Peter's Cross Station

People Are So Weird

Need to vent a little here in personal space.  So I wrote this thing (you might have seen it) at Strollerderby about questioning the appropriateness of pirates as a theme of children's play.  Mainly, it was supposed to be kind of funny, like "huh, yeah, never thought about it, but how DO you explain a plank to a 3-year old?"  (I told my kids their Little People Pirate Ship plank was a diving board.)

Anyhow, now a few commenters are convinced my children are micro-managed and having their creativity and learning opportunities cramped debilitatingly.

It really never ceases to amaze me how much assumption people can load onto the smallest pieces of information.  In another recent post, a woman said she was terribly worried about the children of anyone claiming to love their spouse more than said children and accused such people of having a sick "codependent" relationship.  You know, just in general.  Without knowing anything more than a silly comment on a blog about "love" which can interpreted in about a thousand different ways by a thousand different people.

For the record, my kids own about 300 books, buckets of blocks, a basket full of dress-up clothes (some girlie, some decidedly NOT girlie), baskets of dolls and stuffed animals, tea sets and play food, cars, trucks (and yes, even a pirate ship), a dollhouse and tons of furniture and dollhouse people, a miniature piano that has two and a half octaves of real keys, several drums and bells and other rhythm instruments, a real ukulele, blankets they use to build forts, a closet full of art supplies, more balls than I can count, scooters, tricycles, and yes, even videos (gasp!).  Plus more free-play time than any kids their age I know.

I hardly think I'm cramping their style by thinking twice about certain toys or books or videos. I mean, ALL parents choose what they let their kids play with to at least some extent, right?  (If they don't what's up with that?) My kids are still too little for peer influences, so I'm not exactly fighting them over their true passions.  They don't even know pirates exist (in spite of the Little People).  They don't miss them any more than they miss Hannah Montana, whom I sincerely hope they never discover (yeah, yeah, wishful thinking, I know).

Sheesh.

Something Completely Different

This is so cool!  A human-sized Hobbit hole.

Need a Book Recommendation

I am looking for a nonfiction book that will tell me all about Parisian lesbian subculture in the late 19th century--preferably related to women's higher education in some way.

I am embarrassed to tell you why, but here goes.  I have been working on the plot of a silly romance novel and a piece of it turns on the existence of such a subculture.  It doesn't take place there throughout most of the story, but there's a scene or two requiring it.  In fact, the whole drama really depends on the fact of such a subculture's existence.

It can be anywhere from, oh, 1875-1900.  That's in my period, but my expertise is in the U.S., not France!  Help?  Thank you in advance!

If I can get a bit of "research" done by November, I'm thinking of doing NaNoWriMo.

This Just In: Free Mediocre Television!

Robin, from The Other Mother comments to tell us:

"Hi Shannon, Dana and I will be giving away 20 DVD sets of The L Word Season 5 starting tomorrow. We have staggered our schedules as follows: Friday 5 copies given away at Mombian Monday 5 copies given away at The Other Mother Tuesday 5 copies given away at Mombian Wednesday 5 copies given away at The Other Mother If you could let people know, that would be cool. Thanks!"

Now you know!

I am laid low with illness and will soon be over my head in babies as my BFF arrives tonight with her 15-month old. So I am not going to be blogging here or Strollerderby much in the next few days. But I promise to get back to that list soon and give you babysitting preference explanations and hair styling funformation!

Hello

This week-weekend featured visits from Aunt Nancy (who gave me acupuncture that made my back pain disappear for 48 hours and then I backed the car into the corner of our building and am now right back where I started, pain-wise. The building is missing a decorative column and the car is missing a taillight), Uncle Sasha and her paramour, Brett.

Then J., the new babysitter (I have three great ones in the stable now!) came to hang out and get a feel for the kids and vice-versa and he was a hit.

Our inspection for the new place was yesterday and there are some dangling water-leakage issues in a couple of walls that will require a good bit of mess to repair, so hopefully they can get it done before we want to move in. I say "dangling" because Cole read the minutes of every condo association meeting for the last three years and they "fixed" it last year. The seller doesn't live there very often and it is a subtle problem so he didn't know about it. Nothing serious. Just annoying.

I would like to write posts about all of these things:

Why big cities are quite possibly "friendlier" than small towns
Why I like having white boys for baby sitters
A nice hair update by request from a reader, especially, how to do the hair of a squirmy 2-year old (like I know)

So, maybe I'll get to that sometime this year.

Meanwhile, I have papers to grade for my online class and the usual Strollerderby stuff (see video of Powell endorsing Obama here) and, oh yeah, a couple of kneebiters clinging to my skirts when they aren't being wheeled about to local playgrounds by various Mary Poppins-types...

Air-kisses to all of you!

gadget

Blogging from my shiny, new iPhone.

Just because I can.

Babies In the Air Conditioner

Recently I was discussing phantom crying with some new moms and one of them said her mother told her that when she had little kids, she could always hear babies crying in the air conditioner. Yep. Or the heating vents or the washing machine or thin air sometimes.

But I thought of that recently when the squeaks coming from my own bedroom window A/C unit finally roused enough curiosity that I went and looked behind the insulating board we have to take up the window gap and there was a squirrel sitting between my window panes.

The squirrels are always mucking around with our A/C units in the summer. I think they like the condensation dripping off the units on the outside. A couple of summers ago we had styrofoam boards for the insulation pieces and they chewed through them and made a huge mess of little styrofoam bits everywhere in our window sill. So this year we have a sturdy piece of plywood held in place with--of course--duct tape, which has pulled back a little at the corners by now.

I shooed the squirrel away and as she ran off, I realized that she had been sitting in a pile of leaves. Upon closer inspection I saw one of these huddled in a little ball.

I guess that during the couple of weeks we were away, the squirrel decided our bedroom window was a good nest location.

There was also at least one other baby there that looked dead, but I didn't see any others. It could be that they are well hidden in the leaves, though, as I have had trouble spotting the baby since then. Mama Squirrel seems to cover them well when she leaves.

Will they be okay in there, do you suppose? The A/C is continually running which doesn't strike me as pleasant for a nest, but the mother does seem to be doing her job. It's fun to peek in there through the little gap in the duct tape and spy on them. And now that I know what the sound is, the little hungry squeaks from baby/ies is so cute! I have been careful not to startle the mother since the first time I ran her out on purpose. But the one dead baby worries me that it isn't a safe spot for some reason.

I have no idea. I know nothing of squirrels. And I know the last thing the world needs is more squirrels and sparrows, but when they start raising children in your air conditioners, you feel a bit responsible for their survival nonetheless...

Still not Finished

Still saving most of my brain power (what tiny, tiny bit of it there is these sleep-deprived days) for that article. We are determined to be finished by tomorrow evening, so perhaps you'll hear from me this weekend. Not that you (U.S. readers, anyway) are going to be glued to your computer screen over the holiday weekend. Hope the weather is nice where you are and have fun!

If it's not a holiday weekend where you are, hope your weather is nice anyway.

Meme of Five

Everybody's doing it...

What were you doing five years ago?

Counting RSVPs for my wedding and calling tent rental companies at the last minute for fear of rain (it didn't rain); working on my dissertation and learning to cook. Every day around 4 pm, I'd face the choice of continuing work on my dissertation or turning on All Things Considered and making dinner for Cole, who usually got home around 5. Thus I began learning to cook for pretty much the first time in my life.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1. Make green supper cubes for Selina
2. Three loads of laundry
3. Finish an article Cole and I are coauthoring for a journal (due yesterday).
4. Make dinner for tonight and two casseroles to freeze.
5. Clear the 'fridge' of last Sunday's party leftovers.

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. Calbee Snap Pea Crisps. I get them by the dozen at Amazon's grocery department.
2. Nachos. I eat a plate of nachos made with organic blue corn chips, organic cheddar cheese and organic (and/or homemade) salsa almost every day.
3. Popcorn. Cole and I eat popcorn of many an evening, made in my college roommate's air popper, now approximately 20 years old and still kickin'.
4. Mint chip ice cream.
5. Frozen blueberries (I'm jealous of the fruit people--I can't eat fresh fruit or I go into anaphylactic shock.)

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

What five things wouldn't I do? After all the obvious setting up of my kith and kin (especially children) for life-long and then some, security:

2. Buy homes in various locations, like London, Amsterdam, Paris, DC, NYC, Honolulu, San Francisco, and probably one in a more rural-ish location but I don't know where. And then just live around in them for months at a time.

3. I don't know if I'd donate huge loads of money to many existing organizations, though I might. I'd be more inclined to start my own foundation or organization. There are plenty of interests I'd have along these lines, but urban, poor women and children's concerns would top out the list. Education, health services, and serious Congressional lobbying for major social structure changes in these departments would be key projects.

4. I would have horses. I guess they would live at the more rurally located home. I don't need fancy, expensive horses, just horses. I really love horses and riding horses but haven't had that kind of disposable cash in a long, long time.

5. I would definitely fly all my favorite people and their families to one of my many homes at least annually for a big hang out week or two, all expenses covered.

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Internet-related procrastination (like everyone else who did this meme).
2. Forgetting to eat major meals and making it up in less-than-nutritious snacking.
3. Letting the kids watch too much t.v. (my idea of "too much" is more than an hour a day. I'd say we average 2 or even 2.5 hours--yikes!)
4. Letting the clutter pile up.
5. Leaving my shoes in various high-traffic locations to be tripped over.

What are five places where you have lived?

1. Hawaii
2. Texas
3. Missouri
4. Oxford (UK)
5. New Jersey

plus three more, but that's my life up to age 25

What are five jobs you've had?

1. Hostess at a dinner theatre
2. Preschool teacher
3. Record store clerk
4. Bookstore clerk
5. Adjunct English instructor

(plus 6 or 7 more, but that's my life up to age 28)

Tag, you're it!

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?