-
Here’s the post where I climb up on my soapbox…
Family Dinner Table I’ve been hearing and reading about the “Family Dinner Table” lately, and I’m sure that I’m preaching to the choir here, but come on people what the hell is so hard about sitting down to a meal together? I keep reading reports that talk about how only 58% of families sit down to dinner together 5 or more nights a week, and then I hear that within this 58%, for a large number of these folks, that means they each heat up their own microwave meal and scarf it down, and then go their seperate ways. This is upsetting to me. Do you want to hear the…
-
You want some Yogurt?!?!
One of the blogs I sometimes read is the ever-popular Dooce. Sometimes it’s interesting, sometimes boring, like all blogs. Well, this little post reminded me of when Maya was a baby, and would torture me by trying to get me to get her in and out of her crib over and over and over again. Don’t tell me that babies don’t have that kind of motivation. It was torture. So here’s the scene…she’s upstairs, and I’m downstairs. She’s in her crib, in a loft, so her voice carries VERY well to the downstairs. She replays the things that I say to her, to get me to come up there. “What’s…
-
What are we eating?
Have you ever driven across the country in the summer on 80? What do you see? Corn. Corn corn corn. Well, I read a review in the Chron a few weeks ago about this book, The Omnivore’s Dilemna, and now I’m listening to the author talk about his book on Science Friday….wow, amazing stuff. Did you know that ecoli is caused by feeding cows corn? And that if they stop feeding the cows corn for 5 days before slaughter, and feed them grass, we wouldn’t have to irradiate beef? AMAZING. He says that we are eating SO MUCH CORN that it is starting to cause malnutrition in people who are…
-
Overnight in Reno…
We went on an overnight trip last night to Reno, Nevada. Ted’s friend from High School, Scott, loves making films, and about 5 years ago, he remade an old Twilight Zone episode into a 40 minute feature, “The Shelter“. He was showing the film at a high school (Hug High School…mascot, the Hawks…fun to say, Hug High Hawks) in Reno today, so we thought it might be fun to drive up and see the film, and maybe play in the snow. News flash: No snow in Reno. It was in the 50s. Anyway, we drove up yesterday afternoon, and found our hotel. We stayed at the Siena, which was NOT…
-
Superheroes
In yesterday’s post, which was a meme of six weird things about me, I mentioned that my personal real life hero is Harriet Tubman. I admire her for her grace, her courage, her determination, and her strength of conviction. She was a woman who wanted freedom, and found a way to attain it…once she had tasted the sweet flavor, however, she determined that she must free others, so she went back into harm’s way, so that she might rescue others. I’m assuming you all know of her work. Of how she, along with the help of the underground railroad, spirited slaves out of the south to their freedom in Canada.…
-
Misc…
Just a few things…First, today is the first day of Passover. Happy Passover everyone, and if you celebrate with a Seder, enjoy! We’re only Jewish for Hannukah, so we won’t be celebrating…but we wish everyone who does a lovely evening. Second, today is national D.E.A.R. day. DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read. Maya’s class does this in the mornings when they get to school every day, which is nice. If you have time in your day, sit down today and read for 30 minutes to celebrate. Why leave all the fun for the kids? 🙂 Lastly, I’m getting a lot of SPAM email. Blech. Comes in looking like this:…
-
Because I was tagged…
Six Weird Things I was tagged by Black Belt Mama, so I’ve got a new meme…Six weird things about me. Define weird. Would that be unique, or strange, or both? Hmmm. I don’t know if I can come up with anything interesting enough for you folks, without giving away the store, (or using things that I’ve already used in my ‘100 things’) but I’ll try. 🙂 1. I hate cell phones. I hope I never have to get one. They suck. 2. My absolute hero in real life is Harriet Tubman. But one of my heroes in fiction is Scarlet O’Hara. How’s that for twisted? 3. Everything in life seems…
-
Wanted and Loved
We were watching “Six Feet Under” last night, and boy, that show has gotten pretty depressing. Wait, it has always been depressing. What am I saying? Anyway, David and Keith are looking into adopting or having a surrogate mother help them, so they can be dads. At one point, they go to the house of another gay acquaintance of theirs, who has some other friends over for drinks. They raise a toast to David and Keith’s endeavors. The toast? “May every child be wanted and loved just as they are, because otherwise, life is hell.” Wow. Now, I know this toast is coming from a gay man, and his personal…
-
A Weekend to Myself….Really?
For some reason I joined this group of bloggers called Crazy Hip Blog Mamas…maybe saw them on Wendy’s Site, maybe the other J, not sure…I haven’t checked them out very often, because hey, only so many hours in one day, and I have all of these blogs over to the right there that I MUST read, or I will wither up and die. Well, today for some reason I went over there and looked, to see what’s up. They are positing a topic…What would you do if you had an entire weekend to yourself. So, here goes… An entire weekend…to…myself….hmmmm. I’m thinking I would either: 1. Sit around and eat…
-
Tired of the Rain Yet?
I’m guessing I’m the only person in Northern California who isn’t sick of the rain. This year has set records for the rainiest spring ever, and the most rainy days. Add that to the fact that the snow up in the Sierras is about twice as wet as normal CA snow, and the reservoirs are getting close to capacity, and much of the Central Valley is below sea level, protected by an old and neglected levee system, and this could be a rough summer of flooding for CA, as the snow melts and overtaxes the reservoirs. All of that is bad. Also bad is that people are SICK of grey,…
-
Happy HNT & Working from Home
Today is my first day working at home. The plus? These are my work shoes. Old, comfy slippers! (See that bit of ankle showing there? That’s your HNT!) So far, the best part is the comfy, and that I somehow seem to get a bit more done. The bad part is, it’s right in my bedroom. No other place in condo living for the computers and desk, etc. Sigh. But Maya gets to sleep until 7, we have breakfast together (at work, we would go to our seperate computers and eat at desks…she doing neomail or reading Kim Possible fan fic, me doing work email, etc.), we walk the dog…
-
Happy HNT & Working from Home
Today is my first day working at home. The plus? These are my work shoes. Old, comfy slippers! (See that bit of ankle showing there? That’s your HNT!) So far, the best part is the comfy, and that I somehow seem to get a bit more done. The bad part is, it’s right in my bedroom. No other place in condo living for the computers and desk, etc. Sigh. But Maya gets to sleep until 7, we have breakfast together (at work, we would go to our seperate computers and eat at desks…she doing neomail or reading Kim Possible fan fic, me doing work email, etc.), we walk the dog…
-
Talking ’bout TV….
Yesterday, among all of the challanges of getting my home office set up, I remembered that it was Wednesday, LOST night. It was just about 8:00, so I checked Yahoo TV to see if it was a new episode, or if they were pulling a LOST on us. Yahoo said they’re pulling a LOST, and it was some other show. Two episodes of some sitcom I had never heard of. So I got pissed about how much they suck, and poured a glass of wine, and we sat down to watch some mighty fine TV anyway. Did any of you watch Dead Like Me when it was on? WOW, what…
-
Old Enough?
One of the comments on my post about boredom was that the person was surprised that I didn’t feel Maya was old enough to be left alone…which got me thinking, “How old is old enough”? I’m not stupid like these people, who left their kids for the weekend while they go to Vegas. But I DO trust my daughter, and since there’s no younger sibling around for her to worry about, when would be old enough? I know when I was her age, I was home alone, sort of, because my mom worked and my brother was there. He was 12 to my 10, so I would think that’s a…
-
Quote of the Day…
I’m cleaning off my desk at work, because soon I’ll be working from home, and I have to figure out what to keep here, and what to take with me. I came across this quote that I found somewhere once…maybe Center for a New American Dream? I’m not sure. Anyway, I’m thinking you’ll like it. I do. “Money can never buy you love or happiness. You cannot go into a store and pay a person to be your friend. I mean, you could, but I would rather meet them under a big apple tree.” – Rebekah McConnell, 11 years, Meridian, ID. I love the optimism of it, yet the knowledge…