the time I met the internet girls.

SO.

Nearly a month ago, a really cool thing happened. And it’s already been written about here, here and here, but I wanted to weigh in too.

A few months ago, when I saw on the Twitter that O was going to be heading from London to visit D in Brooklyn for a couple of weeks in June, I knew I had to barge in and invite myself along for the fun. So we picked a Monday in June that I would come into the NYC and hang with them for the day.

A few days before the visit, I heard from J, who said that she would be in Connecticut from Washington State visiting family the weekend preceding the NYC Tweetup, and did I want to meet for a drink? YES, PLEASE, I said, and couldn’t believe that in the span of 24 hours, I would meet three of my fave bloggers and Tweeters, a couple of whom live thousands and thousands of miles away.

AND THEN. J had the epiphany that instead of going to Long Island on Monday as planned, why didn’t she instead join me on the train into Manhattan so we could both meet up with D and O in Brooklyn.

YES, PLEASE, I said.

And then I got nervous.

I never did the Internet dating thing. I’d never met a blogger or Tweeter that I hadn’t already known previously in real life. I am such a tool, I reminded myself. SUCH a nerd. And boring! What if they think I’m cool in person? I’m NOT cool! Have I presented myself in a way that would make someone think I’m cool?

Well, no. There’s no way I managed to do THAT.

But I was, in fact, nervous. So when I pulled up to J’s hotel about 20 minutes from my house on the way to the train station in New Haven, I handled my nerves the best way I know how. With an intense case of verbal diarrhea.

I talked her ear off about pop culture and the 80s for the entire ride down to New Haven and the two-hour train ride to NYC. Poor thing.

Fact: J is awesome. And rad. And so pretty. And cool. And smart. And very stylish. And yes, I’m gushing. SHUT UP. There’s more where that came from.

After mostly-successfully navigating the subway system from Grand Central to Brooklyn, we went to our appointed meeting place to hook up with O and D and friends. So yeah, there we were, just scanning the streets looking for faces that matched the Twitter avatars we’ve come to know so well over the past year. And then we heard:

“Hello, Internet friends.”

Yup, there were D and O. And it was fucking awesome. It felt so surreal to see them in real life but yet so completely NORMAL. I have to say that the conversation (and ridiculous amounts of laughter over topics like DIABETES) started the moment we met outside the subway station, carried through our walking around looking for a restaurant, lunch, and park time, and didn’t stop until we had to head back to the subway and go home (Connecticut for me, Long Island for J).

D and O? Incredibly cool. Way cooler than me, that’s for sure. Sassy and intelligent and gorgeous and forces to be reckoned with.

Hands down, meeting those three ladies was one of the best days of my summer. And I cannot wait for it to happen again.

summer.

There are things I need to report to you. I haven't been here in weeks, really, and in the meantime I did that show (the one I Tweeted and Facebooked about mercilessly), Jane had her first dance recital, we received the invite to her preschool graduation (!!!!) that happens this Thursday, and we went on vacation.

We returned today from a week that was a little sunny, moderately rainy and a lot cloudy. But we made it fun. We went to a children's museum we'd never been to, a Navy submarine base and museum, an art museum, one of our favorite zoos, and even managed to go to the beach a couple of times. Oh, and I squeezed in a couple of trips to my all-time favorite bookstore. I'd live there if I could, I swear.

I promise to get back here. I'm itching to get back here. I hate that when I'm the busiest, and I have so much to write about, I just don't have time to do it. But summer's here. I'm calling it the Summer of Amanda and Jane - her last before she heads off to the wacky world of public school

And I know I've already shared this elsewhere, but it must be said that this is one of my all-time favorite pictures of my girl.

Are you having as much fun as she is? Are you loving life as much? Am I? We should try, no?

on weekends, writing, Scintilla, blogging and weather.

It’s Friday, party people! Here are some thoughts from this week:

It’s March! Which means by the end of this month, it will officially be spring. Which, living here in New England, does not necessarily mean it will feel like spring, but I have all of my fingers and toes crossed. I have worn my winter coat a grand total of THREE times this winter. Now, I hate wearing coats, so I wear them less often than regular (by "regular" I mean people who like to be warm) people, but only three times in Connecticut is pretty amazing. Anyway, I do not want to add to that number, and frankly, I just would like a nice long spring, so let’s start it right now, OK?

I’ve been reading some possible scripts for an upcoming spring show with my nerdy theater group. We don’t have a title nailed down yet, but auditions will be in the beginning of April, and then we’re off! Not sure exactly what my involvement will be this time around, but oh, I WILL be involved. Mama needs her hobby back. Mama's getting antsy.

Speaking of Mama, the following is a little exchange between Jane and myself yesterday (if we’re friends on Facebook, sorry, you’ve already seen this):

Jane: Am I going to get married someday?

Me: Someday when you’re older like Mommy, you can get married if you want to.

Jane: ….when I’m seven?

That’s just a little Jane-related humor for you.

Speaking of Jane, I know I hinted on Twitter last week-ish that I have been contemplating how much I share about her, and how I think I should do less of that here (although, really, I don’t share too much on the blog anymore, I don’t think. My Facebook page is Jane-heavy). There is a whole uproar right now concerning Heather Armstrong, author of the massively popular Dooce blog, because she started going off on her 1.5M Twitter followers, and people were really upset, etc, etc (go here if you want the backstory, and the comments are great). Anyway, a part of the discussion about Dooce is about whether it’s right to share so much about your child(ren) on a public site, in terms of their right to privacy. And, OBVIOUSLY, like, three people read this blog, but it IS public, and…..well……this is just something I’m thinking about. More to come later, I’m sure. I clearly don’t have a coherent thought in my head about it now.

BUT, speaking of the blog, and writing in general, as you know, I’ve been kinda blah about posting here lately. And once again I was contemplating just taking a few months off (which I’ve never actually done! I don’t think I’ve ever taken a full month off of the blog. My poor readers.). BUT THEN. My internet friends Kim, Dominique and Onyi came up with a super-amazeballs awesomely awesome FORTNIGHT OF STORY TELLING project called Scintilla. Please please go here and read up on it, and join in for the fun the last two weeks of March. (I mean, the last fortnight of March. I AM SO EXCITED TO BE INVOLVED IN SOMETHING THAT HAS “FORTNIGHT” IN THE TITLE, GOD I AM SO AMERICAN.)

At my core, I like to think I’m a writer. I do some writing for my real life job, and I used to be a journalist, and my last job was writing-heavy. But I have always thought I could put more into the blog. But sometimes you need a little kick, don’t you? That’s why I’ve done things like Reverb and NaBloPoMo. But for some reason, this project seems more….special, and I think it’s because it was created by these three mega-talented ladies who I met on the big, giant internet. And I am grateful.

Speaking of grateful –I am very very grateful it is the weekend! We don’t have a ton scheduled – I’ve got my moms’ happy hour tonight, Jane has swimming lessons in the morning, I have book club tomorrow night (where we will be discussing Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, which I hadn’t read til now, if you can believe it). (PS: not my favorite.) I also am picking the next book, so I get to do the big reveal tomorrow night. And for book club geeks, this is a BIG DEAL.

So, to conclude this extremely rambling and mostly ridiculous post, I bid you a happy weekend!

reverb11 day 31: that's all she wrote.

Today's prompt asks: Take a moment to think back on your reverb11 responses. Have you learned anything? What surprised you about this experience? Which of your responses was your favourite? (see - I even kept that Canadian spelling, Brad!)

Before I sort of answer this question, I wanted to look back at my last post of reverb10, which was this.

I toot my own horn extremely rarely. Sure, I promote the hell out of projects I'm involved with, but I don't really say many nice things about myself. But I loved my response to that prompt. It felt very right on for how I felt at the time. A lot of it is still true. Most of it, really. And I'm glad that my goals for 2011 were met. I really tried to balance my life this year. And we're getting there. We're getting there.

My life is great. It really is. I am so, so lucky. This horrible thing happened in my state last Sunday, early on Christmas morning. You may have heard the story. I've been thinking about it all week. It really doesn't matter how rich you are, how much success you have in your career, how many toys you have - the most important things rarely lie in those categories, although so many times it feels like they do. It's your family. Your friends. Your health. Those are the most important things. Unequivocally.  I bet that woman, who lost it all on Christmas morning, would trade her life with just about anyone right now. It made me feel so sad for her, and so grateful for what I've been blessed with.

But back to reverb11. Because really, it is all tied together. Reverb is a month-long project that looks back on your year, your life, your goals, your aspirations. When it blew up two days before December 1, my Twitter pal, world-traveler and all-around great guy Brad took it over, with help from Brandee and others.

December is such a busy month. These people didn't exactly have time to take over this enormous project. But when Ms. Bell decided that, as part of her "work," she was going to let it go 48 hours before everyone was anticipating their first prompt, they jumped on it. And, quite frankly, made it better.

I've loved this year's reverb. I know some of my favorite writers - and you know who you are - haven't had a chance to really participate this year, but if this carries on next year - and I really hope it does - I hope they join back in. In my opinion, it was miles better than last year. Not to crap on last year, but I found many of the prompts repetitive. This year, that happened, like, once.  And it was all Oh So Serious. The best part of this year for me was the mix of serious and not-serious prompts.

With what other project would I be able to sincerely talk extensively about how much I miss both my dad and Don Draper? My love of theater and my hatred of Glee? Forgiving myself and my epic trip to LA?  A huge life-changing decision and my secret shame?

I've loved reverb11. I am excited about a little teaser in today's email, hinting at a possible upcoming project early next year. 2011 has been a fabulous year for me. My challenge to next year is to be even more fabulous. Bring it, 2012!

Happy New Year, friends. Thank you for reading.

Cheers!

30 days of thanks - a November challenge

OK, the blog has been quiet lately. I'm sorry! My little life is pretty repetitive these days - work, studying lines, rehearsals, family stuff, etc. So while I was just vaccuuming (did I spell that right? Nope, only one "c" - vacuum is such a weird word. Anyway - vacuuming - that looks funny) - aaanyway, while I was doing that, I was getting that nagging feeling in my gut that you get when you're avoiding your blog. Like - what if this it? What  if I never think of anything to write about again? What if it's time to shut the thing down? And then I somehow jumped to the idea of creating a prompt for November.

30 days of thanks.

Each day in November, either here or on Twitter (@asg923) I will name something I am thankful for. It can be serious (family) or silly (CANNNDY) - just something quick to focus my energy before the true chaos of the holidays hits.

Will you join me? I hope you do.

soooooo freaking psyched

Don't you love how much I complain about how busy I am on this blog? Well, there's more where that came from!

This week has been chaos, between working on my big summer writing project at work, along with purging and moving offices with the rest of my department this week. I'm sadfacing over it, because I'm moving out of the office I've lived in for eight of my 10.5 years at my workplace. At the same time, boy, did I throw out a lot of shit. So that's...good? Right? Glass half full? Plus I will be near a window! With natural light! Did I already tell you this? I can't remember.

In addition, I am packing - OK, I am at least thinking about packing - for vacation number two this summer, which begins this weekend. We are renting a house in Rhode Island with some friends and their kids and I. Can. Not. Wait. Soooo freaking psyched for this.

Right now I am looking out the window, spying on people looking at my next door neighbors' house, which was put up for sale this week. This is another thing I am soooo freaking psyched about. I am not a fan of these neighbors and am happy to see them go. I know this makes me a jerk, but believe me, if you knew the whole story, you would agree.

I am also soooo freaking psyched for Susanna Conway's August Break this year. Do you remember when I did this last year? I posted a photo a day at least five days a week - it was an easy way to blog, without many words, but got me into the habit of stopping by here more often. I've been saving my summer photos for just this occasion! I tweeted her and she said she was doing it again. So stay tuned.

What are you sooooo freaking psyched about these days?

I am very stylish.

It's pretty clear that I am a very stylish person. If only you could see me now - snow-caked boots, my sweater-jacket I wear at least twice a week, jeans that I haven't washed in at least four wears, and a Gap t-shirt - holy shit, I am basically Carrie Bradshaw right now.

So it makes sense that I have been given a "Stylish Blogger Award." DUH. I know many, MANY people who try to emulate my harried, exhausted, working-mom look, but, you know, it's not as easy as it looks. You have to EARN these eye bags, friends.

But in all seriousness, I was pleased as punch to get this news from the lovely and talented (and Pearl Jam-obsessed) (not that there is anything wrong with that) Shannon over at Thumbin' My Way:

Recently I got a surprise… I got a stylish blogger award. I am passing it on to you because I love your blog and want to get it read by even more people. See my recent post for the list with your blog on it!

So here are the rules for acceptance of the award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

There is a button that goes with the award. Click on mine and copy the properties into your own blog.

xo, S

I "met" Shannon through reverb10, and hers is one of several blogs I became addicted to through that project. She's an honest and very often hilarious writer, and I suggest you check that girl out!

SO, without further ado, here are five recently-discovered bloggers that I think are pretty awesomesauce (and I found them all through reverb10):

Uncle Typewriter

Little Yawps

Letters from a Small State

Questions for Dessert

Jessica Tiare

Check these ladies out - you won't regret it! For reals.

Now, as for sharing seven things about myself - remember, way back when, I started that 100 Things project? And I got up to 20 things and then bailed? Well, instead of seven things, I am going to share five things about myself, to rev up my 100 Things project again. Here are numbers 21-25 (you can read previous entries here, here, here and here. Because I know you are DESPERATE to find out more about ME.)

21) I met Greg on a blind date.

22) On that blind date, I told him he was very luck to be with me because "Surivor" was on.

23) I was never very good at dating.

24) I truly believe that if people had to describe me in one word, that word would probably be "sarcastic." This is not a good thing, although very true.

25) I think salsa is one of the best things ever invented. I work it into my meals practically every day. Frankly, there have been times I have spooned it straight from the jar - I am very classy like that. I just had some with a few mini quiches I heated up for breakfast. I am obviously a health-nut. (See #24)

Thanks again, Shannon! You rule!

monday ramblings

Hello, all!

I don't have much to report today. I have succombed to the nasty bug that got Jane and Greg over the past couple of weeks. I've been high on Sudafed all weekend and been sleeping badly. That stuff makes me completely wired and I cannot sleep when I'm on it.

Yes, as you can see, not much to report. I have today off because of MLK Day, which is good, because otherwise I might have taken a sick day. Except, truth be told, I wouldn't have taken a sick day, because I save those for when Jane is sick or I have a stomach bug or whatever, and then everyone at work would have been mad at me because I was hacking and coughing all over the place. I suspect this will be the case tomorrow, anyway, because I have to return then and this is a super-busy week so there's no room for sick days (unless, as previously noted, I am puking. Or Jane is.)

Oh man, this post is terrible. Did anyone watch the Golden Globes last night? It was particularly exciting because both my television boyfriend Don Draper (oh, fine JON HAMM) as well as my Hollywood boyfriend Mark Ruffalo were there. Ricky Gervais was fairly outrageous, which is why I usually love him, but he was uncomfortable to watch a lot of the night. Something about totally making fun of people right to their faces, and not in a loving way. Just in a mean way. I know, he said he would be that way and people should've expected it, but it made me feel yuck. Although I did laugh a lot. So there's that.

I will conclude by saying this weekend is the one-year anniversary of when we started potty training Jane. Holy shit, that was a bad weekend. So even being sick and loopy now beats the hell that was last year this time.

Um, yeah.

manic monday

OK, let me talk you through the craziness that was last night/this morning.

So, as you know, Jane is absolutely horrible at bedtime. She totally hates going to bed, fights it with everything she's got, leaving us all a wretched mess by the time she actually goes off to dreamland. In short, it sucks.

Well, yesterday she didn't have her nap, so by the time we were at my mother's house for pizza last night (a weekly tradition), her eyes were already at half-mast. Sure enough, she fell asleep on the way home, and I managed to transfer her to her bed, with her only waking up to sing a half of a verse of "Old MacDonald" and then she promptly fell asleep again. AN HOUR AND A HALF BEFORE WE USUALLY START ATTEMPTING TO PUT HER TO BED.

WELL. You can imagine the sheer thrill of having all of that excess time to myself. I was so psyched! And since I was offline (except for my BlackBerry) all weekend, I couldn't use the time to bounce around online, so instead, I cranked up my heating pad (I pulled a muscle in my back earlier in the day) and started to read.

Yeah. So I fell asleep around 8:15, partying rock star that I am. I woke up around 9, with a back that was ON FIRE from the heating pad. Turned that off, started to read again, and then fell asleep for the night around 9:15. Lamesauce.

And even though I woke up a few times throughout the night (standard for me), I got way more sleep than I normally do, which is why I don't understand how I overslept by AN HOUR this morning. OMG. I cannot remember the last time I did that. So we went through our usual morning rush, and I was about to head out the door when we decided I should take Jane into daycare instead of Greg, because we realized that my brakes were dead this weekend and Greg was taking my car in, and he didn't want to drive her to school in my brakes-free car. (I actually realized my brakes were dead a LONG time ago, but that's another story for another day.)

As I pulled into daycare, I realized that, in all the rush, we forgot to feed Jane breakfast. (You may send my Parent of the Year award any time.) So it was off to Dunkin' Donuts, where Jane stretched out eating a doughnut longer than anyone ever has in the history of humankind.

I FINALLY dropped her off and went off to work. And that was my manic Monday morning. Happy week to you all!

PS Shutting down my computer for the weekend was great. Really. I'm already planning to do this as much as possible every weekend. You should try it too! You won't believe all the free time you'll have.

weekend update. also, logging off.

Well, internet friends, as I promised several times during reverb10, I am going to attempt a digital sabbatical. This weekend, I do not plan on turning on my computer at all. Just typing that sentence makes me twitchy. I seriously think I'm addicted to my laptop. But the problem is, when I'm staring at this screen, I'm depriving my loved ones of my wonderful company. : )

So this weekend, I'm logging off. But of course I have already found a way to cheat - I will be checking in on FB and Twitter once or twice a day. Baby steps, you know?

No major plans this weekend. Looking out the window at the snow tonight, and may watch the new Wall Street movie. (Side note: I saw Catfish last night. Weird movie, but worth seeing. Some people (you know who you are) think it's a real documentary. I, however, do not.) I need to hit the grocery store and Target, and we're getting together with friends tomorrow night. Oh, and I really need to de-Christmas-fy this house. It's starting to get depressing, and I think my Christmas tree might burst into flames.

So yeah. I know you're totally jealous of my plans. What are you doing this weekend?

say whaaaa?

So there’s this book.

And it looks all cute and sweet, right? And it is. I was reading it to Jane last night, and she’s really enjoying “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Hush, Little Baby” and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" and then we get to this:

Goosey, Goosey, Gander

Whither shall I wander?

Upstairs and downstairs,

And in my lady's chamber.

There I met an old man,

Who wouldn't say his prayers,

I took him by the left leg,

And threw him down the stairs.

Are you effing kidding me with this? I TOOK HIM BY HIS LEFT LEG AND THREW HIM DOWN THE STAIRS?!!? Nighty night, Jane! Sleep night! With visions of being tossed down the stairs by one leg dancing in your head! Sweet dreams! WTF??

So I had to Google that shit. And it turns out, this so-called nursery rhyme has some nefarious undertones, as so many seemingly innocent children’s songs and stories do. This is what the internets told me:

Zealous Protestants & Secret Priest Holes
Goosey, Goosey Gander is a rhyme with historical undertones - an attention grabber for a nursery rhyme which uses alliteration in the lyrics designed to intrigue any child. The 'lady's chamber' was a room that once upon a time a high born lady would have her own chamber, (also referred to as a solar). The origins of the nursery rhyme are believed to date back to the 16th century and refer to necessity for Catholic priests to hide in 'Priest Holes' ( very small secret rooms once found in many great houses in England) to avoid persecution from zealous Protestants who were totally against the old Catholic religion. If caught both the priest and members of any family found harbouring them were executed. The moral in Goosey Goosey Gander's lyrics imply that something unpleasant would surely happen to anyone failing to say their prayers correctly - meaning the Protestant Prayers, said in English as opposed to Catholic prayers which were said in Latin!

So it’s basically – you better get your prayers right, bitch – or you’re going to need crutches! Nice. I think I’ll be skipping over that page next time this book comes out of the bookcase.

And thus concludes NaBloPoMo. I cannot believe I actually posted every day. Yay me! I now get about a 12-hour break to refocus my brain and dive into reverb10 – hope you’ll stick around!

Special thanks to my friend Dwayne, who has managed to, as promised, comment on every post I’ve made this month. Now get your own blog!

I used to be good at this blogging thing....

Hey! Long time, no see! You look great. Have you lost weight?

So. Once again, I am a terrible blogger. I feel like I start off practically every entry with an apology. Besides, who reads this thing anyway? And I’ve been busy. Also sick. And the dog ate my homework.

After we hosted Easter, it was on to a week of birthdays. My mom’s birthday was Tuesday and Greg’s birthday was Wednesday. That’s right, two of the heaviest-hitters in my life have their birthdays one right after the other. This is obviously not fair. My siblings and I planned a birthday “dinner” (not party, because she said she didn’t want a party, but really, it was like a party, in that there was 20 people there and it was a surprise - but we kept it as low-key as possible. Kind of. Not really. I mean, I wore a DRESS.) for my mom’s 70th, but because that wasn’t until Saturday- my mom though she was just going to a restaurant with me and my siblings on Saturday, and instead the dinner/party was at my sister’s house – I also took her out for a small dinner on Tuesday night, her actual birthday. Basically we went out and got hot dogs. What? That’s fancy! (By the way, I realize this paragraph is kind of difficult to read, but I’m too tired to fix it.)

Wednesday was Greg’s birthday, so I took the day off and we went down to the boat. It was over 90 degrees that day, and although I am totally loving the fact that summer came early last week, it was a lot to take, heat-wise. But I’m not complaining, Mother Nature! No way! In fact, all of this nice weather has confirmed it to me that I need to move somewhere where the weather is nice all the time. Because you just naturally feel better, you know?

The rest of the week was taken up by getting ready for my mom’s birthday celebration, so of course by the time I woke up on Sunday morning, I was sick. It’s just a stupid cold but it is making my head incredibly foggy (as you can clearly tell by this post).

And this week? Has been boring. Jane gets up at 4:30 a.m. if not earlier - so I'm not entirely with it. Oh also, we're going through a potty-training regression. So much for my potty-training success cake from Lisa.

So yeah. That’s where I’ve been.

(I've added the pictures to make this post more interesting.)

(But hey, even though my posts are boring, at least I haven't completely quit blogging, like you, you, you, and you. Give me something to read, people!)

a note

OK, I started my picture post about Chicago yesterday, but then Greg got all flippin' mad about our Friendly's experience, so I just saved it as a draft so Greg could vent to the interwebs about his dissatisfaction. So when I just published my Chicago pictorial now, it posted under Greg's entry from yesterday, I assume because I wrote it yesterday. But I am counting it as TODAY'S post.

So there.

let me entertain you

OK, I am starting to draw a blank on what to write about. So help me! Is there anything really exciting you'd like me to blog about? Anything of interest? I mean, not that there could be anything more interesting than that bug I posted a pic of yesterday...but still....I need ideas to carry me through the rest of this month!

control alt delete.

I've got a problem.

The first thing I do in the morning - even before I go out walking at 5:15 a.m. - is check my email. When I come home from work, the first thing I do is turn on my computer and screw around on the internet while I'm getting Jane's dinner and feeding the dogs and checking the mail and cleaning sippy cups and all of the other glamorous chores that comprise my evenings. This is after spending the bulk of the work day in front of the computer. At night I often half-watch TV with my laptop powered up. It's a problem. It's not cool. And I think it's an issue more and more of us have, as we travel around all day with CrackBerries and iPhones and whatever - in virtual contact with thousands of people, at the expense of actually making fully-committed connections with the people in front of us. I'm afraid Jane thinks my hands are glued to the keyboard.

I think it gives all of us a certain degree of attention deficit disorder. We are so overloaded all the time - ALL THE TIME - with messages and information and texts and blah blah blahhhh that just simply sitting there, having a conversation with someone, or watching TV without any distractions, feels like you're not using your time to its maximum potential - because, you know, checking FACEBOOK is so incredibly important. The most amazing thing is how relaxing it feels to just focus on one single activity, instead of juggling three things at the same time, with your eyeballs glued to an ever-present screen.

So I made a promise to myself to quit the computer crap before work and after work, only logging on after Jane goes to bed. I'm really going to try to just watch TV and not half-watch, half-surf. That's not relaxing, and I think on some level, it stresses me out. We don't let our brains calm down. It's making all of us crazy. At least, it's making me crazy.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

ants in the pants

I'm feeling antsy about the blog. Now that Jane is two, I am a bit more hesitant to write about her, and especially to post pictures of her - now that she's less baby and more (godhelpme) kid. I took her for her 2-year checkup today - and she's weighing in at a sturdy 27 lbs, 4 oz, and standing at a tall 34 inches. If it's true that at two years old you are half your adult height, that means she will be 5'8". I have no idea if that's true, but if it is, she will be significantly taller than me. And then how am I supposed to carry her around on my hip?

So if I wean myself off of blogging about Jane - what the hell else am I supposed to talk about? Anything anyone want to know?

I am lazy so I will let these bloggers do my work for me

This made me laugh (courtesy of the lovely Bridget at Yellaphant) (I now want to work the word "mothaflippas" into every sentence) (Alan, you will love this post)

This had me nodding my head like a maniac (courtesy of Jane (cool name, right?) at Baby Squared). Seriously, I feel like she sucked this post out of my brain.

Have a great weekend!

you asked!

So, I am excited to answer the couple of questions from the last post! Because, as you know, I love to ramble on about my life.


Laurie over at Days with Dylan asked why it was I thought Jane might have Down syndrome when I was pregnant with her. Laurie, the reason I thought that was because when I had my triple screen (which is a blood test where they screen your baby's risk for chromosomal issues, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about) it came with with a 1/77 chance that the baby had Down syndrome. That blood test is notoriously wrong, with a lot of false "positives" (this is really the wrong terminology, since it's not really giving you a "positive" result, it's only giving you a risk factor), but still, that was a high risk for someone my age (at 33, which is how old I was way back two years ago, the risk factor is, on average, 1/4oo or something like that). So they scheduled a level 2 ultrasound, which is a more detailed ultrasound than you would typically get, so they could get a better look at the baby's major organs. The ultrasound was scheduled for three weeks after I got the results of the blood test, so during that time (one of the most stressful periods of my life), I did a TON of research on what Down syndrome actually was (I knew, but didn't really KNOW, what it was), what the life of someone with Ds was like in this day and age, what kind of early intervention was recommended and available, etc, etc, etc. See, everyone told me "It will be OK, she will be fine" but here's the thing: I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to know what our lives would be like, and more importantly, what her life would be like if she did have Down syndrome. When I had the ultrasound, everything looked great, but the genetic counselor really recommended that I get an amnio and another ultrasound at 24 weeks to get a better look at her heart. But at that point, I was exhausted. We were going ahead with the pregnancy no matter what, and I was sick of tests. As it turned out, she didn't have Down syndrome, but it was during that last half of my pregnancy that I got hooked on some wonderfully-written blogs by moms who have children with Down syndrome, which at some point led me to yours, Laurie!


Lisa wants to know what I'm reading these days. It's true, Lisa, I plow through books like nobody's business. It's the result of having been an English major in college - you just learn how to read really, really fast. I just finished the book The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer. It's about a group of stay-at-home mothers in New York City who are feeling itchy (for lack of a better word) about where their lives are going. It goes into the politics and drama between stay-at-home moms and working moms (all a very real, and very silly, phenomenon) and the friendships that develop between women who are threaded together by mere fact that they have children the same age. It was really good, although kind of depressing in its honesty.


I am now reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, a book I've been avoiding in the bookstore for a couple of years now. It scared me off with the whole idea of a plot centered around knitting (you know how non-crafty I am) but it finally lured me in, and I'm glad it did. It has very little to do with knitting and more to do about a multi-generational group of friends who gather on Friday nights at a knit shop in New York City. Their lives are diverse and very different from each other's, but their lives link up at their weekly knitting social hour type thingy. (I think it's very good that I don't write the copy for book jackets.) Anyway, I like it so far, but rumor has it there is a very sad part, and I AM NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT.

Have a great weekend! Hope the Easter Bunny visits your house (he better visit mine as I'm counting down the hours of Lent - I need chocolate, stat.)

blogiversary!

Happy Blogiversary to me
Happy Blogiversary to me
Happy THIRD Blogiversary to meeeeee
Happy Blogiversary to me!

So, over the past three years, I have unloaded the most mundane, ridiculous, exciting, boring, sad, happy, monumental moments of my life on to the internets. My blogiversary was actually on April 4 - on that day, in 'ought-six, I was lamenting the humliation of taking the now infamous Jimmy to dog training class. I also wrote this: "Can't wait to see what I'll be like with kids."

To Amanda of 2006 I say - girl, you have no idea.

In honor of this landmark, please let me know in comments if there is any iota of my life that you are just dying to know, and I'll be sure to touch on it in the future.

ye olden tymes

I was realizing today that, in a couple of weeks, this blog will be three years old. So I went back and read a bunch of older entries. And, despite the fact that probably 75% of them had to do with Jimmy's ear infections and anal gland issues, they were much more entertaining than anything I write now. If I managed to have a sense of humor when I was 14.5 months pregnant, why can't I have one now? I also used to write a lot more. Even if it was short and stupid, or just a quick review of a movie or TV show, at least I was prolific. So I'm going to try harder at this blog thingy.

For example! Right now I'm watching the movie W. And to that I say: meh. Not that great.

And tomorrow! Tomorrow I'm going to NYC to see In the Heights with my mom! But you already knew that. But it doesn't mean that I'm not still excited! So you get to hear about it again. And then probably again, after I go see it.

And the weather! Oh my, the weather today was delicious. I went out for a solo power walk and probably even burned four or five calories! I have a final weigh-in next week for a little mini Biggest Loser-style competition I have going with two of my co-workers. And, despite the fact that I have been actually trying, what with the EXERCISE and everything, and yet I think I've lost three pounds, at most. Over three months. This makes me very sad.

But! What doesn't make me sad is that I went to Target today, and found a pair of shorts that I actually like. They are long enough (I hate hate hate shorty-shorts, I don't look good in them, I'm sure I'm too old for them, they are bad bad bad work of the devil bad) and cute and they make me happy. So yay to that.

The end (for now).