Fun Monday--the Fire Sale Edition

Don’t know if you heard, but Northern California is pretty much aflame. Seriously, I woke up with a sore throat from all the smoke in our air. It’s bad. Really bad. None of the fires are very close to us, but the wind is working against us as far as smoke goes. And, just for the record, the beach house has a fire just a few miles from it too, so going down there isn’t much help. Thus you get the fire sale edition of Fun Monday. cough, cough

After many weeks off I decided to participate in Fun Monday again. Fun Monday this week is hosted by Hula Girl at Heart, (go check her out for more on this topic and a really, really 90's wedding dress). The topic she gave us is:

Show us those pieces of clothing you just can't part with, whether you wear them or not. It might be your grandma's vintage wedding dress, a jacket from high school, a t-shirt from an old boyfriend or those jeans you hope to get back into some day. It could be anything. Most of us have something like that we can't seem to throw away.

I was going to participate in the Fun Monday by talking about my favorite outfit, which is a teal skirt & top. I got the outfit the spring Daddy Speak & I were engaged; so it’s 8-9 years old. I love it for a lot of reasons, mostly cause it’s gorgeous and my eyes turn the same color teal when I wear it. I wore it a lot and even took my engagement photos with DaddySpeak in it, so it’s memory is well preserved to me no matter what. Once I got pregnant with BigSpeak (6 years ago) I no longer fit in it. Or at least, no longer fit in it well. I hold on to it in the hope that I will get thin enough to get back into it, although I’m pretty sure even at a size smaller than it, my hips expanded enough so that it won’t fit “right”. But I still hope, a girl‘s gotta have a dream, right? Today I decided I’m going to give up that dream. Yup, just today I decided I’m going to get rid of it. Our friends who lost their house this weekend, I’m going to pass it on to them. Well to K, I don't think D would look that good in teal, I'm just saying... They have nothing now and it’s just sitting in my closet, waiting to eventually be passed on to Goodwill. Instead it’s going to get a new life. It holds such happy memories for me, it seems fitting that it should help her move forward into new happiness.

This is not the best pix of it, but the only I could find for now. Plus look at DaddySpeak w/his long hair! Being the Rock Star he is!

Checking BACK In….

Yup, more back cracks. I know, I’m sorry. Honestly, it’s pretty much what’s going on here these days. I was down for the count Thursday and Friday. Saturday & Sunday I took it easy, sort of. Taking it easy meant I didn’t pack moving boxes up and down stairs I guess, cause on Monday I worked in the garden. I know, what was I thinking???? I was thinking that those bulb kits at Costco were a good price, (only $15) and that we had a weekend long break from the rain and it was nice to get outside. I was thinking it was a nice project for my MIL & the kids. That’s what I get for thinking. But DaddySpeak & I planted them w/the girls, so that's what I get for thinking. They weren't labor intensive or anything. They were even in raised beds, but it was enough bending and reaching to throw me off I guess. I spent the later part of yesterday & early today feeling like crap. I hope I didn’t undo any good the shot had done. I promise I will behave myself from now on; beside it’s raining again & we go to MEXICO in two weeks! GAWD, I can’t wait.
In the meantime, apparently Antique Mommy’s Sean is walking around in a coma. (No, I’m not making light of her situation, but if his count really was 2000, I’m pretty sure a coma would be the upside of things. I’m on the side of human error in the testing, but I’m also saying a little prayer for them too.) Amalah & Mrs. Mogul went & got knocked up again! (Yes, I’m totally broody and jealous. Sigh) And Juni’s a big sis! So there’s your something shinny. Go read and enjoy, I’m going to bed early to try and HEAL!

FUN Monday (whee!!!)

Whee! Are you having fun yet? I’m a little delirious about now, this cold is getting to me.
Ok, well I’m actually NOT having fun right now. I was all excited to share my pet photos with you and guess what?! Remember that CPU that got fried from the power outage on Friday? Um yeah. We didn’t lose the photos, we have them backed up in like 4 hard drives, but we don’t have a working CPU to access them right now. Yes, I could hook them up to this laptop, but that would take a while and I’m really don’t have the energy to get that involved in it. So I have some photos they just aren’t as recent as I had hoped and they won’t include our neighbors dog either. You'll have to settle for some old pix for now. Sorry deal with it, you're getting two posts in one day, don' t push it ok? ;-)
So Lisa over at Lisa's Chaos is hosting Fun Monday this week, here's her topic:
Let’s meet your pets. I think most of us have at least one pet and I would like to see your fluffy or scaly pal. If you don’t have a camera you can tell us about him/her/them. If you don’t have a pet tell us about a pet you had or a pet you want. If for some weird reason you hate all animals we want to know why gosh-dang-it.
Ok Lisa, you asked for it:
My mom (and quite possibly my husband) would tell you I bring home every stray in the county, which is totally not true (only the cute ones). I do, however, love my babies. I’ve had a pet of some sort for most of my life, mostly dogs, but after my teen years I started with my kitties too. In college (the dorms) I suddenly didn’t have any pets and boy did I miss them. After college & the dorms, there was a kitty who lived in apartments with me. I had this kitty for 7 years and there was a lot of drama involved with this kitty, A LOT OF DRAMA. But any story involving that kitty is a series of posts and in the not all happy, (he had what they call "behavior issues") so we’re going to focus on happier times and the current babies.

Once I purchased my first home (by myself) I got Merit. Merit is 7 now. When I got her I worked at an ad agency which allowed you to bring your dog to work. Quite possibly one of the best places I'll ever work. We dubbed Merit, “Director of Dog Services” and she l became the department mascot. She learned tons of tricks while I worked there. I’d go to a meeting with her sleeping under my desk and come back to a monitor filled with post its notes of all the people who came & got her and took her places. In turn I had a “cookie jar” of dog treats on my desk and on Mondays I would put a post it on the top describing our trick of the week. She wasn’t to get treats unless she earned them. As a result of this Merit knows how to do the following: sit, down, come, shake, high-five, play dead (roll on her side), drop (whatever is in her mouth, including food), wait (when she's eating we make her stop and take food from her, so she won't get food aggression), heel (although she’s pretty rotten about that one if she thinks she can get away with it), bed (get on her bed), find “daddy” (or mommy, or either of our kids), crawl (we call it sneaky-sneaky), and hold, which involves holding a piece of food on her snout until given the command of ok, at which time she’ll flip the food into her mouth. (When we had Mowry we had them trained to do it in tandem). Yeah, I could go on and on about Merit she’s my baby. I choose this pix (taken in Oct) because it reminds me of how much of a part of our family she really is, as usually she's right in the middle of the action.
This is Mama. A few years back I was feeling a bit maternal. Daddyspeak and I had gotten married, purchased our first home together, etc…but I wanted a kitty to snuggle with again. I went to the Humane Society to adopt a kitten. While I was waiting they were asking people to come hold the older cats and someone handed me Mama. What a snugger! She chose me right there and then. When it got to be my turn I found out that the last girl kitten had just been adopted, but I couldn’t help myself I was already in love with Mama. She was 2 at that time, so that makes her about 9 (wow, I just realized how old she is, I haven’t really thought about it in a while!) Mama runs the show. She allows the kids to pet her and generally just moves when she is done with them. She’s still very much a lap kitty.
The last of my brood is Monkey. Yes, I know that’s an odd name for a cat. (My mom has a cat named Mouse, so Monkey suddenly isn’t so weird is it?) After getting Mama I was still feeling maternal & wanting a kitten so we went to the one of the local rescue groups and adopted Monkey. Her original name was Samba, as they named all the kitties in her litter after different dances. Monkey was a teeny, tiny kitty for a very long time. (Part of why Mama kept her name as Mama seeing as she was the bigger of the two.) One day when I got up from sitting on our bed and she launched herself onto my back in play. She was so little it didn’t hurt and it was funny as all get out (I imagine she looked a lot like small backpack) and I called her “Monkey-cat” and it just stuck. She’s much bigger now. I n fact, I just told her the other day I was going to change her name to “Fatty” for obvious reasons. She’s very much my cat & tends to follow me around the house. In fact, she won’t go to bed until I do, so she’s sitting next to me right now. Occasionally, she’ll meow at me cause she wants to go to bed & I’m taking too long. Monkey is surprisingly, also really good with the kids. Monkey’s always been a bit skittish and tends to go hide when new people are around or if someone is just moving too fast; like kids will do. But lately she’s decided she likes the attention and now that DD2 really understands how to scratch her she’ll go looking for her for some lovin’. Mama & Monkey mostly get along, but occasionally get into spats where we’ll have to separate them & reintroduce them to each other. They’re like to old ladies who get sassy with each other once in awhile, but most of the time (even when they supposedly aren’t getting along) we’ll find them sleeping all curled up with each other.
I guess my novel gives you an idea of how much I love my babies. This is inspiring to maybe have a weekly post about my babies or maybe more directly about my family. Hmmm…no promises, but I’m thinking about it.
Alright, I’ve typing for so long now that I’ve missed Fun Monday and this will be posting on Fun Tuesday! Monkey’s meowing at me again so I’m off to bed!

Clear Cake People (aka—1000 Marbles)

I got my daily chain mail this morning. I get this kind of stuff all the time, I'm sure you do too. The chain letters that will bring you love, health and long life as long as you "send it on to 10 of your friends in the next 10 minutes or you'll be doomed to email hell." (On a side note; are you really my friend if you're willing to risk dooming me to email hell over a chain mail? Or are you just concerned about your own well being? I digress...) I normally delete them after I read them (fight the madness, stop the spam!). But I got one today that was worth mentioning (link here if you want to read it.) It reminded me of a friend I knew many years ago. And he had a theory about living life that I seem to be having trouble with as of late. The hectic pace I’ve been under this last month has made it hard to “see the forest for the trees” so to speak. So when reading this story I remembered this friend and his lesson and I thought it would be good to share with you.

This friend, “Tim” was Chinese (there’s a reason I’m mentioning this, stick with me here for a minute). He grew up in the Midwest; one of four boys. They owned the town’s Chinese restaurant (of course they did). He used to joke that every town in America is required one Chinese family to run the one Chinese restaurant in each town. I always check when I travel now, and I think he might be right. Although, maybe not Tuna, I’ll have to ask Antique Mommy if Tuna has a Chinese restaurant. Tim’s Grandparents lived in San Francisco. I’m not sure how it all came to be exactly, but by the time I met him he was living in SF with his Grandmother; taking care of her basically. I would venture to guess that they were probably taking care of each other. He never really talked about his Grandmother or the fact that he lived with her. I remember our little group of friends had known each other for quite some time before we became aware of the fact that he drove down to the South Bay for work because he lived up there. And that he lived up there because he lived with his Grandmother in her house. I believe he didn't mention it, because it was just something he did. He didn’t question it or complain about it, he just did it. I found out later that he was the one who came to live with her because he was the most mobile of the four brothers at the time. (Just out of college, no wife/girlfriend or kids to relocate). I think he never complained because in the Chinese culture (as well as many others) the older family members are revered and honored. When Grandma was alone and it became apparent someone needed to be keeping an eye on her to some degree the family figured out who was in the best position to go and then that person went. They didn’t put her in a “home” they moved in with her so she could finish her days in her own home. I know that’s not realistic for everyone, but it says a lot about their family and their commitment to each other. If he resented it I never knew. I don’t think he did and this theory of his is why:

Tim used to say that he thought us we had the whole birthday cake and candle thing backwards. That at the time of your first birthday they should figure out your expected life span and put that many candles on your cake. This means on your first birthday they start with say 75 candles. Every year they take a candle off. By the time you’re getting short of breath you have fewer candles to blow out. Once you’ve “cleared your cake” then everyday is an extra gift and people who fall in that category should get special treatment. He felt that “clear cake people” should get a free ride: free rent, no taxes, free transportation, free meals, free health care, etc…You’ve more than paid your dues to society, now it’s our turn to take care of you. This was told to us during Happy Hour one night and after that we would often toast to the “Clear Cake People”. I think this little story speaks volumes of how he felt about his Grandmother.
In the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, take a few minutes to take a deep breath and relax and think about why you’re rushing about; to have fun right? Don’t forget to have fun. Don't resent that dinner party you're going to because you really should be wrapping. It's really about being with people, and enjoying the time together. And when you say grace or propose a toast on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day make sure to toast the “clear cake people” and enjoy the candles you have left on your cake.

FUN MONDAY--X-MAS STYLE

I know Monday is almost over (it is over on the East Coast, but it's only 7 in Hawaii) but I'm still making it. I recently discovered a couple new blogs and via that I came across Fun Monday. It seemed like such a cool idea that I jumped in! Plus I think the topic is such a good one. I just so happens that we decorated our tree last night & when I sat back to enjoy it I decided to take a picture of my favorite ornament for a blog post. Queue Twilight Zone music. I'm physic or something. So without further ado:

This week is hosted by Lady K and is about your favorite ornament:

In the spirit of the season I would like to see your favorite Christmas
tree ornament. Not to be confused with the WHOLE tree. I want you to zoom in and show me one or a few(you know I can't choose just one!) of your favorite
ornaments. If you don't decorate a tree, show me your menorah or dreidel,
Kinara, or Yule Log. I want to see your favorite decoration for this holiday
season.

I have many favorite ornaments. I have several really cool ones that were made by my Godmother as "cards" on Christmas gifts. They're things like felt angels and wooden animals. They contain our names & the years in which they were made. I get the impression that my
mom thinks they're kind of a hippie thing, but I think they're cool. I also have a set of Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz wooden ornaments. But my overall very, very favorite ornament is one that is only 7 years old. It was given to me by DaddySpeak on our first Christmas as a married couple. It contains a picture of us on our wedding day. We're standing outside of the church kissing. When I look at it I'm reminded of how happy I was that day, and how very lucky I am to have him in my life (remind me of this next time I'm bitching about him, OK?) So I think it's pretty evident why it's my favorite.

I Enjoy Being a Girl

I was over on “Want Not” (great site for great deals BTW, Mir is my hero and she’s pretty, and not just cause she finds me great deals on stuff) and one of the deal’s she posted had to do with a “globe for girls.” It’s Pink and it comes with a cookbook, because geography alone won’t interest girls.

Ummm, I have a lot to say on this subject. I’ll do my best to keep it sort
of short, but you know how that goes with me so make sure you have something to
drink & get comfortable.

The comments section of her post evolved into an I hate “Bratz” discussion. Which, I am totally down with; I too loathe the Bratz.

I have a general philosophy about most of the things my kids play with;
everything in moderation. My experience is that kids covet what they can’t
have, so you don’t let them have it that’s what they want most. If you let
them have it in small doses then it loses it’s allure & they move on.

I feel that way about most things except Bratz. I think Bratz are awful because their main motivation is dressing cool (aka—slutty) and having attitude.

Dude, I am your mother & I have years of attitude on you (oh, no she dint,
Oh, Yes, she did, snap!)

If you’re going to have an attitude than have at least some smarts to back it up with, in which case you’ll probably figure out that, that kind of attitude isn’t helping you get so far in life. Something to ponder...
Someone commented that while they hated Bratz, but as a kid they played with Barbie so they supposed that made them a hypocrite. Hey, I played with Barbie, and while her clothing choices weren’t making her any girlfriends, at least she was career minded, right? So I went to the Barbie website to mention all the cool jobs Barbie had & found that I stand corrected.

I remember that Barbie was a pilot, a veterinarian, a pediatrician, a teacher, etc… very noble professions. Upon looking at the site I became totally disillusioned. I know there was “US President Barbie” when I was growing up, I know there was, damit!!! But when I went to the website to see if there was “computer programmer” Barbie or “NASA Engineer Barbie” I found that they were all “Fairies”, “Top Models” and “Fashion Fever” dolls….WTF? I guess Barbie is over the career thing now.

She thought she wanted a career, turns out she just wanted a job. Hey someone’s got to heat that dreamhouse.

So then, I clicked over to the “collectors” site thinking I’d find those career minded girls there. I found that they are mostly “Designer inspired” and “Hollywood” themed. There were a few “retro” style ones of which “career girl” from the 60’s is dressed nicely but I believe she’s off to be a receptionist. I’m not dis’in anyone who’s a receptionist, (I’ve been one myself at times) but I was kind of hoping for “financial advisor/CPA Barbie” or “Public Relations Barbie”. Maybe even “Graphic Designer Barbie” or “Venture Capitalist Barbie”. Something!

We hear all this marketing about “girl power” and empowering our girls; “go far in life”, “break down boundaries’ and glass ceilings”, but for all our talk we sure don’t seem to give them much that’s tangible. We PC “Take Your Daughter’s To Work Day” by hybridizing it into “Take your Child to Work Day”; the point was to give girls’ female role models, enlighten them to jobs they may not have been aware of previously and give them a sense of being special for being a girl. Hybridizing it takes that away, but that’s a soapbox for another day. We give them playthings that are only focused on fashion and beauty defining for them that their worth is really in their looks and when we do give them playthings of substance, (yes, I’m bringing it back to the globes, surprisingly this rant does have a point,) we imply that they can learn this stuff (geography) but “make sure you stick the basics girls’ learn to cook so you can keep your man happy.” Yeah, I’m being a bit sarcastic, I know, moi?, but the whole thing frustrates me.

I have two daughters and I want them to know they can do whatever they want education-wise, and therefore career-wise. It is only their mind and imagination that will hold them back, not money and definitely not gender. Both my girls are very big pretend players, especially with dolls. Right now it’s mostly princesses and mommy play, but soon it will be other things and I certainly don’t want the toys they play with to limit them, so maybe you can understand why this gets me a bit riled up. I am all about being a girl, I love the color pink and I love getting all dolled up in a girly sort of way. But being girly and being smart, strong & self-sufficient are not mutually exclusive and it’s time the media started to remember that.

POB, Perfectly ;-)

One of my fav reads every day is over at Cry It Out. Mike’s an excellent writer; I mentioned that last Wednesday when I was pimping other people’s blogs (OPB). There I two reasons I find Mike’s narrations compelling:

1) He has an adorable daughter who is the same age as DD2. It’s always good to commiserate with others, who are going through similar things, and I have no doubt that his Emme and DD2 will be cohorts in crime fast friends, if we ever finally meet IRL.

2) I aspire to be able to write as well as he does; he’s very good at communicating the feelings of a moment/story in very short order. (My 8th grade English teacher would’ve said, “He’s pithy.”) I, on the other hand, need to write a shot story just to tell you that I woke up.

I nominated this particular post for a November Perfect Post because it resonated with me on some many levels. From the comments he received I would say I am not alone.