Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Blog Party Music Week Tuesday



Today's songs: take you back to jr. high and/or high school

So here we are, and I get to pull out the stops and present you with the songs that didn't make the cut on December's Mix CD Swap (which I am still planning on reviewing, DESPITE certain missing Swap Member CDs).

Hey Mr DJ by Zhane:


I was grooving my head off to this song back in sixth grade! The hilarious thing is that I TOTALLY thought it was speaking to me: "It's Friday night and the weekend's here, I need to unwind, where's the party?" Ummm, the party was A SLEEPOVER AT MY FRIEND'S HOUSE, and no DJ was needed, y'all!

Right Here by SWV:

Oh my GOD, I can't even tell you how happy hearing this song again makes me. The truth is that this song was my secret shame in middle school since it SO wasn't "cool" like the Nirvana/Stone Temple Pilots I was "supposed" to be listening to. But I'm admitting to it now, and LOVING the "Human Nature" sampling even more than I did back then.

What's the Story, Morning Glory by Oasis:

The guitar "shredding" at the beginning of the song! HIGH SCHOOL LOVE! This sounds like 7:40am, weekday morning, hopping in the Taurus and getting down 7th Street to first period. I have to confess: freshman year, at the beginning of a note to one of my friends, I wrote "What's the story, morning glory?" instead of "What's up?"

NEED A LITTLE TIME TO WAKE UP?


Nugget by Cake: (explicit)

We're confessing embarassing things? I used to crank this after school, waiting in the interminable traffic lines at South to get on my way home. WITH MY WINDOWS DOWN. I THOUGHT I WAS SO COOL!

Here With Me by Dido:

Wow. This sounds just like my junior year of high school, desperation and all. LONG-DISTANCE DATING 101: Don't do it unless YOU CAN BOTH DRIVE.

I DON'T WANT TO CALL MY FRIENDS: THEY MIGHT WAKE ME FROM THIS DREAM!


Monday, March 30, 2009

Home Show: Stick Stickley & Pee Wee Herman

I was losing-my-mind delighted since our long-awaited Stickley loveseat was arriving on Friday. I say "long-awaited" because our mwomy asses special-ordered it back in February and since Stickley hand-builds each piece of furniture, we had to wait for some Upstate-r to whittle it. And upholster it.

I was bouncing off the walls when the delivery guys called at 9:10am and said they were on their way. I cheerily got the Kiddo up from her crib and met the doorbell.

To find the guy carrying two pillows upholstered in this:


If you know my style AT ALL, you will understand why I almost vommed and asked the guy, "Umm, that's not the upholstery on the LOVESEAT, is it?"

It was.

So I spent the rest of the morning cursing out Stickley, the furniture place, and our saleslady since I was unsure who was to blame for this FATAL ERROR. Customer service at the furniture place called me back and announced that IT WAS STICKLEY'S FAULT (???) and that new cushions were ordered. And would arrive in 2-3 weeks. So until then, we could keep the loveseat + cushions at our house.

I sighed and let the man bring it back.



So, with this placeholder installed in our living room, I started checking out the piece of furniture, because it's pretty nice lookin'. Look at that side paneling!


As I was examining the back, I stopped dead in my tracks.



IS THAT A DENT?! Yes, y'all, it was a dent.

I'm a pretty forgiving person. But not when I spend a huge chunk of my economic stimulus on a custom-built piece of furniture that comes with a dent I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO MAKE.

Upon deeper inspection along the bottom inside of the loveseat, I uncovered ANOTHER DIRTY SECRET:


No, not part of the "handmade" quality. A crack. A big crack. In the foundation of the piece.

Why was I so upset? Not only because MY FURNITURE WAS BROKE and MY UPHOLSTERY WAS WRONG, but because I knew IT WOULD TAKE ANOTHER 6-8 WEEKS TO GET A NEW ONE!

I fussed and fumed the rest of Friday night when Vee got home, and he went in to the furniture place today and talked to customer service. We're getting a replacement, thankfully. In 6-8 weeks.

BUT ON TO BRIGHTER HOME SHOW ITEMS which I have not talked about yet! (And NO, it's STILL not time to show off the kitchen or the bathroom paint jobs since there are just a COUPLE of little changes I still need to make before they're Home Show ready)

Tuesday night, I met Vee downtown at the antique mall to do a little browsing. We were still on the hunt for dining room chairs and other randoms. WHAT DID I FIND?

Herman. Miller. Eames. Chairs.

The exact color we needed. Four of them.

How much were they listed for? $145. FOR ALL FOUR.

Why is this amazing? BECAUSE A BRAND NEW UN-UPHOLSTERED HERMAN MILLER EAMES SHELL CHAIR GOES FOR $250. FOR ONE!

Yes, these ones need reupholstering. Or just need the upholstery ripped off, since the base and frame are in good shape. But I COULDN'T PASS UP THE DESIGN, so off I sent Vee to buy them on Thursday night.

He came home with all four. AND ONLY PAID $100!

DEAL OF THE CENTURY! Or mid-century. HA HA.

Blog Party Music Week Monday

Double-posting all week, since there's a great blog challenge I'm delighted to have found and I've got to TELL you about all the furniture drama in our household.

But first:



Today's songs are songs that put a smile on your face and can totally turn your mood around, which is JUST WHAT I NEED to kick off this spring-time!

Lowdown by Boz Scaggs (I think we all knew I was going here)

Hot N Cold by Katy Perry (My love for this song is pretty irrational since I REALLY, REALLY hate "I Kissed a Girl," but Kiddo and I lose it and rock out when it comes on)

Shake It by Metro Station (if we're doing irrational pop love, I have to include this since I have been STOPPING EVERYTHING I AM DOING and dancing out of control every time this song has come on since summer '08)

Honky Tonk Man by Dwight Yoakam (just love)

Rough Justice by the Rolling Stones (NEVER GROW OUT OF YOUR CORNY SEXUAL INNUENDOES, BOYS! Please!)

I've got to limit it to five, because otherwise I can go on this all day.

Wanna add to the list or play along? Check out the rules here, here, or here.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Places I Have Been: Library Lapsit

For babies! For babies!

The Kiddo has made her own nap/waking schedule as her cute little vampire teeth come in (she's got the bottom front two, and RANDOMLY, her top two canines are coming in) and since she's up at 8:30am now, I decided we should try going to the library lapsit storytime at 10am.

Because I am Semper Paratus, we got to the library parking lot at 9:51am. Cars were pouring in and parking, but no one was getting out yet. "Weird," I thought to myself as I got in the backseat and started strapping Kiddo into the Beco, "I didn't realize how many suburban moms come to this thing."

I looked up at the front door and watched an old man try to open it. To no avail. It dawned on me that the joint must open at 10am. Meanwhile, cars continue to fill up this parking lot (are there THAT many people with nothing to do on a Wednesday morning but go the library?) and no one gets out. Finally, I guess it must have hit 10am because three or four brave souls started pulling the doors and a harassed-looking library staffer came running from inside and unlocked them.

We got into lapsit and I had to fill out my name and Kiddo's name on a green frog, which was then taped to my shirt. Kiddo sat in a circle on a little carpet sample square (REMEMBER THOSE??) and I sat behind her. There were around 10 other moms/grammas and kids, plus the librarian. Bless the librarian for trying, but she kept talking in this 'ittle wittle voice as she read the first book (about springtime coming in both English and Spanish) and I realized we were gonna be listening to this someone-told-me-this-is-how-you-talk-to-children voice the whole time.

Now, I do my share of voices with the Kiddo. For some reason utterly unknown to me, I affect this absurd ghetto-talian tone when checking her diaper (and always ask "Do you have a dirrrrrty d?" Like someday she will respond.). I also spoke in the ghetto-talian voice when she used to sit in the swing and I would kiss her feet while declaring, "Mmmm, baby feet-a! I love to eat-a baby feet-a!"

I didn't say I was perfect.

But I do always read to her in a normal voice. I can't expect my daughter to be The Youngest Reader Ever if she can't understand what a word is supposed to sound like. I do inflections and everything with different characters, but I don't talk in itty-bitty silly-willy baby voice.

The librarian did.

There was a break between La Primavera and the second book about a bunny (which involved the librarian roaming around with a bunny puppet on her hand, "talking" to each of the kids [in ittle-wittle voice, of course]) where two inflatable beach balls were tossed into the ring, with the understanding that the babies would bat them to each other. Obviously, our kids don't have motor control when they're IN LAPSIT, so it was really all the moms holding their kids' hands and trying to "push" the ball while apologizing to the librarian, who had to keep it in motion.

After the bunny book, there was "music time" (I THOUGHT THIS WAS LAPSIT STORYTIME?) where a bin of noise-shakers were brought out and the kids got to make music while hits like "Funga Alafia" were played.

Kiddo just tried to eat her shaker and stuff it on her teething gums.

Then we were shoveled out so toddler storytime could commence! Twenty short minutes of two books, a beachball scene, and Funga Alafia.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Home Show: Book It

I forgot to mention that we didn't ACTUALLY get a tornado in our 'hood yesterday, but the newscasters would make you think otherwise during the HOT COVERAGE. The weatherpeople really ramp up the rhetoric once the National Weather Service tosses out a warning, and even when you could clearly see on the Doppler radar that the worst of the storm was past, the weather guy was still trying to make it sound like "Well, you just don't know!"

No, I do know, and now I'm going upstairs to take a shower.

The faux-nado left a trail of COLD TEMPS behind it, which totally threw me for a loop today. I don't know what I was planning on doing outside the house with Kiddokabiddo, but with my warm winter jacket packed away (IT WAS 60 FOR A WEEK STRAIGHT, Y'ALL!), we didn't get outside at all. The Kiddo's new nap schedule (TWO AND A HALF WHOLE HOURS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON!) also screwed with things. I was left with nothing to do but to read the newest copy of "Budget Travel" magazine and bake apple cake.

Oh yeah, and I got our bookshelves organized.

We moved a second bookshelf upstairs, and even though all three bookshelves are HEAVILY overflowing, even when they're filled to capacity (and my definition of "capacity" is wall-to-wall, plus stacked on top of the rows), I decided to try my hand at DECORATIVE BOOK-SHELVING.

This is to say: I left space on the shelves.

What do you think?


I left the bottom two shelves on both empty since that's going to be primo Kiddo height and we're going to bring out her books to put on those, and I still need/want to put crap on the sides of the shelves (should I??), but that's it. Here's a close up:




I had a great time organizing them and coming up with weird themes like "books about school" and "books about the desert West," as well as designating a whole shelf for "books by my favorite authors ever" (that's the shelf on the bottom of the last pic: singles by Anne Sexton, Jo Ann Beard, Charles Baxter, and Lauren Groff, and then my collections of Margaret Atwood, Sherman Alexie, Annie Proulx, and Kathryn Harrison [the latter of whom is not one of my favorite authors ever, yet I happen to have almost all of her books]).

It was funny as I was weeding through what books would stay and which ones would go downstairs. I was trying to keep books that I read frequently so it would be easy to have my faves on hand when I needed a new book to read before going to sleep, but I TOTALLY was lying to myself when I brought down books like "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" and my inherited Jodi Picoult collection. I WAS TRYING TO LOOK COOL BY HIDING AWAY THE BOOKS SOCIETY HAS DEEMED "UNCOOL!"

At least I left "Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason" up.

Monday, March 23, 2009

thrift tornado

This is why I was trying to blog every day: good night, it feels like I've got a million things to talk about.

I'll start by recapping Thursday.

After I blogged and worked, I took Kiddo out thrift-shopping at a couple of places. I figured that I would GET THE EDGE over the weekend-shoppers by going on Thursday; this may have been the case. My first stop was New Life Thrift, which has a "new life" by its location in one of those brand-new, 30%-filled, strip malls. Lots of crap like new "shampoo" and stuff that you get the feeling was offloaded by Big Lots, and it was manned by a fifteen year old and her mom. At 11:00am on a Thursday.

I found these two scarves:


Cost? $1 each, which is pretty jank by thrift store standards (they should have been MAYBE fifty cents a piece, but who was I to argue with a high schooler in a position of authority?).

At our second stop, Thrift America, I found this AWESOME cadre of cards (at a premium price of $0.28/each):


Need a closer look? I figured you would. Check out this masterpiece:



??? !!! ???

Furthermore, looking to congratulate someone on their reincarnation birthday? Have I got the card for you!



Yipes.

So, anyway, with my thrift store finds socked away at home, we got ready for my parents, Gramma Goose and Grampa PhD who came to visit us this weekend. That's a WHOLE SEPARATE POST since I have mad home improvement pics to show you.

Here's the teaser: kitchen, cabinets, bathroom, walls.

I've been cleaning up and still putting things back in their rightful positions today, but we got our first TORNADO WARNING OF THE SEASON at 5:15 this afternoon! Vee wasn't home yet, so I frantically called him to get his ass in gear.

March is a LITTLE early for this, but IT'S THE PAYOFF FOR WINTER-B-GONE!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Encounter: Knitting Mom Friend

Fiftieth post today! Hurray!

Yesterday, I met up with a mom friend of mine at the Mecca of Hip Moms, Whole Foods. Because Vee and I are nothing if not organically-MINDED and eager to spend our money on "XXXX-free" products to keep Kiddokabiddo from being overrun with random hormones, phlalates, etc., I bought her some special baby sunscreen.

And then couldn't resist getting a PAIR OF ROBEEZ!



80S ROLLER SKATING QUEEN!

Yep, I spent $28 on a pair of shoes for my 9.5 month old. But she's still in the 0-6 month size with LOTS OF TOE ROOM, so I am counting on shoes lasting this littlefoot a long time.

As I proudly showed my mom friend my new purchase, she mentioned, "Didn't babysteals have Robeez on sale today?"

I ALMOST SHOT MYSELF IN THE FACE.

See, I GO TO BABYSTEALS EVERY DAY. The one day I didn't go is THE ONE DAY THEY HAD THE SHOES I HAD PUT OFF BUYING FOR THEIR EXPENSE.

Naturally, they were all gone by the time I got home. And had already spent $28.

My mom friend has a daughter who is 4 days younger than Kiddo, and so we have a good time talking about our daughters' growth patterns and catching up on other mom info. She had knitted Kiddokabiddo a BEAUTIFUL sweater (pics later) and it made me realize that knitting is SO the new hip mom thing. WHICH I CANNOT DO.

I am so non-sewing-adept that when I need to fix a button on a shirt, I wait until we're going to see Vee's grandma (a sewing WIZARD!) and ask her to do it.

Is knitting in my future? It would be hella cheaper than buying millions of more pairs of longies for the Kiddo. Can anyone convince me this is possible?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Places I Have Been: Fo Fo

Another beautiful day outside, so Kiddo and I got out and enjoyed it! Today's sunscreen adventure was to a little place we call Fo Fo.

Fo Fo is a privately owned park on the bluffs at the edge of town; a year long membership only costs $50. I know, you're thinking, "SHE PAYS $50 TO GO TO A FREAKING PARK?" Let me explain why this actually rules.

  • It keeps the riffraff out. RIFFRAFF WILL NOT PAY $7 A DAY/$50 A YEAR TO GET IN AND HARASS YOU
  • There is a big long boardwalk that goes for a whole mile, so when it's muddy out, you can still walk around (and when it's NOT muddy, there are miles and miles of trails)
  • YOU GET VISTAS ONLY SEEN FROM THE PRIVATE RESIDENCES ALONG THE BLUFFS!
Vee and I have been going here since we first lived in our town, and we looooooove it. I got mad cravings for Fo Fo when we were living in Michigan. The prairie wind whips around when you get up on the top of the bluffs and YOU FEEL VERY LEWIS-AND-CLARKY.

Kiddo's first excursion out of the house was to Fo Fo.




I can't believe I seriously just showed you that picture. I was like twelve days post-delivery. (AND I TOO WAS A STROLLER PUSHER! Don't let my proselytizing make you think I always saw the light)

Anyway, Fo Fo is near and dear to my heart, so I was thrilled to meet up with a couple of moms from my babywearing board and show them the joys of Fo Fo this afternoon. We did a couple of laps and then hung out at the very same picnic table pictured below and nursed our kidlets.


(Kiddo was four months old in this pic)


I love being with like-minded moms. As I was tonight, since it was La Leche night! Vee "puttered around like an old man" while we were gone and organized the garage.


Where are your favorite places to go when you want to get outside and don't want to walk around a confusing "outdoor mall"?

Monday, March 16, 2009

Weekend Revel: BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

This past weekend was a birthday blitz for Vee! He turned 27 on Friday, and we celebrated by having dinner at our neighbor's house--don't worry, we observed Meatless Fridays. It was easy since THEY ARE VEGETARIANS! We had a great vegetable soup, and then I made Vee a H0MEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE. With homemade frosting! No boxes, y'all!

Betty Crocker delivers!

Saturday morning, we headed down to our state's capital, home of the nearest Guitar Center, so that Vee could buy himself a birthday present: A NEW TRAVEL GUITAR! It was so nice we ended up staying there for the day, and I bought more new jeans with the Gap Friends & Family weekend deal. Which was neither for friends nor family, but for ALL HUMANS since they were handing out the "exclusive" postcard with the discount code on it at the store.

We churched it on Sunday, did a deep clean of the house, and then had friends over for dinner. BURGERS ON THE GRILL! Because it was amazingly nice out! Their daughter, who is 9 months older than Kiddokabiddo, was a guinea pig for how well our house is NOT babyproofed. She almost ran down the split entry stairs. And she taught Kiddo how to put the rings on the ring-stacker, and left behind two bounce-pit balls.

I tried to take the Kiddokabiddo to the zoo today since it was 75 and sunny, but that place was OVERRUN with families and elementary-school-age children since (I guess) school was out today. We went to Memorial Park instead and I did a lap, then came home and, for the first time, we went to the park that is caticorner from our house.

YES, FOR THE FIRST TIME! Hey, she's only NOW getting to be old enough to appreciate it!

We tried the baby swing, but she didn't care. And I held her and went down two slides, but she just looked up at me like "Why, Mom? Why do people do this?" So we came back across the street.

It has been really busy in our house the last few days as we prepare for Gramma Goose and Grampa PhD to come visit this weekend. They're going to help us paint our kitchen, breakfast nook, AND bathroom. And help us install new handles on the kitchen cabinets. And move and anchor another bookshelf upstairs.

WHEN YOU VISIT OUR HOUSE, YOU WORK!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Places I Have Been: Alfred Jacob Miller SHOWTIME

I took the Kiddo and met Vee midday at the art museum again today since it was still pretty cold out, and we finally got to see an Alfred Jacob Miller exhibit I've been waiting to get to. They had a really interesting presentation of three versions of "The Trapper's Bride"

This is the original edition. Now check out the later edition:

It's like playing "One of these things is not like the other one": RACIST EDITION.

I'll spell out the big changes for you.
  • the guy on the horse (which changed to a grittier white) lost his headdress and just got one droopy feather, and the spear went from an antagonistic pointed-at-the-groom to being slung behind him (and a half-naked young hottie is now holding back the horse
  • another tepee was added, and the first tepee is now being constructed rather than being finished
  • the sky behind the tepee/Indian side became ominously dark (representing how the Indian bride is progressing from the "dark" to the "light")
  • the Americanized Indians by the tepee turned into a motley crew of natives
  • the guy offering the peace pipe to the groom (who was not even offering it to him in the first version) underwent a massive change from an older, passive man to a brazen young brave half-naked
  • the guy facilitating the "transfer" (the man with his hand on the bride's shoulder)'s hand went from openly passing between the bride and groom to holding back Peace Pipe Man
  • the groom's breeches went from leather to a more civilized broadcloth

There are more changes than that, but the thing is that there was a THIRD version bridging the gap between these two; I was FASCINATED by this and Vee had to leave me staring at them. I would say Kiddo cared, but she just wanted to keep crowing "A-da-da!" after Vee left.

WHAT WAS AJM SAYING WITH HIS LATER REVISION OF THIS PAINTING?

Discuss.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Home Show: KITCHN FASCINATION

Winter snapped in my face today (ZERO DEGREES! How DARE IT?! It's MARCH! This sort of behavior I expected when we were in MICHIGAN, but not here!) so I didn't want to take the Kiddo out since her little eczema would get wind-whipped and chapped.

We stayed in, and I schemed of ways to change my house.

In particular, my kitchen.

I really don't like my kitchen. There's nothing "wrong" with it...except the fact that it was made in 1990 and is the farthest thing from ME that you could find. Oak cabinets with busted rubbed-off brassy handles, light blue countertop, mismatched black-and-white appliances, and white tile backsplash. Oh yeah, and wood laminate flooring.

What should my kitchen look like?

(taken from the kitchn)

Oh my God, I have been losing my head over this photo. THIS IS WHAT I WAS MEANT TO BAKE IN! (note that I do not say "cook." VEE COOKS, I BAKE)

I want the birch cabinets, the simple handles, the GREEN WALLS! I do not want the black countertop, but we can talk.


(taken from the kitchn)

I was also meant to live in this kitchen, mainly because WE HAVE THAT EXACT SILVER SHELVING UNIT IN OUR KITCHEN! Why did I not think of grouping colors cutely on it, TO SAY NOTHING of failing to hang pretty towels and HOOKS TO HANG MUGS?!

Finally, I am supposed to have this kitchen as well.

(taken, you guessed it, from the kitchn)

THE CEILING BEAMS! I am drooling and adoring. And loving the orange. The Kitchn is basically Cosmo for homeowners: filled with "new tricks" that you WANT to learn and WANT to be able to do, but know you have neither the energy nor the ingenuity to come up with your own.

HOPEFULLY I WILL CHANGE! I took off for Lowe's and came home with paint samples, which I am making Vee stare at until his eyes cross (and he's just trying to leave for an Open Mike Night. What is more important, hypothetical wall colors or LIVE MUSIC?). Next week, I hope I'll have some before-and-afters to show you!

Encounter: Dermatologist DUH

Sorry for the lack of blog yesterday; I've been having problems with my Google Analytics and was working with that over the evening.

DON'T WORRY: DOUBLE-POST TODAY!

I had to run Kiddokabiddo out to a DERMATOLOGIST yesterday to have her little skin rash checked out. A dermatologist! I'VE never even been to a dermatologist! Vee has, but every time he went as a teen, they removed another "pre-cancerous" mole and gave him a 4" long scar. He looks very tough now.

SO: to the dermatologist we went! Within 30 seconds of the derm entering the room, she murmured to the nurse, "Bring the atopic dermatitis information," which made me almost cringe since, yes, my fear was confirmed: IT WAS JUST BAD ECZEMA.

We went to a dermatologist to find out my daughter has ECZEMA! DUH! Like the cartoon on the wall of the room astutely noted, "The internet already told me what's wrong with me; I'm just here for a second opinion."

So my little babe is getting steroid cream (STEROID CREAM!), special creamy body wash, and a ridiculously overpriced tub of fragrance-free cream that I am supposed to slather on her four times a day.

Combined with the topical antibiotic cream we tried two weeks ago and the oral antibiotic regimen we're finishing up this week, that makes three prescriptions in one month for the little one.

THAT'S WHY WE HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Weekend Revel: Thrifting

Hope y'all had a great weekend--mine was BUSY!

Friday night was Mom's Night Out--I wish I could tell you that I hung out with moms, but actually I WENT TO THE MALL ALONE and did some speed-shopping. Most disturbing sight of the night was a t-shirt at Wet Seal.

Ice cream sundae pictured, with a smiling cherry and the words "I prefer to be on top!" gleefully scrawled across the shirt.

I was so disturbed I turned on my heel and left the store, instantly calling my best friend to share in the agony.

Oh my God, my poor little Kiddokabiddo, PLEASE tell me the hypersexualization of children will be done by the time you're old enough to pick your own clothing.

Saturday morning, well, that was MOM'S MORNING OUT! (I know, can you believe it? Vee gave me both an evening out and a MORNING OUT! It was Dad/Daughter time while I was gone)

I did something I've been meaning to do for months now: THRIFT STORE SHOPPING!

I got the Kiddo nursed, grabbed a to-go mug of coffee, and got in the little 'Rage, packing some non-Vee-friendly tunes. First stop was a Salvation Army I'd never been to. It was 10:45am, a little chilly and rainy, and when I saw that housewares were 50% off, there was no way I couldn't bring home this beauty (marked for only $2.99!):


Isn't it great? The dude is cooking indoors, which you can only tell by the awkwardly placed shelf of beer steins over his shoulder, and the weird location of the ping-pong table. You know, so you can flip some meat over to the kiddies during the game. The guy's face is actually very weirdly feminized, and combined with his "dress"/apron and the UPSIDE-DOWN PINK TRIANGLE tossed on the apron, you have to wonder what the designer of this image was trying to connote.

I went up and naturally couldn't resist the kids' book section, where I found this marvel:


IT'S ABOUT A 14 YEAR OLD GIRL OBSESSED WITH ASTROLOGY, which is basically A BOOK ABOUT 14 YEAR OLD ME, with the exception that she's a Leo and thinks Leo is the best sign (DUH, imbeciles, Cancer is DEFINITELY cooler than Leo. You missed out on that one by about a month, honey).

The kids' books were $0.59, so combined with my 50%-off platter, I queued up at the register, ready to fork over my $2.09.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

I guess I forgot to mention that I was wearing a dress purchased on Mom's Night Out at Forever 21, combined with a pair of skinny jeans. Did I look like I needed a discount? DID I LOOK LIKE I WAS BUYING A CHILDREN'S BOOK? (one of my HUGEST PET PEEVES EVER about thrifting; one I have never gotten used to. JUST BECAUSE I AM NOT 14 DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE BOOK I AM BUYING WAS OUT OF THE ADULTS SECTION! IT IS A CHILD'S BOOK; CHARGE ME THE CHILD'S BOOK PRICE!)

The cashier gave me that "Ugh, YOU LITTLE HIPSTER FRAUD, coming in here and stealing merchandise that you KNOW should be worth more; you're lucky I'm even letting you BUY this" glare and charged me $4.98; NO HALF-OFF DISCOUNT for the houseware and $0.99 for the book (ADULT BOOK PRICE).

I didn't have the strength to argue with her, so I just sighed and gave her a five. And hoped the thrift karma would come back to me.

Over the next two hours, I spun through five more thrift shops and one antiques store, coming away with the following treasures...

Gleaned from St. Vincent de Paul (for a TOTAL of $0.53):

and

bought solely for the title, yet the storyline sounds AMAZING!


ONLY BECAUSE JANET IS NO FEMINIST, she is permitted to join the Harvard English department!

At my favorite old-lady thrift shop, I got the following for $2.60 (the card was $0.10, the book was on half-off sale [a SALE THEY ACTUALLY LET ME HAVE] for $2.50:


GOOD NIGHT! What is this card SAYING? So she is ignoring her kids in order to achieve in the working world, but then SHE WON'T UNTIE THEM FROM HER APRON STRINGS? I don't UNDERSTAND!


This is a beautiful first edition from 1909--and the story sounds AWESOME!!! I can't wait to read it!

Three FAILURES later (a dumb Assistance thrift shop where all these uncool 60-something bitches dumped off their unfashionable 80s workwear and think it's still worth money, a frightening Methodist thrift shop with a homeless dude asking the old lady clerk to let him know when something arrives; when she said "Why don't you give us a call later in the week?" he said, "I ain't got no phone!" in a very offended tone, and a pointless 2nd St Vincent de Paul which yielded nothing at all), I decided to go to this antiques store that I was interested in.

WHICH FOUND ME THIS GUY FOR $0.25!

What's really cool about it? Check out the "background map" up close:

THAT'S MY HIGH SCHOOL 'HOOD, Y'ALL! TURKEY RUN! The Haute is approximately the bottom left corner of that U!

I would say my thrift karma got paid back.

Friday, March 6, 2009

WRAP!

Like previous Fridays (I swear, this was not a theme when I started out. Do I do this because it's Friday and I figure that whatever ire I stir up will be gone by the time I'm back on Monday? Because I'm freeing myself for a weekend of bougie buying by declaring my non-bougie lifestyle choices?), this one is another HOT TOPIC!

BABY CARRYING!

As you've read, I usually carry the Kiddokabiddo in a carrier (recently, a Beco) when we are out and about.



My current reasoning is fivefold:
  • She is THRILLED to be in there (usually grinning her head off)

  • She easily takes naps in one (as she did for a skeptical crowd at a baby shower in the Vee Homeland)

  • Hands-free for Mom

  • Snuggle-time (far preferable to impersonal facing-away-from-Mom strollers)

  • THEY'RE FREAKING ADORABLE

When Kiddokabiddo was littler, we used to carry her mainly in a Sleepy Wrap.



These are amazing when you have a snugglebug who needs to be close to Mom (OR DAD! The best thing about wraps are their HUMAN VERSATILITY--one size fits all and since you're wrapping it on yourself, there need be no 'weird accommodations' for differences in size). Purportedly you can nurse in them; this was a little hard for me. But since we were using the Sleepy Wrap in the summer, it was so hot I wanted to strip off all encumbrances.

Now, it's BECO CITY and there is nothing better than strapping the little bambina on my back, or on my front, and heading out into the world. EASY, PLEASY, and no wrangling a stroller.

As I did yesterday at the zoo.

Oh my gosh, what a stupid hassle. Not only was the stroller TOO SHORT FOR ME (dudes, I'm only 5'8". SORRY IF I'M NOT A SHORT MWOM!), but the stroller height was too small for the Kiddokabiddo to be able to see any animals, so I kept finding myself stopping the stroller, leaning it against the railing (SINCE IT WOULD TIP OVER THE MINUTE I TOOK KIDDO OUT), unstrapping her, and holding her on my hip to show her the little buddies.

Completely negating the "ease" of the stroller.

Moms, it's not a "new" thing, but until your little one is running around regularly, seriously invest in a carrier. And use it. And leave that stroller at home. If you tried it and your baby "didn't like it" or "fussed the whole time," try another kind. Wraps, structured soft carriers (like the Beco), ring slings--there's a whole world waiting for you. Trust me, your baby wants to be close to you while you two explore, not stuck in a stroller.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

All Original Photos!

I'm still working on my blog template; bear with me. I might be a tech girl at work, but I haven't had to work on HTML layouts before!

So you want to see the new bedroom stuff. I had to do a frantic clean since I had strewn my underwear all over the bed as I decided, "Hmmm, which drawer do I want to put this in? SO MANY OPTIONS!" It's sad when I am this excited about REARRANGING MY DRESSER DRAWER CONTENTS.

Without further adieu, for your peering pleasure:






Now, um, you know where I sleep.

Isn't the wood on those dressers/headboard FANTASTIC? Here's a close-up:


Geez, after showing you my bedroom, I now feel compelled to list all the changes we want to make. In no particular order...
  • repaint walls (I am thinking of a MOSSY GREEN or BRIGHT PINK. Thoughts?)
  • get wall art (I really want wall decals from Elephannie, particularly this or this)
  • new, non-total-light-eliminating blinds (this was TOTALLY my mistake--we had these gross light green ones left from the previous owners and for some dumb reason, EVEN THOUGH Vee was using every trick in the book to prove to me that I DID NOT WANT TO CANCEL OUT ALL LIGHT, I still forced us to get these. WRONGLY.)
  • some sort of window treatments (again, too much dumb-curtaining in this house made me strip off all curtains. I need something, but not a "pouf" of fabric at the top. Any suggestions?)
  • new rugs (corny and GRODY old ones from Target currently grace our bedsides. Ugh.)
"Wait, wait!" I can hear you saying to yourself, "Didn't they get a futon too?"

You want to see a pic of that thing?


GUESS WHOSE FUTON WAS SITTING IN THE COBWEBS OF THE FURNITURE STORE FOR 29 YEARS, causing the bolts to RUST?


(this is not an art installation; this is the frustrated state we left the futon in once we realized we needed new bolts)

Vee is harassing the shit out of the furniture people and threatening to charge them for the "five dollars" worth of new bolts we're going to have to buy. I DON'T CARE, I JUST WANT IT DONE!

To get out of our house today, the Kiddo and I hied our way to the zoo again, and we got to see the giraffes, a brown bear, the sea lions, and a baby penguin waddling around on the main area, supervised by a zoo employee. Why the zoo again? Here's a hint--this is our thermostat. AT 7:30PM (and NO, I did not turn it on at all today! Such an accusation!)



Seriously. It was 70 and sunny all day. Beautiful. We met Vee after work and walked across The Bridge of Unity (spanning our state and our neighboring state). I tried to make Vee play the "Which side of the bridge did these people originate from?" game, but he wanted no part of my social judgment.

Oh yeah--and my new Beco arrived today! We can return the old one to the girl I have been borrowing it from, and next time you see a pic of Kiddokabiddo strapped in, she'll be strapped into THIS:

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Furniture and Old El Paso

FURNITURE DAY!

The kind boys at our furniture store delivered:

1 queen headboard/bed frame
2 tall dressers
1 futon

SHAZAM! Our bedroom looks like adults sleep here! So tell me why, after taking forever to afford/decide/pick out bedroom furniture and FINALLY getting it up, WHY is the only thing I can think "WE NEED TO REPAINT OUR WALLS!"

Indecision!

I solidly love our new furniture, though. Vee and I will be putting together the futon/frame after we put the Kiddokabiddo down to sleep tonight. Hopefully our basement will be INVITING ENOUGH TO GUESTS (who don't fit in the guest room. So, um, two sets of guests at the same time).

I ran to Target tonight to pick up some stupid little things (new razors, Zone bars, refried beans, beer: you know, the usual) and as I was checking out, the checkout guy commented on my refried beans by announcing, "Ah, I used to live in Old El Paso!" As I thought to myself, "Is there an OLD El Paso, or does he mean El Paso, Texas? Or DID HE LIVE IN THE PLACE WHERE "Old El Paso" REFRIED BEANS ARE MADE?" he quickly continued on his own narrative, exclaiming that "It was a lot sunnier there" and THEN! THEN! Checkout Guy started going into a routine about how "It was sunnier than Oregon. Not that I lived there, but they get a lot of rain there," and devolved into a self-taught lesson about weather.

WHY DID HE MENTION OREGON?

I kept thinking this to myself as I murmured weather-related comments as he sacked my stuff. Because I was wearing a bright green pea coat which indicated I am a Duck Fan? (For the record, this is not true. My daddy might have a PhD from UofO, but we are BEAVERS TO THE CORE!) Because I "look like the sort of person who once lived in Oregon?" (A true fact, but not one easily betrayed by my mien)

Old El Paso. Oregon. Not even in the same general vicinity. And not anywhere near where we live.

Just curious.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

sent to the "principal's office" (also known as: neighborhood court)

Hey guys! Sorry I EVADED a post last night--we had just gotten back from our trip to the Vee Homeland and I was wiped.

And Vee was furiously shoveling the sidewalk since WE GOT WRITTEN UP for having failed to shovel the 3" of snow off "CITY PROPERTY" within 24 hours of snowfall.

We were out of town! Not an excuse!

I can only imagine what our immaculately-scraped-driveway-next-door-neighbor was thinking to himself. You've got to know this man--when we got 7" of snow the other week, he was out there MIDWAY THROUGH THE PROJECTED SNOWFALL shoveling the driveway. To what end? IT KEPT SNOWING, OF COURSE, and obliterated his work!

Anyway, the Kiddo's first plane flight was a success (can't say the same for her second plane flight, on the way home, when she fussed until I nursed her down. YES, I nursed her on the plane BOTH on the way there AND on the way home. This is why nursing at 9 months rocks: I don't know what the HELL I would have done if I couldn't have pacified her at the breast. For the record, we also nursed in the airport. GIT R DONE)

Our trip up north was great; Vee's parents babysat the Kiddo on Sunday night and Vee and I got to go on AN ADULT DATE! Oh yeah: I FORGOT ABOUT THOSE. We went to this hilariously expensive restaurant downtown which was, naturally, pretty abandoned, with it being Sunday night, in the Land of Recession. If you were going to bling it out and be seen at the place, you were def saving your dollars for Friday or Saturday night when others were around. Vee and I? We were just grateful for the alone time!

Our server upsold us on the wine (in the face of the Recession State we just traveled from, it would be uncouth to mention how much we paid. Let's just say: MORE THAN WE HAVE PAID FOR DINNER IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS) and I chowed down on tempura sushi while Vee had a noodle bowl. It was awesome! When we packed away the last of our ginger creme brulee, Vee drove us down into the Heart of Death and Destruction, where the recession has hit the hardest. Still such a beautiful city.

Unfortunately, Kiddokabiddo's little bacterial infection at the base of her neck hasn't gone away with the topical antibiotics, so tonight we had to give her her first oral antibiotics. Let's get that immune system weakening!

For a little self-promotion, if you're still distraught over my day-of-no-post yesterday, hop over and check out my other blog.