Happy New Year:-)

2011 seems to have escaped us here, huh? That was fast...

Tinkerbelle and I have had a fun visit:-) We have done a lot of bumming around, some shopping, some visiting of touristy things that relate to some school work she just finished (Revolutionary War things), and some playing with babies. She is really growing up fast, and is definitely much more of a teenager and less of a kid every day. It is still interesting to see how differently she deals with things than Munchkin did at her age...Tinkerbelle is really much more of a normal kid, which reminds me of how unusual Munchkin is all the time.

Speaking of...sailing throughout the Caribbean all week and loving it...she suffers, doesn't she?

Nothing too exciting for New Year's. Babysitters are hard to come by, so we are going to a friend's place with the kids, and will probably be home by about 9:00 to get them into bed. I may go out after that to meet Smoking Hot Roommate for the rest of the night, and may or may not bring Tinkerbelle with me. Also, The Boy may or may not go out which means that I would be staying in...remains to be seen. Since we will both be within a couple of blocks, we could leave Tinkerbelle home with the sleeping babies if we both wanted to go out...we'll see.

And then back to work on Tuesday...

Memo: Toddlers will overeat if you let them

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas (or long weekend, if you are not Christmas-folk)! Despite the girls being sick all weekend, mine was relatively relaxing and wonderfully rewarding.

Friday was Big Sis' birthday, so we all went out for dinner (Frenchie went home in the afternoon, but Munchkin doesn't really get too mopey when that happens anymore)...did you know that the easiest way to eat ziti without a fork is to just stick your baby thumb into the little tube? Well, MA figured that out pretty quickly...and her sister followed suit. Unfortunately, something didn't sit well with LK, and she woke up at about 2:30 screaming bloody murder, and eventually threw up before she fell back to sleep.

We went to The Boy's parents' house on Christmas Eve...his brother was in town for the holiday with his wife and kids, and some other aunts, uncles and cousins were around, too. The girls ate varying (but large) amounts of cocktail shrimp, broccoli and cheese quiche, roast beef, potatoes, salmon, vegetables, bread, cheesecake, Boston cream pie, and cookies. What can I say, they are not picky eaters...

LK woke up again, in some kind of intense agony. I am not sure if her tummy hurt (hey, AM, maybe you shouldn't feed her so much!!!) or if she had a nightmare or what, but she was completely inconsolable again for a little while. And that, of course, wakes MA up, who went back to sleep, but not before she had to find out what was wrong...which means one of us takes one each and lays down with her in different rooms until they go back to sleep.

On Christmas Day we went to Big Sis's house with a bunch of the pretend family for a pretty low-key day. But before that, she and Smoking Hot Roommate came over for breakfast and so that Munchkin could open all of her stuff.  On the surface, this was for the purpose of having some quiet time to ourselves without too many other people around, but the real reason was to contrive of just the right way to give her the big present. SHR picked it up on Christmas Eve, and I let her know after we were home so she would drive it over and put it in the garage so that Munchkin wouldn't see it when we got back.

So her very last gift on Christmas as a very small box that had only the keys in it. She is pretty bright, so she figured it out quickly;-) We went down to see it, at which point she cried a little bit, which made the rest of us cry a little, and...oh, shut up...I cry a lot, get over it!!! We all took turns, and it really is just about the best present a 16 year old girl could get!

Continuing with the theme of the weekend, the girls ate an enormous about of lasagna, meatballs, eggplant parm and everything else they saw on Christmas Day...and LK woke up again screaming. This time, she went back to sleep pretty quickly, but MA was really fussy about going back down, and then at about 3:30, she emptied her whole little baby belly out in one foul-smelling wave of half-digested lasagna (too much?). Poor girl made herself and her father a complete mess:-)

They were both a little bit under the weather yesterday...little colds and a lot of excitement over the last few days, so we laid pretty low. Munchkin was out most of the day showing off her new toy to her friends (and learning that having a car with a stick means never having to let any of them drive it:-P) but was home before dark, per the first rule I have given her!

And that, I guess, was Christmas! Hope yours was as much fun as mine (save for the sick babies).

Merry Christmas!!!

In the hubbub of the next few days, I doubt I will take the time to blog, so I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry, safe and relaxing holiday. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then enjoy whatever year-end holidays you do observe, and hopefully take the time off to be with family, friends and loved ones.

And of course, a very Happy Birthday to my very favorite pretend older sibling, Big Sis. I don't get to refer to you as a Christmas present like your father does, but you are certainly one of the great blessings in my life, and I appreciate knowing you just about every day:-) See you at dinner tonight!

Shouldn't I be Christmas Shopping?

So, I have been amazed at the response I got from my last post...largely because it was all by email! Usually, in blog land, people are willing to share things with the masses, and in the past when I have invited people to share their thoughts on touchy issues, I get more comments than I do emails. This one, however, about the post-baby sex lives of couples, has touched on some very deep feelings, all of which are private.

Turns out that this is more of a problem than I thought, and that it affects almost everyone in degrees that vary from minor irritation to marriage-threatening. I got one very heartfelt response from a guy (most of my readers are women, but boys are always welcome:-)) who talked about the helplessness he felt in trying to convince his wife that she was still desirable...in the end, what she really needed was for him to carve out time for her to go to the gym...whether or not she actually lost any weight, it made her feel better. Seems really simple, but it took a lot to get to that point.

Anyway, really interesting...and I guess the message is that it seems to affect almost everyone, but it also seems really, really hard to talk about, either with each other or with anyone else.

And now...awkward transition time...who has read The Hunger Games? I have lost much of the last two days to it, and am probably borderline obsessed...

More on previous subjects

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Break!!!

Raise your hand if you are on a complete break until after the New Year!!! That's right...I'm done with school, and not starting work again until after New Year's, which gives me roughly two weeks to do nothing at all!!! Of course, those two weeks are filled with Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, a visit from sister #1's boyfriend and then a visit from sister #2...oh, and Christmas itself...so maybe "break" is the wrong word...

After her boyfriend leaves, and before she leaves for the Carribean for her annual winter getaway (really, she has a tough life, eh?) she is getting a super-awesome Christmas present from her pretend sisters. I won't give away the secret, but it is something she has desperately wanted for a while, and which will easily qualify as "best Christmas present ever". If you can't figure it out from that...

Totally random change of subject...I was out with a couple of friends the other night, both of whom have little kids, a couple months older than mine. They were both, in very different ways, lamenting the lack of/boringess/disinterested state of their sex lives. And both agreed that it didn't actually happen right after the babies were born. Things were still pretty good until closer to a year before it started to suffer.

I didn't really have an awful lot to offer...clearly, my sex life is less interesting than it was a couple of years ago...but I don't really have many complaints (The Boy just loves when I write this stuff! His sister even more so:-) Hi guys!). It is still healthy and spontaneous and he still makes me feel very desireable often:-)

So, I guess I am looking for input from others, either who are in that same stage, or remember it from some time ago. More specifically, friend #1 was complaining because she just never doesn't have much sex anymore, and friend #2 was complaining because she is suddenly very self-conscious that the sex is really boring and that neither she nor her husband still finds it even the least bit interesting. The rest of the details are not that important.

Thoughts? You can email them if you want to keep them private...

Lay off...I am in the middle of finals, you are lucky I post anything...

It occurs to me that those pigs would be better served if they relied less on TNT as an important piece of structural support.

Rested...for now

Mexico was wonderful...just the right length of time with just the right group of people. It was a pretty low-key weekend with too much tequila and entirely too much proximity to a nude resort;-) But the wedding was beautiful, the weather was great (breezy but warm and sunny!), we did some snorkeling, made some new friends and had a wonderful time. I was excited to see the girls when we got home, and got a gigantic pair of hugs that made my heart feel very warm;-)

Smoking Hot Roommate survived, and even reports that she had a lot of fun. She is, however, not remotely more interested in having children, which is to be expected, I suppose:-) But the girls were good for her, they got out a couple of times because the weather was nice and walkable, and she and Munchkin both report that the girls didn't have any "we miss Mommy and Daddy" meltdowns. Win-win!

And now, like a giant punch in the face, the Christmas season is here. Which means a million parties, and gifts and eating and suddenly there is no time to do any of it and oh, by the way, finals... Frenchie is coming to visit the week before Christmas, which will be fun, but is just one more thing to prepare for. Munchkin is taking a day off from school on Friday, and the two of us are going to try and do as much shopping as possible...it should be easier than trying to get it all done on a weekend day. Then we are going Christmas Tree hunting sometime this weekend, and will hopefully get the tree decorated on Sunday. And as much as I think it will be a chore, I do love having the lights and decorations up:-)

I should also come up with some kind of a manageable Christmas list, too. I feel like I go through this every year...I never know what to tell people I want or need. I always end up loving whatever people buy me, but I feel kind of guilty not giving and guidance because I know how frustrating it is to try and think of things. Any ideas...? Something really interesting that I haven't thought of? Anyone?

Now traditions and vacations

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone:-) As I have covered in the past, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, largely because of the complete lack of pretense, pressure and stress. No gifts, no costumes, no need to feel like you need a big outing...just eating and hanging out with loved ones.

We mixed it up a little bit this year, and started some new traditions, I think. The Boy, Munchkin, the girls and I went up to his parents house on Thursday for dinner with most of his family. His older brother was with his in-laws in New York, but older sister, Twin Sister, spouses and children were all there, along with some Aunts and Uncles and cousins. The girls had a constant stream of people to fawn over them and entertain them, which made for a relaxing afternoon for me:-)

While we were up there, Smoking Hot Roommate, Big Sis and their related attachments were off with their respective in-laws, and Papa Bear was at his brother's house, too. That makes the first Thanksgiving since I have moved here that we weren't all together...and SHR and Big Sis say it is the first Thanksgiving ever that they weren't together, even including the time Big Sis spent in London.

However, in an effort to ease the frantic-ness of trying to fit everyone's family's in, we decided that we would have our own Thanksgiving on Saturday, and it was spectacular! The whole crew spent the day at Big Sis's (her neighbor the Senator wasn't home...apparantly he was still in Washington doing nothing...yea, you heard me!) in a quasi-organized, very casual event. Since everyone was a little turkey-ed out, we ate steak and lobsters because...well, why not? And we also made pie, cookies and some other stuff as we went along. It was a little messy:-) But, it just may be my new favorite tradition!

And now...guess who is going to Mexico in two days? One of The Boy's friends is getting married, so a bunch of us are headed down for the wedding. We leave early Thursday and get back Sunday, and it should be a whole lot of fun. Smoking Hot Roommate is on her first ever babysitting duty (and will likely end up even less ready for kids than she is now). She and the Rocket Scientist are staying at our place for the four days, and Munchkin will be around to make sure no one gets hurt;-) Cross your fingers!!!

Gabby Giffords

I have seen a couple of notes across the Interwebs this week about the Gabby Gifford interview with Diane Sawyer the other night...did anyone see it? It was pretty riveting on a number of levels.

It was inspirational in a lot of ways, and remarkable to see her progress from just after her shooting. And the relationship between her and her husband (and astronaut, but not Mike Dexter) is heartwarming. I found myself very much rooting fer her every accomplishment.

But I have an uncomfortable question that I am probably a bitch for asking...why is she still in Congress? And this applies to all sorts of people less capable than her...Strom Thurmond held on long past the point where he was remotely intellectually capable, for example. Robert Byrd was another. Do we think so poorly of the role of our legislators that we want them to continue serving even when they a) can't appear to make a vote, or b) are so mentally incompetent as to not understand even the slightest bit of what they are voting on, or c) absolutely incapable of pro-actively legislating anything in their constituents interests.

I know that is probably not a popular opinion, but someone has to say it...

Blogging to remind you thatI blog

Honestly, if I don't write something soon, I will lose the distinction of being a blogger. I would blame it on having little to write about, but that never stopped me in the early years of blogging!

So let's see, The Boy had a college friend in to visit for the weekend, which was nice. It is not a friend that I know terribly well, but he is really easy company and I have always liked him. They were kind of in and out, and I was largely on baby girl duty...although they did watch the girls for much of Sunday while Munchkin and I did some shopping and had lunch. They took them out for a walk, which sounds an awful lot like a scene out of an unwritten sitcom called "two gay Dads":-)

I desperately want to go someplace warm this winter. I don't want to sound too much like a spoiled Princess, but I really missed that last winter, and the thought of going through this winter without getting away somewhere is not appealing. Seeing as it is 60 degrees outside, I shouldn't be this concerned yet, but I am. So, to Smoking Hot Roommate, Big Sis and The Boy...how are we feeling about March? I suppose we could go in February and leave Munchkin home, but I doubt we would every hear the end of it;-)

Moving on...I can't even bring myself to write about politics because they all disgust me so much. The "Super Committee" will fail next week, and then Congress will go back on their promise to institute mandatory spending cuts and we will be right back where we were three months ago. In other words, our current leaders have once again taken the opportunity to push their own mistakes onto those of us who may one day have to actually pay for them. Thanks, guys.

More and more I am convinced that the President is in completely over his head and is way out of his depth. Everyone kind of assumes that he is brilliant, but I am not entirely sure why we always thought that...he has never done much (beyond get elected, which is at least one sign of intelligence) to actually prove it. Unfortunately, there is a vast array of flotsam and jetsam lobbying to run against him that looks even worse. I think John Huntsman is probably the most interesting of the Republicans, but he has virtually no chance of making a dent... He is much too reasonable to win a primary...

Hard to get excited about an election season with this to look forward to (although you all know I will be excited by the time it comes around;-))

Some baby stuff

I am way behind, but the girls' 18 month doctor's appointment was last week, and I never wrote about it. Overall, it went well...they are perfectly healthy and hitting all of their milestones (someday I will write a lot about the idea of "milestones") and doing all the things that the doctor wants them to do. Or, more specifically the nurse, since they didn't see the doctor at this appointment.

They had a mega-fit when they got examnined and measured, but they handled the shots fine and were overall pretty well-behaved. Also, cleared to eat nuts and shellfish (shellfish? oops...they have been eating that for a while already...my bad.) I am irrationally scared to give them peanut butter at home, and day care won't even let you bring it into the building, so I am not totally sure how we will handle that;-) More Reese's for me, I guess!!!

They are both the exact same height...33.75 inches, which makes them very tall. Clearly, that doesn't come from me;-) It also means that if they stood on each other's heads they would be about 5'7", which is much, much taller than me... MA weighs 26 pounds, 15 ounces, and LK is exactly one pound lighter, which is funny because she seems much, much thinner. That makes them both a little on the slender side, but basically right where they should be (there is a separate height/weight chart that says they are about average weights for their height...LK is a little smaller.)

And then they hightailed it out of there as fast as they could...If you have never seen a baby run, you should, it is hilarious! They were mostly in good spirits, but had lost any interest in being at the doctor's office by the time they were done...hungry, tired and sick of being poked and prodded!

Not sure I have ever mentioned, but they are both night owls, especially LK. They never fall asleep before 8:30 (which could be because they would miss the Pajanimals) and LK is very often up past 9:30. MA gets grumpy when she is tired, but LK is bright and chipper right up until she falls over and goes to sleep... And they are almost never awake before 7:00 am, and if MA doesn't wake her up, LK will usually sleep until 8:00 or so if we let her. And then she becomes a grumpy, waking-up teenager;-)

Next up...big girls beds. Not totally sure when to convert their cribs, but I feel like we are getting pretty close. Anyone have any insight?

Spooky thoughts...

Very poorly titled post, as none of these thoughts are really spooky. But it is Halloween, and in lieu of a super slutty costume, you get a not-very-Halloween-themed post.

I am a terrible mother, at least if "not buying Halloween costumes for the girls" qualifies. I sort of maybe kind of intended to, but in the end they don't care, they won't keep it on, and I didn't even get motivated enough. They can hate me when they are older;-)

The Boy got back safe and sound on Friday, and I survived my entire week alone with the girls:-) It was much less stressful than I had been anticipating, too, which is obviously good news. And yes, I should probably not be as worried about having them all to myself as I am...but whatever. The Boy is a better parent than me, I am comofortable with that.

OK...snow? What the Fuck? There are places in the state that are still without power two days after an OCTOBER SNOWSTORM! Three weeks ago it was 80 degrees, and the leaves haven't really even changed colors yet. But Mother Nature sees no problem in rolling in the freezing weather and a freaking blizzard. Thankfully (for me) there was little snow in the city, but people to the west and north have tons of damage and massive power outages.

I'm seriously hoping that this in not a harbinger of a very, very tough winter...

More odds and ends

A couple of things (I feel like I have skipped around a lot lately...but bear with me).

First of all, it looks like Tinkerbelle is going to come for Thanksgiving, which is awesome! I haven't seen her in what seems like forever. She was supposed to come sometime this fall, but it never worked out so we are way overdue for a visit. In talking with her and her Mom about it, it has made me realize that I miss her terribly and she is growing up so fast and I feel like I miss so much by being this far away. She is gonna be a teenager in four months, and I am not going to be taller than her for much longer!

In more visiting news, Munchkin is going to bring Frenchie to Chicago in December when he comes to visit. I don't really know how I feel about this...on the one hand, her brother and sister-in-law should obviously get to know him a little bit, and I know she is dying to show him off to all the cousins and aunts and uncles and whatnot. But, I still don't really trust them all, and frankly they can be a little tough to deal with. I am not sure that Munchkin totally appreciates the impression that they can all make on someone who is maybe not totally expecting them. I may actually suggest that they stay with BFFg and her husband while they are there since it will give them more of a break from the family. Trust me, they can be a lot to handle.

On a similar note, Munchkin was talking to her brother tonight and had him on speaker. I am not sure whether or not he knew I was in the room, but they were discussing something that caused him to say "You are really lucky to have your sister. I know you appreciate that, but I hope you tell her that all the time." I just about spit out my dinner, because that is just about the least expected compliment I have ever received. It is possible that he was medicated, because all of the other explanations are not plausible...

And now it is super late and I am tired;-) Good night!

I feel like most girls don't tell their mothers that they want to dress like a slut

I will keep you posted on my cooking progress...lots of good ideas, most of which I probably could have figured out on my own, but sometimes I need to be beaten over the head with things;-) Mostly I think I need to plan a little better and buy some stuff that I don't usually buy and see where it takes me.

On to other subjects...let me recap a little conversation that I had with Munchkin earlier tonight...

Munchkin: I need to go through your clothes.
Me: Sure. What are you looking for?
Munchkin: I need a Halloween costume
Me: Not sure what I have, but go nuts.
Munchkin: Oh, I just want something really small and slutty.

Yea...so that led to a whole other conversation, and frankly one that I have had a couple of times lately. Call me an old prude, but I don't like her dressing for the express purpose of looking "slutty", even if it is for Halloween.

I should digress for a moment and disclose a couple of things. First of all, I know all about doing that...and may or may not have lobbied Smoking Hot Roommate to wear a body-paint only costume for Halloween on a couple of occasions (which she was too modest to agree to). Second, I recognize that she remains much better about this than some of her friends, who are at constant war with their parents over the amount of cleavage, thigh and stomach that they show on a regular basis. And third, I take comfort in knowing that whatever she wears out of the house will stay on her all night;-). It may not cover much, but at least whatever is covered will stay covered;-) (Yes, there are obvious advantages to the foreign boyfriend) Again,  I like not having to worry about the things that some of her friends parents do.

That said, I would rather she dress as a nun;-) But as usual, we managed to find a compromise Cowgirl outfit that doesn't show too much for my taste, but qualifies as sexy enough in her book. As long as she wears pigtails, I will sign off on almost anything!!! I am not sure that she totally appreciates the ridiculous body that she has, but she is learning...and seems to get that she doesn't have to display everything she has to look really, really good.

Moving right along again...The Boy is away for the whole week at a training course, which means I have the girls all to myself. OK, to myself and Munchkin. This is much easier than it was even a couple of months ago...they still need a lot of attention, but it is not quite as minute-to-minute busy as it used to be. When they eat, I can get the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes done while they feed themselves and just sort of hang out. And bath time is easy, too...just fill the tub and plop them in there and then hang out and make sure they don't drown;-)

I am sure by Friday I will be totally exhausted, but so far we have had a lot of fun! Big Sis is coming over with her little boy, and Smoking Hot Roommate is going to come over and stay over with us, too...the girls LOVE their Aunt SHR.

I guess that's all for now...bed time is calling!

I want to be a better cook!

I find myself cooking a lot lately...which is largely a function of not being nearly as busy as I have been in times past. Most days I can pretty easily get back from school by 4:30, which gives me time to myself before I have to get the girls at school. If Munchkin has a soccer game, I try and go to that, and otherwise I just enjoy the peace and quiet.

So...cooking. I really like to cook. And I am not bad at it. I have a pretty good idea of how long stuff takes, what the best way is to cook it, and some sort of basic seasoning combinations that work. But, frankly, I am kind of limited. I may have a pretty good grasp on those skills that I have, but the skills are at a pretty basic level.

I guess I am not quite sure where to go from here. I don't think I want to go as far as to take a cooking class (although I suppose I could) just because I don't know how long I will have the free time to do it, and don't ever want to feel like it is a chore to go. I am not great with cook books, although I own some and tend to learn things when I use them...I am just not organzied to pick something, then shop for it, then cook it. I tend to shop, then cook things that match what I have in the kitchen. I am totally sick of the "food celebrity" culture (except I love Top Chef:-)), so I can't really watch the Food Network, either.

Side note...anyone seen the South Park episode about that? The shake weight portion was absolutely hilarious, but I loved the Food Network part, too...

Yea, I guess that part of this are my own hang-ups...I sort of seem unwilling to do the obvious, now that I go back and read that. But still, I will take any suggestions that anyone has...

Power to the People!

It seems that protest fever has caught on, and the students at Munchkin's School are up in arms and totally outraged over...changes to the dress code!!! Setting aside the light-heartedness of the topic, it is really sort of funny and kinda neat to see the first shreds of activism. Someday they will all fight for causes that matter, but for now it is nice to see them rally around something they care about and take action, knowing and accepting the consequences of their actions.

That said, I have my limits;-) Yesterday, in protest, they all decided that they would wear things that met the dress code but that were clearly outside of the spirit of it. Munchkin decided that she would wear things that she wore like two years ago, and that are therefore way too small. That all seemed fine and good, until she got herself dressed for school in a skirt that was three inches too short and a shirt that was...um..."not equipped to handle her chest"...

The obvious problem is that she is blessed with a figure you would normall see on an underwear model, and the clothes therefore made her look entirely too good... They were just a little bit too provocative for this court-appointed-guardian to send her out of the house in;-). It was, however, pretty funny to see a couple of her guy friends wearing pants that fell four inches short of their shoes...

The protest continues to day, and I will let you know how the great revolution turns out.

In other news, MK hurt her knee yesterday, and it was sort of adorable and sad:-) She was limping and pointing at her knee and whining. Have you ever seen a baby limp? I mean, they walk like they are drunk all the time anyway... What she needed was hugs and kisses from her Mommy and a good nights sleep to make everything better.

Not totally sure what happens when we get past the stage where Mommy's hugs and kisses are a cure all. I am going to enjoy it while it lasts:-)

Ranting

I took a walk by the Occupation the other night...it was warm out, and I kind of wanted to see what the big deal was (and then 140 people got arrested later that night....probably a coincidence.) Here's the thing...it smells awful, like stale urine. I am all for protesting and making a statement, but I don't see where ignoring basic hygene adds to the power of the message. Anyway, at some point it is probably a health hazard and they are all gonna get kicked out, but for now it seemed like kind of a hippie-groovy good time.

It also didn't really clear up my confusion about exactly what the are protesting...in fact, I think they specifically maybe aren't protesting, but rather are just venting some very deep frustrations. That said, some of them are just being stupid. One guy had a sign that said "not leaving until someone gives me a job". Far be it for me to point out that I got my current job through good old nepotism (sort of), but I have had plenty of jobs in my life, and every single one of them involved actually showing up somewhere and asking the hiring manager specifically to have that job. Some others had anti-war signs, which is all fine and good but seemed sort of out of step with the rest of the demonstration.

Then there were a whole bunch of people whose major gripe seemed to be that they have student loans. I get that...I have student loans, and I know loads of people that do, and virtually none of them really understood what they were signing on for when they took out those loans. It would be one thing if we taught kids how to evaluate the cost of debt in high school, but American 18 year olds are just completely ill-equipped to compare their potential earnings to their very real debt. I guess my problem with that is...how is that the fault of "Wall Street"? Or, to name their other favorite target, the dreaded "1%"?

Doesn't the fault lie with the institutions that you paid all of that tuition to? Or with the State Legislatures that consistently cut funding to higher education in order to lavish yet more absurd entitlements onto seniors (among others)? Or to the Federal agencies that have made so much subsidized money available that they have driven the cost of tuition up in a seemingly never-ending spiral?

I see lots of complaints about corporations being greedy (duh!) and "not paying their fair share". But what about Universities who hoard money and land, pay lavish salaries to useless professors and collect massive tax-free money from thir alumni? How is Harvard considered a non-profit when they have somehow managed to accumulate a $32 billion endowment? Pretty remarkable to never earn a profit but somehow have financial assets larger than maybe half a dozen US Corporations...

OK, I am rambling. But, seriously, if the Occupiers are reading this...let's focus our anger!!!

You may have infected millions of natives, but I will still take your day off

Very much looking forward to the long weekend! The weather is supposed to be really nice, and I have very little of note planned. I will probably go to Munchkin's soccer game this afternoon, and The Boy and I talked about maybe going "pumpkin hunting" tomorrow (which is just picking out pumpkins, but I like the terminology better:-)).

Or we could leave that until Sunday if the mood strikes...there are no rules here!

So, last night was chicken fingers with Smoking Hot Roommate and Munchkin, and we were celebrating. "Celebrating what?", you ask...why, how about the successful completion her Munchkin's driver's test... That's right, my little baby sister is now a licensed driver, God help us all. One downside of living where we do is that she won't really get to drive very much. She will likely find an excuse to go and visit a friend or two who live out of town this weekend, but there isn't much else that she would do that involves driving.

The upside, of course, would be living close enough to borrow Big Sis' car, which she is specifically NOT allowed to do. And which I probably have little actual say in.

So, I find myself feeling very peaceful lately. I think because maybe I haven't been super busy, the girls are at a really fun age, Munchkin is doing awesome and the weather has been nice (mostly). Of course, I am likely to have something major happen just when I like the steady, but for now I feel like I am in a really good place and fully enjoying the fall. Now, I should just maybe drink more;-)

Happy long weekend, everyone!

If I only write twice a month, am I really a blogger?

So now that I have said almost nothing in months, it seems right time that I do some blogging, eh? We'll see how this goes...

First of all, I am not quitting blogging, and I have little desire to do anything of the sort. I was just (two posts and two weeks ago) lamenting the difficulties of maintaining a stream of content. I guess I am just going through a funk while trying to determine the appropriate subject matter going forward. But I enjoy it too much and have gotten way too much out of it over the years to want to fold up. I am not kidding about already having written the last post, though...some day...

What's new? Well, school is moving along, and not working at all has made it much easier. I have been able to get to just about all of Munchkin's soccer games, and am enjoying seeing the girls more than I did before. I sort of miss working, but I am thinking of it more as an extended vacation and enjoying the time away. I will definitely be excited to go back after the New Year...

We are going to a wedding in Mexico in December which I am looking forward to. That means that someone gets to be in charge of the girls for four straight days...yikes!...but I think it will be fine. We have finally gotten them totally and completely sleeping in their cribs all night every night without every waking up, which is a huge help. They kept getting better and then regressing and it was always way too easy to just wake up and give them a bottle or bring them into bed rather than let them cry for two hours, but we finally just gave in and dealt with it for two days and now all is better. MA picked it up basically in one night, and LK took two...not bad at all.

Changing subjects..."Occupy Wall Street"? What the F is this all about? I guess I get the idea of protesting against the influence of money on politics, but why aren't these people protesting the Politicians who sold themselves? Or, better yet, working to fire them, since they all have that power? And truthfully, I get the impression that they don't really have a whole lot of direction...or, you know, goals, objectives, demands, whatever. I really can't tell what it is that they want. They sure did build themselves a (smaller than they are getting media credit for) tent village over by South Station, though...and I can't even begin to guess how wonderful that will smell in a week...

Anyway...I am guessing that I don't have any readers who are currently occupying (fill in the blank city here), but if I do, give a shout and let us all know exactly what the dilly is.

I am

I am a girl.
I am a woman.
I am a sister.
     And a sister-in-law.
          And a step-sister.
               And a pretend sister.
I am a niece.
I am an aunt.
I am a Bostonian.
But still a Chicagoan and maybe just a little bit of a Phoenician.
I am a mother.
I am a student.
I am a volunteer.
I am a worker.
I am a friend.
I am a voter.
I am an earner.
I am a saver.
I am a court-appointed guardian.
I am a former subject of the State.
I am a wife.
I am short.
I am blond.
     But you wouldn't know it.
I am a college graduate.
I am proud.
I am a fighter.
     And a lover.
          And a survivor.
I am a beach bum.
I am a daughter.
     But not to my parents.
I am not the person you think I am.
I am getting closer to being the person I want to be.
I am a composite of the people I love.
     But still myself.
I am happenstance, I am fortune.
I am effort, and I am talent.
I am curious.
I am confident.
I am stubborn.
I am friendly.
I am a listener.
I am a cynic and an optimist.
     I think those can co-exist.
I sympathize but I don't pity.
I think.

I love.
I care.
I cry.

And I blog. 1,000 times.

This is 999 posts, which means that whatever I write next will be the 1,000th (math lesson, eh?). That is kind of a lot of pressure, especially for someone who has struggled a lot recently to blog at all, let alone write anything worthwhile. I sort of feel like I have been wasting Internet space for a while now, and now I am faced with the desire to write something important and deep and reflective and full of meaning to commemorate the occasion.

But really, I am having trouble finding time or desire to blog lately, and that may be a sign in itself. I think of all the things that this blog has meant to me, and all of the things that I (used to?) love about it...and I am not sure that I still feel the same way. This stands as a (somewhat scrubbed) account of a very important part of my life, recounting a whole lot of day-to-day activity, a whole lot of thoughts and feelings and a whole lot of me that would probably be lost if I hadn't written it down. Do I risk losing those things going forward because I don't write them anymore?

I actively chose not to make this into a "baby" blog, and to leave out the minor details about what they ate and how long they slept for and how many times I changed their diapers. Largely, I did that because no one cares. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot else to write about...that takes up all of my time. And beyond worrying whether others care, maybe I have to ask myself whether I care? I don't know the answer to that...right now I don't, but will I someday regret not having a day-to-day account of their first years? I don't have an answer to that.

Normally, people give advice like "write about whatever you want," or "write about whatever you are thinking." If I am being totally honest with you, I don't know what I want to write about, and I don't really care to document what I am thinking. I may change my mind later, but I don't really care to go back and re-read forty straight posts about how I can't get them to sleep all night in their cribs.

I also have a confession to make...I have decided how I am going to "end" this blog. That doesn't mean I am thinking strongly about actually doing it, or that I have any desire to, but I have already written the last post. While I don't know when I may decide to post it, should I be worried that I have even thought about it? I dunno.

But I do know that I feel like I owe you a doozy of a post next, and I am not feeling terribly confident that I am up to it.

Is it bad of me...

I think that I might like Sarah Palin just a tiny bit more if it turns out that she was banging basketball players in her younger years...

Baby Car Sickness

So, I think that LK gets car sick. Sort of weird for a baby, but we are running out of other explanations. The good news is that she spends very little time in the car when she isn't asleep...but we still have to figure out whether this is the case or not.

On a couple of occasions in the last few weeks one of us has had her in the car to drive some place or another, and she seems to get sort of seasick looking and ends up throwing up a lot. It makes me very sad:-( It definitely is worse if she hasn't eaten anything, and some Goldfish and crackers help...but she still seems to get some motion sickness. Again, fortunately, she isn't in the car very much at all.

Totally unrelated note, chicken fingers tomorrow night! I am extremely happy that Munchkin is not too old for this;-) I asked her yesterday, a little hesitantly, if she was still up for it. Given her incredibly busy schedule and her increasing level of overall coolness, I was worried that maybe she wouldn't want to go any more. But, she seemed almost offended that I would even ask:-).

I definitely sort of lost track of her a bit last fall by over-extending myself, and this is one of the things that I plan on doing to make sure that doesn't happen again. The babies take up an awful lot of time and effort, and she is pretty good on her own...but I like to think that she still needs me at least a little bit:-). So The Boy gets a date with his girls every Thursday and I get a date with mine!

Maybe we can talk about the fact that she can get her driver's license in three weeks!!! Oy!!!

Oh yea...blog

Yeah, so I kinda disappeared for a week there, huh? Sorry about that (humor me...pretend you noticed).

Anyway, nothing fantastic to report, I just got really busy with the first week of school, getting into a new routine, etc. That was moderately complicated by The Boy being away for a couple of days at a conference. Good news is that we should be past all of that nonsense, and hopefully settled into something of a routine for the next couple of months. So you have that to look forward to;-)

And...um...with that, I have nothing to say right now. But hopefully I will later on!

How about a baby update?

Holy shit, where did the summer go? I guess maybe I go through this exercise every year around this time...but I never seem to follow through on my vows to slow down and enjoy summer. Actually, that sounds bad...I definitely enjoyed the summer, I just wish it lasted longer:-) And I wish that Tinkerbelle had come to visit (never wrote about that, but the timing never worked..she is coming out soon, though!)

But, alas, this will be the last weekend of the summer. The beach house is busy for weddings each of the next three weekends, and beyond that it gets less and less likely that we will make it down. If there is a weather forecast calling for exceptionally warm days in late September or October then we sometimes make the trip, but that is pretty unlikely as the season wears on. And the end of the beach season always makes me sad...that house is my most favorite place, and this now represents the moment when getting back to it is the furthest away! A little fatalist of me, I suppose...

I feel like I haven't given you an update on the girls lately...but they are doing awesome. MA uses all kinds of words (not always correctly, but she tries to say them:-)). She is really good at Mama and Daddy, and up and down, and water and bottle. Those ones she actually uses right...some others, like Elmo and purple, she says but doesn't really use them right. If you ask her to show you her belly button she will lift her shirt, point to it and say "button".

LK doesn't talk as much, but I think she understands words better (or she is just more obedient;-)). And they teach them some sign language at school, and she is really good at "please", and OK at "thank you". She also has a full awareness of her belly button, along with mine and The Boy's. She loves to bark at dogs, not sure what that is all about...

They are great eaters...they will eat anything we give them. I still give them the vegetable purees, because I know that once they have eaten them, I don't have to worry about what else they eat...they will have gotten plenty of the good stuff they need. But there is very little they won't try. They at about a half pound of salmon between them the other night, and will just pick up and much on green beans or asparagus if you give it to them. They are just starting to figure out how to use forks and spoons to pick food up by themselves. And of course, Goldfish and Cheerios are absolute staples:-)

I would like them to drink less from bottles, but we haven't broken them of the habit. They drink water from sippy cups, but not really milk, and they still need a bottle to fall asleep every night. I have a feeling that the doctor will tell us to just stop giving them bottles at their 18 month appointment next month...that seems about the age when they should be done with them.

It would be nice if they slept better;-) They still wake up during the night too often, usually because they want to sleep with us! I'd let them cry and put themselves back to sleep, but then they wake each other up and then everyone loses... Also, I kinda like sleeping with them:-)

OK, then...everyone enjoy the weekend! See you next week:-)

Blogwhat?

The new blogger interface...not sure how I feel. It is very white, and it doesn't seem terribly intuitive. I guess I will give it a couple of days and see how I adjust. Anyone else have any thoughts? I feel like there are extra screens involved to view and approve comments and stuff...

Am I missing stuff?

Rested! Just in time to wind up again.

Hello everyone! I hope you didn't miss me too much, and I hope that the extra day of our vacation wasn't too hard on you (yea, just pretend you noticed, it will make me feel better). We were originally planning to fly back on Sunday, but the presence of Hurricane Irene made that seem like a really terrible idea, so we stayed an extra day and came back yesterday. Probably a good idea...no idea when we would have finally landed had we tried to get here Sunday.

While I never mustered up the energy to do much of anything, the second half of the week was just as much fun as the first. I read a lot, took a lot of naps and got a ton of sun. Since school starts next week (more on that in a minute) I had some work to do so that I don't feel completely lost. Because, really, I kinda forget everything..."school mindset" is such a unique state of being, and it takes some time to get back into that. Hopefully I am not too lost.

So, let's see...weather was awesome and our hosts were lovely, as always. We did take a day trip on someone's super-nice boat (I think it was a friend of Frenchie's father, but I am not totally sure to be honest:-)). I am not really a huge boat fan...I don't get sea sick, but I get bored and feel kinda trapped. Yea, I can feel claustrophobic on the open ocean, go figure. And the idea of owning one seems like an awful lot of time, money and work...but sunning myself and enjoying a frosty beverage on the deck while floating in the Mediterranean? I can see the attraction...

Munchkin did great, too. She had a great time, got everything out of it that she could, and didn't shed a single tear when we left. They have made peace with the limits of their relationship, and when they are together they just focus on enjoying each other as much as they can...she is just so incredibly happy to be around him. I think in the past I have written a lot in the vein of "when this inevitably ends" but I am not so sure about that any more...I still think it is impossible for two people to have a serious relationship as they grow through the times when that means having to be on the same continent, but I kind of get the feeling that they will be a part of each other's lives for the long-term. I dunno...but I have stopped worrying about how she will feel when they break up.

Stupid anecdote, but I think it goes to why I like him for her so much. And this is all through the filter of them being 16 and only seeing each other a couple of weeks a year.

Soccer practice starts this week, so she was coming right back from vacation and into the season. She loves being an athlete, and she keeps herself in really good shape all year long, even when she is out of a sports season. During the summer, she runs. A LOT. She runs far and she runs fast (she also wears almost nothing when she does...we have discussed this...resolution still pending).

In an effort to not lose her conditioning during vacation, she vowed to run at least three times during the week. Since Frenchie is not really a runner, that meant finding someone to go with her. Turned out to be no problem in Paris, where two girls that are school friends of Frenchie's are pretty regular workout buddies, so she just went with them one morning. I went with her to a track one day in Nice so she could get a workout in, which was also easy enough.

On a totally separate note, when she is home, she generally runs in itty bitty running shorts and what looks to me like a sports bra...she doesn't like wearing sweaty clothes (or so she says, I think mostly she is built like a fucking underwear model and doesn't mind showing it off.) However, she was clearly aware of her "in-laws" because she suddenly decided that the appropriate attire for this trip was knee-length spandex shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt;-) Anyway...

So, back to my story...on Friday, she and Frenchie were hanging out with some of his friends and the subject must have come up, because a guy offered to run with her on Saturday morning. A slightly older Italian boy who Frenchie is apparently not the biggest fan of. So...think about how most 16 year olds would handle this. Well, he didn't make any kind of a stink, she enjoyed having someone to take her on a route along the water and through the city and that was that.

Obviously, not a major event, but this is what I like about them...they don't manufacture major events. Anywho...this is way too long, I have told you nothing of value, and I have to get back to work!!!

And yes, school starts again next week. I guess more on that tomorrow, then.
So,

Funny, the Internet is still in English!

Figured I would blog at least once from vacation so that you all know that I am not dead. And, I should have lots to say! However, the beach is right out the door, and I find it hard to justify sitting in here and writing when I can be out there and...um...doing absolutely nothing!!!

The trip has been awesome! Easy flight to Paris, a couple of fun, semi-touristy days in the city with enormous quantities of decadent foods (enormous quantities because I ate a lot of meals, not because any of the meals were large...seriously France, work on your portion sizes!) We got in on Saturday morning and took it pretty easy most of the day, then did a whole bunch of stuff on Sunday. I didn't really think that Munchkin wanted to do that again on Monday, so she and Frenchie hung out with his friends and I kidnapped Frenchie's sister for a day to bum around with me (and translate), which was super fun.

Tuesday morning I actually had some "work" to do...although I am not sure it was all that urgent. We have a couple of investors that are Paris-based, and I was instructed to drop in and say hello. Mostly, I think that Papa Bear and Big Sis and Boss Foxy want me to have a little more exposure to that side of the business (all of my work has always been with our portfolio companies, but there is the whole part about raising money to invest that is kinda important;-)).

I had no specific agenda and nothing important to accomplish, so it was a pretty easy morning...I had some performance data to deliver, but that is just as easily emailed, and there was nothing in it to generate that many questions. So, mostly it was a social visit, which I am good at...also helps that it is fun to explain why I was in Paris:-) And since the second meeting was in a building next to Frenchie's father's office, Frenchie's sister came in and met us for lunch...I guess they do that about once a month or so, which I find incredibly adorable! It makes me look forward to the day that the girls are old enough to ride the subway:-)

Wednesday we took the train to Nice, and here we are! It remains as spectacularly beautiful as it was two years ago when I was here last, and I am looking forward to spending several days with my feet up laying in the sun. I have a date to chat with The Boy and the girls later today...I miss them all terribly! (Confession: enjoying the sleep:-)) Can't wait to see them on Sunday!

And, well, I guess that's it...I have some sunning to do!

I'm gonna take my ball and go home! (Lies, I am taking very little and going to France:-))

Once again, serious posts in the summer lead to a whole lot of silence...which maybe disproves my point about Michelle Bachmann. Maybe no one really does care...

Anyway, what is everyone up to this weekend? What's that, you are hopping across the Atlantic with your little sister to spend a week in France with her adorable boyfriend and his equally adorable family? Oh, no...wait...that's me!!!

No idea whether I will post of not, but I will probably check some emails and may drop a note here and there. But for the most part, you are going to have to try and survive without me;-)

Au revoir!

Obsession

It seems like the Presidential campaign is starting to heat up, which we all know makes me all tingly inside. And it gets me thinking, and gets me wanting to spout some nonsense about it. And to start with, I wanna talk about Michelle Bachmann. And I have so much to say that I don't really even know how to start.

The facts, I suppose, are as follows. Michelle Bachmann is a third-term Representative from Minnesota who is running for President. She is a vocal member of the Tea Party movement and has been something of a rising voice within the Republican caucus since her election. I would classify her policy ideas as pretty consistently Christian Conservative. She sought but did not get a leadership position after the last election.

There are two things that amaze me about her - the amount of attention she gets from the media, and the level of obsession about her from the political left. I get it: she is a relatively good looking woman, and she says lots of things that make for good TV...but is that really enough to devote the level of coverage that she gets? She has more writers and cameras follow her than anyone else, despite the polling, donations and common sense that says she is a second or third tier candidate. That extends to not just the major media, but also the minor web and print sources as well.

Feeding the "good looking woman" thesis, of course, is that the only person who could divert the media's attention from her is Sarah Palin, of course. And don't even get me started on the assertion that a Palin candidacy would be the end of Bachmann's campaign. You know, because her supporters will blindly follow the highest-profile hot chick they can find...(this is a whole other issue about the media covering Republican supporters as if they are stupid. They may or may not be, but the constant overtone of the coverage is ridiculous.)

I guess I can understand the media's coverage, though. They may be doing a disservice as a "news" organization, but the ratings quest is at least understandable. More confusing to me is that the left is absolutely obsessed with her. Just check out any kind of media...be it Twitter or any other opinion-generating source, and the attention to all of her actions is mind-boggling. I feel like MSNBC has a once-every-fifteen minute update on her, and its hosts (and others like them) take every stupid thing she says as if it is an earth-shattering revelation. Check what your liberal activist or involved friends are posting or forwarding about the Republican candidates and I can promise it will be all Bachmann, all the time (except for Herman Cain's pokemon references:-))

She is, at best, the third most likely Republican Presidential candidate (although she looks a little better with Tim Pawlenty's dropping out), and an argument could be made that at least a half dozen people are more likely to get the nomination. But check in with anyone you know who considers him or herself to be an "informed" follower with a liberal bias, and I can promise you that they will have a much more intense feeling about her than about either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry (the likely front-runners) or John Hunstman, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum.

And let's contrast her to a couple of those people. Start with Ron Paul, whose lack of media attention baffles me. He has a much longer record than Bachmann (and I use the comparison not to knock her, but just as a benchmark for him) and is the intellectual father of the movement that she is riding. His rallies draw bigger crowds than hers, and he has a proven record of outstanding fundraising. Even with her "flavor of the month" status, he has raised more money than she has, from more donors.

Polls of actual likely voters in Republican primaries have him even or ahead of her. Quick question: which Republican candidate, other than McCain, raised the most money in the last election cycle? According to OpenSecrets.org, it was Paul (Romney's donations to his own campaign excluded.) So, why have the major media outlets designated him as "not a serious candidate" while they follow her like she is the nominee? I don't disagree with them about his chances, but what is the objective criteria that they are applying to the two of them?

And what of, say, Rick Santorum? As a bogeyman for the left, he should be better...he was the third ranking member of the Senate, was considered a very likely Presidential candidate in the mid 2000's...and he is more conservative than Bachmann is. And that doesn't even get to Newt Gingrich!

I guess these two phenomena feed on each other...the left is obsessed with her, which means the media covers her because that is what the viewers want. And that level of coverage makes her seem important, which makes the obsession seem worthwhile. But where are the people who actually step back and ask "Who exactly is she appealing to that is going to make her a Presidential nominee?" If you know any registered Republicans (in other words, the people who will ultimately determine the nominee), ask them what they think of her. My guess is that they don't really think of her much at all...

(And yes, I know she won the Ames, Iowa straw poll last week...but seriously, she could have won Miss Onion Festival 2011 at the Michigan State Fair and it would be moderately less relevant)

Anyway...not sure what this is really related to at all...just what I am thinking this week.

Oh yea...and I forgot!

Totally forgot to mention that we scrapped the idea of taking LK to France. I still think it would have worked out, but I got talked out of it...and she has had a bit of a cold the last few days, which made it easier to decide that she is better off staying at home.

Maybe next year!

Phone etiquette

It seems like most people are in agreement on the idea of calling your spouse at work...some people do it more often that others, and some do it only for a specific reason...but everyone agrees that it should be kept private.

So why...I ask...is there someone in every office who doesn't get that? I never call The Boy during the day, and he never calls me...we do email and text occasionally, but mostly we just go about our business until we get home. I don't even have his work number, I don't think... I would say the only reason we ever talk during the day is if day care called because one of the girls is sick and one of us has to go get them. I think that happened twice...

But a lot of people do call just to check in at least once a day. Which is totally understandable and completely reasonable. But having snippy, loud conversations in the middle of an office? Who on earth thinks that is acceptable behavior? Go outside, go to a conference room, close your door...whatever...but how any adult could think it appropriate to have anything more than a completely cursory "Hello" with their spouse in a place that other people can hear is totally beyond me.

And don't even get me started on your parents calling you at work...that has all kinds of potential for weird...

And tomorrow, Michelle Bachmann!

Survey Says...

Since last Friday's seriousness went over like a concrete balloon, I am going to try and be a little more interactive this week.

The topic for discussion is calling your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend at work.

Do you do it? Does he or she call you? How often? Do others in your office do it? Are you a fan? Inappropriate?

Discuss.

I get it...lay off the seriousness during summer

So, no one liked my serious Friday post, eh? Yea, I get it...summer Fridays are no time for sovereign debt discussions...(although, it was well-timed, as it turns out). So I will lay off of the Federal Budget talk for a while. Just be warned, that is the tool that the old people are using to rob you blind...indifference!!!

Anyway, some nonsense...Project Runway is back on, which makes me all giddy inside. I don't know who I like or don't like yet, so I will hold off on that for a few more episodes. I did hear that there is a Project Runway All-Stars coming on, although it has no Heidi and no Michael Kors. In other words...it is TOTAL BS!!! A hostess that uses contractions? Blasphemy! And Isaac Misrahi is fine, but he is a poor substitute for Kors...too over the top, tries too hard. No way he will be able to use "80's power bitch" in a sentence nearly as often as MK can...

I am OK with the cats, although what I would really love is to see all of the best non-winners together. Mondo and Rami are both on, which is good, but Daniel from Season 2, Emilio from a couple seasons ago and Jillian from the Christian Siriano season would all have to be there to make it a really great season. All of those people were better than some of the winners, and all just sort of ran up against better designers.

Changing gears...last week (really the last two weekends) was the annual "Mrs. Mama Bear's Family Beach Bonanza" where they all invade the beach house. As usual, it was a really good time with TONS of people (the family keeps getting bigger:-))...and Munchkin played hostess for the whole time. Because, as we all know, it is really her house.

She is away at soccer camp this week, then back to the beach for her final week of work, then off to France:-) Tough life that kid leads, eh? On the downside...at the moment it looks like no babies on the France trip, but more on that tomorrow. I think The Boy has talked me out of it, but I still sort of like the idea, so we'll see.

Anyway, until then...call your Congressman and tell him to stop borrowing money on your behalf!

Debt Ceiling...a week or two late

I wish that I had the energy to write about last week's debt ceiling debate, but I would just make myself angry and have to take a while to simmer down. Short version:

1) The fact that we have a debt ceiling is asinine
2) Republicans made a stink about raising it is preposterous
3) Tying it to future spending cuts would be the same as insisting that any hikes in import taxes be attached to decreases in prescription drug benefits - the two have NOTHING to do with each other
4) The fact that Democrats even engaged in the discussion is embarrassing
5) Their "solution" to this "crisis" is weak-willed, short sighted and pushes the problems further down the road. That's right, even when they manufacture a crisis, they can't solve it right
6) There are no more than a handful of members of Congress who will ever willingly tell someone bad news.

On the plus side, putting the Defense budget on the table as a place in need of cutting is a major step. (And let's be honest...only in Washington DC can you give something exactly as much money next year as you do this year and call it a "cut". In fact, you can give it more next year than this year and still call it a cut.) You can't have a reasonable budget discussion that doesn't address the major expenditures, and that is one of them that has often been considered off limits. So, at least that was something of a positive development...not unlike the changes to the Social Security formula a handful of years ago - not that it was a major change, but it set the precedent that at least we could maybe make some changes. Now, about Medicare...

But really, it was just one big fight over who could be more wrong. I think the Republicans won that fight, but not because the Democrats didn't put up a strong effort of their own.

Anyway, we seem to be past that speed bump (until it comes up again in...oh...six months or so) and back to focusing on the fact that the economy is in complete shambles. Wait, you mean that massive government intervention didn't fix the economy? Wow, we are definitely gonna have to re-write the Economics text books now.

On Baby Travel

So, not surprisingly, you were torn between best and worst idea ever. So, a couple things...

First, yes, I would feel a little guilty going and leaving both girls home. Mostly for missing them, but a little bit for leaving The Boy with them all by himself (and likely with his mother's help:-)) Not that he would complain...(in fact, he may be trying to talk me out of this...more on that later).

But mostly, I just think it will be really fun! And sure, she won't ever remember any of it, but I will, and Munchkin will, and that has to be worth something, right? I am sure the flight will be a pain, but for a couple of reasons I am not overly concerned about that. And once we are there, I actually think she will do really well (assuming I can get her sleeping schedule adjusted to the time change!)

She generally does very well with being busy, regardless of what it is. New places and things and people keep her very interested...she just needs to be fed, have a chance to run around a bit, and always have her stuffed bear (a bear dressed as a bee...don't ask). I wouldn't take her to the Louvre for four hours, but she will do really well with general sightseeing and riding around in her stroller (and yes, I will need to borrow a single stroller!). And then we will be at the beach for a couple of days, which will be easy, too...she loves the beach.

So, yes, it may turn out to be a bad idea, but I think it will be really fun. Frenchie's Mother and Sister were super excited to find out, too, which definitely matters (not all that cool to just show up somewhere with a baby;-)). I'd say I am 98% taking her...although The Boy may still try and talk me out of it...so we will see...

-----

On another unrelated note...has anyone ever seen Sunshine Cleaning? Watched it last night and really liked it. But I am sort of a sucker for sister-stories...

French Adventure 2011

So, I am going to France with Munchkin later this month because...well, why not? It is Paris and the Riviera with lovely local hosts and places to stay! I would be a fool to turn it down:-)

My only real worry about going is being away from the girls for that long, and leaving The Boy all on his own with them for that long. Frankly, it is a lot of work, and I would be a little irritated if he left me for over a week to go on a vacation. Even acknowledging that he is better on his own with them than I am, it is still an awful lot.

So...how could we possibly fix this? I'll give you a hint: it involves a baby passport!

That's right, Munchkin and I are taking LK with us:-) Which could turn out to also be the worst idea ever, but I think will be really fun! She deals with strange people and places a little better than MA does, and doesn't get as unbearably cranky as her sister when she is tired...so we think she will probably travel a little better. The downside is that MA sleeps more and is easier to get to bed, so I will have that to deal with;-)

Obviously, it will be a lot to get her out of her routine for a week, but I think it will be fun...and between Munchkin and I she will have plenty of familiar faces around. And then next time, MA can come:-)

What do we think? Best or Worst Idea Ever?

I think this is probably sexual harrassment

I work with this guy...he is, um, well, I dunno. He is great at what he does, and he is really, really funny. He makes me laugh a lot. I wouldn't call him a friend, really, but we get along and I never have a problem working with him. But, to be kind, he has some character flaws:-) Mostly, he has issues in his relationships with women.

He is pretty good looking, can be very charming, and makes gobs of money...so he has no problem finding women. And probably wouldn't have problems keeping them, but he just likes finding new ones so much that he never sticks with one for more than a month. I wouldn't call him any nasty names, and wouldn't discourage someone from dating him...but I also wouldn't set any of my friends up with him, if that makes sense.

All of that is just background, however, for this morning's story. He stopped by on his way to get coffee to inform me:

"AM, 150 years ago, Levi Strauss invented the blue jean. And when he did so, he had in his mind the absolute perfect female form. Unfortunately, while he was a visionary, it took humans a while to evolve to the point that we could produce the ideal ass that he had in mind. This morning, though, I am pretty sure that I followed her on my walk to work.

See what I mean? Kinda charming and funny...but kinda not.

Exhausted

The weekend was awesome...wedding was fantastic, the girls did great with Grandma and Grandpa and now I need a nap to recover:-) Leave it to me to get no rest on a weekend when I have two consecutive nights to sleep as long as I want undisturbed!!!

I think my toast came out pretty well. I cut it down quite a bit, but a lot of the content was the same. It made BFFg cry, which was really my only goal:-P. She doesn't cry nearly as easily as I do, so I consider it to be an accomplishment!

No problems getting out there, which left us with some time to just hang out with the bride and her family for most of the day Friday before the rehearsal dinner. That is one of my favorite parts of wedding...the "calm before the storm" when everyone is excited, and checked into the hotel and just really riding high. It is a great time to be with the bride and groom before they are buried under wedding guests.

Two moments...one funny and one kind of touching...both related to BFFb (also, I am starting to think I should have given the BFFs less similar names...I think it is hard to keep them straight if you read fast). First, I don't think that BFFg's mother has seen Munchkin since she moved to Boston. On Friday afternoon we were in the hotel lobby waiting to assemble before heading out to dinner...BFFb was sitting on a couch talking with Munchkin, and I was talking with BFFg's Mom, maybe 25 feet away, out of earshot.

At which point she asked me if that was his new girlfriend...and thought I was joking when I told her that it was Munchkin. And then she got so emotional that she burst into tears...which made me cry. What can I say, we are women, we are weird.

Second, towards the end of the wedding, I had a lovely moment with BFFb's Mom, where she told me that she was really glad that BFFg and I were both married, because she never thought he would get married while either one of us was still single. And the thing is...I know exactly what she means, and I think she is right. It is kind of hard to explain (and she doesn't even know part of it;-)), because it has nothing to do with potentially ever being married to one of us...he is just really, really protective and loyal and devoted to us both. (Now we just need to find him a girl:-)).

Anyway, I had a great time, and danced so much that I am still sore. It was wonderful to see so many of her family that I haven't seen in forever, and she was a spectacularly radiant bride. Oh, and since The Rocket Scientist couldn't get away this weekend, Munchkin stayed with Smoking Hot Roommate...so I had The Boy all to myself all weekend long! Something about hotels...hee hee.

Random midweek things

I am re-working my toast based on your feedback, and that of some actual people that I would recognize in a bar;-) (You know, as opposed to just knowing as letters on my screen). I will let you know what the final version looks like in a day or two, or when I get back.

Munchkin is coming up on Thursday afternoon and we are leaving on Friday morning. I would have liked to get out there on Thursday to have an extra day there, but I didn't want to leave the in-laws on the hook for all of that babysitting. As it is, they will get the girls at day care on Friday and have them until Sunday evening, which is a lot:-) Everyone will do great! (It is hard to type with crossed fingers, isn't it?)

And most importantly, have you all been shopping for my birthday? I sure hope so! 29 sounds really old to me...

Also...I am strongly considering going to France with Munchkin when she goes at the end of August...more on that later.

The wedding toast approval process begins

OK...this is my current working version of my toast for BFFg's wedding. I am having trouble with the beginning, but I think I like the second half of it. Unless it is entirely too personal, which is possible.

Also, the chances of me getting through it without bawling are absolutely zero:-)

-----------------

I tried to find poems or book or songs that I could quote from to help me with this, but nothing really seemed to fit, so I am just going to tell you what I think about [BFFg] and hope that it helps you to understand exactly how special she is.

I've known [BFFg] since we were four, and I can't even imagine how life would have turned out if I didn't have her as a best friend. Both of us were only children then, and almost right away we considered each other the sisters that we wished we had. Certainly there were challenges, but when I look back...all that matters is that she and [BFFb] and I were together. We were a team, and it was the best team that a confused, insecure, slightly-neglected girl could have had.

She (and her Mom) were there when I needed a place to stay, which was entirely too often.

She was there to make me laugh when all I wanted to do was feel sorry for myself.

She was there to get into trouble with me. And then to get out of it and then to laugh about it later on.

We sat next to each other in every class we ever took in high school, when it wasn't important to anyone else that we be there. Except for each other, because we made a promise to each other that it mattered, and we take promises to ourselves seriously.

And maybe most importantly, she was there to be a sister, a friend and a guiding voice to my own sister when I couldn't be.

Frankly, life wasn't always easy, and a lot of the kids that we grew up with became victims of our environment. But we didn't. And we didn't because we were always a team. We were always a "we" and we were always together.

We started high school with nearly 800 students. 250 graduated and maybe 25 went to college. But we were two of them, and that wasn't an accident. I made it because she held me to my promise to do it, and I think she did the same.

But she was always the stronger one. She never cared what others thought as much, and she never got as discouraged as I did. We lost friends, and all I could get from it was anger and resentment...she turned that into a strengthened resolve to make ourselves better than that.

Whatever I am, she made me. Whatever she is, I would like to take just a little bit of credit. And now, here we are, almost all grown up, and we made it.

I can give no higher praise to someone than to tell him that he is worthy of her, but [Husband], I think that you are. You are the only person I ever met that I thought worth setting her up with, and I am glad to know that my instincts were that strong. You are not only is so obviously handsome, but you treat her like a princess, challenge her and he make her even better.

BFFg and I have been a team for as long as I can remember, and we still are. But now she has a new teammate, and I can tell you from 25 years of experience, [Husband], that there is nobody you'd rather have on your side.

-----------

Thoughts?

Awkward

After work yesterday, I met a couple of friends for a drink, which involved riding the Green Line about four stops. Normally I would have walked, but it was really hot and I didn't feel like getting all sweaty and gross. And of, course, the T was a mess...the train was late, one was taken out of service so there were a million people waiting to get on, so a couple in a row were packed and everyone was late and in a foul mood.

I was reading, and therefore not paying much attention, but out of nowhere, a girl reached over and tapped another girl (who was sitting, was big-chested and was wearing a very cleavage-intensive shirt) on the arm, motioned to a guy standing next to her and said:

"Excuse me, just thought you should know that this guy has been staring down your shirt since he got on the train."

AWK-WARD!!!

News! (Sort of)

Spent a glorious weekend at the beach, and am feeling a little bit fried today. I got a LOT of sun. But wishing very much that I was still there:-) It's pretty f'in hot up this way, and oh so lovely down there!

So, one of the great things about the Internet, and "virtual friends", is that you get to hear secrets long before they are public. Just as I told all of you that I was pregnant long before I announced it to "real" people (who don't read my blog:-P), several people have shared with me their quest to get pregnant, their heartbreaking failures and then their eventual successes. There is just something nice about being able to share news early on to people when you can't tell some family and friends yet.

I learned within the last week about two different people that are pregnant, and I am incredibly excited for each! Babies bring so much joy to people that really want them, and it makes me giddy to be let in on the secret early on:-). Many, many congrats to both (and the rest of you will just have to wait until they want to tell you:-P...cuz I am a good secret keeper!)

In other news, we are off to Chicago the weekend after next for BFFg's wedding, and I have been working on my toast. I am feeling an awful lot of pressure because it is really, really hard to say exactly what I want to say...and I feel the need for it to be perfect (of course!) And frankly, I am struggling to find words that have the magnitude I am looking for...English needs some better words, I think:-)

I am planning on posting it once I am done though, to get feedback:-)

Until then, enjoy the heat!

One more advantage of being a good looking girl

I would like to have an opinion on Casey Anthony's guilt or innocence, I really would, but I haven't spent more than three minutes paying attention to the whole trial. Everyone sure seems convinced that she is guilty, including Kim Kardashian, whose family is obviously a firm believer in innocence until proven guilt.

I think the part of this that I have found most interesting as a non-observer is wondering why this has become THE story. Sure, murders of little kids are not terribly common, but they do happen, and not every one of them becomes a nationwide obsession. Like, for example, this one from earlier this week. A quick Google search showed an entire family of five murdered, a woman convicted of murder for setting a fire that killed an 8 year old, and a man convicted of a second murder: he was already guilty of beating a woman to death, but he was found guilty of the murder of her baby who died nine days after being delivered after the mother died.

(I am just full of cheer today, eh?)

So, why is Casey Anthony such big news? And while we are at it (because the reason is the same), why is Amanda Knox such big news, and why was Natalie Holloway such a colossal story, when plain old vanilla murders like those happen all the time: there were 15,000 of them in the United States in 2009 alone.

Because, obviously, anything involving good looking girls gets sent straight to the front of our attention agenda. I am not really breaking any new ground here, but if Casey Anthony looked like...oh, the 199 other mothers who (allegedly, of course) killed their children last year...then she probably would have been treated like them.

So, what's my point? I dunno...it is too easy to blame "the media", because they basically just report on what we want to hear (or what they think we want to hear, at least). I don't really have anything to offer on ways we can rectify this, or even really know if it is a problem that needs fixing.

I guess, if you feel like killing someone, make sure you are a hot chick so that you get a high-profile attorney to defend you in exchange for the publicity?

Argh...this is the worst post ever!!!

Happy Long Weekend

I have absolutely nothing to say, but felt the need to check in before the long weekend. Hoping everyone has a wonderful, fun-filled long weekend!

(And for my foreign readers...sorry that you have to work on Monday, but most of you get more holidays than we do...)

We are all headed to the beach where there will be many, many people, and hopefully a little bit of sun and a lot of fun had by all.

Enjoy the fireworks!

Sometimes...

I tend to share a lot here, but there are still a lot of things that I keep to myself. Even in quasi-anonymity, I don't feel totally comfortable sharing all of the details of my life and that of people around me. Often it is because of a specific request from someone, or because of a deep-rooted fear that the social services infrastructure in Illinois is reading;-)

But sometimes, oh sometimes I just wish I could tell you things, and I just can't. Last night, Big Sis, Smoking Hot Roommate, Munchkin and I had dinner, and I would love nothing more than to share a transcript of the discussion...but it is just a little too personal for those involved, and I will have to keep it to myself.

However, there was MUCH laughing, and several instances of laughter so hard that food and/or drink nearly came out of someones mouth and/or nose. We managed to keep everything in, but it was close.

And on a more serious note, Munchkin is extraordinarily lucky to have two older sisters who care about her as deeply, and show it so thoroughly through both words and actions, as Big Sis and SHR. I am not sure that I thank them enough.

Back from Vacation

Other than the miserable weather, vacation was actually quite nice:-) I did...let's see...absolutely nothing, and it was glorious!

That is not entirely true...I read, I napped, I cooked (and ate) and hung out with the lovebirds a lot. I think I have stopped really wondering about their future. They seem to have, remarkably, settled into a really happy and healthy relationship where they only get to see each other a couple of times a year. I am still not entirely sure how that works when you are their age, but they care very deeply about each other...enough to make it work, I guess.

Interestingly, she didn't cry when he left last night. I think maybe having done this several times now, she knows how fast the time between visits passes, and she doesn't get as sad when he leaves. Smoking Hot Roommate, Big Sis and I have a dinner date with her tonight, which was largely intended to cheer her up, but I am not even sure that the cheering up is needed. Which means we can use the time to try an embarrass her, and to badger her with the 1,000 questions that we all have before she heads back to the beach tomorrow:-)

Changing subjects...while I was relaxing at the beach, The Boy was busy being a single Dad of two little girls (well, except for the night his Mom stayed over). And since I was gone the weekend prior, that made for him having them by himself for most of a week (I was home for two days last week). I need to acknowledge that he is much better at that than I am...he has more patience and gets much less flustered than I do.

But, even with his Daddy talents, they are a handful, and by the time he got them fed, packed up and in the car on Friday night and drove all the way here (which includes a ferry), he was absolutely exhausted. I happen to find the ease with which he handles parenting absolutely adorable, so I put him directly to bed and rewarded him with two of his favorite things...(hint: they both start with "b", have seven letters and one of them is a backrub...;-))

The weekend was nice...pretty low key, weather was kinda blech. Just hung out at the house, played with the girls, ate and drank too much and laughed a lot. Pretty good, if you ask me:-)

Visiting and Visitors

Weekend was a blast...tons of fun (and surprisingly little drinking for this girl...actually, not surprising, since I was sort of on Mom duty the whole time).

Munchkin came with us everywhere and never got carded or questioned once. And no, just because they let her into bars doesn't mean that I let her order anything that she shouldn't from said bars. That was actually kind of easy, as there were two pregnant girls with us periodically all weekend and I didn't really drink much, so she wasn't totally left out.

Just a really good time...we didn't really cause too much trouble, we just went out Friday and Saturday nights, laughed a lot and danced a lot and spent a lot of Saturday just hanging out and shopping and whatnot (and having a dress fitting, which was awesome...both of our dresses fit really well right off the bat). Honestly, if Munchkin hadn't been with us, we may have been a little more debaucherous, but BFFg would have really missed her if she was at home:-) And our heads are probably in much better shape today as a result...

It was good to see some friends I haven't seen in a long time, too, and to meet some new ones. Honestly, I didn't really live up to my role as Maid of Honor in planning this, but I didn't really have to since everyone sort of pitched in and took care of it. Her work friends (who are the ones that I don't really know) and just really great girls, really laid back and easy to have this kind of party with. Just like BFFg!!!

Anyway, we dragged our exhausted behinds home a little early yesterday so that we could be home to spend Father's Day with all of those wonderful Dads in our lives:-) The Boy and I went up to his parents place with the girls for a cookout (I was totally exhausted, but figured it best not to complain:-)).

Munchkin stayed behind because she had a very special visitor to meet at the airport, of course. And yes...still in love:-). I had originally planned on going to the beach for the whole week with them (girls are staying home), but I changed that plan since I didn't want to be away from the girls for that long. So, Big Sis headed down with them this morning, and is going to stay until Wednesday and then I and going to head down late tomorrow or Wednesday morning and The Boy will come down with the girls on Friday night.

Make sense? Ahh...summer...finally here:-)

Hockey, eh?

So, several weeks ago it came to my attention that the Bruins were playing in the Stanley Cup finals. Surprisingly (given my obviously intense devotion to them) this was news to me.

Then I found out that the other team (and Canadian readers...isn't "Canuck" a somewhat derogatory term?) had a pair of twins, so I was maybe a little bit conflicted. Because, as we all know, twins are awesome.

Then somebody got bitten and there seemed to be a lot of people hitting each other with sticks...is hockey always this violent? While I was aware that the Blackhawks won last year, I never actually watched any of the games...I have watched hockey before, and I know that there is a lot of hitting and whatnot, but this seemed to be excessively violent. Anyway...

So, the Bruins won, and The Boy has pointed out that, since I first moved to Boston, every team has won at least one Championship. I can see no other logical explanation for this other than my presence:-)

And I am now accepting bids to move to your city and bring my good karma with me:-)

My new favorite TV show.

First, a little clarification...when I said "next weekend" in my last post, I was referring not to the coming weekend (or "this weekend" in me head) but in fact the upcoming weekend. Which is now "this weekend". Follow? It all seems perfectly clear to me...

Anyway, completely random confession: I have a new favorite TV personality, and if I gave you a thousand guesses you would never get it. The winner? Jeremy Wade from River Monsters.

I have a hard time explaining my fascination with him and with the show. I am not a fisher...in fact, I have never been fishing. I have little desire to ever go fishing. My impression has always been that fishing is boring and very smelly. I enjoy eating fish, but let's be honest: they are kinda gross. And the ones he catches are big and mean and nasty and like to eat people with their big ferocious teeth,

But whenever it is on, I can't help but watch. His accent is killer and his crooked teeth make him a lovely combination of rugged and refined. He also seems to own at least 3,000 fishing rods, which is apropos of nothing, really. But mostly, I think the fish are the stars...like this one, which is the scariest thing I have ever seen. And this Giant Japanese Salamander, which is really gross but has the cutest little toes ever. Or the never-ending array of catfish the size of Volkswagens.

So maybe when I get the inevitable invite to go deep sea fishing this summer, I should go? Or maybe just avoid the sea sickness and hang out on the beach...either or.

Fake ID's, babysitters, foreigners and emails

I am quickly becoming the Worst Blogger Ever. I don't really even have an excuse...I am not so super busy that I don't have time to write. I think maybe I am just boring. I have nothing that seems worth writing.

Let's see...girls are doing great. Daddy gets them all by himself next weekend because Smoking Hot Roommate and I am going to Chicago for BFFg's bachelorette party, which will be a total shit show. Munchkin is coming and we are gonna try and sneak her into places with us...hopefully being in a group of 10 or so girls that are all in their late 20's at least will mean we can skip the ID checks. She looks plenty old enough, but I am not quite criminal enough to get her an ID (if SHR weren't going, she could use hers as they look enough alike, but we will put that on the list of "habits I would rather she not get into").

The wedding is in July, and we are hoping to be able to go. That will mean that his parents have to watch the girls for a whole weekend, though, and I am not sure we are totally ready for that. For now we are planning on going, but The Boy could end up staying home at the last minute...hopefully not.

Then, when we get back, Frenchie is coming and I am headed to the beach with both lovebirds for the week. Looking forward to vacation!!! I have had to promise Munchkin that we can have a lot of driving lessons...wish me luck:-)

So, to change topics...who else got "The Email" this weekend? I did (not sure why, really) and found it to be a little weird, a little confusing, a little disconcerting and some other stuff. And the nosy part of me would LOVE to know who wrote it, but I doubt that will ever come out (and if the named party ever figured it out, I doubt she would broadcast it anyway.) But I would love to know anyone else's thoughts on what this says about who reads blogs, who writes blogs and what we all hope to, and eventually get, out of blogging.

Drop me a line:-)