Archive for April, 2006
Friday, April 28th, 2006
Dena 
It was a big day for us on Tuesday. The baby, also known as Ethan, King of Contrary, registered for Kindergarten.
Highlights of the big event were a bus ride, and a “real” school snack of an apple, a muffin, a powdered donut and milk. Yes, he got all of that! And ate most of it, which is a remarkable feat in itself, particularly since he doesn’t normally eat that much in an entire week.
The other big thing was when Ethan climbed onstage, jumped off, and yelled “woo hoo”. Oh, yes, it was a proud mommy moment for me. I’m sure the teachers and adminstrators were hoping that we move out of the district before September.
About ME!
Nae Nae in NC tagged me on this one. (Gotta love a girl from Carolina).
Share your link here, and let us know you posted your random 6. We can never know too much about one another.
1. I love movie soundtracks. My two favorites are the Pretty in Pink soundtrack, and the Garden State soundtrack.
2. I love fried chicken livers. Heavily sprinkled with Durkee’s Red Hot, and dipped in mayo.
3. I met my current husband at a party at my ex-husband’s.
4. I love flowers, and could spend hours walking around a nursery selecting plants.
5. I used to have an extreme shoe addiction. I have bought 13 pairs in one weekend, kept them in the trunk and brought them in one pair at a time over the course of two weeks. My husband thought I was nuts for buying so many shoes in two weeks. Had he known I had bought them in two days, he would have had me committed.
6. I have a very hard time keeping my mouth shut when something pisses me off.
This morning, on my way into work, I was on the phone with my friend, Misty. I was bitching about the guy in front of me who was doing a horrid job keeping up with the flow of traffic. Further investigation revealed that it was just another dumb idiot talking on the cell phone. Gosh, what is wrong with these people?
Once I was done with my bitching, I took notice of a lovely little sticker on the back of his truck. A tiny little frog caught in mid-jump. Just a black outline; very simple. I discussed with Misty my thoughts on how I might get more information about the sticker so that I could acquire one. We discussed the possibilities. Follow the guy until he reached his destination, and then ask him when he got out of his car. Jump out at the next light, tap his window, and inquire about the sticker. Jump out at the next light, run directly to the sticker, do a quick peel and snatch. Google “frog sticker” and then search through Café Press, which I did. There are 45 pages of frog stickers on Café Press.
Misty accused me of extreme sticker envy, and she was correct with her diagnosis. Our conversation then turned to my luck, and what would happen if I were to actually acquire such a sticker. It would come in the mail, I’d put it on the back window, and I’d be the only one in town (sans the original sticker guy) with the sticker on my car. For about a week. And then every single car in town would be sporting it. I’d be so over it that I’d pull the coveted frog sticker off the car, and hang my head in sadness and disbelief. Much like the original OBX people, the WRV wave people, the Inlet Fitness people, the NO FEAR people, and the list goes on. I’m sure they all thought there stickers were at an elevated coolness level at one point, before they quickly reached the level of “point and laugh.”
I’ll forget about my quest for the frog, and patiently await the arrival of the anti-Bush stickers I ordered (and paid for) almost two months ago. They are all on back order. For once, I’m happy about a back order list. It means people are listening, and reacting.
A brand new home.
Welcome to my new spot. This is my Christmas present from my friend Misty. I know what you’re all thinking….”Christmas is in December”, and yes, that’s true. But….there was just a little glitch with getting the design going, and so, Misty, smart little cracker jack that she is, decided to go ahead and not only set me up, but create my new design. Isn’t it the best? Of course it is. Heck, she should have attempted doing all this back then, but I bet she didn’t realize she’d be so damn good at it.
What’s so cool about this new design is that it’s SOOOOO me…the color, the style, the subject. Now be a good little reader, and go visit Misty and tell her how much you like my new place.
I was baptized in the Greek Orthodox Church. My family celebrates Easter on a different day than most of America. Generally, it’s a couple of weeks later.
Each year I return to work on the Monday after Easter, and people will always how my Easter was. I always answer something to the effect of “the real Easter isn’t for another couple of weeks.”
I try to explain that it has something to do with the Gregorian and Julian calendars, different methods of reckoning time, phases of the moon, and this information is usually more than most people care or want to understand.
I figure it’s about time to come clean with the real reason for the differing date. It’s so we can get our Easter supplies after the rush. While the rest of you are paying retail for your Easter supplies, we’re grabbing all the 75% clearance items off the Target aisles the day after Easter. And laughing our asses off on the way to the bank!
In November of 2004 my driver’s license expired. I realized it several months later when the girl at the supermarket filled me in on this little tid-bit of info as she verified the info on my check. I thought back on it, and remembered getting the notice in the mail. The notice that would have allowed me to walk in, pay the $10.00, take an updated photo, and get my new license. Pretty easy stuff.
But noooooo, I don’t like to do things the easy way. I thought about renewing it early 2005, and then again during the Summer of 2004. Having to board an airplane makes you think about such things. Obviously, the supposed “stringent” procedures for getting on a plane aren’t really that stringent. I went to six different airports, and my license was checked in two different locations at each of those airports, and not one person mentioned my expired license.
Two days before I left for Vegas (a couple of weeks ago), I decided that I should be safe, and renew my license. I walk up to the desk, and am told that I have to take the written, driving and eye exams in order to renew my license. This is because my license expired over a year ago. I’m all ready to partake in all of this ceremony, but am quickly informed by the DMV clerk that my name and social security number don’t match. What the fuck?
(In 2001 I changed my name on my licesne to my married name. I did it without showing a marriage license, without showing an ID of any kind. I made this change on September 6, 2001. They weren’t too worried about the threat of terrorism on 9/6. )
I needed to produce two of the following: a social security card with my married name (don’t have it), a copy of my marriage license (don’t have it), probation card from my parole officer (not a criminal), Medicaid Insurance Card, Welfare ID Card (not even sure what this is), Green Card (I was born in the USA), WIC ID card (nope, can’t say that I’ve got that one)…I was up shit’s creek. I decided it was time for drastic measures. I told the guy that I was a jouranlist leaving on an important assignment the following day, and that I was prepared to write a story about my ordeal at his window of the DMV office. A story deetailing how if I were a criminal, on welfare or an alien I could get a new license. A story detailing how a law abiding, working, US born citizen could not get a new license. He asked who I wrote for. (Double shit!) I explained that I freelanced for several national publications. (Where the hell did I pull that one from?) It didn’t help, and so I lauched into my George Bush is the cause of all this ridiculousness speech. It got the guy to pull a few strings, but not enough to get the driver’s license. He told me to come back with a copy of my marriage license.
I left, went to City Hall, got a copy of my marriage license, and the next day went back to DMV, and was told that I had to have an actual Social Security card with my married name on it. I wouldn’t have time. I decided to shoot for the ID card. Finally, I have a legitimate, current ID, but it’s not a driver’s license.
Now I have to go stand in line at the Social Security Administration. I can’t think of anything worse. I’ll do it. Not today. Not tomorrow. But one day soon. Or, maybe not.
When we were in Vegas, a friend of mine brought along some knitted hats that her mother knits. We loved them, particularly because it looks like Ethan’s got a big ol’ pile of dreadlocks stored in his.
Sometimes it’s difficult to get back into the swing of things when you’ve been disconnected for even a small period of time. It’s that way with blogging. One day you’re posting, reading, commenting. A couple of diversions and you are totally out of sync with all of it. You quit posting, you rarely read, and you seldom comment. Dragging yourself back into takes a concerted effort. You’re not sure if it’s something you have the energy or time for, but then you realize that you miss the friendships that were forming, and decide to hit it full force, knowing it’s the only way you’ll get back into the groove.
A couple of weeks ago I got attacked by some viral thing. I was out of commission for a couple of days. I then had to get ready for my upcoming trip to Vegas, and then I was actually in Vegas.
Part of my trip to Vegas included meetings some friends that I had met through the internet (gasp!).
One of our group members wrote the following, and sent it to Oprah with the hopes of getting our story told:
We met about 5 years ago, on an internet community board for women expecting babies in July 2001. Since then we have gone beyond discussing the habits of our kids to sharing things about our lives that some of us don’t even share with our closest friends. Now we cannot imagine life without each other. About 2 years ago one of the women underwent a personal crisis and wanted to leave the group due to the public forum of the board. Instead of allowing her to leave we moved to a private board so that we could continue to support her. One member (me) was diagnosed with cervical cancer about 2 years ago. The rest of us put together a care package of cards and letters, which she was truly surprised and touched by. One woman came to the realization that her husband was abusing her daughter, and our hearts went out to her as she struggled with this horrible reality. During happier times we have rejoiced in the abilities of our children, and shared sweet and silly stories about them. Through pictures we have even helped each other choose clothing for special events. A few weeks ago, one woman, 17 weeks pregnant, told us that she had lost her baby. If you can imagine about 30 women across the continent, brought to tears and mourning with her, then you can imagine how special these friendships are. Through all the trials and tribulations of life, we have been there for each other. We are very different women, religious to agnostic, conservative to liberal, stay-at-home mom to working mom, from many socio-economic backgrounds, but these friendships have shown us how important it is to embrace our differences. We have had our disagreements of course, but through them we have managed to learn from one another, and to become even stronger women. Although we are not able to meet for coffee, or lunch, you can bet that we are chatting away, at all hours, and thinking about each other long after we have signed off our computers, sending our love and support from across the miles.
Of course, I have to share a pic of some of us in Vegas. Here we are before dinner at Mon Ami Gabi.
