Eek!

I have a follower! Sorry, blogger just updated it's interface and now all of a sudden, I have "1 follower". Anyway... moving on...


I'm tired of work. Actually i like work. I'm tired of working. I'm soooooo glad that i'm seeing the end of this particular development tunnel so I can finally get back to living La Vida Comfy!

{blah} Sorry. i thought I had stuff to say but it turns out what I really have is the ennui.... I'll write more later, maybe after the super fun BBQ's chickie B-day party that's happening tomorrow.....

Our forefathers would be proud....

O.K. so maybe it doesn't match some of the other major inroads made earlier this century (or even most of the "minor" ones) But I'm happy dammit! I'm happy to FINALLY be able to walk out of a freaking movie theatre without having to act all supportive about my little girl's desire to grow up to be a (Caucasian) dancer or a (Caucasian) princess or even a (Caucasian) tough Girl who gets to run around blowing up things..... I get that this is "just a movie" but it's also a moment in time where I'm not explaining why "all the people in the town are Peach" or why they used a "Black actor's voice" but made him "light with red hair"... Seriously, it's not even all that much of a stretch. Same storyline as most of the other princess movies, Same cast of "crazy characters" -- It's Disney so, it's by default pretty to look at, just so many different shades of people all pretty without being ridiculous. I dunno, maybe it's because other stuff is sort of kicking my butt right now... but I just really liked having a moment of relaxed enjoyment without having think/worry/wonder why something so basic as portraying diversity always seems like such a big deal....

Happy turkey Day!

What i'm thankful for:

1) that one of my main supports both at work and in The Life made it safely though massive, intensive bi-lateral, outpatient surgery and is now recouping nicely in a way that makes him unable to do anything but address MY concerns about my stupid work project.

2) That my Wife is staying married to me despite the cranky, stressey, uncommunicative, mood-swinging moments brought on by aforementioned stupid work project.

3) that legally my kids can't leave either no matter how much aforementioned silliness around aforementioned S-project may make them want to.....

{sigh} K. enough of that. I am actually really thankful that i have a job. A very lovely job that is accommodating and kid-schedule friendly and where wonderful people abound who make me happy just cause they exist. I'm happy my friends are healthy and (relatively) happy and that families (and dogs) are intact and thriving. I'm thankful that my brothers and mom are doing well especially given "the economic climate." I am thankful that my Wife continues to be such an amazing font of support and assurance and information (and that she continues to allow me access to her 'pert little figur and killer smile!!) I am happy/thrilled that she (The Wife) has a new job to look forward to and the assurance of the few quality people at her old job that she was valued and will be missed. I'm thankful my babies are healthy, (relatively) happy and a freaking joy to be around every single minute of every single day. I'm thankful i have such great friends who combine supportive with understanding with butt-kicking in all the right proportions according to highly changeable situational "needs".... Hell, I'm even sort of thankful my dogs like each other so much as it would be sad to have to figure out how to raise them separately!

Good hair

Also wanted to mention that i had a very fun date last night with my very good friend Mizz Tail. We went to see Good Hair which was a (IMHO) very good movie -- nuanced, sweet, factually correct (mostly), culturally interesting, thought/conversation inducing etc. etc. -- but which also marked the first time in well over a year that i've gone with an adult to see an adult movie sort of kind of when it was still topical! I am so proud of myself. What with that and the walk I managed to cajole my BBQ into taking with me this week-end, I'm feeling quite on top of my "get out and hang out with those people you say you like" new year's resolution... Sure, I'm kickstarting it a wee squeach late but whaddaya want??? I've been busy. We got a puppy! Sheesh...

yay!

I would first like to say that I am just so happy/thrilled that The Wife has landed a fancy-pants new position with a cool-seeming company that is mere minutes away from mine own work place (hint, hint, lunch anyone?)

She's being all practical and cute right now with the "Well, I mean it's good and everything but I think we're still going to have to figure out how to manage the Boo schedule since it'll probably be awhile before I'll be allowed to work a more flexible schedule..." As IF. As if I'm going to segue from concerned to sensible without even a few minutes devoted to sheer, unabridged delightedness. Whom, might I ask, does she think she's married to?? Forget the potential rearranging of a schedule or two. Wifey got a new job! She is no longer going to be stifled and annoyed (well not in the same way anyway) and berated by her passive-aggressive boss over ridiculous butt-covering crap! she will be rolling into a pretty part of a pretty town and working in an environment which is interesting (at least for now) and in which folks seem to actually talk to one another. She will be able to learn new things and develop even more fantastic coding skills and finally, have a chance to stop with the constant worrying about "finding a job in this economy" because that. part. is. done! I am thrilled. Thrilled, I tell yas. I love you baby. Seriously, Couldn't have happened to a better goil!

"The amount of Effort matches the amount of Desire"

My lovely friend Mizz Tail used this phrase yesterday whilst she was "breaking something down for me" and I just thought it was lovely. not just lovely sounding but really clarifying as well. I'm sad for her because her Pooch is not feeling well and she is down about it. I hope things get better fast as I simply cannot have one of my very best-est buddies feeling sad mere moments before the best day of the year! There's also this new study which i think further bolters my point (DST = why????!) if you think i'm just being curmudgeonly...

Beyond that, things are going o.k. i'm hating this project we're working on at work but mostly because it's a freaking lot to do/think about, not because it's going badly or anything. I just kind of want a break from obsessing about it all the time is all.... ah well. that extra hour of sleep will help i think. Halloween parties at the Bees will help as well! Yay! now i'm happy agian.

"Mommy, i have an eraser in my nose and it hurts."

This is the phrase my 6 year old used as she strolled into the bathroom minutes before i was supposed to take her to school this morning. I glanced her direction, saw no eraser and thought "Hm. maybe 'eraser' is code for dried mucus or something. Possibly a term she picked up at school." Then, being the exemplary type of parent I am, I ignored her mostly. Kept brushing my teeth. Asked her somewhat distractedly where she got the eraser from. How it got in her nose, etc. All the while, flossing the teeth, wondering about the demands of the day ahead.... "From the pencil." she said. She was "playing with the eraser. it came off the end", so she put it in her nose. "now it hurts." This, folks, was the point at which I started paying attention.
I sat her down. Examined the nostril in question and saw.. an eraser. A pink one. in her nose. Queue minor freak-out. "Omigawd, are you o.k???? An eraser?? Where'd you get that from?? Why in your nose???! K. Wait. Sit, just sit. don't touch it [scrambling through cosmetics bag looking for tweezers] does it hurt??" [she nods having already answered these particular questions but humoring me because it would seem i am FINALLY trying to be useful] Find the tweezer, silently thank god for my "collector/hoarding" ways, channel the Milton-Bradley old-school game "Operation" et viola, one pencil eraser extracted from one tiny nostril without even a small visit to the emergency room! Yay for me!/God. Why did it take me so freaking long to respond??? Useless. i am useless. And, quite clearly, not equipped to raise a "normal" child.....

And then there was pink...

O.K. so, those of you in the know, know that i'm always messing with my kids' hair. Not in any sort of "political" or "I wish you'd brush your hair more often!" kind of way because, seriously, who would i have to become to really start caring about stuff like that??? but more in a, "so you wanna be a rockstar, eh...." kind of way. So, this week-end me and the Big Big Girl were sitting around discussing hair facts and hair boredom (and "passing for straight/boring now that i'm married/in a 'respectable' job/profession") and decided it was high time she repaid the coiffure favor by helping me make my head a little more interesting to look at. Then, being decided and after doing a tiny bit of research, we took a little trip to the local beauty supply and got us some hair (mostly brown, some pink), sat ourselves down on the stoop, did some twisting and waxing et viola! A mere 45 minutes later we had Me with large, fluffy doll-like hair. Very fluffy. The predominant theme was locks without all the twisting. I gotta say, I love it! Even the Big Big Girl approves. the Little Big Girl is withholding comment but i think that's more because she was gone all week-end at some massive sleep-over birthday Hannah Montana princess party than because she actually formed any lasting opinions. I'm not entirely sure how the Wife feels but I do know she's at least still willing to kiss/snuggle me so... probably the best i can hope for at this point!

Oh! Also, wanted to give a little shout-out to the fantastically fun crew I got to hang with this past Thursday at some random PJA fundraising dinner. (That's right folks, I'm finally embracing my progressive Jewish Side!) the dinner itself was quite lovely, the company was awesome and one of the speakers, Ruth Messinger, was brilliant. Really. I want to be her when/if I grow up. Or at least just get really close to people who are really close to her so I can continue staring at her without her thinking it's creepy. :-)