She thought I said “We fund!”
Before starting this off I’d like to take a minute, again, to thank each and every one of you who bid on my Wii auction to benefit my kids’ school. I really thought, when I put that post up, that I might very well end up with $20 and a hearty smack to the forehead (my own, for being dumb, you see), so it really warmed my heart that y’all were so generous.
Also, our PTA president specifically asked me to pass along her thanks, as well, which was very nice because I am still feeling a little overwhelmed with the new knowledge that the entire group is apparently reading my blog now. *waving weakly*
With that, I give you our GORGEOUS winner: Naomi, who is also half of the duo behind Rock-N-Tot. Naomi totally proved her rockstar cred by bidding $375, and our little Title 1 school will be receiving every dollar of her bid. Thank you so much, Naomi! You are SUPER PRETTY! read more…
Do you have a cat?
Remember back about a year ago, when I was all “I am so looooooonely here! I love my husband but I have no giiiiiiiirlfriends! Woe is meeeeeeee!”? Remember that?
Yeah, me neither. Lord, what a difference a year makes.
Yesterday I had a local signing for Sleep Is for the Weak, and I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Athens, but this is a town with many fine offerings in cuisine, music, cultural events, etc. In other words, many folks have better things to do with their Sunday afternoons than to pick up an anthology about parenthood and have it signed by one of the twenty-three contributing authors. I’m just sayin’. And yet, for an hour and a half there was a steady stream of folks—who bought almost all the available stock (I think there were three copies left, at the end)—because so many pretty, pretty friends of mine came out to show their support.
Did I mention how pretty they are? read more…
Two quick things
Oh my goodness. You people are NUTS. I mean, I mean that in the best possible way. Like, gorgeous, generous and oh-by-the-way, INSANE. The current high bid on the Wii to benefit my kids’ school is $375 as of this writing. Which is crazy. And I thank EVERYONE who has bid so far so, SO much. You still have until nearly midnight tomorrow if you’ve been smoking a particularly large amount of crack and want to bid even HIGHER, which gets you the Wii, a copy of Sleep Is for the Weak, and the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing you’ve really made a difference for a school in need.
And speaking of that little book thing, I’m doing a signing today at the Athens, GA Borders on Alps Road at 1:00 p.m. Come on over! I will not be auctioning any Wiis there, but I will be signing books and giving out Eco-Libris stickers and maybe telling embarrassing stories. Which is pretty much what I do here, every day (the embarrassing stories part, anyway), but it’ll be EVEN MORE GREAT because of that whole socially awkward thing. Yes. I hope to see some of you there!
Wii for you, Wii for me
So. Um. Hi! It turns out that the whole thing where my kids wanted to win a Wii and I acted like “Hey, what a great idea, good luck with that!” so as to cover up the fact that I had ALREADY purchased a Wii for them—designed to be a Big! Exciting! Unexpected! Christmas present—has totally bitten me on the ass.
Surprise!
Yep. Some of you already guessed it, though I just found out yesterday: They won the Wii.
Now, there was a long conversation amongst the PTA about what this MEANS and whether it’s FAIR and while I know some of you have differing opinions, I just have to ask you to trust me when I say that it has been discussed TO DEATH and determined to be okay by everyone. My Christmas plans are hosed but Chickadee really worked for this (including hitting up teachers for donations, the little capitalist). read more…
Love sticks
I’m still sick and pitiful, so this will be a quick one, but it’s one that I’ve been meaning to write about for a while.
Long ago—before we were engaged, even, I think—one time Otto was visiting us for the weekend and Chickadee was flitting around with a bunch of craft supplies and stuck a butterfly sticker on his shirt. She thought this was hilarious. Because, it was a sparkly butterfly! On a great big MAN! SO FUNNY!
I expected Otto to dispose of the sticker at his earliest convenience, though he humored her at the time by thanking her rather elaborately for the nice gift. This made her laugh even more, of course. read more…
Later we’re gonna egg some Tonkas
The good news is that last night’s soiree was a fun, fun time and the food was AMAZING. No, I’m not being braggy—I didn’t cook. I didn’t do anything, actually. This event was a work thing and so it was completely planned out by People Who Are Not Me and also possibly magical wood elves who sprinkled fairy dust everywhere, because I can guarantee you that if I had been the one planning it, we would’ve had a bottle of wine and a bowl of pretzels and someone would’ve been in tears at the end. Probably me. But no, because this was a Fancy To Do, a catering team swooped in and set up an entire kitchen IN MY GARAGE and promptly cooked up enough food for an army of people who are hoping to die with clogged arteries and smiles on their faces.
The bad news is that I am so ill I’m just a whiny, blubbery mess. You know how sometimes you can’t be sick? Like, say, when you’re throwing a big party at your house? And so you take a bunch of cold medicine and put on your happy face and actually have a great time, but then everyone leaves and you fall all to pieces and can’t sleep because you feel so miserable? read more…
I need a nap
Because I’m doing an event for a client tonight, I have OF COURSE come down with a case of the creeping crud. Naturally. Because I am me. And I can’t even blame it on the kids, because neither of them are sick. Although they’re very sympathetic, each in their own way.
Monkey: Oh, Mama, are you not feeling well? Here, I’ll hug you and make you ALL BETTER!
Chickadee: Um, Mom? Gross, I think your nose just dripped on your shirt.
Feel the love, people. But then please, for your own safety, use some disinfectant afterward.
Anyway, I am dragging myself around the house this morning, aided by the miracle of Sudafed, which has stopped my nose from dripping on my shirt, at least, but has turned my brain to squishy goo. I am just thinking verrrrrry sloooooowwwwwwwly. read more…
An armpit walks into a bar. . .
I don’t want to alarm anyone—particularly fellow mothers to young girls—but this whole puberty thing? Does not wait until high school. I mean, if it had any manners it certainly WOULD wait until high school, so that our daughters would already be refusing to talk to us about anything, but no.
“Well, how old were YOU when you started… changing?” asked a friend, in response to my detailing recent events in our house.
“I don’t know!” I huffed. “I HAVE COMPLETELY BLOCKED OUT THOSE YEARS!” And it’s true. I have one vivid memory of pestering my mother, repeatedly, that I wanted to shave my legs. I am descended from hairy Eastern Europeans, people. We are blessed with milky white skin and ebony PELTS. Not a fabulous combination at the pool in the summer. So I pestered, and pestered, and finally my mother agreed to buy me some depilatory. read more…
Premature celebration
I have this bad habit of jumping to conclusions. It’s just that the HOPEFULNESS that lives within me—occupying not a very large area, even, like maybe only a pinky fingernail’s worth—is somewhat exuberant. It’s all “Dude! HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?” And it doesn’t matter if the good news has actually, honest and for true, ARRIVED. This can occasionally be a problem.
Case in point: I went out to run a bajillion errands today. Ever since gas went up to whatever it is now (I’m driving on fumes and refusing to even look at gas station signs, and by the way HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS?), I no longer run an errand every other day or so, the way I used to. Now I save ’em all up whenever possible, because that’s more economical or something. Anyway, I had a whole list of things I HAD to do. Drop off library books, return some stuff to Kohls. Stuff like that. read more…
Brief updates, with more to come
I’m please to report that it’s so far, so good on Monkey’s new and improved braces. They haven’t popped a wire even once, which is a new record. Now instead of being angry that they keep falling apart, I can focus on being angry that the first wire wasn’t properly installed. Yay!
Additionally, I’m sure you’re all dying to know that yesterday’s contestant for Are You Smarter Than a 3rd Grader? was not, in fact, smarter than a 3rd grader—but lucky for her, Monkey knew that of the Ohio, Hudson, Savannah, and Rio Grande, it’s the Savannah which is not a major river. Was he pleased about saving the day? Well, maybe a little, but mostly he was VERY MIFFED that he was not asked about the branches of the government.
I have to run over to school to do some PTA stuff, but an update on this situation is forthcoming, I promise, because as usual, NONE of you pretty people have strong opinions or anything….