Peter's Cross Station

Who Woulda Guessed?

via Susan:

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren't concerned much with theories or dreams... only what's true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren't subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Yes

We felt it.

There was this wild-eyed prophet of doom-type professor at my college who was always warning us about the New Madrid fault. We were all like, that old thing? Ha.

Ha!

(By the way, it's "MA-drid," not mah-DRID.")

Quick Things

No big posts yet, sorry. My grandmother died yesterday and we're off to Arkansas for the funeral. Two years ago, I had a dream that my grandmother died and I wrote this poem. It's complicated.

So that's one thing.

The second is, I got a thank you note from Gwen Ifill!!!!!! And she said to look for the necklace "on the air!" So by golly, look for the necklace, folks! Remember, it's this one.

I know. I'm such a dweeb.

So Many Posts, So Little Time...

I am strapped for blogging time this month. If I had time, here's what I'd be telling you about:

1. Stuff White People Think is Funny (or not) and Why (or not). (Topic requested by reader and jewelry patron, Martha.)

2. Lazy Home-Made Baby Food Shortcuts Discovered by Shannon the Second Time Around

3. Interesting Ways in which Nat is Beginning to Express Growing Understandings of Her Adoption

4. Cute Things the Sisters Are up to These Days

5. Pics of Nat's Birthday (more than a month later!)

6. More about the Big Freelance Writing Job and Why I am Asking for Your Help and Whose Help I'd Like Next

7. A Roundup of Books I've Been Reading Lately on the Topics of Race and Homeschooling (but not both together in one book)

8. Other (specify)

Please vote for your favorite! I'll try to get them out in order of popularity within the next month.

Air kisses!

Another Meme!

This time, I've been tagged by Dana.

My life story in six words or less:

better and better and better

If you have a blog, I tag you!

Passion Quilt

Tagged by Dawn!
Lessons from the Tortoise: Meme: Passion Quilt
# Think about what you are passionate about teaching your students.
# Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
# Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
# Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Lots of images might work, but this one, taken by my friend, Donita, recently caught my eye. The title? Love.

Whether I'm teaching college students or my own children, I think love is the center of all my teaching. I teach because I love teaching. No matter how otherwise misanthropic I tend to be, I always fall in love with my students. The heart of my teaching is to learn what it is you love, pursue your love, do all you do with love and for love and in love. Love isn't always easy. Sometimes it requires hard work and sometimes it breaks your heart. But you will always learn something worth learning if you are working and striving and trying and risking failure out of love.

If you're a teacher, consider yourself tagged!

Briefly...

I am still working on that homeschool post--a little bit at a time. I just got a BIG freelance writing job and I have nearly 50 papers to grade and as Spring Break has arrived, the baby sitters have fled to warmer climes, so there is no time to blog.

That said, Donita tagged me so, in short, five things about me that I either never told you or you've forgotten by now:

1. During my junior year in Oxford, as an undergrad, I borrowed a "real" Oxford student's sub-fusc and snuck into the matriculation at the Sheldonian Theatre. So technically, I have matriculated at Oxford University, heh-heh.

2. I lived for a summer in San Fernando, Trinidad working for the Presbyterian Church. During that year, I went out on a full moon night and watched Leatherback turtles lay eggs on the beach. As in, I sat next to a Leatherback turtle and petted her while she laid eggs on a beach in the moonlight. I felt like I was in Land of the Lost.

3. I protested the first GW Bush inauguration. While waiting in line to get security checked for the parade, I politely, subtly called a guy a fascist in front of his 14-year old son. His son was cool. After talking to fellow protester, Sasha, and me for a while, he took off and got his own protest sign, much to his father's chagrin. Sometimes teen rebellion can be fun!

4. I took a graduate seminar with Toni Morrison who gave me an A in spite of the fact that, as she put it, my "computer had an interesting way with commas." I have a tendency to insert a comma every time I stop to think, while writing.

5. I just watched this cool episode of NOVA on Tuesday. Not only did they find a bunch of fossils of this one particular dinosaur with four, feathered wings, this one guy actually believes all the "raptor"-type dinosaurs had feathers. Even T-Rex! T-Rex, with feathers???!! and even maybe little wings??? Crazy, totally crazy. It's still messing with my mind, that one. Does that make me a geek?

The Suggestion Box is Open

1. I need to start using a feed reader. The blogroll is really unwieldy. Recommendations?

2. What's your favorite diaper rash cure and/or prevention? Nat never had it but I can't keep poor Selina's butt clear for more than a week, poor baby. We change diapers constantly. We use the usual zinc oxide stuff. I let her go bare for an hour here or there when I can (but like so many other of our woes, these days, the real solution is being able to go outdoors and the weather is not cooperating!). Products, people! I need product recommendations!

The Pelosi Collection

I'm always checking out the jewelry of women I see on t.v. Anyone else do this? Gwen Ifill, Nancy Pelosi and of course, Hillary Clinton have some great necklaces.

I am starting to identify a trend. It seems that necklaces made of--ahem--big balls, are quite the "power tie" for powerful women.

So I made a gift for Nancy Pelosi:

I enclosed a card suggesting she wear it with a red blouse for a subtly tasteful, patriotic look.

It occurs to me now that maybe she can't accept gifts. it isn't worth tons of money or anything, though.

Keep an eye on her and let me know if you ever see her wearing it!

Seen on a Bumper

1. A Jesus fish

2. A cross

3. A sticker reading "Die Tailgater Scum!" in flaming letters with devil horns.

Ah the diversity of humanity!

ETA: It just occurred to me that it is not completely clear that I mean to say all three of those were on ONE bumper. It struck me as a bit of a mixed message.

Something Borrowed: A Meme!

I googled around to find an easy meme I like. Here's the link to the original. Please leave your answers in the comments or a link to your blog where the answers can be found!

Name up to 3 books you think everyone should read.
Name up to 3 authors you think everyone should read.
Name up to 3 books no one should read.

My answers later. Gotta feed the baby now!

ETA:

Here are my answers:

1. I think everyone should read Huckleberry Finn.
2. I think everyone should read Toni Morrison.
3. I think no one should read Tom Clancy, John Grisham or Stephen King. From what I've read/seen, the movies are a lot better than the books.

Bonus "New" Post: Hair

Today is my 38th birthday! Cole got the baby sitter to hang out beyond my teaching time and I got my hair done and my eyes examined for the new glasses Cole bought me. I had to add a little fun to the hair this time around. Perhaps it's a pre-midlife crisis?

Something Old: They Don't Build 'Em Like They Used To

Cole and I have been doing a little real estate window shopping lately. We may have to leave our beloved condo behind sometime in 2008.
The stuff we've been looking at has mostly been post-war (WWII) construction. I love older construction. Our current place was built in the 1920's and it shows in the details. Nothing we've seen has this kind of crown molding, original tile flooring,
floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinetry. And if you want to add those things these days, it costs a fortune.
Here's to original details nearly a century old!

Landover Baptist on Obama

Anyone else get this? It's sort of the Onion of religion. Tres drole:

Are Americans So Bored With Reality Television They'd Put a Negro Islamic Extremist in the White House?

Diapers.com

If you use diapers.com you can refer a friend and get $1 off your next order. Meanwhile, your friend gets $5 off her first order. I think I'm going to start using diapers.com. Anyone want to refer me?

Thanks!

This is Fun

We have been having tons of fun watching old Sesame Street shows on the Old School DVDs I got last weekend. Cole predates Sesame Street whereas I am a Sesame generation kid. I'm loving introducing it to her. She's loving watching me get all nostalgic. And in spite of the disclaimer that the shows are "for adults" and "may not meet the needs of today's preschool children" I figure it's better for Nat than a yellow pants-wearing porifera shrieking hyperactively.

It is now 7:45 pm and I am going to bed. That is how tired I am. But I am two days away from nailing NaBloPoMo and I'm not giving in now.

I know I owe sster a feminism post. I have just been too brain dead to think that hard. There may be feminist commentary in that alone, but I'll try to rest up and make it the grand finale...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

By Way of Explanation

I wanted to do NaNoWriMo this year and finally pound out a nice draft of the lesbian Y/A romance that's been in my brain for ten years. But who am I kidding? I can barely keep the laundry from overrunning the house and the baby formula mixed and the bottles clean.

So blogging it is.

I won't promise you earth-shattering brilliance, but maybe I can get into a better groove than I've been in lately and learn to structure my time a bit more usefully in the bargain.

Now would be a great time to ask probing questions about anything you've ever read here. Or something you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Please. Shoot.

See You Tomorrow...And Every Day Thereafter for a Month

Tagged

Book meme via frog:

Total number of books owned:

I have a PhD in English, not higher math, sorry. I will say I just weeded them and packed up three boxes to take to the used bookstore. So three boxes fewer than last week. Which leaves, maybe 25-30 boxes if I had to pack them all up and move tomorrow?

Last book bought:

Can We Talk About Race? And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation by Beverly Tatum. More about it next week.

Last book read:

I've been reading a few at the same time, they are:
Dismembering Lahui: A History of the Hawaiian Nation to 1887 by Jon Osorio and Howard Gardner's The Disciplined Mind: Beyond Facts and Standardized Tests, the K-12 Education that Every Child Deserves which prompted me to go back to his multiple intelligences work.

Five Some Books that Mean a Lot to You:

The Complete Works of Robert Frost Someone once called Frost a "trite sentimentalist" in my hearing. I defended him even though it's probably true. But he was my childhood favorite.

A lot of Shakespeare; my short list would include Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest, Twelfth Night and, okay, Hamlet.

I am rather fond of many things about the Bible, good, bad, ugly and transcendent.

I am also fond of the Book of Common Prayer, in particular, the Compline Service and Baptism.

I have too many life-changing academicish books to list, but you know, the usual humanities grad school suspects, Judith Butler, Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Louis Althusser (in spite of the whole wife issue). That kind of stuff.

Now, I will tag Donita and Dori.

Eight Things?

Donita tagged me to do an "eight things about me you don't already know" meme. The trouble is, I've been blogging altogether too long because I think you know everything about me (that I'm willing to tell!).

As I lay awake last night wondering what I'd put on the list, I decided to recklessly alter the meme by telling you one amusing childhood anecdote I have told few people (because I'd forgotten it until recently):

I learned what the word "gay" meant when I was in the third grade. Some other kid told me (I forget who it was, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was my pal who was #7 in a Catholic family and always brought us info from her older sibs) that it meant "when two girls or two boys are in love like a boy and a girl."

I immediately tested the power of my new vocabulary by scribbling a note to the effect that "Lindsey and Julie* are Gay" and passing it through the class. Of course, eventually it found its way to Lindsey or Julie and then to the teacher, who simply worked her way backwards towards the origin of the note and uncovered me.

She took me aside and stage-whispered, "do you know what this word means???"

"No," I lied.

"Well it's not a nice thing to say about people. Don't ever say it about anyone again!" she hissed. Notably, she did not define the word for me.

Homophobia saved my skin because that was the end of it. The teacher was too embarrassed to call my parents or punish me or anything else. I do vaguely think I remember seeing Lindsey or Julie in tears and feeling guilty that I had done such a mean thing. Neither girl was particularly my enemy or anything. I just randomly picked them.

But Lindsey or Julie, if you're out there, well, I guess the joke's on me, eh?

*Not their real names. In fact, I don't even remember which two girls I picked. But there were no Lindseys or Julies in my third grade class.

P.S. Having altered the original meme beyond recogintion, I'll pass this one on to anyone who wants to play: Can you recall first learning the meaning of a word that has since come to have major significance in your life?

Cole from Champaign

Traveling with Kids

In a comment below, Stacey accuses us of traveling well with our children. I think I better disabuse her of this notion along with any of the rest of you who might be thinking that we breeze across the world with two in diapers with ease.

No, no, no.

We made it there and we made it back, but getting there was decidely not half the fun and getting back was a minor circle of hell.

Here's roughly how we did it:

I packed a huge insulated bag with enough formula ready-to-feed in bottles for 24 hours and enough 4 oz pre-measured powdered formula packets for about 72 hours. I also packed dry cereal and freeze-dried fruit in zip-top bags in varied flavors so that Nat could have one for three meals a day for about 72 hours, plus snacks for Cole and me.

I packed five diapers in each size in my new ginormous purse along with wipies and disposable changing pads and disposable bibs (plus everybody's passports, my wallet, our boarding passes, etc.). In addition, I packed about 10 diapers in each size in a separate carry-on bag, more wipies and an emergency change of clothes for Selina and me (spit-up protection). (I planned such that we'd be traveling an extra day and all our checked luggage would be lost.)

I packed a bag of airplane distractions for Nat, including Baker, the bedtime dog.

In addition to this stuff, we had a camera bag.

See here for an update on how the new stroller worked out for us.

We woke up early on Monday morning and David drove us all to the airport three hours away in Chicago. We checked the checkable bags and made our way onto our plane where we promptly waited on the runway for three hours before taking off for our four-hour flight.

That blew our plans for a walk down to the beach in LA. We slept at a Holiday Inn where I cleaned out all the used bottles, made more ready-to-feed ones and re-packed the cold bag (luckily our hotel room had a fridge with freezer for my ice packs). We got up early for our flight the next day to Honolulu. That went as planned, but it was close to six hours. Once in Honolulu we had a four-hour layover in the airport for our thirty minute Island hop to Kauai.

Then we had a fabulous time for six days.

The night before we left, I re-packed everything exactly as I had to leave home, but with a little less reserve snacks/food/diapers. We were supposed to check in to leave Kauai at 5:30 am on our leaving date. With the airport an hour away from the rental house, that just simply wasn't going to happen. So we left the house around 8 instead and got a stand-by flight at 11, and another stand-by from Honolulu to LA at 10 pm.

The 10 pm flight was a great choice for traveling with kids because they slept the whole time (plus we enjoyed hanging out in Honolulu for the afternoon). I, however, can't sleep on planes, so without a hotel overnight, I was really wiped out by the end of the second day after that four-hour flight back to Chicago and another three-hour drive back home. Also, with no hotel room, I had to clean out 6 baby bottles and remix formula in a filthy airport bathroom with water spigots that only work while you are pushing them in. That was the pits.

The actual traveling was wretched and horrid and terrible.

We never would have done that kind of trip with both Nat and a newborn if the trip hadn't been planned well in advance and we hadn't sort of (wrongly) assumed there'd be no new baby before September (if ever). So I don't recomend it. But we're glad we went and will definitely return to Hawaii but hopefully at least one of our kids will be out of diapers by then and the other will be eating more flexible foods.

The feeding is the worst part for me. If my boobs worked, it would have made the whole ordeal about 50% less difficult.

So maybe not well, but we did make it there and back. We only lost two items on route: the extra diaper bag and the bjorn carrier. But that's okay. We sort of needed a new one of each anyway.

Digital Cameras: Blessing or Curse?

We took over TWO THOUSAND photos. Here is...(help me, math people!) .25%?

Photos are:

1. At the ranch where Cole road her first horse (and I rode for the first time in way, way too long)
2. View from a lighthouse
3. See the rainbow? Waimea Canyon
4. We really liked Honolulu where we had a noon to 10 pm layover on the way home
5. Surfboards, Waikiki

Somebody Loves Me!

I got a real e-card! My BFF sent me one with hammond organs playing "Stayin' Alive."

Pretty cool.

Off to Eat Some Worms....

I keep getting phony e-card emails insisting that someone has sent me an e-card and then it turns out to be some fishing thing or a virus attempt (Mac User here: haha on YOU virus senders!).

Anyway, it's pretty sad and pathetic to get all excited that someone sent me a card only to find it's a hoax. Kind of feels like being the awkward girl the class put up for homecoming queen as a practical joke.

Woe is me.

Anybody else getting these things?

Another First

That would be a stream-of-conciousness post from me. I don't promise that I won't edit it, though.

Two kids means zero time of brain power for blogging, yet lots of thoughts throughout the day that just escape into the ether unappreciated because no one around is of age to discuss them with, or at least to respond intelligently.

Today, Nat was watching Sesame Street and Selina was having a mid-way bottle break (it takes her two or three rounds to finish off a bottle) and I had clean dishes to unload, so I plopped her on a Boppy my mom gave us that has the little toy bar thingys and went to unload the dishes. As expected, Selina liked that for about 45 seconds, after which, she started to cry. I heard Nat move in Selina's direction, so I sneaked a peak through the kitchen door to make sure she didn't smother baby sister, and what did I see? Nat sitting there on her knees, patting Selina gently on the tummy and saying "baby Seena, what wrong? What wrong? What wrong, baba Seena?" very sweetly.

Now that's just darned awesome.

I wasn't slinging Selina, because the chiropractor says I can't for an undetermined period of time. I can't lift Nat at all. And my back is still pretty much in constant pain except for the first hour after David puts this stuff on it called "Bio Freeze" (no link--google it--this is stream-of-consciousness). And now Cole has a cold and David has a cold and Nat's fever is gone, leaving her with a dry cough.

I am using her illness as an excuse to ban the sandbox. Her baby sitters--who do not have to give her baths--just love to let Nat play with other kids in the sandbox at the park. YUCK! And I know Nat. There's no doubt she has been putting random strange children's sandbox tous in her mouth. DOUBLE YUCK. Thence the 104 degree fever (that farenheit folks, just to reassure my European readers that she isn't boiling).

But you know, Nat is almost 2.5 and since her first birthday, she seems to get sick about every six months. This was her first recordable fever, but her thrid illness. If she gets sick every six months for the rest of her life, I figure she's ahead of the game.

Selina has yet to demonstrate her constitution, so we're keeping her out of reach of all contaminated people, which means everyone but me since bad backs aren't communicable. But that's okay, because she gets sweeter and sweeter. She got her first bath today and I am such a parent of a second child, because it went entirely unrecorded except her in print. No cameras still or moving.

But it happened and her cradle cap is now under control. It was threatening to obliterate her eyebrows there for a minute.

If you adopt, pretend you gave birth. In fact, pretend you had a c-section and need to recover and establish nursing and give yourself a break.

I know whereof I speak. I have been trying to comletely keep up the pre-Selina pace of house work, paid work and hobbies all on no sleep. I have tried really hard to just incorporate Selina somehow into the existing routine and guess what? No go.

The house is clean, the laundry is put away and I can't move for the pain in my back. The chiropractor says I injured myself in 3 places. I don't know the moment (or moments) this happened, I just know that after the Chicago court appearance schlepp I woke up the next day and couldn't move. Aunt Nancy who will be an acupuncturist next year says my back is pulled in a zillion directions because I am pulled in a zillion directions and my whole life, not just my back needs adjusting and I need to allow for that to happen.

I guess she's right. I guess I sort of even knew that but I was trying to deny it and now here I am in ouch-land.

Also I have two very big, very exciting secrets and I'm not going to tell you either one of them.

Yet.

Also today I decided we need three daughters. I decided we should adopt a 2-year old when Selina is four. I announced this to Cole after she dragged her sickly self in the door after a day at work and she said, "get back to me when Selina is four."

I think by then maybe lesbians will be able to openly adopt an HIV+ child in South Africa.

What do you all think?

No edits after all.

Enjoy.

Request

Have you ever been part of a reality t.v. show?

If you have, would you please consider emailing me a lengthy and detailed account of your experience including whether you'd do it again and why or why not?

If you haven't but know someone who has, could you pass this on to her/him?

Thank you, that is all!

Spring Cleaning

These are some dresses I've been lugging around for years after wearing each of them exactly once. For many reasons, I want my closets a bit roomier and let's face it, they're pretty, but I am never wearing them again. First of all, I never go anywhere that requires this level of smart and second, if I ever do, I'm going to want a brand-new (to me, anyway) dress. While I might be frugal in some ways, a new dress is not something I often forego, however pretty my existing collection.

So they are E-Bay bound, but I thought I'd give my readers first refusal. For $10 shipping + your best offer, you can own a little piece of Shannon's past, to exclude neither her first (age 23) legal, hetero marriage (the short dress) nor her second (age 33), extralegal, girl-girl commitment ceremony (long, white dress)!

I'm modelling them all here, to give you a rough sense of the size, but for more detail on that and/or more photos of any of them, shoot me an email.

I Heart Ebay

I just got this dress for Nat to wear to Aunt Nancy and Aunt Laurel's wedding for $10:

It's made by this designer.

More Search String Fun!

"Harriet Tubman's hobbies that she liked to do in her lifetime"

I'm thinkin' she would have been great at paintball. What about ya'll?

Great Advice, if Only I Could Take It

The scene: David and I are sitting in the living room watching t.v. It's 10 pm CST, so I start flipping channels looking for The Daily Show. I suddenly remember that when Cole changed the cable subscription recently, she accidentally cancelled Comedy Central and hasn't had time to fix it yet.

me: Ack! I can't get the Daily Show! What will I do?!

David: Watch the real news and laugh at that.

Dedicated to the One That You Heart

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Lilysea Designs presents these beautiful glass millefleur necklaces at the reasonable price of $20 + shipping. If you want, I can make a cute little gift card and send it to the person (or frozen vegetable, household appliance, etc.) you love!

P.S.
For something hoity-toitier, check out this page.

Update
The heart necklaces are sold out. Thanks to those who ordered! Hope you enjoy them.

Only Six?

Cluttergirl wants me to tell you six weird things about myself.

1. I don't think I've ever told you that I am allergic to allraw vegetables and fruits plus tree nuts. Oddly, peanuts are the one "nut" (not a nut!) that I'm not allergic to. You might well be reeling with shock now, if you know me as the mostly vegetarian, hyper-healthy, born-again home cook I portray myself to be on this blog. It isn't easy to be a vegetarian allergic to vegetables, but cooking, freezing/thawing, pickling, drying or otherwise changing the basic chemical structure of a plant seems to fix the problem for me. So I eat wilted salads and smoothies made with frozen produce.

2. I loved high school. Moreover, I loved my all-girls' Catholic high school. This is one of the many weird things about me that I didn't realize was weird at all until other people started making me aware of it. I will meet other alums of all-girls' Catholic high schools and they'll say "oh wasn't it just awful?" and want to bond over the misery. Mine rocked. It was seriously cool with fabulous students (at least my friends were an incredible bunch of young women) and mostly fabulous teachers--hippie, feminist, lefty nuns, hippie, feminist, leftie non-nuns, and re-renderings of God-language from "He" to "She" on a constant basis.

3. The t.v. mom I'd probably most like to be is Barbara--first wife on "Big Love." I thought of this one, because I recently led a mothers group meeting in which we talked about pop culture moms and I asked everyone this question, having not given it much thought myslef and I realized I adore Barbara. She and I have a lot of parenting values in common. Also, it seems natural to me, that a lesbian would like living in a plural marriage with three other women and a live-in sperm donor/bacon provider. (I'd prefer to receive the sperm in a little cup, of course, but other than that, it looks like a good deal.) Mind you, I'm not saying real plural marriage is necessarily a good deal (I wouldn't know, as I know no one who's in or has ever been in one), but that I like the way that show portrays it.

4. I have never dieted to lose weight in my life. I am chronically underweight and have often been accused of having a variety of eating disorders which annoys me for a million reasons, not the least of which is that sometimes, people accuse me in an admiring tone. I also hate it when people say "I wish I had your problem" because what it means is "you don't really have a problem" and it's dismissive of my actual problem. It's stupid to wish you had anybody's problems. It's much easier to maintain a decent body weight on the frozen plains than it was in a walking city, by the way, especially with Cole's big, cabled-up t.v. and nothing to do but sit and eat nachos and watch "Big Love." In DC, I walked about 10-15 miles per week at a healthy clip and had no t.v. Here, I walk maybe one mile per week in the summer, and nothing but car-to-building-to-car in the winter. So I'm fine at the moment, but it's a lifelong struggle in general. It wreaks havoc with my immune system when I'm too skinny.

5. I didn't start shaving my legs (after stopping, in college, that is) until I came out as a lesbian at age 29. Same goes for wearing lipstick and high heels.

6. I honestly don't care at all what famous people do in their actual lives. I can rarely remember their names and have no interest in them beyond whether I like their acting/character in a movie or t.v. show or whatever. Really. I have very, very few exceptions to this and sometimes fake interest because other people seem interested. It is hard for me to understand why anyone cares. I really don't get it at all. Sometimes I like to look at the clothes they wore to events, or at pictures of their babies, but no more than I'd want to flip through Vogue, or look at your babies. Actually, I far prefer your babies.

Cole suggests that this meme be changed such that the blogger's partner gets to list six weird things about her. Cole had many suggestions for me. They didn't make the cut (except the vegetables thing which topped both of our lists). But if you want to list six weird things about yourself, report six weird things your partner identifies about you, or maybe split it three/three, be my guest!

To Do:

Hey everyone, thanks so much for all your congrats!

I have loads of work to do this week, but there are a few things on the to-blog list I thought I'd let you in on in advance (and keep myself from forgetting).

1. A product review from a company that sent Nat a crate of new books (don't forget that you too can get crates of free stuff by registering with Dawn's new organization)

2. A list of books on race for kids and adults

3. More about the piece I needed your help with

Maybe I'll get enough done today to get to one of these. And maybe I'll add a turkey soup recipe if I like the way mine comes out today!

Hug! Hug! Hug!

Nat has a book called Hug! Hug! Hug! It's a very simple book, but she loves it and finds it comforting and uses its tagline to make Mama Shannon instantly stop what she's doing, drop to the floor and open her arms wide for Nat, any time, night or day.

Anyway, ya'll, I say, "Internet Hug! Hug! Hug!" right now.

Why do I say this?

Without going into details, I hung out with some very normal (and don't get me wrong--very nice) people today, and I felt like such a freak when I left. But you people always make me feel so ordinary. It's because you're a bunch a freaks too, you realize that, right?

Fortunately, in my world (the little teeny, no-normal-people-usually-around-much world), "freak" is a compliment.

So thanks for being your freaky selves.

p.s. Yes, even you over there, ducking and thinking "oh if only she knew how normal I secretly am!" because if you were as normal as you fear you are, you wouldn't be reading this blog, now would you? After my experience today, I'm definitely thinking no. No you would not.

See How Productive I Am?

I made this necklace, and re-priced all of my jewelry. Maybe someone can afford it now?

Only 361 shopping days until Mother's Day, folks!

(I'm so timely!)

P.S. I take custom and special orders and I'm very easy to talk down in price if I like you!

One Sentence Per Year of My Life

I don't know if I invented this meme or if it already exists in some other form,* but I get really worn down trying to read through people's "100 Things" lists, so this is my life in one sentence per year:

1. I was born in Honolulu, where my drafted father was stationed during the Vietnam War.
2. We moved to Dallas.
3. My mom went to work at a bank and I went to preschool at our church which I hated.
4. I got a puppy for Christmas.
5. We lived across the street from a cotton field in a new housing development called "Grand Prairie" where all the yards were clay and all the trees were skinny twigs.
6. We moved to Kansas City into a house with stairs (good for slinkies and sliding down bannisters).
7. A huge ice storm sent Kansas city (including our house) into a blackout for several days.
8. My two best friends and I decided to build our own space ship and become super heroes.
9. Jimmy Carter lost re-election and I was bummed.
10. The day the hostages came home from Iran I was in bed with the flu and I ran outside to tell my mother I heard it on the radio and she yelled at me for being barefoot.
11. I played soccer very badly and the other girls (and the coach) did not keep the truth of this from me.
12. All of my friends came to school early and turned my desk out of the circle theirs were in, with its back facing them.
13. My best friend and I got in big trouble at school when our lost notebook of private notes was found by a teacher and discovered to be full of profanity.
14. My mother handmade me a (far superior to the original) Gunne Sax knock off for the May Day crowning of the Mary statue/8th grade graduation at my school.
15. I met my best friend for the next four years and became completely infatuated with her.
16. I got my period (for the first time) about three weeks after my 16th birthday!
17. I nearly failed Algebra II but got myself tutoring and rebounded to make straight A's on every quiz and test for the last six weeks of class and edged myself up to a C+.
18. My friends and I threw our own alternative prom and I won prom queen by winning "bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish" against my best friend.
19. I went to a small, Baptist college, thinking it would be politically similar to my progressive Catholic girls' high school but was quite wrong, as it was far more conservative.
20. I got mono but kept my starring role as Irina in our college production of The Three Sisters anyway.
21. I spent a year in Oxford (UK) having the time of my life and travelling the UK and Ireland to avoid all the travel warnings due to the first Gulf War.
22. My then-fiance threw my friends and I a really cool graduation party and we tossed the empty champagne bottles on the college president's lawn, which was highly controversial, because no drinking was allowed at the aforementioned Baptist college.
23. I got married after a year at the seminary with my husband.
24. I took a graduate seminar at Princeton University with Toni Morrison and decided a PhD in American literature, rather than working for the Church was my true calling.
25. I worked for one of the Evil Empire's bookstores and was temporarily disowned by my father.
26. My husband and I moved to Washington, D.C. where I began my PhD program.
27. I fell in unrequited love with a girl and moved out from my husband's apartment.
28. I moved into a group house with some real (but highly loveable) whackos and acquired a cat in spite of my allergies to same.
29. I started dating a woman with a toddler.
30. I designed and ran a writing center at a public high school in D.C.
31. I broke up with the mother of the toddler and had two quick rebound relationships, the second of which never would have lasted past the first month if September 11 hadn't thrown everyone's emotions out of whack.
32. I met Cole and my divorce was finalized.
33. Cole and I got married and decided to adopt right away.
34. I finished my PhD and spent a lot of time paper-chasing for an adoption.
35. Nat came home.
36. Cole and I were legally married in Vanvcouver.
37. Our second daughter, Selina Wells, came home with less than 24 hours notice.

I'm not sure who the youngest blogger I know is, but I think Susie is close, so I'll tag her. I think Maria is the oldest blogger I know, so I'll tag her too.
Pick this up if you're interested!

____________

* But even if it does, aren't you proud of how I've moved on from my previous anti-meme snobbery to actually composing my own? Thank you.

Meme from Mermaid Girl's Mommy

Tagged by elswhere so here you go:

Seven Books:

(The theme will be nonfiction books enjoyed at grad schools I have known.)

Sexism and Godtalk by Rosemary Radford Reuther
Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality by John Boswell
Playing in the Dark Toni Morrison
Imperial Leather Ann McClintock
Gender Trouble Judith Butler
Love the Sin Jakobsen and Pellegrini
A People's History of the United States of America Howard Zinn

Favorite Movies:

(Not so much favorites as some I like a lot)

White Christmas
Bill and Ted's Big Adventure
The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love
Daughters of the Dust
Hairspray
Swimming to Cambodia
The Star Wars Trilogy (the real one)

I Just Can't Stop:

(Some good, some bad, some ugly!)

Reading
Writing
Compelling others to read and write
Enjoying church
Eating Velveeta dip
Dancing when the B-52's come on
Whining about this town

Things to Do Before I Die:

Watch my kid(s?) grow up, find partners and have kids of their own unless something fabulously rewarding that isn't that strikes them as a better idea in which case watching them accomplish that instead
Spend the next 50 years at least with Cole
Live abroad again
Live in a city again
Learn to play the guitar and take up piano again
Learn to speak Spanish
Travel pretty much everywhere

Things that Attract Me to Blogging

The internet is a place where social introverts can reign as rock stars
There are so many cool people and good writers I'd never meet in a zillion years otherwise
Instant feedback on my writing
An excuse to practice writing often
The labyrinth of blogrolls and links that lead endlessly into the wee smalls
An opportunity to show off my baby
An easy way to keep friends and family up to date

Things I Say Most Often

How's my girl?
Hey, baby girl!
Um... (Cole and I say this to each other when we have nothing to say, but want each other's attention anyway)
I am so tired!
My back is killing me!
We have the world's cutest baby!
Who wants tea?

Seven Impractical Things That Would be Really Cool Anyway

Horseback riding lessons
Owning a horse
Spending the academic year in one place and the summers in another
Living with most of my best friends in the same house
A hot tub
Global socialism--in which everyone gets not just health insurance, food and what all, but a horse, two homes and a hot tub--power to the people, baby!
Some days? Running away and joining a convent of radical hippy nuns

(Do you sense the central conflict of my life there, or what?)

So anyway, I'll not tag seven people, but take it and run, if you like!

Tagged

I'm going to stop prefacing every meme I do with a claim that I don't do memes.

That's right, I'm coming out as a memer! I DO MEMES AND THAT'S OKAY WITH ME!

From Trey

Five Simple Pleasures
in order of appearance in any given 24 hour time period

1. Tea in bed...

2. ...brought by Cole

3. Nat's giggles (in bed over tea with Cole)

4. Lavender-scented soap

5. Chatting with David while cleaning the kitchen

6. Unexpected drop-in guests for tea

7. Dinner at the dining room table with the nuclear family and one or two drop-in guests

8. HBO or other guilty-pleasure television after the baby's in bed

Trey did eight, so I can too.

And I'm not tagging anyone, so take it and run, as you wish.

Monono

Bloodwork shows no mono, but does show borderline anemia--a problem I've had on and off in the past--which explains why I'm so tired and so slow to make it back to 100% after my illness last month.

At least it has an easy fix--I'm off to purchase iron supplements.

If I paid 30% the attention to my own diet that I pay to Nat's I'd be healthy as a horse (like her). I guess I need to start making sure I eat my own oatmeal every morning, drizzled with blackstrap molasses, eh?

Contest

We've all heard about fag hags, but there really needs to be a funny pop-cultural term for straight women who do this sort of thing.

Suggestions?

New Member of the Family

Sort of.

We returned from our extra-long trip East to a wreck of a home (two moody cats were here, basically unsupervised--Uncle David just spoils them--for almost three weeks; Uncle David had ripped out the functional bits of our only bathroom in order to make it better than it was before; my plants languished, unwatered on the hot doorstep; the laundry mouldered in the humidity of an un-air conditioned bedroom; etc.). Besides this there are two hefty suitcases full of dirty laudry and new purchases. There are menus to be planned (I wanna be Julia when I grow up) and a baby to nurse through four-month immunizations and the advent of a (as yet invisible but certainly there) new tooth. There is The First Solid Food to be determined (Earth's Best Organic rice cereal, avocado or sweet potato--do leave your opinions) since the doctor said to go for it. There are outgrown baby clothes to donate.

So of course, I've been knocking myself out since Nat finally went, once and for all (pray God) to bed tonight, doing the obvious:

Making a new blog.

Some of you (okay, two of you) expressed eagerness at the prospect of a Lilysea book club. I've been pondering it for a while. So, if you think you'd like to help decide the first book, go on over and leave a comment. I'm thinking it will be a slow and lazy book club with 4-6 books a year. I'm also thinking that those who want to participate can take turns preparing discussion questions for the books we read.

Or something.

Just leave whatever ideas you have over there, you know, if you're one of the two people who are interested.

In Abstentia

I've seen other bloggers do this to productive ends, so...

While we're away, leave us a question. No subject too small, no topic too broad.
I'll see about answering when we return, next weekend.

I wasn't gonna post this, but hey, I'm Judith Butler!

You are Judith Butler! Your postmodern queer theory
has shaken up people's ideas of gender,
sexuality, and sex. Your work has blurred lines
between what it means to be a womyn and what it
means to be a man. Queens and transbois all
over the world worship your Birkenstocks!


Which Western feminist icon are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I found this quiz via new Whistle Stop, Butch Baby Makin' where there is a helpful whiteness reading list many of you may enjoy browsing this summer. You know Peter's Cross Station is always here for you when you need a little beach reading.

As Seen on TV: If Sunday Afternoon Hasn't Already Bored You Into a Coma, This Post Will!

I saw this spinny plastic container thingy on late night Comedy Central and decided I had to have it. But to be responsible I did not go right to my phone and order it then, no I did not.

A week later I wanted it worse, but kept missing the ads with the 800 number. Then don't ya know Flylady sends an email exhorting me to do something about the landslide of plastic containers and lids cluttering my kitchen cabinets and I took that as a divine sign that I MUST ACQUIRE THE SPINNY THING! So we went out and got one last night and can I just tell you that $19 never made me so happy?

Here it is, tucked away under the corner on the lazy susan:

And here it is, pulled out (it slides and spins) in all its glory:

That's 24 containers and 24 lids in three sizes, folks. In one cubic foot of space and perfectly organized. The quality is not as high as the really nice plastic containers you can buy, but it's solid enough and it's dishwasher safe, so look out homemade babyfood, here we come!

Meme

Upon request of Frog, six songs I like a lot. (I hate the pressure of listing favorites)

1. All the Diamonds: Bruce Cockburn.

2. Can Mozart's Requiem count as a song?

3. Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan as performed by the Indigo Girls. (But I also like Dylan's version, of course.)

4. The one about "the marks where the nails have been" by Gillian Welsh (don't know the title exactly).

5. Randall Thompson's Alleluia.

6. "The Tree of Life My Soul Has Seen" from the Wonder, Love and Praise supplement to the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal as performed by the National Cathedral Girls' Choir.

That is a very religious list. I must be feeling soulful today.

Hoodwinked

Mama Shannon, while a "Dr." since January finally got some closure on the Dark Night of the Soul that is grad school at George Washington University last Friday at the PhD "hooding" ceremony. Aunt Nancy came along with Grandparents Mary Lynn and Gary and of course, Cole-Mom. Nat wore her Zutano Alphabet dress, it being her most intellectual outfit. Apparently, during a diaper/binkie break in the lobby of the auditorium, Aunt Nancy taught Nat a variety of advanced spelling rules via said dress.

All graduation attendees met many other friends at Mr. Henry's after the ceremony for delicious food (including a yummy cake from Cake Love). And Nat (and Mama Shannon and Cole-Mom) got to meet her first real-life friend from internet origins, Joylynn, in the flesh.

another promise broken

When I started my internet life, I swore I'd never, never, under any circumstances, no matter how tempting, post pictures of my cat on the World Wide Web.

Oh how lame.
Oh how dykey.
Oh how boring for everyone who isn't me.

But can I help it if I have the world's cutest cats?

And so, inspired by frog's flagrant kitten-postings (which I have enjoyed immensely), I give you a new photo album, dedicated exclusively to the adorble things our cats do.