Bite My Tongue

It's the little things

In the past year I've:
Become more patient with Graham
Worried less
Ruminated less
Made new friends (!!!)
Helped Minnie Pearl become a happy, (fairly) well-adjusted dog
Improved my cooking skills
Read more
Introduced Roger to Built To Spill (the music, not the actual band)
Eaten and enjoyed a lot of good cheese
Not beaten myself up about the cheese
Discovered a number of very good inexpensive wines
Learned to take time off
Reinvented my job
Decided I am not defined by my job
Become pretty good at composting
Created a welcoming environment for urban wildlife in our yard
Laughed hard and often
Spent much less time at the computer
Spent a lot of time being a pirate, a viking, and a knight

Of course, there are all sorts of to-be-completed projects, things that didn't get done, things that need improvement. A multitude of imperfections. A cavalcade of what-ifs. But, you know, I'm not freaking out about anything at the moment and I'm just going to enjoy ... ok - I'll say it.

I'm enjoying this contentment. I enjoy it. I do.

home for lunch

Thanks for the compliments on the glasses. I put off getting new glasses for the longest time because I wasn't up to the challenge of  choosing a new pair. You know, modern but not trendy, functional but not hideous, attractive but not 'hey! look at me!'  So there ya go.

Anyway, I'm still working on this taking-my-own photo thing. It's tricky. I love my mini point-and-shoot but it would have been nice to use the sunny f/16 rule today. I guess I'm just a manual kind of gal some days.

A blind dog is a good prop if you're going to stand in bright sunlight and fiddle with your camera.

But even a blind dog will start to wonder what you're problem is if you can't take you're own damn picture.

OK, the little guy has had enough of this lame experiment.

I haven't been home for lunch in ages  - ie. when kindergarten started in August.

First the first 2-plus years of Graham's life, Roger stayed home with him but I came home for lunch every day because we were still breastfeeding.

When preschool started at age 3.5, Roger got an a.m. part-time job. I'd pick Graham up at school on my lunch hour, then Roger would come home and I'd go back to work.

Then in May of this year, Roger landed a full-time job which required some major schedule juggling for all of us.

Then, kindergarten. Fortunately, G's school offers and afternoon enrichment program. Fortunately, I work for a nice people. So, in August, I cut back my work hours to about 33 a week. I leave the office at 1:50 p.m., pick G up at 2, and we're done. it's totally weird.

This week is a little kooky because G gets the whole freaking week off while Roger and I are supposed to work Mon.-Wed.  blah blah - boring family schedule wackiness resulting in me getting to come home for lunch and take silly pictures.

Anyway, there is a point to this; I'm getting there.

monday morning

Just checking in. Hatching a plan - more to come.

good. night.

56 Reasons To Go Downtown

OK. So I'm just a leetle embarrassed by that last post. And I've stayed away in part because of that embarrassment.

It was sincere, but there's more to that story.

I've been growing our my hair a bit since November. People are nicer to me now that my hair is longer and brown. Parents at Graham's preschool are nicer. People I work with are nicer. Checkers at the grocery store are nicer. The guy at the Costco gas pumps is nicer. Strangers are nicer. Heck, just about everyone is nice to me now that my hair is a socially acceptable length and color, and I HATE THAT.

But not enough to cut off all my hair; not just yet. I'm growing it out because I've had the same-ish hair style for like 18 years and I'm bored with it.

So, meh. I don't give a rip about Britney; I just can't stand the fact that appearence is still THE gage of a woman's character.  Blah blah blah the patriarchy blah blah superficial bullshit blah blah celebrity obsessed fuckwits. blah.

So, If I hadn't been sidelined with a severe case of 'what the hell was I thinking,' I might have addressed the following topics:

Seeing The Who (OK, The Two) live in concert in my hometown, which was a profoundly moving and totally fanfreakintastic night. Third row, right in front of Pete. And yes, I still have a crush on Pete. I do I do.

The terrorist known as Gerry Adams and pus-infused vat of hate known as Ian Paisley sitting down together in the name of peace. This happened several months ago and my brain is still wrestling with it.

My dog Akachan's emergency glaucoma surgery. You really don't want to know the details. He's adapting well to being almost blind.

Oh! Roger got his dream job in a hospital IT dept. I've cut back on my hours so I can be home with Graham more. This is perhaps the weirdest thing that's happened to our family in a looong time. I mean, I cut back on my work hours after returning from maternity leave, but this is a much bigger change. Me working less. It's been less than a month but I think I like it!

Now that Roger has a (mercifully short) commute for work, I talked him into getting rid of his totally ghetto 1995 Nissan Sentra. So he's driving the Prius now and I bought a pristine 2002 Subaru Legacy wagon.  It's such a mom-mobile / camping car. I love it. Exciting, huh? You may have guessed we are not car people.

And on a far more somber note, I spent two recent afternoons writing to various media outlets about the use of the term "honor killing." I understand that, in reporting a story like this, the term has to be used in the first reference to explain the nature of the crime. However, after that, it's a murder. MURDER. Quotes are different, of course, but please, stand up and tell the world that these girls and women are being murdered.

Graham is registered to start kindergarten at the end of August. He is ready; I am not.

Randomly, I don't have any photos to share of this weekend because my camera is attending the Sasquatch Festival. I hope it is having a good time and that it brings me a little piece of Bjork's soul.

And the title of this post is a song by Iris Berry / The Ringling Sisters that is stuck in my head. It is an excellent song that I haven't heard in at least 10 years. I was reminded of it because a much younger woman cited it online. She quoted the "If I want to sleep on the bathroom floor / If I want to sleep in my breakfast / If I want to sleep in my dinner / If I wanna die watching TV / It's my business"  bit as some sort of feminist manifesto. I've never seen heroin addiction mistaken for feminism before, and that was unnerving. But I was glad to be reminded of the song.

It's only hair

I mean really, people. Britney Spears shaves her head and oh my! Judgement Day is at hand!

She's insane. She's on A LOT of drugs. Her poor kids. She's bipolar. OMG TEH CRAZY.  And my favorite, "She'll be dead soon."

Seriously, what the hell? Maybe she wanted to see/feel what it was like. Maybe it's her way of starting over. Maybe she finds it liberating. I've shaved my head bald for all those reasons. And maybe she got high and shaved her head. So what? It's just hair; it grows back. Even if it was big, drunken mistake - it's temporary.

I'm especially disappointed and disgusted with the ill-will coming from female bloggers. You're why just about every woman who's involuntarily bald due to chemotherapy or alopecia or whatever feels obligated to hide her baldness. Your intolerance promotes self-hatred and insecurity. Lard help those who fail or refuse to conform to your ridiculous constrict of acceptable female appearance. Yep, you're just a tool of the patriarchy.

Hey, but what do I know. I'm just a crazy, drug addled, unfit mother with electric clippers.

On the first day of the 110th Congress, a bill designed to help law enforcement crack down on animal fighting was introduced in the House of Representatives. U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Ensign (R-NV), Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a parallel bill in the Senate the following week.

At present, most dog and cock-fighting offenses are considered misdemeanors -- basically a slap on the hand. The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act (H.R. 137 & S. 261) would make it a felony to transport an animal across state or international borders for animal fighting. It would prohibit the interstate and foreign commerce in knives and gaffs designed for use in cockfighting.

Please take 60 seconds and call or email your elected representatives to let them know you support this act. Lend your voice to these innocent animals who cannot speak up for themselves.

If you click here, The Humane Society has a page set up to help you quickly and easily find the names and contact information of your elected officials, and even has a pre-written support letter if you aren't sure what to say. Every letter and every phone call helps.

Our Blurry Year

All photos (except the three obvious exceptions) by Graham on his Sony 4.1 Cybershot.

4.5

The Hobbit