I mention I am also starting physical therapy and meeting with a spinal surgeon this week also? Tomorrow to be exact.

So, yeah, say your prayers for me people. I am going to need it.

Come and gone

2008-07-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

My baby sis has come and gone. Her visit was short and sweet. Only too bad I couldn't spend much time with her since this whole back thing has thrown me for a loop. I was able to take half a day off of work and we went to see the new Indiana Jones flick, which I rather enjoyed.

Got the injection in my back a few days ago. It is supposed to work its magic in the next week. I am waiting and hoping. Also starting physical therapy next week. We shall see. I am definitely better, but still in some constant state of pain.

I am very glad it is Friday because my brain is fried and I am so tired from working extra hours this week. It is supposed to be a nice weekend. I am going to see if I can enjoy it and relax.

Happy Birthday Jelly!

2008-07-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

My baby pug is three years old today. His name is Jelly. We bought him a mere two weeks before we found out we were pregnant with our son. Poor Jelly. He is a wee bit insecure, neurotic, and downright annoying at times. We blame ourselves. You see, with all the human baby excitement, Jelly wasn't fawned upon as much as he should have been. Our other pug, Peanut, on the other hand, was given so much attention that he is rather like a cat and only allows you to pet him when he is up for it.

It is also, of course, the 4th of July. Me and the hubby are doing the usual. Hanging around to make sure the house doesn't burn down. We live very close to where they sell most of the fireworks in this town and even though a police officer lives next door to me, it doesn't seem to deter people from setting off fireworks from noon until after midnight. At least it doesn't bother my son. He is sleeping away. And as soon as my meds kick in, I'm sure it won't bother me either.

Went to the doc yesterday. Doing the usual for this kind of thing: nerve root cortisone injection, physical therapy, drugs, and a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon. Funny. I read about this every day in the medical records I review. Now I get to experience it first hand. It is sure to give me another perspective on things. Finally on some drugs that will allow me to function during the day. I can't tell you how exciting it was that I actually got to scrub the toilets today! Woo-hooo!

My baby sis is coming tomorrow up from her visit in Portland. Going to get her at the train station. It has been a year since I saw her last and it will be great to see her again.

Living In My Own Private Idaho

2008-07-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

"I am a brilliant surgeon. When this is done, I can fix the hump on your back."
"What hump?"
Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)

I went to the True Colors concert last night and it was great! We got there mega early and since the venue was sponsored by our bank we got to sit in the "WaMu Lounge" which was set up with comfy white leather couches and footrests, oh, and a bar. We hung out there until the start of the show at 6:30. Carson Kressley (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) was the M.C. He was entertaining. The first performer was Nora somebody and I could have done without her "I sweat, I sweat, I sweat, I sweat, until my soul gets wet" song. She also bitch-slapped the audience when we wouldn't cheer because we were "free" and told us to remember that when we weren't free anymore. I think I could see and hear all the gay men in the audience shake their heads and say, "Oh no she didn't."

The second artist I am supposed to know, because seemingly a lot of the audience did, but I didn't. Mostly the 40-somethings and 50-somethings knew her.

Rosie O'Donnell did a stand-up routine which had you laughing and also left you pretty depressed as she talked a lot about being a motherless daughter.

The B-52s were so much fun. I only wish I could have gotten up and danced to their stuff. I did a lot of head bobbing. Oh, I forgot to mention, since the concert was not at all sold out, they upgraded our seats when we got there. We pretty much got to choose where we sat. So we got the first row of the risers behind the floor seats since we knew I wasn't going to be able to stand. So it was great because I could sit the whole concert and not have to watch someones butt the whole time.

Cyndi Lauper closed out the show. That woman has so much energy. Her vocals were spot on and I can't believe I never knew before last night how great her voice is. I only wish she had sung "Good Enough" from the Goonies soundtrack, but she did hit all the other favorites.

Oh, and both the B-52s and Cyndi Lauper's new albums have a ton of good tracks on them. If you liked them before, I really think you'll like the new stuff too.

Going to my doctor appointment tomorrow. Really hoping to get an estimate as to how long they think it will take for me to get the feeling back in my left foot. Unfortunately my Internet research does not lead me to believe it will be anytime soon. I think I will download the Rocky theme song to listen to every morning to put me in the fighting spirit.

How am I doing?

2008-07-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Learning to live with the pain for now. Everyday doing tons of research on herniated discs, nerve root compression, sciatica, blah, blah, blah. Seems like they let nature take its course for at least 4-6 weeks before surgery is even discussed, unless the nerve is in danger of being severed or something. Good thing about my line of work is that I am routinely talking to doctor's offices. With car accidents you get a lot of back injury claims.

Tonight is the B-52s and Cyndi Lauper concert. I wish I could be a wee bit more excited. My hubby and I are going. But I am a little apprehensive given the fact that the venue is not much more than metal folding chairs set up in front of the stage. Eeek. Well, worse comes to worse we can leave early. That's what I keep telling myself.

Good thing is that I keep hearing Swedish is the place to go for back injuries, and that is where I am going on Thursday. So I really hope that I can start some sort of treatment that will allow me to lay flat again, walk without limping and regain the feeling in my left leg and foot.

It's strange what constant pain does to you. It really has decreased my ability to cope with the stresses I am under each day. I keep waking up each morning wiggling my toes and hoping to feel them again. It hasn't happened yet. Still hoping though.

My bedside table

2008-06-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Cleaned out my bedside table and realized how much time is slipping by and how busy you get once you have a family, career, child, mortgage, and all those responsibilities. Still had books I started to read before my son was born in there. Had the rattles and blocks I used to keep in there when he still slept in a pack n play in our room and we would bring him to bed in the morning and try to get him to play and give us a few more minutes in bed.

Things are starting to look up, only because I don't think the universe is allowed to throw any more things at my family this week. The day after my back went out and I was in the ER, my husband found out his job might be in jeopardy. He works for the airlines. Has worked for the airlines for over ten years. Turned out that we probably don't have to worry. And at this point we just don't have the energy to do so.

Went into work on Friday and put in 9.5 hours. Spent the first two hours sitting in IT trying to get them to de-bug my profile since my desktop wasn't allowing me to log in. Brilliant. But after I nearly had a nervous breakdown, someone allowed me to log in as them so I could access the database. So I got some junk done so I won't feel overwhelmed tomorrow after being out 4 days last week.

Last night my son threw up in his bed and his temperature was 101. He wouldn't eat dinner. This morning he was still a little hot potato. My husband and I took turns pressing a cold compress to his head and finally coaxed him into eating some lemon yogurt. He held it down. We spent the day at home and it was 90 degrees today. Towards the end we were going a little batty trying to find things to keep my son entertained.

I am still gimping around. Waiting for the muscle relaxers to take hold of me and settle down my aching back and leg. But I think it is getting better.

This week is only four days long. Good. 4th of July. Bad. Fire crackers are ridiculous in our neighborhood every year. We have to stay home every holiday because rockets are always shot onto our roof and in our yard. We have to make sure the house doesn't burn down.

But my baby (okay almost 20) sis is coming on July 5th to visit and it will be great to see her again!

I'm getting sleepy. Hope you had a good weekend internets. Thanks for all the well wishes. As long as I still have bladder control I will not let them cut on my back. Was that TMI? :-)

Back Trauma - Part One

2008-06-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

I believe that this blog may center around one thing for awhile. My back. I have worked as a paralegal for over ten years. This fact coupled with my complete lack of exercise and the fact that I tend to direct my stress and anxiety into pain has finally caught up with me. Monday morning I woke up with lower back pain. At first it was normal. I thought I could muscle my way through it as I have done in the past. I drove to my chiropractor's office and I was in tears by the time I got there. On the way home I had to call my husband to talk to me because I was convinced I would pass out from the pain. It was not until Tuesday night that I finally ended up in the ER. The diagnosis? A herniated disc at L5-S1 that is pressing on all the nerves going down my left leg. Did I mention? My left leg had been in spasms and my left foot had gone numb by this point.

We started in the ER at 4pm, we got home at midnight. The MRI was hell because even though they had given me four kinds of pain medications (including morphine) the pain was so excruciating, that I couldn't lay flat through the whole thing.

Today my leg is still numb. They recommended that I go see a surgeon. I am not all too hip to that idea. All the good doctors that I know of are booked out a month and the rest are on summer break. I found a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor that can see me on July 3rd. Until then...I don't really know. I can't sit for any length of time and I can't lay down for any length of time. The pain medications make me go directly to sleep.

Please send me good vibes.

My first REAL car buying experience

2008-06-19T07:16:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I had my first real car buying experience. I am almost 33. It's not that I have never owned a new car before, but my husband and I have always bought Saturns in an attempt to avoid the process of haggling on the price of a car. My husband is almost 37. Needless to say we were very nervous about dealing with dealers. This past weekend we decided to trade-in our 2001 Saturn wagon which only has 52,000 miles on it, but has had a tendency to be finicky lately about when it wants to start. This is not good when you have a toddler and are out and about with a car full of groceries or if you decide to drive downtown one evening to catch a flick with your friend (Hi Nora) and then get stuck having to call a tow truck when you should be in bed getting necessary sleep for work the next day.

That being said, I researched cars and decided on the Honda Fit, being the MPG-savvy gal that I am. But this also meant that I would be going to a Honda dealership. As you may know, Saturn advertises that they have one price for all their cars and that is that. No haggling, no selling you a car for $2,000 more than the last person who bought the same damn thing, no trying to push undercoating or scotch-guarding down your throat like your life depended on it. None of that. Herein enters the traditional car dealership, where all of that happens, and more.

I negotiated the price of the car over the internet, before we had even done a test drive. That I was happy about. However, there was still the little issue of our trade-in. My little 2001 Saturn had been behaving good this past week. We drove it down to the dealership on Saturday for our scheduled test drive. We loved the car and decided to talk numbers. The dealer said he would take our Saturn over to the used lot to be appraised. We waited. My husband went out to check on things and came back red faced. "The car won't start," he says to me. Here is where I become a shrinking violet. My husband does his trick of popping the hood, disconnecting and re-connecting the battery cable and "Voila" the car starts. We lost about $2,000 off the value of our trade-in right there.

But all was okay. We refused the $100 cargo tray and we told them to take off the $695 extra security system (it already comes with one). Then we went to financing. I thought this would be a breeze since we had already come into the dealership with a check for the car from our bank. We didn't need to finance through them. They didn't like this. We went into the office and there was a sign stating that our session was being tape-recorded for "training purposes."

My ass.

The finance guy went through our options for extra warranties. We refused. He was flabbergasted. Wanted to know why. We said, waste of money. He wanted to sell us GAP insurance and extra life/disability coverage insurance. We refused. His phone rang.

"Oh, excuse me for a second, my supervisor needs to see me really quick."

He exits the room and I look up to the camera on the ceiling. I say to my husband under my breathe, "The supervisor is about to come in here because he has been watching us the whole time."

In walks the supervisor.

He tries to give us a "deal" on the warranties. He slashes the price in half and then proceeds to pull out an agreement stating that if 6 years pass and we never use it, we can get our money back. Right, like I am going to hold onto that paper for six years and remember to cash it in while you make interest on my money. No thank you. I tell him I work insurance defense and I know how these things work. Not worth it. My husband says, "If your car breaks on us that easy it's simple, we'll never buy another Honda again." The supervisor leaves.

In walks the underling. In a last ditch effort to get us to spend more money he says, "Are you sure you don't want the scotch guarding or the undercoating." I stifle a laugh, thinking that he is joking. He is not. I want to say, "Haven't you ever seen that Seinfeld episode?" I don't. He says, "Don't you have kids?" I am thinking, "Yes, but he isn't eating spaghetti and nachos in the car and I can buy a can of scotch guard myself." Again, we refuse.

After four+ hours we drive out of there in this car:

Even though it has taken me a good week to scrape the sludge and grime of that transaction off of me, I am very happy with my cute little orange car.

I am still alive...I think

2008-05-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

To all those wondering where the heck I have been, I have been wretchedly sick. On Saturday we flew down to So Cal to visit my Grandma. The flight down was great. We flew standby and ended up in first class. Brendan was a doll on the plane. He ate the hot breakfast they served and then took a little nap. We arrived and had a good morning with Grandma. We all took naps (since we got up at 3am for our flight) and then went out to dinner at Coco's, my Grandma's favorite place to eat.

So once inside I started feeling queasy. The smell of the diner was too much and I headed outside for some air. A few minutes later I was emptying the contents of my stomach in the parking lot in the full view of the patrons of Blockbuster video. Nice.

I spent the night on the bathroom floor and prayed to whatever God there is that I would make it back home on the plane okay. Pepto in hand, we made it. I had to call in sick on Tuesday and I am still queasy. Dumb stomach bug.

I am gradually joining the land of the living. Hopefully with something witty and interesting in the near future.

Stoked!

2008-05-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Stoked is a word us California Babies use when we are super uber-excited about something. It just falls out of our mouths. Kind of like the words, "like", "dude", and "cool." Yes, I know you all say cool, but it sounds different from a Californian, especially when we add the word "totally" in front of it. See what I mean?

So why am I stoked? Because I just purchased concert tickets!!! I love concerts, but I haven't been to a real concert in years. I think the last concert I went to was the Beastie Boys and it was during the last election because I remember them yelling, "We're not going to let him get re-elected are we?" and the crowd shouted back a resounding "NOOOOOOO." Well, Washington as a whole didn't vote for him, what can I say?

I just bought concert tickets for the True Colors Tour which promotes gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual equality. And the headliners are Cyndi Lauper and the B-52s!!! Ohmigosh I think I just peed a little. No, not really.

I totally grew up rocking the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Love Shack" tunes. Heck, one of my favorite movies, The Goonies, was only made better by the close-up shot of Cyndi Lauper's pipes as she belted out "Good Enough."

I have never seen Cyndi Lauper or the B-52s perform, and I have quite a laundry list of concerts I have been to. My most memorable being:

Depeche Mode (3 times, including my first concert during the Violator album tour)
Living Colour/Primus
Scorpions/Trixter (yes, I was in to butt-rocker music, what can I say?)
Pearl Jam/Nirvana/Red Hot Chili Peppers
U2 (2 times)
NIN (2 times)
David Bowie
Sarah McLaughlin
The Cure
Beastie Boys

And many more that I can't fully recall at the moment. But I love going to concerts! So excited! Now I just have to wait until July 1st.

Back to Being Busy

2008-05-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

Started a few new knitting projects. They don't currently look like much:

Gloves

Summer Frock:

Going to the O.C. this weekend. Visiting my Grandma. Just a quick trip down for a night. Looking forward to the three day weekend. Just a quick note today. I'll have more opinions tomorrow, I promise.

My two year old son has a girlfriend and rides an ATV

2008-05-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Taking Abi for a ride from ARLENE HENDRICKX on Vimeo.

Oh man, it's Monday already

2008-05-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

Had a great weekend! The Bachelorette Party was hilarious. I laughed so hard my face hurt. All the other party-goers were married and I think we took advantage of the fact that as you get older you get less and less of these Bachelorette Party-things to go to. In other words, we thoroughly humiliated the bride. She was a good sport.

However, I also found out that I am old.

It was not long ago that I recall going to a dance club and showing my i.d. only to be pulled aside and tested on the contents of my i.d. because I didn't look like I was 21. Okay, that was when I was 21, but still, it doesn't seem like that long ago.

On Friday night we caravaned to Fremont to begin our bar-hopping with the bride. A co-worker of mine and I carpooled and we brought one of the locals with us because we both are not too good with directions. The "local" was a 29 year old woman in jeans and a halter top who looked like she was a teenager and, might I add, has not given birth.

On the way into the bar a man was sitting on a stool checking i.d. Halter girl went first and showed her i.d. while my co-worker and I started fishing through our mama purses (i.e. a large purse that holds everything a mother might need) for our i.d. The bouncer took one look at us and waved us through.

I think we both almost cried.

Granted I was wearing frumpy jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt, and my make-up had long ago come off from all the laughing and crying (in a good way) we were doing up until that point.

I suppose that and the fact that I didn't have on a skirt and heels and pull my i.d. out of my g-string while simultaneously applying lipstick I took out of my cleavage probably did it.

Yeah, that's it. That or I am old.

Party!

2008-05-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am going to a Bachelorette Party. Girls night out! Whoo-hooo! Funny thing is that it is a Bachelorette Party for a friend of mine that happened to go to my Bachelorette Party in 1999. I scanned in one of the pictures of us at my Bachelorette Party:

Yes, we were sassy. Heck, I'm still full of sass. My Bachelorette Party was up in Canada. We rented a hotel room and went out on the dance party circuit only to quickly figure out that in Canada they water down their liquor. What is up with that?!

Anyway, I'm out for the night, and hoping to make it to my 8 a.m. Pilates class tomorrow. Have a great sunny weekend. It is supposed to hit 85 degrees today in Seattle. Yowser!

Smelly Summer

2008-05-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

The smell of summer is in the air. We are supposed to get into the upper 80s, maybe even 90 degrees this weekend. That scares me a little. Growing up in San Diego where it was perpetually in the 70s with a light breeze (except for August and September when the dreaded Santa Ana winds hit), the thought of the 80s starts to make me feel all melty. Like I want to flop on the couch and sweat, and that's pretty much all I can do when it gets that hot. But smell...how does summer smell?

They say that when you are pregnant your sense of smell is heightened. My sniffer has always been pretty good, but my husband swears it was true. Especially since when I was pregnant I could smell the second our dog had taken a poo in his litter box all the way across the house and informed my husband that he had to clean it up immediately because it reeked. Because, you know, pregnant women aren't allowed near litter boxes (I know that means cats, but shush, he doesn't know that).

I have always tried to make a point of bringing a new scent every time I take a trip I know I will want to remember and re-live. I discovered by accident that a certain Aveda lotion I brought with me on my honeymoon transports me to London and Paris in an instant in my mind. The lotion was in a basket of goodies in our hotel room on our wedding night, the night before we flew out, and I had never used it before.

To Dublin I brought a new seaweed based cleanser from The Body Shop and every time I smell that I can see bright green hills, I can taste the whiskey, and I can feel the moist air and the friendliness that is Dublin.

A girlfriend of mine has worn the same cologne ever since I have known her. For a time I lost touch with her when she went to LA to pursue her dreams of becoming a recording artist. Which she is doing pretty well at, see her here: My Cousin Kate. But when someone would walk by with that cologne on, it reminded me of her and my early 20s. When I would sit in her little box of an apartment on Capital Hill and listen to her sing as we readied ourselves to go out dancing. Work was just something I did in between dancing, hanging out with my friends, and going to concerts. It brings me back to those carefree days and my dear friend.

So, my recommendation, if you are going on a trip this summer and want to seal those memories deep inside you, bring a new scent. Bring a new lotion, cologne, shampoo, something. Then the next time you sniff it, it will be like a vacation in a bottle. Not exactly the same, but as close as most of us will get throughout the majority of the year.