Or Ay Chihuahua, depending upon where you are from.
I love this one. When a plate like this is dropped in front of me while I am at a red light I believe my stars are truly aligned.
Hmmmm… this is my third post about Chihuahuas (and I still have to look up the spelling). One was about an Elvis version of the little varmints and the other had a Grateful Dead reference.
Yeh, I know trichihuahuafecta!
.
Filed under absurdities, animals, carry a camera, humor
Take a guess whose garbage this is? If you have been following along you would know that this garbage belonged to none other than the folks that threw out the Kandinsky print.
Makes sense. Here is a frame on top of a case of…
This is one household that takes their art seriously! You have to have some really interesting garbage to be posted here more than once.
I will admit that I did not photograph this when I first saw it because two young hipster dads were walking back from the bus stop when I saw it with Mel and I did not want them to think I was some crazy lady with a dog.
Hey, if the dog fits, wear it.
Today marks the day 26 years ago that Gary and I were married. The day was an amazing, sunny, 85 degree day (because we were married in a loft with no AC), Gary had a bird crap on his Armani suit the day before (which my mom told him was good luck) and we… ahem… sort of ran out of food at the buffet. (don’t ask). We still had a great time (there was plenty of alcohol and music)
The good news is, my mom must have been right because 26 years later I have crossed over to being married to him for more than half my life.
Scary, right? Hey, who else would indulge my ridiculous behavior to the point where he joined right in. This is the man who steps into scenes so I can photograph him in them, loves zombies and leaves me notes to let me know the dog has been fed and had her insulin shot. He tolerates my crazy antics, like losing a ring in the back seat of the car and still makes me laugh when I am acting like a crazy old hag. So what if his hearing is not what it used to be. I mean this man shares my love for the Odd Couple to the point that he once bought me a set of bootleg videos of the entire series. That’s love!
We celebrated tonight by going to dinner and seeing Paul Simon at the Beacon Theatre. As we sat in that beautiful place full of history, in the company of friends who we have our own history with, listening to the music that we raised our kids on, I thought… hmmm, THIS is what it is all about.
Not the traffic on the way in or the cancelled LIRR trains. Not his last minute work emergencies that almost threatened his appearance at dinner. Not the day to day hassles or the hectic pace. It was about sharing the music we love. In that jewel of a theatre that is so dear to us. In the city that we began our life together in.
The music was layered and sophisticated. ‘The only living boy in NY’ treated us to inspired new compositions mixed with old nostalgic favorites. The day melted away and we were just us. Doing what we love best.
Together.
Happy Anniversary G! (and yes I know this has been the best 40 years of your life)
(oh and of course a big thank you to my other husband, Dr. Jimmy, for getting us the tickets)
I thought it would be a good idea to give fair warning in the title to all my friends who are about to embark on the road trip to graduation.
College graduation? Really? How could that be, she looks too young to have a child that age.
What? She doesn’t look so young? Oh right, she just thinks she does. Because she displays adolescent behavior she still feels like she herself is a college student. AND she is a little nuts with this talking in the third person thing. Ah, cut her some slack, her kid is graduating!
Ok, kiddies, here goes:
Four years? Has it actually been four years since I sat at this very keyboard and banged out the High School graduation post that brought us all to our knees? I suppose so, for as I look down at this keyboard I see that the passage of time has worn away any visible signs of both the ‘i’ and ‘n’ keys. (Odd, I know. There must be some significance to those letters, but it escapes me)
I have spent a lot of time thinking about this next rite of passage for my first born. At the beginning it seemed to not be such a big deal; certainly not compared to the emotions of her High School graduation. Sending a child off into the world felt monumental. It was the first step on the long journey of letting go. A tape loop of the curly-headed little whirling dervish danced in my head as I thought of leaving her halfway across the country.
She was SO ready.
I was so NOT.
For the most part we both did really well with it… until the first time she got sick and I felt just how far Madison, Wisconsin was from home. But she survived. And so did I. With flying colors, actually.
As graduation grows closer, the ‘not such a big deal’ theory is starting to get some holes in it. Who the hell am I kidding? I cry at Applebee’s commercials for G-d sake! I sent a 19-year-old kid off to college and this amazing young woman is coming out on the other end. It was like some crazy science experiment… 2 parts Badger, 1 part personal navigation and a 100 inches of snow a year. Shake well, supply digital equipment, a warm coat, a semester abroad, a shoulder to cry on when needed (aka, bitch too) and wait 4 years to see what it morphs into.
And morph she did! She is one of the few people on this earth that can put me in my place and not piss me off while she is doing it. She makes me laugh till I cry and cry till I laugh. She has my warped sense of humor tempered with a level head and a kind heart that floors me more often than not.
Did I mention she and her 80 lbs. of shoes (20 lbs a year) are moving back home. I suppose getting her back makes it easier than letting her go.
Sort of. But as much as she loves us, and our home, we are not foolish enough to think that this is where she wants to be. And as soon as her next chapter begins she will move out… for good this time.
Ouch. Sort of.
Here’s the thing (which BTW is the phrase she always used as a teenager to preface a difficult discussion… ironic). It is time for Miss Jana to become who she will be. And, like most young people her age there is a part of her that is scared to death. So this is for you my sweet girl:
I have always told you that you can do anything that you set your mind to (except maybe pee standing up… that one is tough). You can. Not everyone knows what they want to be when they grow up – most of my friends still don’t. The most important thing is that you just keep growing up – for the rest of your life. And equally as important, never forget the wonders of being young. Passions will find their way to you. Necessity will rear its looming head and drive you to reach your goals. Life is funny.
When you least expect it, you find yourself just where you should be.
Begin Anywhere.
Filed under college, Jana, Time to Cry Tuesdays
For the first time in 22 years, I will be spending Mother’s Day without at least one of my kids. It is so very weird to write that… I don’t even know what to do with it. When they were little I used to ask for the morning to myself to plant flowers. Be careful what you wish for.
Since we cannot be together till next weekend I will do a little reflecting on what it has meant to me to be a mother. I was trained by the master… so a great big fat Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and of course to my mother-in-law as well.
Since I cannot be with my kids I decided to send them a random list of mom thoughts so that I feel like they are here. When they wake up (around 2PM) you will probably hear a collective ‘Awwww, mom’ from the Midwest.
1. Just when you both started to learn how to sleep late, I lost the ability to do so. So when I make too much noise in the morning when you are home, don’t think it is by accident. I do take more than a little bit of pleasure in the payback.
2. Although the house is very much in order when you are not here, I would trade that for a hallway full of big sneakers and a kitchen full of bakers in a heartbeat.
3. A reminder that as your mother I feel obliged to tell you that although you are sure it is, Funfetti is NOT a flavor.
4. No, you may never consider calling the dog mommy (even when Daddy tells you it is ok – actually, especially at that time)
5. Danny, this may be hard to believe but I would sort of kill to be on the soccer field at 8:00 tomorrow, even if it is in Ronkonkoma. After so many years of complaining that there was no respect for family time by the soccer league, I realize that WAS family time!
6. Jana, don’t ever stop taking pictures on your phone and sending them to me. Even when you were on the other side of the world you always made me feel like I was right there with you.
7. Always remember when you see one of THOSE sunsets to say the words ‘sky blue pink’ to yourself and know that no matter where I am… I am with you.
8. Remember that nothing is ever too bad that you can’t tell me and no matter how much trouble you get into, chances are you will have a better shot of getting out if you call me first (with the help of Alan, of course, if it’s really bad).
9. If you think the milk is spoiled… it is. And don’t ask someone else to taste it, that’s mean.
10. I hope you both know that the single best thing I have done in my life was to become a mother. And that if I were given the chance to write down the qualities that I hoped my kids would have grown up to possess, it could never match the people you have become. I love you both so much it hurts.
Happy Mother’s Day to all!
I kid you not on this one. Thanks to my fabulous friend Tony O, I now know about jewelry made from the fur that your cat sheds. Today he linked to this post on ecouterre. The long and short (hair) of it is that Kate Benjamin of Moderncat felt the need to mark the celebration of National Hairball Awareness Day (who makes these awareness days up, anyway?) and commissioned the wildly talented jewelry designer and friend, Heidi Abramason to make her some pretty cool looking stuff from… you guessed it, her cat’s hairballs.
Ok… Ewwww.
In case you did not read this post, I wrote about someone who made jewelry out of human hair so I guess this is not so far-fetched. (how does this stuff find me?)
Wait, can we get back to National Hairball Awareness Day? Is there a reason we need to be made aware of hairballs? Are they not glaringly obvious to cat owners and who the hell cares to the rest of us?
And the cat in this picture? Anyone else getting a major heebie jeebie from this kitty?
Just a tip, don’t buy me this jewelry for Mother’s Day if you were running out to do so… very allergic to cats. Oh, and vile things too. Those I am highly allergic to.
But for all you cat people out there (and you know who you are)… Heidi takes commissions.
Filed under animals, humor, magnet for the absurd
As everyone knows, May is Zombie Awareness Month. What? Everyone doesn’t know that? Well by the look of the stats on this blog you would think they did because there is a nice healthy amount of views of last years’ posts.
And I would think that Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi (how do you pronounce those names) knew it was, because they launched their book, Pat the Zombie, this month. I learned about this on a Daily Candy email and could not help but jump with glee and run to post about it. (I am wondering how they were ever able to legally do this).
It would just so happen that our dinner conversation the other night was rather zombiecentric.
Me: Did you know that it was Zombie Awareness Month?
Gary: I love Zombies.
Me: I know that about you.
Gary: Zombies are my absolute favorite horror creatures.
Me: What are your second favorite?
Gary: I would have to say… Werewolves.
Me: Do you think there are such thing as Pet Zombies?
Gary: Oooo, I would like that very much.
What? Are you doubting that we actually had that conversation. You should know better!
When I saw this book I just wanted to buy it for him as a surprise for Father’s Day, but I couldn’t wait to post about it. My kids loved Pat the Bunny (favorite page was ‘Daddy’s scratchy face’). I really hope this book doesn’t scar them for life.
Watch the promo video… it is really out of control.
Filed under absurdities, animals, book review, gary
I know what you are thinking, what the heck does she know about politics and sports. Not a whole lot, but my dear friend David C. Haas does and this is a guest post on demand from my college friends. We have a thread going for years now, and if you missed my post about them it is worth a read; they are a lively group. Dave wrote this on the thread today and we voted to give it an airing in the blogosphere. So give this a tweet, a share, a stumble or just read it to a friend; he has great insight. In respect to my friends in the media who do not fit this description, my opinion on this is that it is a generalization about mass media and not an attack on those of you who still take great pride in your craft.
Enjoy, and feel free to comment.
I know the problem, but not the solution. Politics has become too akin to sports. People are diehard fans of their “team” (Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Green Party, etc.) and anyone who is on the other teams is a jerk only because they are on the other team. People don’t discuss anymore, they defend their team without listening to the other side. The networks have taken advantage of this by recognizing that they can make more money by not being impartial and instead being a booster of one of the teams.
The politicians use the networks to post trash talk on the locker room bulletin boards to psyche up the players (rally the base). The networks are only too happy to oblige and add their own inflammatory commentary which often times omits key facts, exaggerates the truth, or is an outright lie. Media exaggeration and lying have become so commonplace that apparently the politicians seem to think it’s okay and have stepped up their offense to include a new page in the playbook, the Super Spin, otherwise know as an outright lie.
Sen. John Kyl’s commentary that 90% of Planned Parenthood services were devoted to abortion were proven to be false (in 2009 approximately 3% were) and when he was confronted about this he replied that his speech “wasn’t intended to be factual”.
You have got to be kidding me! In any other profession this would not be tolerated. “Well doctor, what do the test results show?”, “I’m afraid you’ll need a heart transplant John”, “Huh, my specialist said it was acid reflux” “Well, ah… I wasn’t talking literally.”
The media used to be the umpires. They would call a foul, then show the instant replay for the fans to see, and the offending player would be penalized. But now the umpires have taken sides and can no longer agree on the fouls. And the fans are left confused and just assume that their team is in the right. But without umpires the game has gotten out of control. Teams are playing to win at all costs. They don’t care if the game suffers while they break all the rules.
Maybe someday the fans will realize that the game stinks, and stop going to the stadiums. And the empty seats will be votes against the teams and for the game.
My only hope is that after a few election cycles were each time the party in power loses, politicians will realize that the people are not voting for Republicans or for Democrats. They are voting against the corruption of the game, and until the players, owners, and league officials, can be trusted to act in the interest of the game, they will be off the team.
– David C. Haas
Filed under conversations, current events, politics
No not a business run by moms, or trying to be a mom and run a business. I am talking about
This
Whole
Mom
Business
I have been doing it for 22 years. And I have to tell you just when you think you have it down and you really know what the heck you are doing…
you find out you don’t.
As I told the director of the nursery school 18 years ago when my daughter graduated the 4’s class, “I don’t transition well”. I was both touched and mortified when she quoted me (not by name, thank goodness) during the moving up ceremony.
So here we find ourselves again, only the moving up is not exactly from the 4’s class. College? Really? And with the transition comes all the growing pains. For the graduate. And her mom.
Sometimes what seems to be the clear path to parenting is actually the train wreck. All I can say is the kind of parent you are and the kind of kid you raised makes all the difference in how you drag each other out of the wreckage. We do pretty good at that in this house.
It also doesn’t hurt to have the right people as friends.
Hold on to your hats everyone, we have crossed over to graduation month. If you have been following along the first and second High School graduation posts were killers.
Filed under Time to Cry Tuesdays
Today I went shopping. I hate shopping. No seriously, I loathe the act of shopping. I am simply missing the gene that makes this activity fun. It is not that I don’t like to have new things, I just really don’t like looking for them. Trying them on… I like that even less.
Let’s face it, the 3-way mirror is simply not our friend. It is bad enough to see the parts of you that are in full view, but to check yourself out under florescent lights from every angle… yikes.
As I was browsing through the racks, I came across this item. Stapled to the inside of a garment was one of those little packs of Silicagel with the words ‘DANGEROUS DO NOT EAT’ printed on it.
Funny, but of all the things I have thought to do with that silly little pack of silicagel, tearing it open and pouring it into my mouth just wasn’t one of them.
Anyone? Have any of you found yourself craving a little snack while shopping and going for one of these little packets?
Hey, I hear it tastes just like chicken.
Filed under absurdities, body image, carry a camera, shopping
i could cry but i don't have time 