Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Facebook: Rules of the Road?
So, I'm in a quandry with this whole Internet thing. I have no problem putting myself out there on this blog where I can somewhat control who finds it (those who know me that is). But Facebook? I've been "friends" with a couple of co-workers for a while now, but since you can see who people are friends with, even though you aren't one, it has caused people I hardly know at work (including those I don't necessarily want to know, including my assistant) to invite me to be their friend. I don't want to just ignore said requests, but what I've done with now 2 of them isn't a good solution either: I accepted them as friends and then discreetly removed them. I know that FB doesn't notify them that I've done that, but if they ever try to look me up again I won't appear on their list and they can no longer read my posts. If I hardly used FB like I used to, it wouldn't be a big deal, but I've started posting while having fun, and that usually means drunk dialing of some sort (like last night's posts from a lesbian bar I happened to be at with a friend). Do I want co-workers, and my very Baptist (no offense) assistant, who I don't know on a personal level reading my drunken posts? Not so much.So, how do I go about this? Do I stop using FB? Do I start a no co-workers as friends policy? Do I just ignore all future requests and hope the 2 that I removed never notice/never ask?
This Internets thing is hard to navigate. What are the rules!?
Labels: Work
|Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Daycare
It was hard when we first enrolled Claire in daycare. I mean, you don't know how difficult it is handing over your precious little one to a stranger all day, but then you do and it becomes easier. Eventually, you look forward to it and so does your child - they need the interaction with other children and they need to learn to trust other adults and places.I was very happy to see these pictures of Claire on the playground at the PDO (Parents Day Out) program she goes to on Mondays and Fridays. She is in love with this little boy, Liam, who has been in her 1 year old class all year. She's got good taste - he's a cutie with all that brown curly hair and blue eyes.
As much as we have liked the daycare at my work that she goes to on Tuesdays and Thursdays, because of how close she is to us if anything happens to her and because of how structured it is with age-appropriate activities (finger painting, crafts, learning colors and animals), it's just too expensive for us to continue. $50 a day is pricey for us, especially considering that she's missed 3 weeks due to illness since January and because Huz looses his PhD funding next month (it only lasts 4 years and here we are...4 years!). We have to learn how to live on my income alone and that scares the bejeezus out of me. So, come the Fall, we'll be taking her out of work daycare and putting her into a second PDO because that's the only affordable option. Granted, it's only 5 hours a day, but Huz needs any time he can get to finish writing his dissertation. Speaking of which, we'll be having a Half Way Done party next month - I'll be sure and share photos from the event. I don't think I'll be replicating the half birthday cake that looked like a deformed football, but I might think of something fun.
We saw the second PDO last week and were both very excited. It seems to be a great place that has the structure/crafts/age-appropriate learning that the full-time daycare does, but at an affordable price. She'll be doing kindermusik once a week too, which will be fun.
I know it's been boring around here and I apologize. Twitter and Facebook have distracted me. I'll get better at blogging, promise.
Labels: Child Care, Parenting
|Monday, April 27, 2009
Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!
Picnic Frock GIVEAWAY!!!! |Friday, April 24, 2009
Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!
Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!I'm hoping to win one of these cute hats! |
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Odds and Ends
I'm listening to this right now and thinking of Memphis.I'm liking this idea and wanting some right about now.
I'm loving these photo ropes that I bought for my office. I plan to have a rotating gallery of the photos I shoot.
I saw Eagle vs Shark the other night and am calling it the New Zealand version of Napolean Dynamite. Pretty funny and light - perfect for a PMSy evening on the couch.
I saw this movie the other night and really, really enjoyed it. Partly because I've been to Bruges and also because the dialogue is hilarious, despite the serious subject.
I found out recently that Colin Farrell was born the same year as me. I don't know how I feel about that.
I'm thinking of submitting something to this art show. Eeek!
That is all. |
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
More Memphis Photos
I forgot to upload the Treo pictures from the trip.Road trip! Woo!
An attempt to put my good eye forward (I still had obvious pink eye during our trip).
Beer! (Yes, I'm a label ripper. Cannothelpmyself.)
Live music.
We're out in a bar in a new city WITHOUT A KID to take care of! Woooo!
Labels: Me and Huz, Memphis
|Monday, April 20, 2009
Bourdain Would Have Been Proud
I ate so much pork this weekend that Anthony Bourdain would have been applauding. Memphis, ah, Memphis. You're the first city Huz and I have escaped to for one blissful kid-free night in an entire year and a half*. Much fun was had - I twittered about it the whole time, but for those of you who don't follow me (or didn't see it on my sidebar), I'll give you a recap.
After seeing Claire and her Grandma ("Mo Mo") off for a trip to the Nashville Zoo, we packed and took off in a car seat-free car (weird!) for a 3 hour drive southwest.
Our first stop was a BBQ joint where a local that I work with told me was the best, and it was.
We checked into our hotel (with champagne in hand), freshened up, and headed out for some shopping and Beale Streeting.
We got caught in the pouring rain and had much fun and laughter as we hopped through
We went back to the hotel for a very nice, long, non-kid-interrupted sleep. I never used to think that sleeping until 8:00 was considered "sleeping in," but it is and it was wonderful. We enjoyed our complimentary gourmet breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then headed out for a few more hours of fun.
We rode the trolley around town.
We saw Sun Studios and the ducks crossing at the Peabody Hotel (a 76-year-long tradition that started with 2 drunk hunters playing a joke).
We went to Gus's Chicken for lunch, which took forever, but, damn, was it good fried chicken! I admit, we took the time to loop back up to Central BBQ to get a full slab to bring home so that we could compare ribs at Rendezvous and Central (verdict is: Central kicks ass!) and a rib spice rub gift for my mom for her babysitting awesomeness.
Then we headed home.
Basically, it was an awesome time. Very brief, but very fun. Marc Cohn sings about seeing the ghost of Elvis in Memphis. I wasn't even looking, as I'm not a fan, but I can definitely see the history. It's sort of stuck in the past a bit. And that's alright. Thanks for the good time, Memphis! (And thank you, Mom, for allowing this to happen!)
*Today is Claire's 1 1/2 year birthday! Yay!
Labels: Me and Huz, Memphis, Photography
|Friday, April 17, 2009
Fun With Viruses
I don't think I knew just how many sicknesses I would get after having a child. Claire was sick all last week with fever and ear infection and then I get this random sore throat for 4 days, followed by a RAGING case of pink eye. Remember the last time I had pink eye? Yeah, well this case is like 10 times uglier, itchier and painful. I'm guessing I picked up the virus that Claire had, only it manifested itself in different ways for me. LOVELY.My mom flew into town last night - she's here for a work conference, but is offering us babysitting all weekend. So, I'm looking HORRIBLE but we're going to go to Memphis (for the first time!) on Saturday night - SANS KID! Woo hoo! I'm looking forward to our first night away in a year and a half, even if I look like a freak. I'll wear my sunglasses the entire time, hoping people will just think I had too much fun on Beale Street the night before.
Happy Friday everyone! |
Monday, April 13, 2009
My Big Fat Easter Weekend
My Easter weekend was very un-Eastery, truth be told. I did not go to church, nor did the Easter Bunny show up with baskets laden with milk chocolate that Claire can't eat anyway. There was no big family gathering and there was no lamb dinner with friends.No.
My weekend rocked in different ways, though, because it was a time of empowerment for me. A time when I thought, hey I was diagnosed with the freakiest disease just 6 months ago and here I am alive, well, vibrant, and full of badass.
What am I talking about?
Well, I ran my first race this weekend. I ran a 5K while pushing Claire in a jogging stroller, which is no easy feat, mind you, considering that she's 20 pounds and the stroller is probably about the same. It was freezing (40 degrees) that morning and I inadequately dressed Claire so she cried the last mile because her hands were so cold (she wouldn't keep them under the blanket!), but I ran it. The whole 3.1 miles of it. And I did it in 33 minutes which isn't too shabby if you ask me (I haven't run but 3 or 4 times since last Fall and nothing more than a mile and a half). As I was running I thought, cancer? you can kiss my ass because here I am, running, alive, happy, and people are cheering for me to boot! It was empowering to say the least and it definitely won't be my last race.
That night I did what I have been talking about doing for years. I got inked. Gasp! I have been thinking, nay agonizing, for months about what to get that would symbolize something important to me and that would still mean something to me in a decade or two. I finally decided on a bird in flight which would represent freedom and moving beyond the past: both the past of religious fundamentalism and the past of the Big C. I saw a girl's bird tat the night of the Gala a few weekends ago and it made me excited. Getting cancer gave me the courage and the validation to go ahead with it. So, off I went to a local tattoo parlor that two of my friends have gone to and recommended. Initially I was turned away because the artist was busy (they don't do appointments on the weekends - I tried), but I called him and arranged to come back at 8:00 instead. I went. I did. I love. It wasn't THAT painful, though it definitely hurt. After going through labor pains, though, it was a walk in the park.
So, here she is. My symbol of freedom from the past. I've been granted grace sufficient to make it through the rough patches of my life and this will always be a reminder of that for me.
On Easter Sunday, Huz's uncle from North Carolina visited. We went out for brunch (I had a rhubarb mimosa and some lovely crepes with chicken and ham in a bechemel sauce and Claire ate almost an entire homemade apple sausage link!). Then we hung out at home, watched Claire play, hung out on the sunny patio while she napped, then I shared some freshly made Amaretto Bread Pudding with the boys before Uncle Tracy left for the airport.
Happy Easter to you and yours!
Love,
The Winters Family (with Wella)
The Winters Family (without Wella)
Labels: Excercise, Family, Tattoo
|Photo Share
I will post about my (very! exciting!) weekend later, but for now I wanted to leave you with some recent pictures of the Bear.Cost of this caterpillar rocker at a store? $157 (!!)
Cost of this caterpillar rocker at a consignment sale? $20
Watching Claire rock on it and hearing her say "weeee!"? Priceless
I love me some consignment sales.
Claire was watching my little fancy dress photo session of myself and walked in the frame at one point, so I finished it by taking a picture of the both of us.
Her first pair of shorts.
Another fun, new (to us) consignment sale toy.
Claire's new "fun station".
My two favorite people.
An airplane!
Labels: Claire, Consumerism
|Thursday, April 9, 2009
WTF
The Bear has been sick since Friday and I am so over it. I (and Huz) have been as selfless and nurturing as possible, but when she hits me and arches her back and screams and throws her pacifier and stuffed bunny at me? I get over parenthood in a quick hurry. I hate to admit that because instantly I cry and feel guilty, but it's just the truth, damn it, and somebody needs to say it.At book club last night someone mentioned that NPR did a story about some blog where mothers admit to horrible thoughts or actions. I'm going to find this right now in hopes that it will make me feel better about the frustrations of the last week.
Here it is. I am going to start reading and hope that it's like a balm to my weary, guilty, bad-mom soul.
Labels: Parenting
|Saturday, April 4, 2009
Gala Math
This:
Plus This:
Plus:
1 glass red wine, 2 cranberry vodkas, and 1 very strong margarita (for me)
4 glasses of whiskey neat (for him)
Plus:
Lots of dancing to live music
Equals:
Crazy good time and a serious hangover.
-----
Thanks for voting and helping me decide which dress to wear everyone! You made it so fun. I obviously went with #2. I cut the tags off and wore that thing. Yippee!
Labels: Me and Huz, Party
|Friday, April 3, 2009
Help Me Decide Which Dress To Wear Tonight!
Okay, readers. I need your help. I'm going to a gala with Huz tonight (it's his grad school and I don't know any of these students or professors). I tried on all the dresses I own this morning and need help deciding which to wear.Here we go.
#1 Dark Blue Gown
This one fits like a glove, which is okay first thing in the morning (like when I took this picture) but my body gets bigger as the day goes on. I'm not sure how it'll look tonight.
#2 Black Gown
I bought this one 6+ years ago and it still has the tags on it. Like the one above, it's pretty skin-tight and will show all my middle pudge this evening
#3 Pink Dress
Nothing too special. What do you think?
#4 Green Bead Dress
This one is on loan from a friend. I think it's adorable on her, but I feel it's a bit of a potato sack on me. What do you think?
#5 Green and Brown Dress
This is a juniors dress that shows lots of leg (which is why Huz wanted me to buy it last year).
#6 Little Black Dress
This is a simple dress that I've worn to several parties. It fits well and shows off cleavage.
#7 Black Halter Dress
I bought this a long time ago to go with Huz to his 10th high school reunion. I wore it without a bra back then, but am not as brave now. I don't know if this one is realistic because I don't have time to go out and buy a halter bra.
