Friday, January 30, 2009

What does your Amazon "suggested pick" list say about you...?


My suggested picks for today is as follows:

Auto-ethnography as method
Bible Illuminated (The Book - Old testament)
Bratz Magic Hair Funky Fashion Make-over torso
Funhouse (Pink)
Mama Mia (DVD)

"Grad-student, bibliophile studying cosmetology on the side (just in case this who Sociology thing doesn't work out) looking for a fun time!"

Seriously, why isn't there a field of study that looks into analyzing this stuff????

So, the other day I was all annoyed at my Littlest girl -- meaning I was throwing around the mom-voice, making pronouncements like "UN-acceptable!" and "No more!" stomping through the house and finally out the door -- in fact slamming aforementioned door closed behind me only to discover once i got out on the pavement that I'd forgotten to change out of my slippers and into a pair of real shoes. Talk about a mood-kill.

In other news, my buddy IHOEL of the famed Bee Clan is going to come work with me and be my boss! Yay! He's awesome. I can't wait.

In still Other other news, the Big Big girl got an "A-" on her latest math test!!!!! This up form the "D"s she was getting at the start of the year, but she's been going to math enrichment and has been really trying and (no thanks AT ALL to her slouchy parent who kind of got lost right around Third-Grade Fractions) she's becoming a Math Whiz!

K. Hm. I think that's it for now. Me=happy and content. things seem to be arranging themselves in some lovely and interesting patterns. me and Mistah Lovah-Lovah are going to start a business making stuff for sloucher folks like us who are "too busy" to handle their bid-ness so that should be fun.... eh. I should be working. k. signing off, Gracie. Good-bye, Gracie.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Yay, me!


I have the best group of friends and family ever! Yesterday (the birthday, proper) was soooo nice! Lots of love from work peeps, taken out to a (sushi, WT...????) lunch, slight annoyance during the afternoon from Big Baby Copywriter Guy then hilarious drive home with best big girl in the world followed by dinner from Becky's, visits/cute chatty conversations with my nearest and dearest and really extraordinarily yummy baked goods to round out the eve. Again, Yay! I love my life....

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Fortieth year about to be over -- what the hell was I doing with my time??


Things accomplished:
1) Started off with a bang (snicker) when newly mine Duck-Girl took me to Vegas to celebrate the age and watch the amazing-ness that is "O"
2) Returned the favor (sort of) by proposing on her superhero B-Day in Feb.
3) Found two new jobs -- took the more lucrative one, decided that maybe wasn't such a fantastic idea and backpedalled right smack into the other (soooooo MUCH better)
4) Escaped from Mills, College grad school with an EdD in Educational Policy and Implementation
5) Experienced the Little Big Girl "graduation-from-pre-school" extravaganza
6) Got legally married at City Hall
7) Got the Little Big Girl started at "Big Kid" school and stood helplessly by as the Big Big Girl wandered into the twin worlds of Middle School/Warcraft
8) Got Married, again, "for reals" this time/Celebrated all the cool kids' birthdays
9) Mexican Honeymoon with the kids, Baby!
10)Back to celebrate the holidays in the new house/marital situation
11)Watched the country install it's first Mixed-Ethnicity President (and, co-incidentally enough, the first one in recent memory that seemed to share my own personal views about anything!)

All-in-all, I guess I have to say 40 = NOT the Year-of-the-Slacker. Now 41, however...! There's a year for which I have BIG plans! ;-)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

So, yesterday....


Right. Mixed-Race, urban educated but still having roots in single-parent, lower socio-economic-class upbringing gentleman FINALLY occupies the White House. Check.

I'm torn. on the one hand i feel like this is a HUGE occassion and a cuase for some massive celebrating and yet, on the other... I dunno. I think it's cool and everything. I'm happy and all. But I dunno. I still sort of know that the country is as close to the brink of extermination as it has probably ever been, the the amoutn of canvasing and/or fundraisign for this campaign was unprecedented aAND that the exiting government is counting it's popularity points in the tens -- all this and the "Black" man STILL only makee it into office by a narrow (albeit significant) margin (meaning the vast majority of those red states still voted red.) and I can't help but think... Really??? Still? The flip-side being Damn Skippy. Let's have a look at where we were sixty years ago, a hundred years ago, hell, forty years ago and then re-consider where we just got yesterday. Nice. It's all good. I guess i'm just a little impatient for folks to stop acting like humans and more like, I dunno, "folks."

Friday, January 16, 2009

Not sure why


K. So I'm making "mix tapes" for the girls and I'm listening to all these new(ish) CDs we've gotten over the last little bit and I came across this lyric:

"The good ones all have wedding rings and the young ones are just too dumb, besides I don't think i have any more room, under my thumb... is it guilty in here or is it just me?" {giggle} Not sure why but I kind of LOVE it!

Gorgeous!


Wedding Pics courtesy of Mistah L-L arrived last night. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I. am. in. awe. of that man's photographical skills!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Fill in the blank...



I was "tutoring" at the Scoot's school for Math period this morning which really means I was standing around holding onto the "answer key" the teacher had given me like it was the long lost 5th book of Genesis not yet translated from the original Cyrillic, when it occurred to me that possibly the world might make better sense overall if I re-framed everything in a more standardized way. Say, as a word problem.

Fill in the blank.

"Yeah, so I guess my chances at getting a promotion are better if I'm ________"
a) more on top of my game
b) actually conversant in the PRIMARY language
c) married

or even

"A 30 year old Slacker/Skater-Boy moves to Japan to live with his girl;friend of three months. Not knowing the Japanese language AT ALL, he soon lands a job teaching English for which he is 10% qualified. His girlfriend thinks he should 'be moving up the ladder' -- a concept which has a -13% chance of occurring unless he is 'X' where 'X' equals a variable of indeterminate value but which is closely tied to 'Z' which is his inordinate luck in not having been kicked out of the country in the first place. All fates being relatively constant what are the odds that the S-Boy will survive the next twist with his position, dignity and visa intact?"

Before I even answer the above, can I just say, there is nothing more heartwarming than the sweet and simple trust shimmering in the eyes of a sixth grader as she shows you the Fractal Word Problem she has created from scratch (per the insane instruction) and asks you if it is "right." I'm telling you, it was worth every single second of faked understanding as I stared at the words swimming across the page and declared that "Yes! Yes it was!" (no idea.)

Eh, hem, anyway. The big news then for today. The one, the only, The Ace in the pocket for our U.S. Diplomatic team in Japan, Mr. DBT is getting MARRIED! You heard it here first folks. (Well, second, if you were on Angels first-contact sheet this morning but still...!) Congratulations, hon! I wish you every conceivable happiness and hope to god her parent-sans know what their little girl is getting into!

In other news, and speaking of weddings, at long last (not really so long last but I'm the impatient type!) we're going to get to see the official pics from the wedding! Our wedding. I am so excited I CANNOT stand it! K. nuff of that.

Last and I suppose least, today I got to say for the first time those immortal parental words to my Little One who informed me that tomorrow she needed to bring Chicken strips to school for lunch because Child A only liked chicken strips....: "Ah, but I am not making lunch for A. I am making lunch for YOU." Felt good somehow. Like i was coming full circle.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Easier doesn't necessarily mean "better"


That's my mantra these days. Let's see if repeating it over and over in my head helps even a little bit. ;-)

So, yesterday was fun. Lots of quality time spent with quality people trying to get quality stuff accomplished. Firstly, let me just say CONGRATULATIONS to the newly wed (and appropriately glow-ey) Crafty-Kitten/Wedding Planner to the Stars/Rock-Star's Mom who wed her adorable partner in crime in New Yawk over the New Year's/X-mas holiday. Me and the kids spent some time at their house yesterday going through pics of the event and just generally swapping some stories and I am just so happy for them and theirs! Yay!

Then, immediately following this little sojourn, we scooped up another pal o' the Scoot's and made our way to the J for some quality swimtime. Also, loads of fun mostly because a certain Sparkley someone actually conducted herself throughout the entire venture in a way that involved no tears/screaming/throwing oneself to the slippery ground! We were impressed and happy. Interesting note vis a vis that though (and possibly cautionary tale for whomever tries to date my Sparklefly later in life) so... I have this badge I wear at work. It has my picture on it and it also has a green heart sticker that SOMEONE (Spark) put on it and which is very pretty and nice. i was wearing my badge in the pool yesterday because I used it to get into my office then forgot to take it off. No worries. It's waterproof. Well, the Spark noticed I had it on and was very concerned that the sticker was getting wet. she thought it was going to fall off. I was not so concerned as it seemed to be fine. now here's the thing. Not only did she think it was going to fall off, she actually got sad about it's missing state. Like actual sad face + teary eyes + warbley lip "Now you don't have your sticker I gave you anymore....{sniff}" -- Except i did. I showed it to her. "See, it's right here. It's fine."

Now, this didn't just happen once. It happened over and over. Until finally, (right around the third time I showed her that there it was! the sticker. Still on my badge...) she actually got a little annoyed. That's right folks, my little girl got mad because reality was not cooperating with her need to be distressed over my having failed her by not taking appropriate care of her sticker. So, she sort of shooed it away and we started playing something else. then later in the car, after food and friend drop-off, ect. right before she sort of drifted into semi-nap time, she asked one more time -- kind of hopefully "Is the sticker there?" to which I replied, "yup." To which she sort of "growl-snorted" before turning to look out the window/falling asleep. I ask you. I further ask you why, in all of this I sort of felt like I was letting her down by not being a little more careless. Like I really considered for a minute, taking off the sticker so she could actually get upset in a way that made sense to me...! sheesh. Good luck, is all I have to say. I mean, she's gorgeous, and she's smart and funny and charming as hell so I'm not worried about her future partnering prospects or anything, I just feel like I should have some sort of disclaimer printed up...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

*spoiler alert*I'm about to be a big ole Baby!*/end spoiler alert*


OW!!!!! I totally jacked up my foot and i do not know how. Seriously. It's not swollen (well, it's a little swollen) but it's all stiff around the arch/big toe area and hurts like hell to move. I think it's some random nerve pinch thing from wearing weird (albeit cool) shoes all week but honestly, I have no idea. Just know that it HURTS!!!!

K. nuff of that. Onward and upward to more glorious posting. The highlights:

Heard from the English Teacher -- He's doing great over there in the hinterlands. Girl is good. classes are going well, he's feeling all "normal and settled" he says which I have to say is HILARIOUS because he's living in a country where he resembles noone, does not speak the language and could get his temp-work visa revoked at any time! Cute though. I'm happy for him.

The puppy is at the vet right this second having his possibly still existing and/or having re-occurred ear infection investigated (seriously, if I didn't have a Wife who has -- grudgingly -- succumbed to his charms/thinks animals should be actually "cared for", that dog would be up a creek. Really.)

I'm trying to give the Hyundai to my pal the RockStar's mom. Her car died and I never drive this one so I thought, why the heck not? Besides, Who, I ask you, is in a better position to appreciate some truly quality tribal decalling????? My point exactly...!

Pretty Boy is still happily dating as is Miss Tail which also makes me happy. Always nice when my friends have things a little more sewn up in other areas of their lives so they can better pay attention to ME!

Today, I think, is all about getting some outstanding stuff done! I have all these really cool opportunities throwing themselves in my way that I can't actually start doing until I finish the other stuff so..... I have a very short list for today then tackling The Final Edit Next week-end and hopefully I'll be free and clear to advance the life starting in my Beautiful Wife's month of birth -- Feb. Maybe. We'll see. I've gotten pretty good at the procrastination part of my life so.....

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year!


All manner of happy wishes to each and every one of you my sweethearts! I hope the new year brings health and happiness and rest and that each and every day is a continuation of your infinitely successful little lives.

K. now then. My day was fab! spent the eve at a dinner party hosted by the ever-hot BBQ who manufactured THE BEST spaghetti meat sauce i've had in years as well as some quality time spent over at the CP's house celebrating her 40ieth B-day with her missus, the shared kid and assorted friends. Then today wandered over to the Bee house for some quality hanging out, good food great company and ended up getting the Big Bee girl for a sleep-over so... all in all a fairly successful outting if I say so mee-self!