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Yep – I’m a Joiner!
Sesame Street is Freaking me Out
Sesame Street did a Law and Order spoof earlier this morning.
My first thought? “I hope it’s not SVU.”
Yes, I totally just said that, because I’m a bad person that thinks bad thoughts.
This may be my shortest entry ever. Awesome.
Pools, Pictures, and Pfun (couldn’t think of another P word)
Oh, and bubbles.
I finally found the four whole pictures Randy took while we were at the 4th of July party.
The whole Gibson Girl thing Abby has going on was so enhanced by her swimsuit, but for some reason it’s not coming through as much in the pics as it did in person. Ah well. Do you like her haircut? Yeah…I did that. After Randy chopped her bangs to a quarter inch, when they finally started growing out I had to even it all out. She’s really much happier with short hair.
And finally, in all her pink ballerina splendor….Sadie in the swimsuit she picked out all on her own. It’s two pieces and that tutu part never leaves her waist. She’s so happy in it and I’m glad to say she’s gotten a lot of opportunity to wear it so far this summer. I’m not a complete hermit! You can also see that she has the longer hair. She hasn’t had a haircut since birth – she doesn’t want to lose it and I’m fine with that – her curls are to die for!
So there you have it. I’m trying to be more on top of things with the pictures and the whatnot. Hopefully this isn’t the last time you’ll see big, fun, bubbly pictures in this blog.
I’m a Borderline Internet Addict (but there’s rehab)
My husband remarked yesterday in a pompous, anserine very serious tone of voice, “I think you may be addicted to the Internet.”
Well we know there have been studies done, and there is even a rehab facility for Internet addiction as well as a book
The thing is, what the Center for Internet Addiction and my husband disagree on is the crux of my issue.
Kimberly Young, clinical director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery says:
The main types of Internet addiction are cybersex, online affairs, online gambling, online gaming, compulsive surfing and even eBay addiction.
Do you see working or blogging on there? I think not. Why? Because those are (respectively) important and therapeutic activities.
When he says I’m addicted to the Internet it’s more along the lines of telling a pothead she’s addicted to the bong, or the crackhead he’s addicted to the pipe.
One thing about that website for addiction – is it just me or is part of the logo done in the Scriptina font? Guess she really isn’t addicted to the Internet – or at least not a font aficionado. I also think it’s odd that she’s not a .org but grabbed the .com for the site. Also, should an Internet addict be reading her blog? Online marketing techniques…isn’t that like offering someone a hit to get them into rehab?
While you’re there take a test to see if you’re addicted to the Internet! My favorite question is:
10. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?
I missed the memo. Since when is the Internet soothing? LOL
The Internet is just the means of communication – not the end goal.
That being said, I’m on the fence about having an addiction recovery center for Internet usage. While it might be good for “normal” folks – those of us living and working online, well, just call us plain old workaholics. It doesn’t matter what medium we choose to overwork ourselves with!
Plus, I have a kickass social life. With real people. In person. They all want training on how to use the Internet to make more money and write blogs. Does that make me a pusher? *grin*
Last but not least, I took the quiz and my score is a 56
50 -79 points: You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life.
The problem I have is that, with all online quizzes, there is no fill in the blank answer. Of course I had to answer high for, “Do you think about being online even when you’re offline?” Well…yeah…I’m wondering about the book proposal I’m in the middle of that needs to be finished and sent off, if there is another project waiting for me, if my editor has sent back the last round of changes from the last batch of writing I did.
Of course…there’s Twitter. But I can quit that anytime I want to *snortchortlelaugh* (besides…Twitter is obviously for wasting valuable time talking about nothing business!)
My Two Year Old Craves Puberty (it seems…)
Creepy story alert. Well, not that creepy but yeah…you’ve been warned.
We were over at my great-grandmother’s house Sunday night and the kids were playing with crayons and paper. Usual toddler stuff…fun stuff…innocent stuff…
Abby brings me a crayon and paper and asks me to draw her.
No problem, I say.
I draw a piece of crap lovely stick figure with a striped dress and helmet hair.
Before we get into the dialogue, it’s necessary to note she doesn’t say things once, but about eight times. She just repeats herself. It’s her way. Instead of, “I want something to drink.” It’s, “I want something to drink i want something to drink i want something to drink.” She’s not loud, though, so it’s not that annoying. Especially when you consider she isn’t speaking 100% clearly so it takes me a couple times to actually understand what she’s saying.
Abby says, “I need a belly button.”
I add a big dot on her dress in the appropriate belly button location.
Abby says, “I need a tummy.”
I add parentheses on either side of the belly button so it looks like a tummy (close enough, anyway.)
Abby says, “I need boobies.”
My jaw hits the floor. We had the boobie discussion once, about six months ago, for Sadie’s benefit because she was pointing to my body parts and eventually she got there and I had to pick a word and the thought of my three year old saying “breasts” was too creepy for me to bear, so I chose boobies. Or bubbalas. I’m not overly picky, but I avoided funbags for obvious reasons of tact.
I ask her to repeat herself (even though she’s now said it eight times, each one more confusing than the last for me)
“I. Need. Boobies.”
I’m thinking she must just be repeating a word so I ask her where on the drawing they should go.
By golly my two and a half year old daughter knows exactly where the boobies go.
So I add them. Just two almost flat lines that curve up slightly on the sides. Subtle.
She smiles and says, “Now it’s me!”
Really, I have nothing more to add. Just know that I am pretty sure at this point I’m expecting a fairly rocky adolescence if she’s this all about the boobs now. Because I didn’t get mine ‘till college. If she’s hoping for them sooner rather than later we’re going to have a great water balloon target bra stuffer on our hands.
I Tripped Over My Tongue – Hope I Didn’t Blow It
I belong to a list called Help A Reporter Out (HARO) – there are media queries every day and I’ve replied to maybe three out of over a hundred that have come into my inbox.
It’s that whole integrity thing. I don’t lie to get a quote, because it would be pointless and I’d spend all day writing fiction instead of my one true love, non-fiction.
I just received a fact-checking call from Glamour magazine. After talking to the very nice lady I asked her if she was a freelance writer or if she was an employee. She turns out to be an editor. So I, realizing I might not get this chance again, ask her, “If you like my writing, I’m a freelance writer and would be happy to help out if you need it anytime.” Then quickly followed up with, “That’s not bad to say, is it?”
She assured me it wasn’t bad and that she’d let me know.
While I’m pretty sure she will never darken my caller-id (I sounded kind of foolish on the phone because I was really nervous) I’m wondering if I did something that breaks some freelance writer rule I wasn’t aware of.
Worse yet, I hope that telling her I was a writer doesn’t cause her to doubt my story. (My story that was, in fact, 100% true) and if sending an email letting her know it was true might make her suspicious it was not, just by the very nature of telling her.
Confused. That’s what I am right now. Gosh, I wonder if there was a better way to handle that opportunity. What do you think?
Finance Fridays: How my relationship with money has changed
I’m sure this isn’t going to be the be-all end-all definitive post on my relationship with money, but it’s a stepping stone kind of progress entry.
After Randy got home last night (he finally arrived at 9:45pm) I was going through my email and found there was one there from Mint.com – I had used Mint, and reviewed Mint over on MommyBlog Reviews but hadn’t used it extensively because it seemed geared almost exclusively toward people with credit cards.
Well the email was announcing that you could now add:
- Student Loans
- Auto Loans
- Your mortgage
- Other Investments
Hot dawg!
So I traipsed back over there and began adding like a madwoman. First I added my ING Savings account so I wouldn’t forget to, then added our car loan (we think we can pay this off next month, but it was still fun to add), a 401(k) I’ve had since I was 23 and our mortgage.
It’s all in one place now.
Did I mention this service is free? It’s just so cool. It sends you email alerts if you’re over budget, it downloads your transactions so you can categorize them, you can import them into a money or quickbooks type program for your convenience…really…I’m so glad they added that stuff.
While we were doing all of this it dawned on me that my spending had increased, but it was less than 10% of the total extra income that is now coming in. That’s important because I’m not sure how most people increase spending vs. income, but I know a lot of people do a hell of a lot more than 10%. They would have to or we wouldn’t see hugely expensive homes owned by celebs getting foreclosed on.
At the same time, I found I was looking at a sundress for Sadie online and almost bought it. It was $34.90 – I stopped right before hitting the “Add to Cart” button. Sure it was adorable and would make her look like the cutest tot on the block, but she’s 3 – there is no way that dress will get more than one maybe two visits with the outside world before it’s ruined. (My kids like to get dirty and play and do kid stuff, clothes get stained quickly.) For $34.90 I could buy her almost six outfits at Kohl’s or Target on sale. Six outfits is a lot! That’s three per toddler in this house.
I cannot believe I almost bought the dress.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not attacking myself for the dress thing, but it made me think. If I bought that dress…and the next dress I saw that was really cute…and then the brand new cloth diapers instead of the used diapers at Diaper Swappers (if you cloth diaper it’s a must visit forum) where would it end? I guess I just don’t want to find out, because I’m not trying to keep up with anyone or show off how expensive my kids’ clothing is. I think a savings account is a far bigger “brag item” than a Sterling Silver teething ring rattle from Tiffany. (Even tho I totally wanted one before Sadie was born! LOL)
In case you didn’t see it up there…we think we’re going to be able to pay off the car in August! WooHOO! That car payment is then going to go toward Randy’s student loan debt. I’m already on a repayment plan, and he needs to be on one too. Then, in September we can eradicate all the other little debts that we find on our credit report and the two that are tacked on the bulletin board in my office.
I just checked on our electric bill online, it’s one we were really worried about now that we’re using the window air conditioner instead of central air. The air conditioner is from, like, 1970 so it’s very much not Energy Star compliant. But the bill was only $99 dollars! Looks like going with the window unit really was the frugal decision! Maybe I should look into getting a replacement window unit that IS Energy Star rated. Just a thought.
Amazing Clean Water Video – UK
I’ve been donating to a charity for clean water for a long time (probably three years, and they’re not life-changing donations) but this really puts it in perspective.
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Don’t you think this video is crazy powerful? I think more nonprofits could use techniques like these to bring worldwide issues home to people who have trouble comprehending just how bad everyday life can be when you don’t have a house, or clean water, or food…
Update on Wanting to Ditch my Kids
I figured out why I was in hell with the kids last night.
Seems I was coming down with something, so my normal responses were all fogged and I felt desperate and junk. I didn’t sleep much last night because my body wanted to make absolutely sure (for hours) that I knew sickness had arrived in full force.
This morning? We all had some Cream of Wheat and I’m feeling sorry for myself while lying in bed playing with them.
Except for now. Now I’m getting some work done, and my blogging done. Then it will be back to bed.
At least now I know why I was just so done with it all last night!
